#73: 5 steps to get started with donor surveys, with Louis Diez

Mar 1, 2023

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Have you ever surveyed your donors?

We talk a lot about listening to donors through conversations. Surveys can be a great tool to compliment donor conversations, because they’re interviews at scale.

They’re a great way to:

Engage
Course-correct (are we going in the right direction?)
Collect information
Make donors feel valued and seen
Identify donors for further cultivation and solicitation

But how do you get started designing a survey?

And what meaningful and practical steps can you take with the information you get back?

On this week’s podcast, we chat with Louis Diez about how to get started with donor surveys.

Louis advises nonprofits in annual fund development, digital fundraising, and engagement strategies.

He currently serves as the VP, Community of Almabase and is the founder of the Donor Participation Project.

Previously, he was Executive Director of Annual Giving at Muhlenberg College, Director of the Annual Fund and Development Business Operations at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Associate Director of Development at Johns Hopkins SAIS.

In these roles, he led teams that created growth in number of donors and dollars raised through a model he calls the Sustainable Revenue Engine.

In our chat, we get into:

How to choose and define the purpose of a donor survey
How to design questions that connect with the donor’s identity and values
How to design questions that connect the donor with the different ways you’re making an impact
How to design questions about philanthropic plans and habits
How to strategically follow-up with donors who raised their hand

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Thanks for listening!