BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS WITH SUPPORTERS

Craig Wills, Community Fundraising Manager @craigjswillsCraig.wills@anthonynolan.org

AIMS

• How Community supporters can be some of the most valuable donors for your organisation over their lifetime

• To show the value of building relationships and empowering supporters to fundraise through their networks

• To share our learnings of moving from a product led model to a strategy of long term relationship building with Community supporters

A TRADITIONAL MODEL OF COMMUNITY FUNDRAISING

• a lot of st• a big staff team on the ground to deliver”“It is the Cinderella of Fundraising” “It is just unsolicited income”

WHY ARE COMMUNITY SUPPORTERS DIFFERENT?

Community supporters at Anthony Nolan are individuals, families, friends and groups mostly raising funds in celebration or in memory of a loved one.

OUR RESPONSE

We changed our way of working and moved away from marketing fundraising activities/ products and campaigns

Re-focused our time on building relationships with Community supporters

Started using Major donor techniques

MOTIVATION – ENGAGEMENT – INSPIRING OTHERSWhat do we know about one of our supporter groups, Barrow for Marrow:

Supporter Group

A member of the groups son

had a successful transplant

Raised over £50,000

Cycling Scouser Organised multiple

fundraising activities

Gained support through work

They built relationships

with celebrities for us

Colleagues and friends set up a

group and brand

Created a large social media

presence

ITS ALL ABOUT BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS • Build rapport from the start

• Understand your donor’s motivation for supporting you

• Find out their long term goals and how they like to fundraise

• Match communication style with the fundraiser

• Offer the supporters different ways to help your charity based on their interests

• Always ask what else they might like to do to help – even non financial support

Supporter Journey

Welcome call

Specific activity timed

communications, calls, good luck, congratulations, timely thank you

and impact of their follow up

Tailored next steps and asks based on known

interests

Offer simple non financial

engagement opportunities

FIRST RESPONSE

YOUR SUPPORTERS

Turn to the person next to you and take it in turns to discuss one supporter you are currently working with.

Write down all the key things you know about themFor example:•Their motivation for supporting your charity•Where they work•Are they part of any local community groups

BRIGHTON ROTARY

• Chose us as charity of the year in 2014 – normally raise £5K

• Through building relationships we have involved their wider network in the work of Anthony Nolan

• They have raised £10K and we have been chosen for a second year

DIGITAL IS KEY

Cycling Scouser• Andrew is a part of Barrow for Marrow• Met several times proactively to build the relationship with Andy as an individual – he then

chose us as the beneficiary of his next challenge idea• He gave up his flat, car and took 6 months unpaid leave so he could cycle to

Liverpool….From Shanghai, China!• Their friend helped create a website and brand for the challenge CYCLINGscouser.com (see

above) where he posts updates and videos• He smashed his target of £1K, we suggested he keep increasing it to match demand and

keep momentum – hes now raised over £21,000• His network of friends back home talk to press and maintain momentum for his challenge –

radio, social media, papers and we also post about it. • Support for Andy from Jaguar Landrover is helping us break down barriers for future support• Barrow target of £100K over the next 5 years• https://vimeo.com/130759848

OUR TOP TIPS

•Build relationships with supporters and find out their motivation and what they want to achieve

•Pick up the phone lots and talk to people

•Find out about your supporters – their relationships / personal networks

•Invest in relationship building skills as a fundraising team

•Capturing and recording information about your supporters is vital to building relationships with supporters

•Always ask yourself what the next step in the relationship is for the supporter(this may not be fundraising related - offer them other ways to help like sharing a social media post)

RESULTS

• Our number of Community fundraising supporters grew by 20% to 1,400 in 14/15. These were all supporters who came to us – we do no cold marketing

• Average raised per Community supporter £899;

• 48 raised over £5k;

• Top 50 relationships raised 40% of the income

THE RESULTS

£189k to £1 million net in 4 years and projected to be at £1.55 million by the end of this financial year

5:1 Return on investment

QUESTIONS

£189k to £1 million net in 4 years

Craig WillsCraig.wills@anthonynolan.org@craigjswills

Fancy a coffee to chat all things Community? We would love to hear what you do and your learnings – please get in touch

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