Home Visits: Navigating the Ethics of Engagement
In a recent meeting with an organization planning donor trips, someone asked me a fascinating question: “Is it unethical to do home visits? Should we even offer them?” It’s a great question, and one that deserves thoughtful consideration. Home visits—where a group of travelers visits the home of a private individual or family—are a common […]
Navigating the Pitfalls of Spontaneous Visits: Balancing Donor Engagement and Organizational Efficiency
For organizations operating in tourist-friendly destinations, accommodating donors who want to drop by while on vacation can present unique challenges. At first glance, accommodating such visits to program sites may seem like a simple task. After all, the donors are already covering their travel expenses and literally meeting us where we are, so what could possibly […]
4 Game-Changing Models for Elevating Donor Travel Experiences
In my quest to make donor trips and site visits more equitable, effective, and empathy-enabling, I have poured over research. Every once in a while, I find a great piece of academic research that has immediate and practical application in our daily work. In this article, I share some of the best research on experience […]
3 Creative Approaches to Inviting Major Donors on a Trip
A lot has been written about travel marketing – including what images or words help people begin imagining themselves in a place, and then instill such a desire to go there that those people book the trip on the spot. This is not that article. Rather than focus on glossy brochures or vivid language, this […]
4 Ways to Recruit for a Donor Trip
After two years of a pause in travel for most organizations, it is clear by now that the industry has rebounded, with demand returning before supply can even catch up. This past year I’ve seen donor trips fill faster than ever, with little signs of that trend slowing down in 2023. With such overwhelming demand, […]