You’ve seen them at the opera and the ballet. You may have even seen them at your local food bank or in a mailing from the national environmental organization that you support. Giving clubs have been around forever, serving as a way to recognize and upgrade donors for as long as any fundraiser can remember.
You might see the “Gold, Silver, or Bronze” variety that honor people giving $10,000, $5,000, or $1,000 levels, for example. You might come across a single giving club honoring donors who make a gift over a certain amount, say $1,000 or $5,000. And you also see clubs that honor donors that give through monthly giving or planned giving.
Most have a system of public recognition and some sort of benefits that increase as the giving level rises.
While giving clubs are a tried and true method, the fact is that the real opportunity lies beyond upgrading, benefits, or peer pressure. The real opportunity is building something that will bring your donors closer to your work and your organization, building long-term loyalty and devotion.
As I look around at giving club structures, I see room for creativity and improvement. So, from the front lines of our fundraising experience, here are our top 5 recommendations for building a giving club that really works:
1. Ask your donors: The best way to start a giving club is to float the idea to some of your closest donors and ask them to help you lead the effort. What do they think of the idea? What benefits would they appreciate having? What should we call it? Would they be willing to serve as founding members and recruit others?
In one organization I’ve worked with, we canvassed several long-time donors about a giving club, and found a nucleus of donors that not only had strong opinions about benefits, but also came up with the name of the giving club and a strategy for recruiting others.
2. Name and brand carefully: OK, a confession. When I first started the planned giving circle at Greenpeace, I asked donors what they wanted in terms of benefits, but I didn’t ask them to help me create the look and feel of the club. So, in keeping with the other planned giving materials I had seen, I created brochures that were serene and full of flowers and fields. But that was NOT what a Greenpeace donor wanted. These donors were edgy, irreverent, and unsentimental. The materials got awful reviews and we had to scrap them and start over.
My colleagues in the annual giving program got it, though. They created Partners in Action giving circles with edgier graphic design and levels that really meant something to the Greenpeace audience like Witness, Campaigner, and Activist.
Don’t make my rookie mistake! Really capture the essence of your organization by creating giving clubs that really reflect the values and the personality of the group.
3. Make the benefits genuine: A few organizations may need to include tickets and pins and tote bags to keep their donors happy. But, the donors I know want access the most. They want to feel part of an exclusive group. This exclusivity doesn’t have to come in the form of joining because someone else did. Think exclusivity in terms of access to your work that would be valuable to a donor.
Some examples include:
For an advocacy group - a conference call with the Executive Director to hear about the most recent legislative battle.
For a human services group – a personal tour of the facility by a Program Director and a client.
For an arts group – a pre-show cocktail hour with the writer and director.
When you start your giving circles, think about how to give your donors exclusive access to the work you do. Get creative! At Greenpeace, we got an old sail from the famed vessel Rainbow Warrior, cut it into pieces and sent it to our donors. I know it sounds kind of weird, but to a Greenpeace donor, it was incredibly meaningful.
Or maybe, it’s that your donors want to get together and meet each other. A group of donors to one international women’s organization I worked with wanted to meet other women who were interested in the same things they were. They created a giving club (you had to give at least $1,000 to be a part of it) and designed an annual retreat where they were briefed on issues they cared about.
4. Rigorously upgrade: Giving clubs are not a “build-it-and-they-will-come” venture. You have to have a system where you regularly recruit people into the club and upgrade them from one level to the next.
Recruit from lower dollar levels: If you have a mail program, send a letter to your lower dollar donors (particularly those that have been giving for a long time) asking them to make a jump to a higher-level giving club. Consider having your founding members make some telephone calls or personal appeals to ask people to join. You can even make a giving club ask at a house party or event.
Upgrade from within the giving circle structure: Once a donor joins a giving club, make the case on an annual basis for them to jump to the next level.
Create a feeder track for major gifts: One of the many benefits of giving clubs is that they bring donors closer to your organization. And those that respond by being more involved and giving more are prime candidates for major gifts. Be sure to analyze donor giving and spot clues that a donor wants to take that next leap!
5. Learn and adjust: Just like any other fundraising initiative, try weaving giving clubs into your fundraising program; ask for feedback from your donors and prospects; and adjust. Donors are increasingly looking for a way to be really engaged with the organizations they support. Giving clubs can really fill that niche, but the challenge is to make them genuine. Take the feedback and improve the experience!
There’s so much to say on this topic! Have any burning questions about giving clubs? Send them to us and we will continue the conversation next week!
Photo by Anton Fortunato
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