In order to maintain proper funding for your organization in accomplishing your mission, cultivating new and old donors is a must. Donor cultivation is simply the relationship between an organization and its donors. BoardEffect released an article discussing donor cultivation strategies for fostering donations. There are five primary parts of the fundraising cycle, including: identification, research, cultivation, solicitation and stewardship. Each step in this cycle builds upon the other and can be repeated to identify more donors. The purpose of this article is to briefly describe each of the aspects of the fundraising and share various strategies for cultivating donors.

• Identification – Donor identification is the process of parsing through lapsed donors and identifying potential donors. As an organization, it is important to identify the different types of donors you may have. Broad categories for donor types are monthly, planned giving and major donors. These characteristics help identify financial goals for the organization based on these metrics. Identifying potential donors is as simple as looking through your community and finding untapped resources of individuals and organizations that would like to take part in the mission of your organization.
• Research – Once you have identified potential donors, it is important to find out more about your donor base as a whole and individually. During the donor research phase of the cycle, you and your organization will brainstorm various ways that potential donors will feel compelled or motivated to give to your organization. Looking at previous humanitarian efforts or other factors can be beneficial in finding the motivation behind potential donorship.
• Cultivation – After researching the potential motivation of donors, it is time to cultivate donors. This step is integral to building value for donors. This process of cultivation takes the research that has been done and begins to get the ball rolling for creating spaces in which a potential donor can give. Take the research that has been done on potential donors and personalize experiences and communication for this prospect. This process helps build trust which ripens potential donors to act on this compulsion.
• Solicitation – Solicitation is the pivot from research to action when it comes to fostering funding for your organization. All of the research and cultivation that has taken place up to this point is to get the prospective donor to this point. Targeted solicitation rooted in strong research and relationship will yield the highest result. When articulating donation needs, be specific about the fiscal responsibility of the donor as well as the total goal for the campaign. Regardless if the donor gives or not, it is imperative to have a strategy to continue to cultivate relationship with this individual or organization.
• Stewardship – The cultivation of donors and potential donors after you have asked them to give to your organization’s mission is called stewardship. Donor Stewardship includes thanking them for their time, reporting on what their funding has contributed toward and sharing wins from your organization on a regular basis. This plan should be over the top in communication and generosity towards those who are investing in your organization. Some general strategies for cultivating donors include: calls, texts, meals, shout outs on social media, personal visits, etc.

Each piece of the donor cultivation cycle is imperative to the success of the organization in being able to accomplish it’s mission. One way to make sure that you will be able to follow up effectively with your various donors is through a tool like MyDonors. MyDonors is a tool that can help you and your organization maintain high financial integrity with limited assets. And MyDonors is part of MyCommunity, which exists to build relationships and tools that equip organizations so that they can maximize their impact. Our suite of tools is designed to help organizations of all sizes focus on their mission without worrying about the logistics. We understand the importance of building strong relationships, so we provide the necessary tools to maximize impact and make a difference like our easy-to-use platforms MyDonors and MyVolunteers. Likewise, MyNonprofitCoach equips nonprofits with the training they need to be successful. Schedule a demo for any of our solutions here.

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Reference: https://www.boardeffect.com/blog/donor-cultivation/