Communicating Archives - Communicate!

Segmenting Your Donor Base: How to Personalize Appeals

November 19, 2024 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

A guest post by Missy Singh of Fundly

Imagine you’re trying to catch a friend’s attention in a crowded square. They have promised to treat you to a bowl of ice cream, but they can’t seem to find you. To flag them down, you wouldn’t just yell, “Hey, you!” You could be talking to anyone, which means you will likely be ignored. Instead, you would probably say something like, “Hey, Luis! The ice cream shop is this way!”

Connecting with your nonprofit’s donors requires the same approach. Your donors are scattered across the noisy internet, and you must find ways to speak to them personally and directly. With the right CRM and marketing tools, you can segment your donor base to ensure you send relevant messages that resonate with each recipient.

According to Double the Donation, segmenting your digital campaigns produces revenue growth of up to 760% compared to non-segmented campaigns. Let’s explore practical ways to segment your donors and tailor your appeals to their preferences and interests.

Common Ways to Segment Your Donors

Segmentation allows your nonprofit to engage in more personal, meaningful donor communications without spending the time and energy to message each person individually.

Many nonprofits segment their donors based on the following characteristics:

Donor Type

Not every donor contributes to your nonprofit in the same way. To maintain their support and provide them with the recognition they deserve, create segments based on donor type, such as:

New donor. Follow up promptly after their first gift. Then, send a welcome email or email series that provides them with more information about your nonprofit and shares additional ways to get involved.

Crowdfunding donor. Provide frequent updates about the donor’s impact and your progress toward completing the project they supported. After each campaign, keep in touch by sharing additional projects or events they might be interested in.

Monthly donor. Share regular, exclusive updates and stories about the donor’s impact on your mission. Invite monthly donors to join a community, such as a social media group, where they can connect with other passionate individuals like them.

Major donor. Use phone calls and handwritten cards to engage and appreciate these high-level contributors. Send exclusive invitations for behind-the-scenes tours and meet-and-greets that allow them to see your work firsthand.

Legacy donor. Create a legacy society that brings your legacy donors together and makes them feel like part of a special group. Share resources, including stories of other legacy donors, and recognize these individuals on your website and other marketing materials.

Every donor counts. Sending communications that are appropriate based on their level of commitment and the impact of their contributions allows you to build consistent, lasting relationships with them.

Giving and Involvement History

By understanding each donor’s giving and involvement history, you can determine how much follow-up (and what kind) is necessary to keep them invested in your cause for the long term. For example, you might create segments for:

Lapsed donors. Re-engage donors who haven’t given to your nonprofit within the past year by referencing their past impact, sharing various ways they can support your mission, and sending a survey to learn more about why they stopped giving.

Volunteers. Engage those who prefer to contribute more time than money by recommending volunteer opportunities based on their skills and interests. Invite volunteers to help you raise funds from their personal networks as peer-to-peer fundraising participants.

Event attendees. If your nonprofit hosts an annual fundraising event, such as a gala, reach out to past attendees to thank them for their support last year and remind them of some of the top experiences they had.

The longer the individual’s giving and involvement history with your nonprofit, the more personalized and meaningful thanks they deserve.

Demographics

Many nonprofits also segment their donors based on demographic characteristics to craft messages that better appeal to each person’s social and economic circumstances. Consider creating segments based on:

Age. Every generation has its own values, perspectives, and preferences. For example, Baby Boomers tend to favor in-person meetings and phone calls, while Millennials prefer the speed and convenience of text messaging. Use these generational tendencies to inform the channels and frequency with which you reach out to each group of donors.

Location. Invite donors who live in your local area to in-person fundraising events where they can connect with people who share their passion and values. If your nonprofit has many donors scattered across the country or world, consider planning more hybrid and virtual events they can attend.

Occupation. A donor’s occupation can reveal more about their financial capacity and help you uncover corporate philanthropy opportunities. For example, if you notice that many donors work for the same company, consider reaching out to their employer to see if they would be interested in sponsoring an event or organizing team-wide volunteer days.

If you are missing demographic information about your donors, use your donation page and surveys to collect the details you need.

5 Tips for Tailoring Your Appeals to Donors

Use these tips to create personalized, relevant, and genuine appeals:

Choose donor segments that directly align with your overarching goals.
When collecting data, build donor trust by being transparent about how you plan to use it.
Maintain consistent branding and voice across all of your content.
Conduct A/B testing to learn what types of messaging are most effective for each segment.
Track each segment’s average gift size, retention rate, and engagement to assess your performance over time.

Additionally, maintain strong nonprofit data hygiene to keep your donor profiles accurate and up to date. Conduct regular database audits to merge duplicate entries, verify contact information, and standardize formatting.

Whether you’re trying to boost engagement for an upcoming fundraising campaign—such as Giving Tuesday—or following up to thank donors for their support, Fundly recommends incorporating visuals and stories that bring people closer to your cause. Use donor interests and preferences to guide your communications, but remember to vary the types of content you send to keep it fresh and engaging for your audience over time.

Missy Singh is the Director of Operations, Client Services & Sales at Fundly. She has been working there since 2011 when she started as a Customer Experience and Implementation Manager. As an integrated platform for social impact, Fundly serves as an industry leader in crowdfunding and peer-to-peer fundraising. In 2015 Fundly combined with NonProfitEasy to offer enterprise-level technology that addresses nonprofit needs with features such as a CRM, volunteer management, membership management, and event registration.

Fundraising Tuesday: 4 Innovative Strategies To Inspire Donors To Keep Giving

August 6, 2024 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

A guest post by Jessica King of Getting Attention

Your nonprofit’s future depends on how much you inspire your donors today. However, with limited time and resources, keeping donors motivated to continue giving can feel like an uphill battle.

This guide is here to help! We’ll explore four inventive strategies to keep your donors inspired and committed to your cause, helping your nonprofit to build and retain a thriving supporter community.

Use Google Ads to Promote Fundraisers

Google has captured 90% of the global search engine market share, so chances are that most of your audience uses it. By tapping into Google’s extensive platform, you can stay connected with your current donors and reach new interested supporters.

One of the best ways to do that is with Google Ads, which places your website’s content at the top of search page results for relevant queries. You just need strong landing pages for your latest fundraisers and compelling ad copy.

You can also use Google Ads’ advanced targeting features to reach different segments of your audience based on their demographics, interests, location, and online behavior. This ensures that your ads are seen by the individuals most likely to be interested in your cause.

Getting Attention’s nonprofit advertising examples article shares several examples of powerful Google Ads, like this one from the Glacier National Park Conservancy (GNPC):

For context, GNPC raises funds for preservation, education, and research initiatives related to the park’s natural and cultural resources. To fund its mission of preserving and protecting the park, the organization sells merchandise like Glacier National Park hats, hydro flasks, and informational guides.

In the Google Ad above, they’re promoting an educational resource about camping in the park. This ad is designed for people who are likely to visit and gives helpful information for their trip. It positions GNPC as a trusted resource and encourages users to explore their site to learn more about their work and the park.

How To Get Started

The best part of Google Ads is that nonprofits can benefit from the Google Ad Grants program, which provides eligible organizations with up to $10,000 per month in free advertising credits. This allows your nonprofit to run search ad campaigns without straining its budget.

Apply for Google Grants by researching your eligibility, creating a Google for Nonprofits account, and filling out the grant application. Once approved, focus on relevant keywords and create ad copy that highlights the impact of donations and includes a clear call to action.

Offer Diverse Giving Opportunities.

While donors want to support your mission, every donor also has their own preferences for how they want to support your nonprofit. Promote different ways to engage with your cause, such as:

Fundraising events. Host in-person and digital events to bring your community together. Your events can range from gala dinners and charity auctions to fun runs and virtual meetups, offering diverse experiences that appeal to different interests.
Recurring donations. Offer supporters the option to set up monthly or quarterly donations. A recurring giving program makes it easy for donors to contribute consistently by making giving automatic.
Workplace giving opportunities. Employee giving programs like matching gifts, volunteer grants, and payroll deductions extend donors’ impact and allow them to give back effortlessly.

Choose in-person or digital fundraising campaigns to engage donors based on your audience’s preferences. Pay attention to how they’ve engaged with your cause in the past to determine future activities.

Create Impact Reports

Share impact reports to show donors you’re putting their gifts to good use. NXUnite’s donor recognition guide suggests either featuring a list of donors in your annual report or creating a separate “gratitude report” to exclusively showcase donors’ impact.

These reports build trust by demonstrating how donor support translates into tangible results. Here are key elements to include in your impact reports:

Beneficiary and volunteer stories to communicate the impact of contributions and build an emotional connection
Quantitative data such as the number of people served, programs implemented, or resources provided
High-quality visuals like photos, infographics, and charts to make information easier to digest

Once your report is ready, share digital versions via email newsletters, your website, and social media platforms to ensure it reaches a broad audience. Consider creating a dedicated page on your website where donors can access current and past reports. For major donors or stakeholders, you might also provide printed copies.

Get Creative With Appreciation

Sincere thank-yous make donors feel valued and appreciated, encouraging them to continue their support. Reaching out with appreciation forges a deeper connection and reinforces the importance of their support.

Here are three effective strategies for thanking your donors and inspiring ongoing generosity:

Send personalized thank-you eCards. Custom eCards are a unique and heartfelt way to thank your donors. Tailor each eCard to include the donor’s name, a specific example of how their contribution will be used, and a personal message of appreciation. This creative approach not only shows donors that their individual support is valuable but also allows for visually engaging thank-you messages.
Publicly recognize donors. Highlight your donors in newsletters, social media posts, and on your website. Share stories and photos that celebrate their contributions and the impact they’ve made.
Host donor appreciation events. Organize appreciation events, such as thank-you dinners, virtual meet-and-greets with your nonprofit’s leadership, and exclusive webinars that provide updates on your projects. These events offer donors an opportunity to interact with your team and ask questions.

By consistently and creatively thanking your donors, you can build a loyal and engaged donor base. Just be sure to connect with them in the ways they find most meaningful, whether that’s email, direct mail, phone calls, or social media.

Personalize Communications With These 4 Data-Driven Tactics

July 29, 2024 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

A guest post by Gabrielle Perham of DeepSync

Imagine you’re an avid monthly donor and volunteer at a local animal shelter. You open your email inbox to see you’ve received an email from the shelter entitled “Learn more about our organization!”

You open the email to a summary of the nonprofit’s background and a list of ways you can get involved. Don’t they know you’ve been part of their community for the past five years?

Unfortunately, this situation happens all too often. To resonate with people on an individual level, nonprofits have to dig deep and personalize their messaging.

That’s why it’s important to adopt a data-driven marketing approach. With data, you can cater to different groups within your broader audience and seamlessly increase engagement. Check out these data-driven communication tactics your nonprofit can leverage.

1. Segmentation

To speak to supporters as individuals, you have to first think of them as individuals. While you may not be able to write an entirely unique message for each donor, you can target your communications using segmentation.

Segmentation refers to the process of grouping your audience based on shared characteristics, and there are many different ways to do it. Getting Attention’s nonprofit marketing guide recommends creating groups based on:

Level of support
Location
Age
Engagement rate

For example, you may create a location-based segment so you can reach out to local supporters about events you’re hosting in the community. If you don’t have enough information to create these segments, consider enriching your database.

Deep Sync defines data enrichment as “the process of supplementing your first-party data with third-party data to confirm you have the most accurate, reliable, and comprehensive database possible.” By enriching your database, you can learn more about your supporters and add valuable information to your database that helps you better reach them, including:

Demographics
Contact information
Income
Net worth
Lifestyle information

Let’s say you’d like to run an SMS marketing campaign but don’t have phone numbers for some of your donors. You can source this information through data enrichment, allowing you to easily get in contact with your supporters via text.

2. Marketing Audiences

Sometimes, the audience you’d like to reach isn’t reflected in your current supporter base. In this case, you can work with a data provider to create and reach a custom marketing audience. This way, you can expand your reach and unlock a new base of potential supporters who will align with your current campaign.

For example, imagine you run a political advocacy group that’s gearing up for an upcoming election. You want to encourage young people who can vote for the first time to support your cause, but your mailing list currently consists of adults over the age of 50.

To reach this group, you can use carefully compiled third-party student marketing data that grants you access to contact information for those in your target audience. Then, use this audience across online and offline channels to ensure your messaging reaches them.

3. Automation

While segmentation and custom marketing audiences can help you actively tailor the content of your messages, automation can play a supporting role in personalizing your communications. There are several ways you can use automation in this context, including to:

Insert personalized elements for email campaigns. Use automation to quickly add a personal touch to your emails. Individualize each message with elements like donors’ names, donation amounts, and past activities.

Trigger communications. Send automated communications such as thank-you emails, post-event follow-up, and event registration confirmation. That way, you can promptly communicate with donors before following up with more in-depth messages later on.

Send reminders. Automate reminders for upcoming events, recurring donations, and membership renewals. These messages keep your donors in the know without disrupting your team’s workflow.

When you use automation, you save your team time and energy while still improving your communication with donors.

4. Surveys

You have plenty of tactics for gathering information about your donors. Now, go straight to the source! Send surveys to hear directly from your supporters. Surveys allow you to collect constituent data that you can use to shape your communications strategy.

You may ask your supporters questions about the following:

Communication preferences. Ask donors how often they’d like to hear from you, through which channels, and about which areas of your organization. Communicating on their terms shows you’re committed to building one-on-one relationships with them.

Events and programming. Learn about supporters’ experiences with your events and programming. For instance, get their thoughts on the items you offered at your latest auction or ideas to improve your volunteer program.

Overall satisfaction. Lastly, ask your supporters about their overall satisfaction as members of your nonprofit’s community. Here, you can open the discussion for more open-ended feedback to glean insights into what you’re doing well and where you have room for improvement.

After collecting responses, store the results in your donor database for future reference.

To maintain a personalized, data-driven communications strategy, continuously fine-tune your approach. Constantly follow up with donors, employ A/B testing, and experiment with new tactics to improve your strategy and further individualize your messaging.

Gabrielle Perham, MBA

Gabrielle is the Director of Marketing & Sales Operations for Deep Sync. She joined the organization in 2017 and brings 20 years of experience in strategic marketing, branding, communications, sales enablement, and digital marketing. With a roll-up-your-sleeves-and-get-it-done attitude and a big-picture mindset, Gaby loves solving marketing and business challenges. She earned both a B.S. in Marketing and an M.B.A. in Marketing Management from the University of Tampa. Gaby enjoys spending time with her fiercely outspoken daughter; hiking and kayaking; rocking out in the first row of a live show; and giving back to her local community.

Navigation Bar

Segmenting Your Donor Base: How to Personalize Appeals