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I bet your favorite brand makes you feel great every time you interact with them. Brands like Tiffany’s and the Ritz Carlton cater to our needs, but we don’t always treat our donors this way. In this episode, Rachel Muir shares stewardship techniques that will dramatically increase your individual donor loyalty and revenue. Rachel Muir, author of Makeover my Board and founder of Girlstart, discusses how to enhance your donor cultivation by acknowledging all gifts, remembering donaversaries, making thank you calls, and getting to know donors as more than just a credit card or checkbook.     Links: Rachel’s website: www.rachelmuir.com Rachel’s upcoming course, Makeover my Fundraising: http://makeovermyfundraising.com/ Rachel’s Guides: http://www.rachelmuir.com/guides/    Handouts from Keynotes: http://www.rachelmuir.com/handouts/ Rachael’s Blog: http://www.rachelmuir.com/handouts/ Rachael’s Facebook: www.facebook.com/rachaelmuir   *****Time-stamped Highlights***** (5:45) Incentivize loyalty (7:37) Amplify your donors’ experience using surveys (10:00) Acknowledge donors’ gifts (13:00) Inspire your donors to give again (14:00) Send a message: how a thank you letter for a $3 gift encouraged a $100,000 donation (15:45) The negative effects of “stewardship minimums” (17:25) Thank you calls before board meetings (19:30) For online gifts, use an email acknowledgement that sounds like a human wrote it (20:45) Trees Atlanta goes above and beyond to thank Dolph for a small gift (23:00) Everyone loved an Ontario nonprofit’s “thank you letter from a bird” (26:00) How to approach your donors that “downgrade” their giving (28:00) Low-hanging fruit: meaningful phone calls with donors (31:25) Embody the core value of gratitude (33:45) Dolph’s life lesson on responding to donors and supporters (36:20) Rachel shares her experience on the being on thereceiving end of donor cultivation