b'The Donor ExperienceWhen I sat down to writeThe 4 Pillars of the DonorInaddition,considerhowcanyouusethisinformationto Experiencea year ago, I wanted it to be a continuationenhance the donor experience for all donors, regardless of of our thought work in The 4 Pillars of Donor Relations. Butlevel.Curiosityandtenacityareencouragedinthisspace. honestly, I wanted it to be a book that was read beyond donorBeing intentional is a mindset, a new way of operating and data relations circles and practitioners and instead shared acrossdrives all that we do. Its your responsibility to gather as much departments and read widely by the fundraising community.data as possible to help build the strategic case for your donors Why? Because we have a huge problem facing our sustainabilityand their experience.in non-profits and that is donor retention. With first time donor retention rates hovering below 30% and overall donor retentionStrategyis often overlooked in favor of tasks and output at less than 50% we are in danger of losing our donor bases. Weour organisation. As you focus on the strategy behind the donor see this in the fact that 95% of our gifts come from 5% of ourexperience, a few things become crystal clear. If knowledge is donors. In higher education the alumni giving rate is falling eachpower, strategy is the catalyst that allows for dynamic change and every year. My belief is that most of these declines can bewithin the donor experience. In this section of the book, I outline attributed to our behavior and our insistence on ignoring thefour of many strategies to help move your donor experience donor experience. forward. From focusing on retention as your most important Thedonorexperienceiseveryonesresponsibilitymetricforsuccesstounderstandingthatdonorbehavior and it requires much more than a thank you letter and anshould dictate our communications behavior, not the amount endowment report. It is a mindset. The four pillars of theof the donors last gift.The amount of their last gift is just one donor experienceknowledge, strategy, culture, andpiece of information we know about them, in order to target emotioncan be applied in a wide variety of areas to improvetheir communications. The more you know about the donor, our relationships with donors and keep them coming back yearthe more you can strategise about meaningful engagement after year.opportunities they will actually enjoy. Far too often, our work is reactive and loses its true meaning. When we strategise and are proactive on behalf of the donor, our work carries far more Knowledgeis essential because it lays the foundation for allimpact.of our actions with donors. Far too often, we make dangerous assumptionsthataffectthedonorexperience.Gettingto know your donors is essential. Look beyond the basic pointsCulturefocuses on empowerment, excellence, and gratitude ofinformationanddigintoadonorsbehaviorandalsotohelpdefineyourorganisationsinteractionswithdonors. communication preferences.Anexpectationofexcellenceisabehaviorandapplication Gathering passive intelligence is inextricable from the practiceofasetofstandards.Notsettlingforgoodenoughwhile of crafting the donor experience. Seeking active intelligencebalancingperfectionisttendenciesisessential.Excellence isessential.Whatinformationareyougatheringthroughtakes determination and commitment; it needs to become a surveys,questions,andintelligencegathering?Intentionalhabit of your work. Empowerment is hard to define, but when it feedback can help you prove your case for additional humanis not present in an organisation, it shines brightly. Empowered and financial resources, new programs or initiatives, and givesprofessionals are more engaged, work harder, and produce you new content and activity to test. better work. Lynne Wester presents an Educate Plus Masterclass in Queensland in June 2019'