We say you must have two personal contacts per year with each of your Multiple-Year Giving Society Donors. Here are our top five suggestions for the most personal and effective contacts:

1. Call them! Have your CEO or a board member call your donors, whether it is to thank them, invite them to an event, ask for their input or feedback on an idea, or share a new issue or challenge your organization is facing.
   
   
2. Have your CEO send out an e-mail to all your Multiple-Year Giving Society^™ donors every month. It needs to be more like a personal e-mail "letter" you would send a family member or group of family members updating them on your life.
   
   
3. Know which part of your work your donors care about most. Once a year, make sure you call or meet with them to inform them personally about how that particular program has benefited from their support. Give them specific numbers of additional people served, lives saved, families fed, etc.
   
   
4. Take them to lunch. Meet with your donors face-to-face once a year and ask for their feedback. We call this an 80/20 meeting. Spend 80% of the time listening and only 20% talking. Ask what advice they have for you. Find out how you could be doing a better job of telling your story in the community. Share some of the challenges your organization is facing. Let your hair down a bit. Don't forget: 80% listening!
   
   
5. Host a small-group 80/20 lunch for no more than ten major donors at a time. Follow up afterward to see if they have more ideas for you—and if they have anyone else to send your way.

For more information on donor cultivation, listen to a podcast from Terry Axelrod.