8 questions to ask BEFORE sending out your next Donor Survey

Here’s what an Annual Donor Survey is NOT…

❌ An admin task run by your Supporter Care team
❌ Market research run by your Marketing team
❌ A place to track or measure KPIs set by your Executive or Board
❌ Your chance to ask donors every question under the sun
❌ Something you can throw together in an hour or two.

When it’s done right, your Annual Donor Survey is a rich goldmine of data which will allow you to grow your fundraising program. It can help you unearth insights about donor identity, which you can use to boost wellbeing, along with income and loyalty.

In short, your Annual Donor Survey is your roadmap to really understanding your supporter-base… but only when it’s well planned and well executed.

So here are 8 questions to ask yourself to help make your next donor survey is a real success!

1. When is the best time to send my Annual Donor Survey?

If you are like most charities, then you’re probably planning to send your Annual Donor Survey out during the quietest time on your Yearly Appeal Calendar. However, timing your Annual Donor Survey around what’s “most convenient” (read: least annoying) for your donors, shouldn’t be your only determining factor.

The real question you should be asking yourself is, “If I want to use survey data to inform new strategies that will grow fundraising income in upcoming appeals, what response deadline will allow me enough time to collate and analyse the data I collect and / or put it to use?”

For instance, you might want to try my favourite mid-level giving strategy to boost your Tax Appeal income. But in order to have all of your ducks in a row come tax-time, then your Annual Donor Survey will need to lodge before the end of February at the very latest.

I know that it’s quite likely you’ll still opt to send your Annual Donor Survey sometime at the start of the year before your Spring Appeal, or in the month or two after Tax… but make sure you’re also factoring in when and how you want to put the data to use!

2. What should I ask in my Annual Donor Survey?

In all honesty, this one question could produce enough content to fill a whole blog post by itself… but suffice it to say that what you ask really comes down to your purpose. What is it that you want to uncover or find out?

When you ask the right questions, your Annual Donor Survey can help you to spot potential new mid-level and major givers, along with bequestors, who are hiding in plain sight. When planned well, it can also to help to inform your fundraising for the whole year ahead.

However, like all fundraising communications, crafting the right questions for your Annual Donor Survey is actually quite the science. There are tactics and strategy involved, so it’s not enough simply to ask the things you’re curious about. For instance, in what situations might a qualitative question be better than a quantitative one? And are you formatting your questions in the best way to allow for later analysis?

If you’ve never sent out an Annual Donor Survey before, then it’s a good idea to do some extra learning on the subject before you do, or work with someone who can help you learn on the job.

3. What is the best format for my Annual Donor Survey? Online or print?

To decide on the right course of action for your charity, there are a few things you’ll need to consider.

How do you usually communicate with your supporters? If you only ever mail your supporters, then you might be risking a lower response rate to your Donor Survey if you choose to only send it out digitally. And vice versa.

What contact data do you have on file? It’s all well and good to decide you want to do a physical mailing, but if you don’t have any addresses on file, is worth your time? Maybe it’s better to stick to a digital survey this time… and prioritise the collection of mailing addresses so you can switch it up next year!

How are you planning to process and store your survey responses? I go into this question in more detail in point #7, but your answers might also influence whether it makes more sense for you to send out your survey digitally or in print.

Most of my clients choose to run campaigns that offer the donor their choice of completing either a physical or online survey, which is what I would recommend if it is within your budget to do so.

And speaking of budget…

4. Should I include a fundraising ask with my Annual Donor Survey?

Yes! Please do!

Many charities operate under the mistaken belief that you can’t, or shouldn’t, include a fundraising ask in your Annual Donor Survey. But the truth is, the addition of a fundraising ask will help you to cover the cost of adding another physical mailing to your annual calendar… and then some!

If you’re not including at least a small fundraising ask with your Annual Donor Survey, then not only does it come at a cost to your budget, but you’re also missing out on the chance to start growing your fundraising income. Right away.

5. How can I use my Annual Donor Survey to care for our supporters?

At its heart, your Annual Donor Survey is a tool to help you care for your supporters better… so make sure they know it! Don’t miss this opportunity to tell them that their responses are valued, or how you will use them to ensure they keep hearing about the things that are most important to them.

You should also consider how you want to approach segmentation. Will you vary the copy for regular givers or (if you’re mailing) include a handwritten note, personally inviting your Major Donors to respond?

Also… don’t forget that little things such as a warm and personalised thank you after submission, either on a confirmation page or a modal, can make a big difference to the overall experience.

6. What is my plan for handling complaints and feedback?

If this is the first time your charity has ever run an Annual Donor Survey, then it’s a good idea to make sure you’ve briefed your Supporter Care team to handle questions, feedback and any complaints you might receive. Provide them with scripted answers for any predictable questions or complaints you expect that you might receive.

(Hot tip: if you don’t do it already, it’s a good idea to do this for all your appeals as well.)

7. What should I do with the data collected from my Annual Donor Survey?

Sometimes you can get so preoccupied with making your Annual Donor Survey such a great experience for donors, that you forget about what needs to happen after they’ve sent their responses back to you.

First and foremost, you need a plan in place for linking the right survey responses with the right donor record. If your CRM is currently not built to simplify this process for you, then you might need to consider some extra investment in your systems to make the data transfer as straightforward as possible. After all, this is something you’ll be doing year after year, after year.

At the very least, you’ll need to make sure that you have the time and the resources to manage manual data entry. And if your charity hasn’t previously done much to identify prospects for Gifts in Will or Mid-level and Major Giving, then you should also expect a higher-than-usual processing workload the first time you send a Donor Survey.

Some charities I work with even choose to put budget towards the services of companies that specialise in this kind of data processing and management to make sure the data collected is in a format where it is ready to use right away. Because if it isn’t, then the danger is that it never will be… and you’ve wasted your precious time collecting excellent data which you are unable to put to use.

8. How can I put the data from my Annual Donor Survey to best use?

When I work with clients on their Annual Donor Surveys, the job doesn’t end with the pack landing or even at the response deadline. I also provide an analysis of the data once it’s been collated, along with a roadmap of recommended strategies for how to implement the findings in your annual fundraising plan.

And that means that your team’s responsibilities don’t stop here either.

You’ll have potential new regular givers to contact within 4-6 weeks, newly identified and interested bequestors to follow up, as well as new major givers to plan proposals for… and that’s just for starters!

Ask me more about how I can help you get the most out of your next Annual Donor Survey. Book in a free 45-minute meeting at a time of your choosing: calendly.com/junesteward/45-minute-meeting.