#8 Invest in the unsung heroes of your non-profit

On Friday afternoon, the Queensland OFT surprised the F2F community with a landmark, and quite frightening, restriction on charitable collections. This mention will be all I say about this, as I trust all involved will come to their senses in due course.

A more useful and altogether heartening learning can be found in the donor care team of your non-profit. I am fortunate to recently work with a donor care team that were receptive enough to be trained to recognise the F2F recruited donors by the agency that recruited them. Once the donor calls or emails the charity, the team can action saves, cancellations and downgrades in accordance with the terms of the individual agency contract.

This front-line team understand that keeping a donor is cheaper than acquiring a new one and, with this at the forefront of their minds, they have achieved industry leading saves percentages and safeguarded income whilst keeping the donors happy and engaged with the cause they decided to support.

Failing to keep your donor care team abreast of contract changes and new additions to your agency list is an easy way to lose income and ruin your best laid plans. Neglecting the feedback that they hear every day about the impact of fundraising in the communities is to short-change your campaign. These soldiers spend all day dodging bullets and bandaging a sometimes-tattered fundraising reputation, and once trained and incentivised, these unsung heroes will help you reap the rewards of increased retention, whilst records of feedback given to the team will also allow you to identify areas for improvement for your fundraisers.