Placing donors' names on the donor wall is one of the most important tasks once the wall has been set up. Even though the names are not added until the wall is in place, the planning should be done beforehand. There are many things to consider when placing donor names on the wall.
You have to decide how you would be categorizing the donors and how their contributions will be highlighted. Moreover, the donor recognition wall should encourage donors to move to an advanced level by contributing more. Let's look at how you should place donor names on a recognition wall :
The first thing to decide is how you would organize the names of the donors. There are quite a few ways to do this. You can organize the donor names alphabetically. This way the donors won't be categorized according to their contributions. However, you can also arrange the donors according to the contribution they made. This will be a tad bit tricky as you will need to calculate the contributions made by the donors, particularly if you don't want to mention the specific amount. There are a few ways you can do this as well.
Calculating the contributions can be done in either of two ways. The first way is to categorize the donors according to the yearly contributions they make. The second method would be to calculate the total contribution made by each donor. However, the second method is more preferable as it makes the donor feel better about contributing to your cause. You will have more donors over time. Therefore, you have to make provisions for this.
Once your campaign is successful, you will gain more donors over time. It is a great idea to include their names on the donor wall as well. For this you require careful planning. The donor recognition wall that you set up should have enough space to add more names. But do make sure that the empty space doesn't stick out like a sore thumb.
The donor wall arrangement should be made such that donors are encouraged to donate more. You can highlight the names of the top donors. Moreover, you can encourage donors to contribute more and move their name to the top donors' section if they contribute enough. This will be a great way of expressing gratitude and encouraging them to contribute more.
However, it is important that you should ask each and every donor whose name you want to place on the wall whether he/she wishes to remain anonymous or use the family name. In some cases, the donor might want to dedicate the contribution in someone else's name. Therefore, keep this in mind when finalizing the list of names that will go on the donor wall.
