Your stewardship strategy is killing your moment-based giving

Written By Ruth Hartt

CEO: Ok, our stewardship is dialed in. Appreciation events, welcome gifts, the works. But donations are stuck. What’s your take?

New CMO: Don’t kill the messenger, but we’re playing one giving game when there are actually two.

CEO: What now?

CMO: I just saw a Wharton study. They found that after 30 days, you’ve already lost a third of the giving impulse.

CEO: But—

CMO: I know. We’re designing around long-game giving. But gratitude after a good experience decays fast. By the time we’ve “built the relationship,” the reciprocity window is already closed for some patrons.

CEO: So the wooing doesn't matter?

CMO: Not for every kind of giver. Patrons are most primed to give right after they have a transformative experience. It’s in the research, but we are totally ghosting that moment.

CEO: How do we capture it?

CMO: We measure the transformation itself. Not satisfaction. Not loyalty. The actual outcome.

CEO: Sounds impossible.

CMO: It’s actually simple. How much less stressed did they feel? How much more connected? How much more energized?

CEO: And that predicts giving?

CMO: Dilenschneider says that "it made me feel good" is literally one of the top three reasons millennials donate. But we'd have to ask right after the experience, when that feeling is strongest. Before it fades.

CEO: So... a survey?

CMO: A quick one. Two questions. We score the delta. Then we know exactly who experienced the highest impact.

CEO: And then we ask?

CMO: Right away. While reciprocity is still hot. That’s where the money is. And no—before you ask—not with a pressure tactic. With an invitation tied directly to their experience.

CEO: But…relationship building…

CMO: Obvs. This isn’t INSTEAD of stewardship. It’s a different giving motivation altogether. The moment-based givers. The experience-inspired donors. We’ve been ignoring that opportunity for years.

CEO: How much money are we talking about?

CMO: Wharton says every 30-day delay erases roughly a third of the giving opportunity. If we’re waiting months to ask, we’re losing real revenue.

CEO: So if we wait 90 days, we’ve already lost more than half the potential?

CMO: The vibes drop off a cliff.

CEO: Wait. This data tells FUNDERS something too, doesn’t it?

CMO: It’s huge. We can translate those impact scores into public health language. “24% improvement in stress reduction” becomes concrete proof of impact.

CEO: So we're proving we deliver measurable outcomes.

CMO: On the same scale as health interventions. Suddenly we're comparable to what they fund elsewhere.

CEO: So what you’re saying is the arts stop sounding “nice” and start sounding investable.

CMO: Welcome to your fundable impact era.

CEO: BRB rewriting our strategic plan.


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Ruth Hartt

Ruth is an opera singer who swapped the stage for the world of business innovation. Now she helps arts and culture organizations ignite radical growth by championing a radically customer-first audience engagement model.

Blending deep arts and nonprofit experience with eight years as Chief of Staff at the Clayton Christensen Institute—a globally recognized authority on business and social transformation—Ruth equips arts leaders to redefine relevance, expand audiences, and unlock new demand.

A frequent speaker at industry conferences and dual-certified in digital marketing strategy, Ruth is leading a movement to grow arts audiences by aligning strategy with the needs of today’s consumer—future proofing the sector with a business model that’s built for today’s digital world.

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