[UPDATED 9/2/14 with the recording of the special hour-plus long class!]

We’re rapidly moving toward the most generous time of the year. Many nonprofits see 30% or more of their annual donations in December. But according to recent studies by Google, September is when donors start making their year-end giving decisions.

Will you retain your donors this year?

I asked Shanon Doolittle and Vanessa Chase, the founders of the Stewardship School, to give a special free class for readers of this blog!

You came with your questions! We learned

• a 5 step plan for stewarding donors until the end of the year
• how to structure your telelphone calls,
• how to not come across like a telemarketer
• how to creatively use your calendar to help you thank donors
• how survey tools like SurveyMonkey, Google Docs, and Wufoo can help you build relationships with donors
• the specific 3-questions make an awesome donor survey
• how to structure November as a special month for donors
• how to measure the return-on-investment of donor stewardship so your CFO will be convinced it matters
• where there are other great tools–like Roger Craver’s new book “Retention Fundraising,” DonorVoice, and Clair Axelrod’s blog http://www.clairification.com/
• how to reach donors not using social media
• how to help board members “get” the importance of donor stewardship by asking them about their favorite stores
• how to make emails stand out in people’s inbox
• and literally “so much more”!

This was a fast-paced 71 minutes that you’ll want to listen to multiple times. You can hear it in its entirety below. And be sure to check out the Stewardship School that starts in a couple weeks!

Here’s the link to the replay of the entire 71 minute donor stewardship class!

The entire free donor stewardship class recording is at: https://fundraisingcoach.com/free-donor-stewardship-school-class/

You can reach Shanon at @sldoolittle, Vanessa at @vanessaechase, and them both at The Stewardship School!

You can’t afford to keep losing donors. And you need systems in place now in case you have a huge influx of donors like those from the #ALSicebucketchallenge and Myley Cyrus’ mention of My Friends Place.