Keeping supporters loyal in times of change and hardship

This blog is based on a talk I gave to 30 fundraising leaders as part of a leadership forum organised by Berwick Partners.

The background

We’ve all seen the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on fundraising – especially in areas like community and events, retail and employee workplace fundraising. However, the full impacts of the sudden economic downturn have not played through yet and there are likely to be big numbers of jobs lost, and further business collapses, in the UK over the next few months. 

In broad terms, giving does tend to fluctuate in line with GDP – although not always as severely. For example, after the 2008-09 global financial crisis, giving largely held up rather than dropping in direct proportion to GDP[i]. However, it is important to remember that, whilst some learning can be taken from the recession post 2008, this downturn is different. 

When trying to stay up to date with the economic situation, I find the PWC monthly economic outlook[ii] very useful. This report is easy to digest and gives a good summary of likely job losses, sectors being impacted the most, levels of household income, property prices (that will impact legacy values) and stock market fluctuations (that impact trust’s investments funds).

Thoughts on keeping supporters loyal

1. Keep communicating, keep asking

The first thing to do in a time of crisis or change is to keep communicating. Be sure to tell people about the ongoing need and how their money is making a difference.  There’s nothing new about this – it is fundraising 101. But it matters now more than ever before. Importantly, recognise that empathy with your audiences doesn’t mean you should stop asking. That’s the worst thing you can do and there is a decent evidence base for why. Bluefrog have shared some very insightful research about this in a series of blogs[iii].

2. Make sure you really know your audience

To communicate well you must really understand your supporters. Insight is fundamental: What draws them close to the cause? What areas of work are they really interested in? What turns them off? 

If you don’t know the answers to these questions with some degree of certainty then you are in trouble. I’d advise doing a very rapid supporter survey and using the findings to inform your stewardship and communications plans. A survey can be quick and relatively inexpensive. We’ve done this for clients whereby, for a relatively small fee, our expert market researcher has turned around a survey, and the all-important results analysis, and presented back the findings in about 4 weeks. 

3. Aim for active involvement

When you communicate with supporters, try to get them ‘actively involved’ by asking them to do something, rather than passively engaging with them by only telling them something. The best kinds of ‘active involvement’ are non-financial actions that are easy to do. For individual givers and eventers you can ask them to do things like: sign a petition, write to an MP, share their story on social media, share some of your charity’s content on social media, post a pic of their virtual fundraising, give their views via a mini-survey. And of course, don’t forget to promote gifts in wills; some charities have seen great success in legacy marketing in recent weeks. 

It is not just about individuals. Thinking about ways to keep corporate partners engaged is important too. The same principle applies but the tactics are different. For companies the small ask could be about amplifying your message via their intranet or social media feeds or promoting your virtual event internally as a means of creating a sense of ‘team spirit’ for staff. 

Asking people to take small non-financial actions makes them feel like they are being helpful because they are doing something. It makes them feel part of a movement. Taking an action boosts loyalty more than if they are simply receiving communication from you. The background for this is not new and is highlighted in Adrian Sargent’s research (see his book Building Donor Loyalty for example). So before finalising any communications, always ask this question: what action can I ask supporters to take that is small and easy to do, but makes them feel part of something?

4. Look for ways to stand out with a personal touch

As a leader you need to consider what will make you stand out from the crowd. Everyone is doing virtual events and utilising digital comms like social media and email. That isn’t wrong but everyone is doing it. If everyone else is relying on email and social media then why not send a postcard? Or make a phone call. These actions may seem counter intuitive given the focus on digital, but they can feel very personal to a supporter. Also consider that for much of the UK, there is a real sense of digital fatigue right now. Sending a postcard or getting all staff on the phones to do a ‘thanking day’ will make you stand out. These activities aren’t expensive to do but they can really make a supporter feel valued and cement loyalty as a result. 

5. Think about adapting in two phases 

There are a lot of people out there talking about the need to adapt. I’m not going to bang on about virtual events because everyone is already doing everything they can in that area.  Of course, moving some things to virtual needs to be a part of the mix, but you should know that already. The thing that not many people are saying is that there will be a second phase of adapting. 

Phase one is now: the focus is all about virtual and how to keep people connected to you, and to each other, when everyone is being kept physically apart. But the second phase of adapting is when we begin to emerge from this crisis. That might seem some way down the track but in fact it may be the start of Q1 of the next FY i.e. April time. At that point people are going to want a lot of ‘old normal’ back. How will you manage that? This will require some planning. Especially if, like many charities, you have had to make cuts to your team. Being mindful of this means you need to think ahead and be agile enough to react when the time is right. 

6. Offer flexibility

Some supporters will contact charities to cancel their giving purely because of their economic situation. They may still love the charity, but they need to curtail their outgoings.  In this situation, offering payment flexibility is a very useful tactic to give the supporter control, enable them to adjust their giving (either pausing or dropping the amount they give) but without losing them totally. Services like Rapidata’s Control My Payment platform can be useful here.  This is not about making it hard for people who genuinely want to stop their direct debit. It is simply about giving the supporter control and providing them with another option. 

When high value funders, like wealthy individuals or corporates, say they can no longer support, the same principle applies. In the instance of a high value supporter, the conversation should focus on scope to put the relationship on pause. This leaves the door open to re-ignite the relationship six or twelve months down the track.

The final point I would make isn’t about managing loyalty. It is about communicating with internal stakeholders like the finance director, CEO and trustees. If you are holding on to a relationship but seeing a short-term dip in income because of a pause in a supporter’s giving, then swift and clear communication of this fact is vital. Every charity has its eye on cashflow and so it is imperative you share the likely impact as soon as possible. As a consultancy my company has lots of useful sector insight and I’m always happy to share intel about the market in order to help other fundraisers contextualise communication about income shortfalls.

Below are some of the useful sources of insight that I have cited in this blog.

[i] NCVO Civil Society Almanac data with income trends - https://tinyurl.com/y2chm9fr

[ii] PWC Economic Outlook - https://www.pwc.co.uk/premium/covid-19/uk-economic-update-covid-19.pdf

[iii] Mark Phillip’s Blog citing the Bluefrog research -  https://queerideas.co.uk