Donor cultivation in

theory and practice

Jenny Harrow, Tobias Jung, Hannah Pavey, Jeanie Scott

Aim

To identify the existing levels and nature of donor cultivation

practices within the Scottish arts sector and to explore the

challenges Scottish arts organisations face at a time of

mounting resource pressures.

Method

Co-production approach

Exploratory review of academic and non-academic literature

Online survey

Telephone interviews

Focus groups

Practice Findings

Five clusters

Organisational factors

Contexts and relationships

Donors

Approaches

Success

Organisational factors – the internal organisational

characteristics of individual organisations;

‘Even though everyone understands the need for funds,

fundraising is perhaps not as valued as other parts of the

organisation’

Contexts and relationships – the socio-political, cultural and

economic environment as well as stakeholders, partners and

competitors within the sector;

‘You need to focus on who you’re targeting There is a lot of

diversity in the market. The donor isn’t going to be interested

in ALL arts’

Donors – the knowledge and understanding of existing and

potential donors;

Approaches – the extent and nature of approaching and

interacting with donors;

Success – the understanding, assessment and use of

‘effectiveness’ within donor cultivation and fundraising more

widely

‘I have no background in this—there is no precedent—have

tried to be modest in how much we can raise in a year…but it

is difficult to calculate’.

Findings from the literature

Three clusters

Donor engagement

Donor education

Donor control

Donor engagement – interactive relationships

Transactional relationship perspective

Relationship fundraising perspective

Donor education – instructive relationships

‘the formal learning opportunities that engage and

enable individuals to make wise decisions about their giving

to achieve impact and change’ (Siegel and Yancey 2002: 8).

Donor control – directive relationships

Non-profit directed relationship

Donor directed relationship

Fundraising models and perspectives• Steps and cycles, pyramids, and social

interaction models

• Donor motivations: ‘there is urgent need to

invest in research that clarifies donors’

motivations, needs, and decision-making

criteria’ William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

and McKinsey & Company (2008: 4)

• Targeting

Donor cultivation as an umbrella concept

Organisational factors

Context and relationships

DonorsApproach

Success

ThinKit! Steering Wheel

A reflective framework to donor cultivation

Organisational factors

What are the internal challenges and opportunities for donor

cultivation within your organisation? How do different

organisational responsibilities relate to each other?

Contexts and relationships

What challenges and opportunities does the socio-political and economic environment offer? What are your existing relationships with other organisations and how could these be used? Are there opportunities for networking or collaboration and how can these be developed?

Donors

Who are your existing and potential donors? What do you know about them? How can you learn more about them ?

Approaches

How will you go about approaching, engaging and managing existing and new donors?

Success

How do you define success for your donor cultivation strategy? Where do you want to be? How do you know that you are there? How are you going to communicate/use your successes?

Organisational factors

Context and relationships

DonorsApproach

Success

ThinKit! Steering Wheel

A reflective framework to donor cultivation