From Transaction to Transformational: Curating a Donor Experience

Shannon Morris
Manager of Donor Communications
Cincinnati Museum Center

As donor relations professionals, we could probably recite the standard tax language in our sleep.

“Your tax deduction is limited to the excess of the contribution over the fair market value of any goods or services received in exchange for the donation…”

It’s at the end of all of our acknowledgment letters. It’s embedded in our gift agreements. But have we ever stopped and asked ourselves what it really means?

For those of us who like to be technical, you can find the IRS’ explanation here. For those of us who like to keep it simple, it means what we give the donor for supporting us. For gifts to a giving club we give them a museum membership. For gifts for events we give them tickets or tables. So, what can we as nonprofits give to our donors that is invaluable? Therein lies the “donor experience.”

Making the Gift Worthwhile

At my museum – which is actually a unique multi-museum complex – we found that many of our mid-level donors gave to us merely for the membership. It came with free room rentals, museum passes and more. This became a concern when it came time to restore the 85-year-old national historic landmark our museums calls home. The rooms and museums went offline as they became active construction zones and we were granted the opportunity to reimagine what it meant to be a donor to our organization.

By removing the rentals and passes from eligible benefits, we maximized the amount donors were able to deduct from their taxes. What did we do to continue to make their gift worthwhile? I’m so glad you asked.

Private Receptions & Meet-and-Greets

As a museum, we have a number of world-renowned experts on hand year-round between our curators and researchers. My guess is that your organization has some pretty cool people too. If you’re a university, it might be a really awesome alum or faculty member. As a hospital, you have some incredible live-savers and survivors you can tap into. The possibilities are endless, but only because of your supporters. Bring together your life-changing work and the interesting people who help make it happen. 

Special Tours & Insider Access

We often tell people that our art-deco building is our greatest collection item. So, during its renovation and repair, we are continuing to show our donors how we care for it. By offering private hard-hat tours, we are keeping them up to date on how their support is helping us protect it for generations. Even though donors can’t access their favorite exhibits, we’re still able to show off our variety of artifacts by inviting them to our collections center – a place not open to the general public. Making your donors feel “elite” is something that appeals to all levels of giving.

Join the Team

Donors who support us (hopefully) already love us and are proving so by putting their money where their mouths are. We invite our highest-level donors to take it a step further by joining the staff they support. By offering the chance to be a curator or exhibit builder for a day, we invite our closest friends to help conduct important research or create permanent or temporary exhibits that they can show off to their friends and family when the museums reopen later this year. When you allow your supporters to help you out for a day, they see first-hand what their funding accomplishes at your organization. As we all know, there is a huge difference between reading it in an annual report and living it.

I hope that by sharing my insights I may have sparked an idea or two for you to add value for your donors!