Penelope Burk: Get Those Board Members on the Phone
"I'm not into charming; I'm into results," says Penelope Burk. When leadership volunteers don't understand how influential they are, this can be a wasted opportunity for a nonprofit. Penelope did a test, where 1/10 of donors to a specific organization were thanked for their gift via board member phone call.
The test donors returned gifts 39% higher in value the first year. After two years, the value remained higher (42%), but more importantly -- retention rate in the test group was 70%, while attrition in the control group was over 80%. This is amazing, especially considering that the board phone call was not repeated in subsequent years.
Penelope points out that the ultimate gift is a bequest gift, and that without donor loyalty, this is impossible to achieve.