Building Your Donor Base

Building Your Donor Baseis a 90-minute workshop featuring new approaches in annual giving and alumni engagement. While relevant to all development team members - those serving in annual giving and/or alumni relations roles, gift officers tasked with pipeline building, and development leaders responsible for shaping overall fundraising strategy may find the content particularly useful.

Building a donor base is hard work that requires patience, vision, creativity, and a willingness to forgo short term gains for long term benefits. Investing in the long game for long term value with retained annual donors can move your fundraising needle and keep your pipeline full for years to come.

A deep dive into the topic will include:

• Research that once a donor has made six gifts to your organization, the likelihood triples that they will become a major donor at a more significant level.
• Best practices for engagement with young alumni to convert them to long-term donors (straight from the young alumni themselves)
• New approaches to grow your base by looking outside of your traditional alumni base to a larger community of interested and engaged stakeholders.

Presenter:  Meg Weber, Vice President and Senior Consultant with Ruffalo Noel Levitz