Many people see major gifts as a set of $ goals that are the essence of an annual fund or capital campaign. But, that is short-sighted. The ultimate goal is to have a group of individual life-long donors. And that means understanding and utilizing stewardship best practices.

Stewardship focuses on the relationship between the organization and the donor. Starting with understanding the donor before the initial ask and following through with ongoing accountability through thoughtful notes and invitations –long after a gift arrives. It is time consuming to plan out individual donor strategies, but not nearly as time consuming as finding new donors each year.

Stewardship has other benefits as well as securing and retaining financial support. Looking for new board members? You can use your knowledge of each donor to know who may be ready to increase his or her involvement. Smaller volunteer opportunities from honorees at annual events to committee members are easier to find when there is a large pool of people who feel they are involved with and respected by the organization.

If you are interested in learning more about stewardship, register for David Mersky’s webinar, “The Artful Solicitor – Stewardship as Revenue Enhancer” at:

http://nonprofitwebinars.com/events/8312011-the-artful-solicitor-stewardship-as-revenue-enhancer/

See you then!