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How to be a donor detective
How to be a donor detective
Searching for clues After decades together, I learned my husband didn’t like pineapple. It was shocking, really, that I’d missed something like that. Do you feel like that about your donors, too? What clues might you have been missing? A successful fundraiser is a detective. The best retailers have created entire business models around getting to know their customers. Or about offering the most…
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Try indulgence to improve your next appeal
Try indulgence to improve your next appeal
It’s not often that you come on an interesting study that helps with a project you’re working on right then.
That happened to me this week, and I thought I’d share, in case it’s helpful to you, as well.
I’ve been working on an appeal for a brand new organization. They’re focused on hunger issues and they need to raise money to get started. We’d been working on an appeal for monthly gifts. For…
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Donor insights from NTEN’s latest report
Happy Wednesday all!
NTEN recently released a Nonprofit Donor Engagement report that surveyed about 1,000 donors about their giving behavior. It’s a quick read and very organized, so we definitely recommend you check it out…But if you happen to be busy with the million things you need to do for your end-of-year campaign, here’s some quick highlights we found particularly useful:
“Donors gave an average of 67% of their annual amount to their favorite charity”
What it means: You have big fans out there! Find the people who care most about your cause and make sure you keep feeding their bellies with updates about their money and other opportunities to act on behalf of your cause. Speaking of which…
“Only 27% of donors reported a desire to sign a petition once a year or more frequently. Just 20% were willing to contact legislators or elected officials by phone or email on behalf of the nonprofit. Finally, just 18% said they would share their story, related to their favorite charity’s cause once per year or more often.”
What it means: You need to make it as EASY and SIMPLE as possible for someone to act. Everyone hates cold-calling people. You can’t be gimmicky. And some people think giving is enough – don’t press people to do things, just give people the opportunity to; some will jump on it excitedly, the others won’t feel pushed.
“The majority of donors (65%) reported supporting their favorite charity because they ‘believe in the charity’s cause,’ and nearly a third (30%) reported that they did so because they wanted to ‘help make change happen.’”
What it means: Impact. People give because they care about your mission and want to see change. SHOW THEM THE CHANGE. THEY’LL WANT TO SEE MORE, AND PROBABLY GIVE YOU MORE.
“30% of donors reported being thanked immediately, and 21% reported that they were never thanked.”
What it means: Noooooooo. These are terrible statistics. Immediate thank you’s are a must (and honestly not hard to implement, so you don’t have an excuse). It’s also a really good idea to shoot a quick update with another thank you a month or two later. It’s great to be reminded about how generous you are! The problem is waiting until the end of the year and accompanying it with another ask…come on, we all know what you’re trying to do!
If you’re interested in learning more, check out the full report!
Get To Know Your Donors
You wouldn’t walk into an interview without doing some background research on the company and your interviewer.
You wouldn’t arbitrarily choose a menu for your new restaurant and then not pay attention to which dishes are getting ordered most often.
And you certainly wouldn’t get down on one knee before realizing what you’re getting yourself into (unless of course you’re Kim Kardashian)
It’s no different with your donors.
For some reason, many nonprofits spend almost all of their resources on finding new, prospective donors, but forget there’s a whole bunch of people already with a foot in the door! Don’t forget about them!
One of the easiest ways to combat the alarmingly low donor retention rate is to get to know what motivates your donors and why they love your cause.
Take, for example, a high-school mentorship/entrepreneur program for disadvantaged students: are your donors drawn to mentorship of disadvantaged students? Do they want to support local entrepreneurship? Or do they care a lot about education and promoting college opportunities?
The answer to these questions will really help you with your messaging.
Organizations are hesitant to bombard supporters with questions; but instead of an intrusive survey, invite your supporters to share why education or the environment or pandas are important to them. At events, talk with donors about what inspires them to give. Track what type of stories are generating the most buzz and getting shared the most via social media.
If a supporter has already given to your cause, there’s a reason behind it – find out why! Not only will you get some insight into how to keep current supporters engaged, but you’ll also know what stands out and draws people to your cause!
