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Vanessa Chase

Vanessa is a fundraiser and principle consultant at Vanessa Chase Associates, where she specialize in annual giving campaigns and training board to fundraise. Recently she has been keenly interested in the intersection of online fundraising and donor relations, and how that is reshaping the playing field. In particular how charities can become more limber to adjust with it. She is also working on a project that helps young people fulfill their philanthropic dreams through an online crowd sourcing platform.

Failing to Steward the Online Donor

The scene at my desk on Tuesday: In preparing for my monthly ritual of stewarding new donors, I pulled up a spreadsheet that I share with the Gift Processing team. This spreadsheet is a way of double tracking these new donors in order to send them a welcome letter to thank them for their monthly commitment to the organization. I inherited this portfolio (and project) about 4 months ago and hadn’t developed a critical eye around what exactly I was looking at/doing in the bigger picture.

So I made a bad assumption: this spreadsheet captured every new monthly donor regardless of what channel they first gave through.

Imagine my surprise when a colleague from Gift Processing came by my office and off the cusp asked me if I’d like them to list donors who give online on the spreadsheet. Two words flashed through my mind: Mass Panic. (more…)

Vanessa Chase