One big mistake nonprofits make around stock giving

There are two really important things to know about stock giving in 2020. 

1. As markets reach all-time highs, focusing on stock giving will be the difference between fundraising success and failure for many organizations in 2020 and 2021.
2. Most fundraising teams are making one big (but easily correctable) mistake around stock gifts. 

First, a reminder that stock giving really, really matters. Check out this graphic below from our dear friend Dr. Russell James. Organizations that focus on non-cash (and especially stock giving) grow considerably faster than other organizations. 

Now that we’ve reminded ourselves how important this is, let’s look at the two big mistakes organizations are making. 

Mistake #1: Putting stock transfer information on your website

Many organizations put their account number, bank address, etc. directly on their websites, hoping that donors will find it and do all the work on their own. 

There are three big risks with this approach: 

1. Donors make a gift, but the brokerage doesn’t share donor information. You have no idea who sent the gift, so the donor goes un-thanked, un-stewarded, and might be quite upset when you don’t send her the needed tax information.
2. The donor starts to make a gift, but does not finish. You had no idea they were trying to give, and have no way to follow up. So you miss out on a major gift (and potentially future gifts as well.)
3. Openly exposing account information may increase risk of fraud, as malicious web-crawlers can “scrape” this information.

Mistake #2: Not putting stock transfer information on your website. 

If putting transfer info on your site is a mistake, then many organizations do the opposite, and make a donor call or email to get the needed details. 

This also has key risks:

1.  Younger donors (think 30 to 55-years-old) are less willing to talk to strangers and are hesitant to reach out to your organization, reducing the likelihood of a gift.
2.  Donors who work are more likely to try to make a gift on nights or weekends, exactly when you are less likely to respond quickly. This delay reduces the likelihood of giving.
3. At end-of-year giving time, donors do not trust that you’ll respond in time to make sure they get in before the tax deadline. (The biggest fundraising day of the year is December 31st -- a moment where this is particularly important!) 

Here’s the solution that more and more nonprofits are moving to: 

Smart nonprofits are moving to a solution where the needed information to make a gift of stock is immediately available to donors -- but only after they fill out some basic information. 

This solves the whole problem: 

1. No more stock gifts that come without donor information
2. Gift officers can follow up with “in progress” gifts, closing more donations and hitting their goals
3. Reduced risk of fraud
4. And end to delays (and less talking to strangers), which increases gifts among younger donors in particular.

As an example, here’s what it looks like on the site of St. Ignatius High School (where the development team is remarkably successful with stock gifts): 

Then the donor fills out just a bit of information.

And in seconds, the donor receives exactly the right info:

It’s a simple shift, but one that can keep losing out on key major gifts.

Good luck!

 - Patrick