Donor Walls

Love them or hate them, donor walls are here to stay.  But before you sign a five-figure contract with a donor wall manufacturer here’s a few things to think about.

Do you really need a donor wall?

Despite what some people might tell you, donor walls ARE NOT the primary reason donors give to your organization.  While they can be used to educate new donors about giving norms at your charity, there are many ways to do this that cost much less money. 

Donor walls can be a fitting way to recognize giving, and sometimes your board isn’t going to give you a choice in the matter!  Often, organizations will use them to recognize cumulative lifetime giving, or contributors to a timebound campaign, especially for facilities.  If you are going to do one, it’s very important that you think through what you are doing and why.  You need to make sure it really makes sense for your organization.

What NOT to do!

Do not do a donor wall for an organization that does not get frequent foot traffic from current or future constituents.  There’s no sense in spending tens of thousands of dollars on a donor wall that only a handful of individuals will see in a given year.  If you are an educational institution with a heavily used lobby, or some other organization that draws a crowd this can make sense.  In such an environment, giving walls can be the occasion for stewardship events celebrating new giving society members. 

Another thing to avoid is a donor wall where the information will be changing frequently.  There are walls out there that are meant to recognize annual giving.  These will change radically from year to year.  A general rule of thumb is that the less time you can spend maintaining the wall the better.  Remember, every minute you spend managing your donor wall is a minute you don’t spend on more effective donor engagement efforts.

If you are going to be recognizing cumulative lifetime giving on a wall, be sure to create some clear rhythms in the wall’s maintenance.  Set a regular time once a year when you update the wall and stick to it.

Traditional or Digital Signage

Traditional walls are very expensive to build and will continue to cost money with each name you add.  Thought should be given to such walls regarding space as well.  What will you do when you outgrow the wall your current donor wall sits on?  Many problems like this can be avoided by using digital screens, they will show whatever list you want, in whatever style or size you want.  They cost nothing to update and avoid ongoing maintenance costs.  Best of all, you don’t need to work with a specialty vendor to install them.  Though I do recommend paying a carpenter to build nice wooden frames to class them up a bit.

Recognition Policies

What types of gifts will be recognized on your wall?  Realized gifts?  Pledges?  Estate commitments?  Whatever you want to decide is fine, but it is critical that you spell out your policies clearly and stick to them.  Once an organization starts making exceptions, it becomes difficult to say no to other requests.  Generally speaking I recommend sticking with realized gifts, this way you don’t have to worry about removing a name should a donor fail to complete a pledge or change the details of their will without telling you.

While donor walls might seem like a straightforward concept, in truth there is a lot more to managing one than usually occurs to the individual suggesting you create one.  The person who takes the time to build a rationale for the donor wall, a clear plan for its management, and shows how it can complement your existing fundraising plan will be light years ahead of those who don’t!