 
Free Investor Relations and Retention Tools From STELLAR
Keeping your investors informed and confident that their money is being used wisely and effectively is vitally important to the ongoing success of any fund campaign and will help to minimize pledge defaults. In our experience, we have learned the following actions and strategies can significantly increase your investor renewal rates.
- Establish a definite multi-year budget for investor relations.
- Make investor relations a specific assignment for a key staff member, or outsource it and prepare a plan through efforts by a special team of staff, consultant(s) and/or appropriate volunteers.
- Provide a “special investors” newsletter sent to investors quarterly, at a minimum. However, it need not be on a specific date, but sent out immediately when news of importance develops. Or quarterly, with news flashes as they occur to subsidize this outreach vehicle.
- Consistently seek opportunities to treat program investors in “special VIP” ways. Invite them to ground breaking's (or the roll-out of your new branding materials, etc.) and grand openings and give them opportunities to meet those involved with both the business coming to town, and the Campaign Leadership Team.
- Publish a thank-you roster of investors in the local Business Journal or newspaper and ask others to join the campaign (the search for new investors may continue over the program life cycle). Also, consider a full-page ad (via in-kind if possible) in local and regional print media. Recognize all investors equally and give importance to large and small investors equally.
- On the anniversary of the program’s launch, issue a special commendation or memento of their participation in the program. (Plaque, Golf Balls, Mug, Etc.)
- Host at least one annual investor meeting each year. Again, use your investor list as a VIP roster. Invite investors to special functions and, whenever possible, be sure to let them know they are being invited because of their special investor status.
- Keep the names and faces of campaign and program leaders prominent (in newsletter’s and in your Directory) in all literature long after the campaign. Never let the program become stale and or identified more with staff than volunteers.
- When invoicing investors for pledge payments, always include a “hand” note from the campaign chair(s) expressing your thanks, gratitude and mention a few recent positive developments, including copies of clippings from the newspaper.
- Consider holding monthly chairman(s) breakfast’s and invite 20 investors at a time to “meet the Chairman” and “learn what we’re up to, and so you can give us your feedback.” Any that don’t show after three invites, the CEO or the Chair should to go see this person and make them feel special, and very much appreciated and needed.
Solid Investor Relations & Retention takes money, planning and scheduling. STELLAR has developed additional tools to assist you in this effort. Our statistical analysis shows that if you’ll do the above, you should expect to retain 96% or more of all pledges.
Click here for your FREE copy of the Investor Relations & Retention Worksheet
REMEMBER THIS: Major Investors have gone "above and beyond" for your program, so give them ALL "the care and feeding" (and special attention) they most certainly deserve, and likely want.
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