Download - Donor Cultivation in theory and practice
Donor cultivation in
theory and practice
Jenny Harrow, Tobias Jung, Hannah Pavey, Jeanie Scott
Aim
To identify the existing levels and nature of donor cultivation
practices within the Scottish arts sector and to explore the
challenges Scottish arts organisations face at a time of
mounting resource pressures.
Method
Co-production approach
Exploratory review of academic and non-academic literature
Online survey
Telephone interviews
Focus groups
Practice Findings
Five clusters
Organisational factors
Contexts and relationships
Donors
Approaches
Success
Organisational factors – the internal organisational
characteristics of individual organisations;
‘Even though everyone understands the need for funds,
fundraising is perhaps not as valued as other parts of the
organisation’
Contexts and relationships – the socio-political, cultural and
economic environment as well as stakeholders, partners and
competitors within the sector;
‘You need to focus on who you’re targeting There is a lot of
diversity in the market. The donor isn’t going to be interested
in ALL arts’
Donors – the knowledge and understanding of existing and
potential donors;
Approaches – the extent and nature of approaching and
interacting with donors;
Success – the understanding, assessment and use of
‘effectiveness’ within donor cultivation and fundraising more
widely
‘I have no background in this—there is no precedent—have
tried to be modest in how much we can raise in a year…but it
is difficult to calculate’.
Findings from the literature
Three clusters
Donor engagement
Donor education
Donor control
Donor engagement – interactive relationships
Transactional relationship perspective
Relationship fundraising perspective
Donor education – instructive relationships
‘the formal learning opportunities that engage and
enable individuals to make wise decisions about their giving
to achieve impact and change’ (Siegel and Yancey 2002: 8).
Donor control – directive relationships
Non-profit directed relationship
Donor directed relationship
Fundraising models and perspectives• Steps and cycles, pyramids, and social
interaction models
• Donor motivations: ‘there is urgent need to
invest in research that clarifies donors’
motivations, needs, and decision-making
criteria’ William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
and McKinsey & Company (2008: 4)
• Targeting
Donor cultivation as an umbrella concept
Organisational factors
Context and relationships
DonorsApproach
Success
ThinKit! Steering Wheel
A reflective framework to donor cultivation
Organisational factors
What are the internal challenges and opportunities for donor
cultivation within your organisation? How do different
organisational responsibilities relate to each other?
Contexts and relationships
What challenges and opportunities does the socio-political and economic environment offer? What are your existing relationships with other organisations and how could these be used? Are there opportunities for networking or collaboration and how can these be developed?
Donors
Who are your existing and potential donors? What do you know about them? How can you learn more about them ?
Approaches
How will you go about approaching, engaging and managing existing and new donors?
Success
How do you define success for your donor cultivation strategy? Where do you want to be? How do you know that you are there? How are you going to communicate/use your successes?
Organisational factors
Context and relationships
DonorsApproach
Success
ThinKit! Steering Wheel
A reflective framework to donor cultivation