The journey to supporter experience excellence

Richard Spencer
Aug 12
3 min read

Updated: Aug 17

Charities don’t invest in supporter experience because it’s “nice”. They invest because amazing experiences for supporters are crucial to create the conditions in which loyalty can grow - and that loyalty is the engine of sustainable, predictable income.

We've seen the results of excellent experiences in our research - when supporters feel respected, understood, and emotionally connected, they stay longer, give more, and advocate more strongly for the causes they care about. On the flip-side, when someone feels misunderstood, ignored, or - worst of all - treated like a transaction, they drift away.

A framework and a ladder

To understand where a charity is on their journey to supporter experience excellence, we use our SIMPLE framework:

The SIMPLE model: Strategy - Insight - Measures - Processes - Leadership - Employees. — SIMPLE: the SX maturity model designed just for charities.

These six competences reveal what’s driving their supporter experience forward, and what might be holding it back. They're a starting point to help determine which areas of your organisation might need the most attention first. And for each one, you will find yourself at one of five development stages:

The five development stages of SIMPLE: firefighting, fixing, building, integrating and embedding — The five development stages of SIMPLE.

Stage 1: Firefighting

Firefighting organisations are reactive and inconsistent. Their supporter experience depends on luck: for example, who is picking up the phone that day. Staff might feel stretched, or apologetic. Leadership isn’t visibly championing the work, and priorities feel scattered.

Stage 2: Fixing

In the Fixing stage, a charity's SX problems are becoming visible. A complaint or survey sparks reflection, teams start to map our their supporter journeys and they're probably gathering basic insight into what makes their supporters tick. At this stage, senior leadership are beginning to show interest, but buy‑in can wobble - especially during organisational change. Processes are still messy, but at least they’re being named!

Stage 3: Building

Building is where foundations of supporter experience excellence really take shape. Perhaps there is a supporter promise on the table, a range of audience personas, and/or insight that is guiding decisions. Teams are documenting their processes and start seeing early signs of consistency.

Some organisations at this stage already have strong enablers: colleagues who genuinely care, early evidence that supporter‑experience principles are improving campaigns, and a growing culture of gratitude across the organisation.

Stage 4: Integrating

At the Integrating stage, supporter experience becomes part of how the organisation plans and decides. This is where the magic happens!

Measures of supporter experience are used (and valued) across teams, staff feel empowered to fix issues without escalation - and leadership buy‑in becomes visible and sustained, leading to more long-lasting change.

Stage 5: Embedding

Finally, Embedding is where supporter‑centric thinking becomes cultural. Decisions are made using real-time insight, with supporters in mind as a matter of habit. Teams are trusted, aligned, and work cohesively to deliver outstanding experiences across every touchpoint. As a result, supporters feel understood and valued by their chosen charity - their connection to the cause is stronger, their trust in the organisation grows, and their loyalty becomes even more resilient.

What does this look like in action?

We brought this model to the Supporter Experience Summit 2026, and to our own Chase Index members, and invited charities to identify where they are on their SIMPLE journey.

A picture of a printout with the SIMPLE model on. A series of stickers have been places on the model to show where people rank themselves on the five development stages. — The SIMPLE framework in action at the Supporter Experience Summit.

The results were enlightening:

Charities feel most confident about their Strategy and Insight. For these two competencies, more charities put themselves in the ‘Building’, ‘Integrating’ or ‘Embedding’ stages.
Fewer charities are as confident about their Processes, however: no one put themselves in ‘Integrating’ or ‘Embedding’ here.
Both Measures and Leadership were where charities ranked themselves the lowest – most charities put themselves in ‘Fixing’, which is the second-lowest of the development stages.
Everyone put themselves in either ‘Building’ or ‘Integrating’ for the Employees competency – a reflection of the supporter-centric cultures they are committed to building (and possibly an example of audience bias...).

What does this tell us? Well, from a relatively small sample size, nothing hugely conclusive. But if you're wondering where to start, and perhaps seeing some of yourself in the results above, it's a reminder that you are not alone on this journey. Every charity has its own unique strengths and opportunities for improvement - your first task is to identify them.

Supporter experience maturity doesn’t create loyalty on its own; it removes friction in planning your next step, reduces risk with added guidance and structure, and dramatically increases the likelihood that supporters will stay, give, and champion the cause.

The power comes from naming where you are — and choosing the next step.

Where would you rank yourself on your SIMPLE journey? Get in touch to let us know!

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