Avoiding the One-and-Done Donor

Do you remember the ice bucket challenge that went viral on social media in 2014?

The idea was that someone would “tag” you to film yourself dumping a bucket of ice and water over your head to raise awareness for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, causing weakness and muscle atrophy. If you didn’t take the challenge, you could forfeit in lieu of making a donation to ALS research.

Over 17 million people participated and more than $113 million in donations collected from the campaign - a tremendous success by any standard.

But the effect didn’t last. Almost all of the ice bucket challenge givers were single gift donors. In fact, the year after the ice bucket challenge, donations to the ALS Association dropped from $113 million to $21 million.

Despite being wildly successful for a moment in time, the ice bucket challenge ended as a flash-in-the-pan marketing stunt and not an effective fundraising strategy resulting in long-term, committed donors.

You’ve probably heard fundraising advice that recommends pitching donors on special projects and campaigns, much like the ice bucket challenge did.

This is really bad advice...and you should throw cold water on it. Here’s why.

Pitching donors on projects leads to what we call the one-and-done donor.

One-and-done donors give to your organization once, usually because they’re excited about an event, a short-term campaign, or a new project your nonprofit is working on.

It may feel like a win because you get the gift, but it is often a long-time losing tactic. If you want them to give again, you’d better think of a new and even more exciting project to pitch them on before your next meeting and better pray it piques their interest of the moment.

Some ways your nonprofit may be accidentally project fundraising:

• Think of a fancy event or gala your nonprofit is hosting, featuring a well-known or celebrity keynote speaker. Many first time donors might attend the event for entertainment value and to see the high-profile speaker. If you want them to attend and give next year, you might have to invite an even more impressive keynote speaker. Ask yourself, is your non-profit doing amazing direct service or is it a dinner theatre?

• Consider a traditional direct mail strategy. Fundraising letters often play on outrage, fear, or tragedy to convince donors to give. If you want direct mail donors to give repeatedly, you’ll need to keep searching for new things for people to get upset about, all the time, every time.

With one-and-done donors, you have to redo your development legwork every time. If you ever want to retain them, you must think up something bigger and better than they bought into the last time. This can create mission creep for your organization and divert you from your core focus.

Starting from scratch for each donation is inefficient and ineffective because you end up spending a lot of time and money on people pleasing and trying to predict and cater to your donors’ latest interests. In fact, one-time donors have the potential to kill your organization. They keep you running on the hamster wheel of project fundraising when you should really be focusing on changing the world.

The problem with the one-and-done donor is that they haven’t really bought into your organization’s vision.

Instead of pitching donors on a one-off project, pitch donors on your organization’s big vision. If a donor is inspired by your vision, they don't need to understand every tactic and every project that you may undertake along the way. They’re already confident and bought into you as a leader. They’ll understand that you’ll need to adapt and adjust your strategy based on what’s working well and what's failing.

When you pitch a big vision to donors and frame the ask as an invitation to partner with your nonprofit, major gift donors who are a good fit will view giving to your organization as a long-term relationship instead of a short-term investment.

Donors who are bought into your vision will be your partner for the long-haul. They’ll be excited about whatever your organization has in the pipeline, not just one particular project. So get off the hamster wheel of project fundraising and bring in donors who are excited about your vision, not a one-time fundraising tactic or gimmick.