PART FOUR

THE ART OF SOLICITATION AND STEWARDSHIP

The chapters in Part Four provide information on special fundraising strategies and approaches. The special methods for fundraising presented in these chapters will aid organizations in their annual fund work and in determining the application of these strategies to the total development program.

Chapter Eighteen focuses on the art of personal solicitation, emphasizing that the act of asking for a gift, when done well, is an opportunity for growing and strengthening the donor relationship. The chapter goes on to offer practical advice on asking for a gift in a face-to-face setting.

Direct mail marketing, the topic of Chapter Nineteen, is a way of contacting large numbers of potential donors, lapsed donors, and current donors of small gifts. Less expensive than more personalized mail and telephone approaches, direct mail is generally the most effective and efficient way to build a donor base or get fundraising started.

E-mail and social media have become important tools for communicating with donors, accepting contributions from donors, recruiting new donors, renewing donors, and acknowledging gifts. Chapter Twenty outlines how these uses of the Internet can be incorporated at different levels of the total development program.

Chapter Twenty-One looks at special events, which are important to organizations. For some they are a way of recruiting new donors; for others they are a way to thank donors; still others use them as a way to engage their constituents. For all they are a public relations opportunity.

The use of the telephone in solicitation and stewardship is examined in Chapter Twenty-Two. Although the telephone has been made more problematic as an instrument of fundraising for a variety of reasons, this chapter discusses how to make the most of the telephone as a tool for effective solicitation and engagement of donors.

Finally, Chapter Twenty-Three looks at effective stewardship as a vital part of ethical and effective fundraising. Although the topics of the other chapters in this part discuss means of asking for a gift, the most effective solicitation techniques will ultimately be ineffective if donors do not receive superior stewardship from the organizations to which they give. Stewardship is what builds the foundation for a deeper donor relationship—a deeper relationship that is often signified by the donor’s decision to continue to give at increasing levels over a period of years.