Ops Insights #073 - It’s Not Worth Compromising as Your Donors Expect Better
September 8, 2025 | Read Time: 4 minutes | Written by Jenny Kleintop
Goals are getting bigger, you are being asked to raise more with less, and your team is stretched far too thin. So what do you do?
You compromise.
You tell yourself:
We manage with sub-par data because our team is busy.
We hobble along with a database that is burdensome because we don’t have the expertise to fix it.
We go slower than we’d like because many of our data requests or processes take a long time.
It’s not always immediate when this happens. It’s often slow, sometimes over the course of years, and sometimes with the same people in the roles for many years. It’s been this way for so long that it’s become the norm, and you keep saying there’s got to be a better way. Many times, it’s a feeling where something’s off, but you can’t quite put your finger on it or explain it.
Think of it this way: It’s not worth compromising as your donors expect better. In this day and age, where donors are overloaded with hundreds of options to give, it’s no longer okay to be subpar. They will dismiss you quickly if you address them incorrectly because your data is subpar, don’t recognize someone who has already reached out to them because the database was too burdensome to update activity, or if their thank-you comes 30+ days after their gift because your processes take a long time. They will not only notice, but they will quickly dismiss and ignore any future messaging from you.
It’s not worth compromising because you can’t afford to lose the donors you’ve worked so hard to acquire. If you find yourself saying:
We want quality data to be able to trust it and, even better, use it to tell our impact stories to retain our donors.
We want a simple database to use, so we use it and see the full history with our donors to build better relationships with them.
We want, no, we need to go faster because we have audacious goals to meet.
Begin with the basics and ensure your house is in order. Up level your data, align your database with current best practices, clear bottlenecks in your data requests, and update your processes to streamline them.
As a leader, here are 3 things you can do to assist with this:
ONE: Recruit short-term interns, volunteers, or super users to up level your data as it’s too much to add to your existing team’s plates. Create a targeted timeline to get it done. A good place to start is with name formats, addresses, and duplicates. This takes you from sending a communication to 'Dear Kleintop' to 'Dear Jenny'. Sounds simple, but addressing letters and emails properly is expected by donors.
TWO: Bring in short-term expertise to simplify your database and align it to today’s best practices. Technology enhancements move quickly, and if you still have the same setup you had five years ago, you are far behind the times. Align your database with frontline fundraising strategies and configure it so that your team can easily access and utilize it. A database should not slow you down, ever.
THREE: Appoint a lead to do a short-term audit on your processes, then make a plan to turn slow processes into streamlined processes within a year. Don’t delay, as the longer you wait, the longer your donors will continue to drift away. This may mean you need to help clear the lead’s plate for 1-2 months so they can focus on this audit. This should reveal which tasks, processes, and workflows are taking significantly longer than they should. Transition from a donor receiving a thank-you 30+ days after the donation to within 1-2 days.
It’s time to stop compromising and start fixing.
Take Action
Take the following 3 steps to make sure your house is in order.
1 ➡ ONE: Recruit short-term interns, volunteers, or super users to up level your data as it’s too much to add to your existing team’s plates.
2 ➡ TWO: Bring in short-term expertise to simplify your database and align it to today’s best practices.
3 ➡ THREE: Appoint a lead to do a short-term audit on your processes, then make a plan to turn slow processes into streamlined processes within a year.
👋 See you next time,
Jenny
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