Donor relationship management practices in the South African non-profit sector

•Non-profit organisations are dependent on continuous donor support.•Therefore non-profit organisations need to maintain strong donor relationships.•Trust is viewed as the most important indicator of strong donor relationships.•Mutual control of application of funding is the most challenging aspect of donor relationships.

The importance of non-profit organisations (NPOs) in the South African development sector is undisputed, especially after the economic recession that negatively affected government's delivery of social services. Despite its important role, NPOs experience great difficulties, obtaining sustained funding.This paper assumes that NPOs should manage donor relationships as informed by the principles of two-way communication, with the aim of building strong and mutually beneficial relationships. However, because of NPO's lack of funding, they mostly cannot afford to appoint trained communication and relationship practitioners to manage NPO–donor relationships in order to ensure sustained funding. The purpose of the research was to determine how NPOs practice donor relationship management within their unique context and whether these NPOs’ donor relationship practices correspond with theory?It was found that NPOs intuitively practice donor relationship management according to most of the theoretical principles of relationship, management.It is recommended that NPOs stay committed to their mission, and not deviate from it only to obtain funding. Furthermore, focusing on donors’ need for self-actualisation seems to be important for continued donor support.