Time To Give Up On Giving Societies?

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We all know how it’s supposed to work:

  1. We get a first-time gift from a donor and welcome them into the Founders Club.
  2. Next year we ask them to increase their giving to become a member of the Advocates Club.
  3. After a personal visit from the president, you ask them to increase their giving yet again and join the President’s Club.

Step-by-step, you have successfully navigated that donor through the various levels of giving, increasing their general support over a relatively short period of time.

But is the tried-and-true giving society model working for you or have things become just slightly more complicated? Is it time to give up on giving societies?

Join a conversation on this important topic on Wednesday, May 9 at 12 pm EDT during #fundchat, the weekly Twitter chat for nonprofit fundraising and marketing professionals.

Here’s what to do:

  1. Save the date: mark your calendar for Wednesday, May 9 at 12 pm EDT. Bookmark this page so you can easily come back to this post and our live discussion page.
  2. Offer your most pressing questions about giving societies in the comments below. 
  3. Spread the word: Tell your friends and followers about this week’s #fundchat!

Below are the planned questions for this week’s #fundchat. If your organization is looking to start a giving society, you should check out this article at The Donor Relations Guru.

Q1 What is the basic structure of your organization’s giving society?
Q2 What’s the best way to manage those in a particular level or club?
Q3 How does your giving society program motivate donors to give at higher levels?
Q4 If an organization is just starting a giving society, what’s your one bit of advice?
Q5 When it comes to giving societies, what is currently working and what is not?
Q6 Bonus question: Who cares more about giving societies, you or your donors?

#fundchat is a weekly conversation on Twitter where experts from across the U.S. (and even the world) share, advise, and even consult on topics related to nonprofit fundraising and marketing. Joining #fundchat is a snap. Just use our live discussion page to follow the conversation. When you want to offer a comment or question, the form will auto-fill the hashtag for you. Alternatively, you can use your favorite Twitter client to follow the hashtag (#fundchat!) during 12 – 1 pm EDT to see the conversation in action. When chiming in, be sure to include the hashtag in your tweet. If you are new, you should also check out our participation guidelines.

  • HumbugJones

    Do your giving club members take advantage of most or some of their perks? If they don’t take advantage of many, do you have a process to remind them of what’s available? Are certain perks perennially popular, or do they lose their appeal over time?

    • BrendanKinney

       @HumbugJones The biggest perk we offer is invitations to some of our most popular events. Not sure how many give at a level just to get the perk, but we have a high attendance rate for these.

      • HumbugJones

         @BrendanKinney I ask because I finished reading a report about our mid-level society members recently, and quite a few said that they often forget what perks go with their membership, or that they can’t take advantage of it, or that the perks of the next level up were something they might only want once. I’m trying to think of ways to counter that, to bring home the value proposition for the people who view their giving club membership as transactional. Your response makes me wonder if there are other events that might be more appealing over and over again.