Stewardship Deep Dives

Attracting new donors is important for news organizations of all sizes. Keeping those donors may be even more important.  

To help news fundraisers advance their stewardship practices, the Lenfest News Philanthropy Network is introducing a series of peer-sharing sessions focused on stewardship strategy and tactics — digging into nitty gritty topics from database management to donor acknowledgements.  

This three-part series, taking place on October 24, October 31, and November 14 from 1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. EDT, will allow organizations to “show and tell” their challenges and successes with donor stewardship to offer real-world learnings and an opportunity to engage in conversation around top-of-mind questions.  

This series is open to fundraisers with at least two years of stewardship experience, as this program will not cover introductory material. Participants will be encouraged to actively share. Space is limited, but it is free to participate and fully online.  

If you’re interested in participating, please complete this interest form by October 7. 

Here are more details about each of the session:  

Session #1: October 24 

Focus: Strategy and Planning  

  • Stewardship responsibilities within an organization 
  • Stewardship calendars 
  • When to make the ask 

Session #2: October 31 

Focus: Approaches for different donor levels 

  • Major donor stewardship vs cultivating smaller-level donors 
  • Giving societies/circles  
  • Stewardship content  

Session #3: November 14  

Focus: Tactics and Activities 

  • How to capture stewardship engagement in a CRM  
  • Stewardship events 
  • Acknowledgements and thank you’s