Conference Learning from the Session, Measures of Success for Donor Relations and Stewardship

Anne Manner-McLarty
CEO and Lead Strategist
Heurista

At the 2018 ADRP International Conference, I tested a new session format at the recommendation of my co-presenter, Debbie Meyers. She’d attended a similar version of this presentation at the New York regional and encouraged me to reimagine it with an element of small-group work. In St. Louis, about 100 practitioners holding various titles and representing a wide variety of organizations attended the session.

After a quick overview of basic measurement concepts and terminology, we broke into small groups to role-play creating a measurement plan. Members of each group were asked to adopt the part of one of the many stakeholders involved in designing a measurement plan. These roles included donor relations director or manager, administrative assistant, advancement leadership, key donor or volunteer, advancement services, IT coordinator, and fundraiser.

Each of the 10 small groups tackled the assignment differently and there was no one single area of assessment that came from the discussions. Instead, the groups reported the design process was more complex than it had initially seemed and that the complexity stemmed from the number and variety of stakeholders involved in the planning process. Many attendees had not considered how others within the organization would interpret the assessment of donor relations and stewardship, what metrics they would value, or how the measurement plan would impact other people’s work.

While I had not forecast stakeholder opinion as the take-away for this session, upon further consideration, I realized it is in keeping with my own experience. For me, the first step required in creating a measurement plan is to define the role of the donor relations function within the organization. That definition varies from one organization to the next and is heavily influenced by the roles of the other people involved. Likewise, deciding what to measure is often influenced by who is asked to contribute an opinion. Fundraisers tend to lean toward retention and upgrade, while volunteer leadership may value softer measures like satisfaction and engagement. Often there is someone at the table who points to the complexity of separating donor relations and stewardship activity from other cultivation and engagement actions. It takes agreement and coordination to build a measurement plan that is achievable, sustainable, and informative. Furthermore, the resulting measures are meaningful only if they inform future decision-making.

If you’re currently conducting a measurement project or are interested in starting one, we encourage you to join the measurement discussion within the ADRP LinkedIn Group. Using the following links, you may access the article from the Journal of Donor Relations & Stewardship on which the Measures of Success session was based, the slides from the presentation, or the session worksheet.

• Article: “Developing Evidence-based Practice within Donor Relations and Stewardship”
• Slides: “Establishing Meaningful Measures of Success for Donor Relations and Stewardship”
• Worksheet: Metrics Program Planning Worksheet.pdf

Anne Manner-McLarty is lead strategist for the donor recognition firm, Heurista, and managing editor of the Journal of Donor Relations and Stewardship. She founded Heurista in 2011 to address the growing complexities of donor relations and stewardship. She and her team work with nonprofits to develop authentic, sustainable programs that provide meaningful connections between mission, beneficiaries, and donors. She can be reached at [email protected] or 828-505-7002.