Tag: Cultivation

Events are Part of Your Donor Cultivation Cycle

Samantha Swaim  |  Repeat
Gala event.

The following is a hand-picked guest post from Samantha Swain. Enjoy, and you can read more about Samantha below.

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In the nonprofit world, events often get a bad reputation. They’re seen as expensive, time-consuming, and not always worth the return on investment. But what if we reframed how we think about events? What if, instead of viewing them as standalone parties, we integrated them into our broader donor cultivation strategy?

The team at The Better Fundraising Company has long advocated for the cycle of “Ask, Thank, Report, Repeat” as the cornerstone of effective fundraising. Today, we want to explore how events can strengthen each part of this cycle – and why they should be an intentional part of your donor cultivation continuum.

Events as an Extension of Your Mission

Before diving into the cycle, let’s establish an important premise: the best nonprofit events are those that allow donors to experience your mission firsthand. When a donor attends your event, they should walk away with a deeper understanding of your work, the people you serve, and the impact their support makes possible.

Think of your events as windows into your organization’s soul – opportunities for donors to see, hear, feel, and connect with the work they’re funding. This experiential element is unique to events.

Let’s Build Events into “Ask, Thank, Report, Repeat”

The Ask

Events provide unique asking opportunities that complement your direct mail, digital, and personal solicitation strategies:

  • Public asks at events can create momentum and inspire others to give
  • Peer-to-peer giving happens naturally when enthusiastic supporters bring friends
  • One-on-one conversations during events can lay groundwork for major gift solicitations

Remember: an event without a clear ask is a missed opportunity. Every event should include at least one moment where attendees are invited to support your work. Then in the moment, when they give via a paddle raise or text to give, they should be thanked.

The Thank You

Events allow you instant, in-the-moment donor stewardship and thank you.

  • Publicly recognize donors and their impact
  • Applaud paddles going up
  • Print bid names on the paddles so that fundraising hosts can use first names
  • Use technology like a text to give platform that allows a name to appear on the screen

The Report

Events are powerful reporting tools as your event is a story of your work:

  • Share impact stories through video, presentations, or testimonials
  • Have program participants speak directly to donors about how their lives have changed
  • Display visual representations of your impact (photos, infographics, exhibits)
  • Create immersive experiences that demonstrate your work in action
  • Take photos and share them on social media to demonstrate that folks were a part of your work
  • And most important, similar to a report after a direct mail appeal, be sure to report out the results and impact of the event

The emotional connection formed when donors witness your impact firsthand is invaluable – it creates memories that last far longer than a written report. But don’t forget the written report too.

Repeat

Events build anticipation for the next engagement:

  • Use events to announce upcoming initiatives that will need support
  • Create event series that naturally lead donors to the next opportunity
  • Follow up with attendees to continue the conversation
  • Use event interactions to inform your understanding of donor interests for future communications

Building Your Event Strategy Within the Donor Cultivation Continuum

To truly integrate events into your donor cultivation cycle:

Map your donor journey. Identify where different types of events fit within your cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship pathways. There are different event models for awareness, acquisition, engagement, stewardship, and legacy giving. Pick the model that works best for your current donor needs.

Segment your audience. Different donor segments should be invited to different types of events based on their giving level, interests, and relationship stage.

Create a year-round calendar. Plan events that complement your other fundraising activities and provide regular touchpoints throughout the year. Events are a big labor lift so 1-2 big events a year is often the best-case scenario.

Measure what matters. Look beyond net revenue to evaluate events. Consider metrics like new donor acquisition, donor retention, increased giving from attendees, and relationship advancement.

Follow up intentionally. An event is never the end of the conversation—it’s an inflection point that should lead to the next meaningful interaction.

Events as Part of the Bigger Picture

The true power of events comes when they’re viewed not as isolated fundraising activities but as integral components of your overall donor engagement strategy. Each event should move donors forward in their journey with your organization.

By thoughtfully designing events that enhance your Ask, Thank, Report, Repeat cycle, you’ll create more meaningful donor experiences, deeper relationships, and ultimately, greater long-term support for your mission.

Remember: the goal isn’t just to hold successful events – it’s to use events successfully as part of cultivating lifelong donors who are passionate about your cause.

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Steven says, “Samantha Swaim has more than 20 years of event planning and fundraising expertise. She is the co-author of Planning a Successful Major Donor Event, is the founder of the annual Elevate fundraising event conference scheduled for March 3-4, 2026 and is the co-host of The Fundraising Elevator podcast – which I recently appeared on: check it out!”

Your Mass Donor Fundraising Is “Stewardship” (and here’s why that’s important)

Steven Screen  |  Ask
stewardship

Jeff Brooks recently wrote an incredible post called “Fundraising vs. Stewardship: Which Is More Important?”

You should read it.

I want to show you how the “which is more important” argument – though it sounds academic – is having real-world consequences for your organization right now.

And it’s those consequences that cause some organizations to out-raise their peers, and some organizations to never “make the leap” to the next level. 

Where It Starts

Here’s what I think this whole debate comes from:

  • I think most organizations don’t believe that donors enjoy giving to anything other than events.

Organizations believe that it’s not really possible that a donor could enjoy giving to a piece of direct mail, an email, a radio-thon, etc. 

These organizations believe mass donor fundraising is somehow a negative act.  They believe donors don’t like appeals or emails.  That we fundraisers have to “twist the arm” of donors, or emotionally manipulate them, to get donors to give a gift. 

The Demonstrably Untrue Argument

If you believe that arm-twisting or emotional manipulation is necessary to get a gift, of course you will enjoy stewardship activities more than “fundraising” activities. 

These organizations think something like, “Now that the icky job of fundraising is done, it will be so great to steward our donors.”

There’s even an argument that goes something like this: Stewardship is the way we keep our donors giving to us year after year.  

That’s demonstrably untrue.  How do you explain all those organizations who don’t do any meaningful stewardship, yet they retain a significant portion of their donors each year? 

The Consequences

In my experience, believing that mass donor fundraising is a negative act results in the following tactical mistakes:

  • Asking donors less frequently than you could be
  • Refusing to put a reply card and reply envelope in your printed receipts
  • Refusing to turn your newsletter into a fundraising vehicle
  • Always telling a story of “the good you’ve already done” in appeals and e-appeals

All of those things are done out of a belief that Asking in mass donor fundraising is a negative thing and will – sooner or later – drive donors away.

However, it’s doing the opposite of those things that raises the most money AND increases donor retention:

  • Asking donors more frequently than you think you can
  • Putting a reply card and reply envelope in your printed receipts
  • Turning your newsletter into a revenue-generating machine
  • Never telling a story of “the good you’ve already done” in appeals and e-appeals

Every one of those things, done well, works like crazy.  (It’s why so many of our clients are having incredible years.  Some of them are sharing that they’re embarrassed to talk about how much money they’ve raised to their peer organizations.)   

So I ask you a question: if the definition of “stewardship” is something like “making donors feel good about their giving so that they give again” – then if all of those tactics above increase donor retention, don’t they qualify as effective stewardship?

Donors Love to Give

Donors get joy from giving – whether that’s giving to an appeal letter or at an enjoyable event.

Donors love to give.

In every way, in any form.

They don’t give every time they are asked.  (In the same way, you don’t buy your favorite product or service every time you see it advertised.  And you don’t feel bad about it when you don’t.)

So as an organization, ask yourself if you believe that mass donors love to give to your mass donor fundraising.  Because if you believe donors love to give, you’ll make different decisions about your fundraising.  And those choices will help you raise more money.

And it will bring more joy to your donors at the same time.  

Two Easy Steps to Cultivate Your Major Donor Relationships

Steven Screen  |  Major Donor Fundraising
Major Donor Fundraising

This is more of a reminder than a blog post.

The reminder: spend more time on your major donor fundraising!

Here’s why this is so important: the latest research I saw said that the average nonprofit receives 88% of their “individual donor revenue” from just 12% of their individual donors.

In my experience, disciplined major donor fundraising is the biggest-impact / least-used fundraising tool for most nonprofits.

At this moment, let’s not talk about the reasons why that is. Instead, let’s talk about two simple things you can to do start doing a better job today.

Do These Two Things

Here are two really simple things you can do to “go a little deeper” with your major donor fundraising:

  1. Subscribe to the blog from Veritus Group. They are the best at setting up internal systems to do major donor fundraising well, and at understanding what major donors want from your fundraising.
  2. Call one top donor today just to say “Thank you.” The donor you call should be one you haven’t spoken to in a while. And to make it easy, here’s a simple script for you:

“Hi [DONOR NAME], this is [YOUR NAME] from [YOUR ORG] and I’m calling just to say Thank you. Don’t worry, I’m not calling to ask for money. But we haven’t communicated 1-to-1 in a while, and I want to make sure you know how much you are appreciated. You and your generosity have done amazing things! So thank you, and are there any questions you have that I can answer, or anything you’d like to know about what your gift has accomplished?”

I’m pretty sure you can take it from there.

But the trick is to call at least one top donor today. It’s a small step. But a BIG step for that donor.

And you’ll be on the path towards a better relationship and better future fundraising results!