Best and Worst Donor Practices

Piggy Bank

Compilation of Tips from Various Organizations: Best and Worst Practices by Donors

At RG, we know that it’s not only important to redistribute our wealth to social movements — it’s important to do so in a way that lessens the burdens placed on their staff and volunteers. These are a few of the best — and worst! — donor practices, sourced from RG’s partners and members. 

Best Practices 

  1. Making long-term commitments, which means being monthly sustainers and/or giving multi-year pledges. This helps the organization plan for the future and provides stability.
  2. Giving for general operating support rather than restricted funds. DON’T tell the organization where or how to spend the money.
  3. Giving concrete numbers as a ballpark of what you’re thinking, even if you can’t commit to a specific amount right away. For example – “I will consider giving between $1K and $2K.” This helps the organization understand your intentions and plan accordingly.
  4. Communicating timelines. If you make a pledge, give the money promptly without further follow-up. Share with the organization when you’ll be sending the money, and set a yearly reminder for yourself! Don’t make them chase you.
  5. Just communicate. Tell the organization the best way to contact you. Respond to calls/emails/texts/etc., within a week, even if you’re not able to talk or commit until later. 
  6. Telling others about the organizations you’re giving to! Brag about how proud you are to be a donor in conversation, Instagram, TikTok etc. Identify yourself as a donor or member of a specific organization when relevant. In other words, be a donor organizer!
  7. Asking the organization what they want and need.
    1. From one of RG’s partners: “We have several donors who tell us early in the year, ‘I am giving X amount this year. Divide it up however you think is best.’ That is so awesome.” 
  8. Being involved in the organization, not just as a donor. Find an “organizing home” and build trust by participating in the work. But don’t make assumptions about what that role should be; recognize that the organization might feel pressured to give you an extra sweet volunteer role (or even create one for you) because of how much money you give, but that might not be what they need. Maybe that role is appropriate for your skills and talents, or maybe you should really be stuffing envelopes. Stuffing envelopes is super important too.
  9. Understanding and respecting that an organization has real internal deadlines that need to be respected. (For example – the end of the fiscal year, if we don’t get this money this month, we won’t make payroll, etc.)
  10. Understanding that organizations are counting on you—literally. Let them know in advance if your circumstances will change and you will be giving less, even though you sincerely love the organization.
    1. From one of our partners: “We have a major donor who has been telling us for years that his gift will gradually decrease each year. Although we wish it were not so, being able to plan for that is really great.”

Worst Practices

  • Making a pledge and not giving for a long time or ever.
  • Not responding to contact. The more contact attempts, the more egregious this is. Attempts to communicate with you cost organizations money. Every appeal letter, email, phone call, and meeting = staff time, which = money. And as time goes on, all this can = stress too. 
  • Being vague on what you’re able to commit numbers-wise (“I’ll think about giving something”) and timeline-wise (“I’ll get back to you after I figure some stuff out”).
  • Setting up an unnecessary 1:1– if you’re already set on what you’re giving and your contribution amount is non-negotiable, tell that to the person trying to fundraise you, so that if you still have a call with each other you have shared expectations.
  • Being unreceptive to getting on the phone or having an in-person meeting – being unwilling to connect with fundraisers who want to share about the work to build your investment in the work can be frustrating for organizers.
  • Losing track of tax-exemption letters and asking the organization to re-send at a later date.  
  • Expecting organizations to jump at your ideas. Many organizations genuinely want to hear from their members and donors, but make sure that the size of your donation isn’t leading to entitlement, which can burden staff time and resources.
    • From an RG partner: “Our members and donors are smart, and we don’t want anyone’s guilt or shame to prevent them from sharing their excellent ideas with us. So please do share your thoughts and ideas. But if you were raised with class privilege, you may be accustomed to your people thinking your ideas are especially wonderful. It’s essential to remember that we receive input from many brilliant minds, and your opinion is just as important as anyone else’s. You wouldn’t want to support an org that values your ideas over a $50 donor’s, but the pressure to do so is immense. Share your feedback, but be humble.” 
  • Flitting around from organization to organization. As with any relationship, you should never stay out of obligation or guilt. People and organizations change, but make sure that as a donor you’re moving with intentionality (not just because something new and shiny caught your eye).
  • Pitching an idea or a project to an organization with no clarity on what your financial support would look like or the assurance that you will continue to support the organization if they decide your idea shouldn’t be a priority or there’s not currently enough capacity for it. 

Mixed Bag

  • Understand that an organization might really want to connect with you. Prioritize the opportunity for relational meetings and value them accordingly.
    • From an RG partner: “As in most organizations, we try to meet with every major donor at least once a year. We have a handful of donors who say ‘I don’t need a meeting, don’t want to take up your time, I’ll just keep sending my check.’ On the one hand, they are being respectful of our time and resources, and we really appreciate that. Also, maybe they just don’t enjoy those kinds of visits, and that’s fair, and we want to respect that too. But on the other hand, the purpose of these meetings (for us, at least) isn’t just to ask you to give again/more. It’s also to deepen the relationship, which is truly, authentically important to us. So it kinda bums us out when we don’t get to do that. Again, if you just don’t have time and/or just don’t like meetings, that is fine. Above all, we appreciate direct communication. But we would really love to have the chance to get to know you better and let you get to know us better. Cheesy but true.” (Other orgs may feel differently about this.)
  • Share your passions AND stay realistic about what an organization is actually doing. Be open to hearing that there may not be an alignment between your interests and the organization’s priorities.

From an RG partner: “‘I would/could give more if…’ This is good if you are just letting us know what you’re thinking. You would give more if you saw more impacts of our work on fluffy kittens. This is fine, as long as you already know who we are and what we’re about, and you’re realistic about that. We are not going to start measuring or, frankly, caring about the impacts of our work on fluffy kittens. But it’s really helpful for us to know where you’re at and what your priorities are. Maybe I can connect you with this fluffy kitten org that one of our grantees collaborates with. Or, you know what, maybe we are doing some of that fluffy kitten work and just never knew you were interested. Or this could lead to a great conversation where we both learn some things about fluffy kitten strategies and the pitfalls of kittenism. On the other hand…this is bad if you’re expecting your ideas to have more weight and/or you get annoyed when we don’t do the fluffy kitten thing.”