How the strategy behind social media is like old-time donor relations

"Think about it -- how many companies

have "customer managers" instead of

"product managers"? (Li and Bernhoff, 2008, p. 199)

I couldn't help but be struck as I read Chapter 10 in Groundswell how so much of the strategy behind using social media to connect with customers is like what I do every day as a donor relations and stewardship professional. In the fundraising world, we are the people behind the scenes nurturing relationships with our "customers," aka "donors," by finding ways to connect that will make them feel appreciated and, most importantly, allow them to see the impact of their gift(s). To this end, we send reports on named funds, throw receptions where donors can meet their scholarship recipients, plan ground breakings, and devise individualized stewardship plans in which we schedule points of contact, i.e., "touches" with donors at various points throughout the year, so they never feel far from our thoughts.

Time and time again, the gurus in this field talk about "donor-centered fundraising" and have even written books with this title.

Helping us discover what donors want and how to act on this knowledge has become big business and has spawned an entire industry of researchers and marketers claiming to have just the tools we need to increase donations and keep them coming year after year.

Penelope Burk, author of Donor-Centered Fundraising

talks about attracting and retaining younger donors.

In our organizations, we are the people with

"the most passion about starting a relationship with [our] customers," (Li and Bernhoff, 2008, p. 212)

and fundraisers look to us for guidance on how to make those relationships last. In a down market, it is much easier to hold on to the customers you already have than to try to drum up new business. Suddenly, the back office work of stewardship has become sexy after years of being seen as non-strategic drudgery.

If we can make our current donors feel happy and respected, they, in turn, will tell others about us, energizing the mini-groundswell within our organizations to the point where it will allow us "to embrace the groundswell of customers outside," (Li and Bernhoff, 2008, p. 199), hopefully bringing in new business.

So even though social media provides us with new tools for connecting with our customers, it is most effective if it uses the proven methods of customer relationship management (CRM) that preceded it.