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Fundraising Tuesday: 3 Strategies to Build Strong Donor Relationships

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A guest post by Sandra Davis of Donorly

Strong donor relationships are the key to securing the longevity of your organization. With consistent donor support, you can push your mission forward and provide the important services that uplift your community day in and day out.

However, without a clear plan to build and develop donor relationships, you might experience donor lapses fairly frequently and struggle with retaining support over the long term. To help you navigate around this obstacle and increase your donor lifetime value, use these essential tips:

  • Send targeted messages
  • Express donor appreciation
  • Ask for donors’ feedback

With these best practices, you’ll be able to engage with donors at a high level, strengthen your fundraising strategy, and develop long-lasting relationships that will power your mission for years to come. Let’s begin.

Send targeted messages

Communications that are highly personalized and relevant to the recipient are more likely to inspire action. With the help of your email provider and CRM, you can group your contacts into segments based on similar characteristics, ensuring that the donation requests and updates your donors receive are pertinent to their involvement in your nonprofit.

According to Kwala’s guide to donor communications, you can create segments based on factors like:

  • Donation frequency, recency, and amount
  • Volunteer status
  • Event attendance
  • Demographics like age and location

For example, you can create a segment for major donor candidates so your donation solicitations are higher than your usual request for the average donor. You could also make a segment for lapsed donors to highlight major updates that have happened since they last gave or remind them of the impact of their contributions. This can help you boost your donor retention rate and kick-start strong donor relationships.

By using prospect research and tapping into your nonprofit’s CRM, you can create personalized messages and gain a better understanding of your audience. Donorly’s guide to prospect research recommends looking for capacity (wealth) and affinity (warmth) markers so you can better understand your current donors and prospects’ ability and willingness to give.

Express donor appreciation

Donor appreciation is one of the most effective ways to increase your donor retention rate. Being seen, heard and appreciated by your organization will result in more repeat donors and actively help you achieve your fundraising goals.

Try these donor recognition strategies:

  • Handwritten letter. Write your supporters a thank-you letter with a personalized greeting, a reference to their specific donation and how it helped advance your mission, and a personal statement of gratitude. If your staff is strapped for time, you can send handwritten letters to your major donors and digitize the rest of your letters using email.
  • Donor recognition wall. A donor recognition wall is a physical or virtual display that recognizes your top supporters. Create a threshold for how much a donor has to give to see their name added to your recognition wall.
  • Social media shout-out. Share engaging visuals that spotlight your donors. Not only does this help your donors feel appreciated, but it can market your donation program to new followers and motivate them to give so they can similarly receive a shout-out.
  • Donor gifts. Give your top donors a special gift like nonprofit merchandise or gift cards to local businesses. Ask your donors ahead of time what gift they might prefer.
  • Exclusive events. Host an exclusive event for leading supporters of your organization to show how much you value their contributions, such as a dinner, awards ceremony, or donor party. You could also host a separate event as part of a larger fundraising event. For instance, if you host a hybrid auction, you can invite major donors to an in-person gathering while hosting all of your other attendees virtually.

Regularly communicating your appreciation can lead to stronger relationships with supporters, ultimately helping your nonprofit meet its goals and elevate its impact in the community. Make sure to send your thanks within a week of receiving the donation so donors immediately feel recognized.

Ask for donors’ feedback

Donors want their voices to be heard, so giving them the opportunity to communicate with your organization can help you nurture their relationships. Create a survey that asks donors questions such as:

  • What inspires you to give to our organization?
  • How engaged are you in our organization’s efforts?
  • Do you feel appreciated for your contributions?
  • Do you have any suggestions on how our organization can improve?
  • What is your preferred communication method?
  • What events have you attended? What was your favorite event?
  • Do you have an interest in volunteering?

If your donors identify areas of improvement, make sure to consider this feedback and implement the necessary changes so you can retain their support. You’ll also want to focus on sending your communications via their preferred communication method.

For your major donors, you can have these conversations in person or virtually. After all, studies show that the top 20% of donors are responsible for 80% of your nonprofit’s revenue. By meeting with your major donors and giving them the opportunity to voice suggestions, they’ll feel like they’re truly a part of your organization’s community. Meet regularly with your major donors to discuss these talking points and let them know different ways they can increase their involvement based on their responses, such as by joining your volunteer program or taking a tour of a facility their donations helped build.

Once you’ve acquired a new donor, the work is just beginning. Donor retention is an ongoing effort and requires frequent communication and transparency so you can build a thriving giving community. Whether you want to boost your recurring giving program or encourage your top donors to stick around for the long run, these tips can help. Remember to remind your donors of their impact and how donating to your organization helps promote your cause. Good luck!

Sandra Davis prospect researchFounder and President Sandra Davis leads Donorly with 30 years of fundraising experience and leadership. Sandra has consulted on numerous capital campaigns, led strategic planning and feasibility study efforts, and managed board development and recruitment efforts in addition to overseeing planned giving, special events, and annual giving programs.

Under her leadership, Donorly has grown to support the fundraising efforts of over 75 clients to date.

TY Thursday: 5 Ways to Make Your Nonprofit’s Thank You Letters Stand Out

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A guest post from Ann Fellman at Bloomerang

Picture this: You receive a letter in the mail from a nonprofit to which you recently donated. The letter reads, “Dear Donor, Thank you for your generous donation. It’s because of your support that we’re able to achieve our mission.”

How do you react?

You appreciate the thanks, but find it to be a little generic and bland. Plus, the letter doesn’t say anything specific about how the organization used your gift or how you can stay in touch.

Now, let’s switch hats from donor to nonprofit. As a nonprofit professional, you want to make your organization’s thank-you letters memorable and meaningful, whether they’re going to donors or volunteers. But how can you make your supporter communications stand out? Follow these five tips to get started:

1. Send your thank you letters as soon as possible.

Sending out thank you messages as quickly as possible after supporters interact with your organization ensures that you won’t accidentally overlook the thank you process. Plus, it leaves a positive impression on supporters and keeps your nonprofit on their radar.

Whether donors give online, in person, or via direct mail, send a thank you letter right away. This letter should be separate from the automated donation receipt that you email donors right after they give. Take the time to craft a personalized, detailed thank you message and send it within 48 hours of receiving the donation.

If your nonprofit has a large support base, you can automate the thank you process using your donor management system. According to Bloomerang’s donor management software guide, robust donor database systems allow you to keep track of donors’ names and donation history using contact records and profiles. Then, when you use a CRM that has an integrated email marketing system, you can automatically plug donors’ names and donation amounts into each message. This keeps all your data and communications organized in one simplified database.

In addition, you should quickly send thank you notes after your volunteer opportunities. Follow up within a couple of days thanking volunteers for their hard work and recapping what they were able to accomplish during the volunteer opportunity.

2. Personalize each thank you letter.

A personalized letter catches the recipient’s attention, helping your letter stand out in their mailbox or email inbox. Use the information stored in your donor management system to personalize your thank-you notes with donors’ names.

However, personalization doesn’t mean just including each supporter’s name in your greeting. It also means referencing each supporter’s exact contributions to your cause and if possible the campaign or program they supported.

For example, you should thank a donor for their $78 gift sent on November 18, 2022 to your annual fund, or a volunteer for the three hours they spent sorting donated food on a Saturday morning.

Supporters will appreciate that you’ve taken the time to identify and recognize the specific ways they’ve advanced your mission.

3. Provide a compelling progress update.

Saying thank you to donors is powerful, but it’s even more powerful when you explain to them that your organization couldn’t propel its mission without their help.

Make sure your thank you notes show donors how their gifts made a positive impact on your cause. Describe the project or program that you were able to improve with their help.

For example, you might say, “Because of your $30 donation, a local elementary school student will be able to receive a brand new school backpack.”

It’s helpful to write your thank you letter in the form of a story. Stories help create emotional connections and bring your mission to life for donors and volunteers.

Meyer Partners’ guide to nonprofit storytelling recommends identifying a single protagonist and telling their story using interviews, images, and videos. These multimedia elements help donors and volunteers feel much more connected to your mission and those you work with in the community.

4. Handwrite your thank-you notes.

Amid the piles of junk mail your supporters likely receive in their mailboxes, a handwritten thank you note stands out and provides a personal touch. Supporters will be touched that you took the time to write out your gratitude using pen and paper.

It may not be feasible to handwrite thank you letters for every donor or volunteer, so you might focus your efforts on writing notes for long-time supporters.

Also, if you have a lot of letters to write, you can have your donor database generate your letters and leave a space for a short handwritten, personalized note. For instance, you might include a handwritten P.S. that says something like “Thanks, Josh for your support, it means the world to us!”

5. Highlight additional ways to get involved.

Show supporters that you appreciate their involvement, no matter the form it takes, by inviting them to engage with your organization in more ways than one.

For example, use your thank you note to highlight opportunities like:

  • Your annual peer-to-peer fundraiser walkathon event
  • A recurring weekend volunteer opportunity
  • A supporter appreciation gala
  • An advocacy letter-writing campaign

Also, invite supporters to connect with you on multiple platforms by following your social media pages or subscribing to your email newsletter.

As you can see, an effective appreciation letter requires a little more than just a simple “thank you.” With the right timing, thoughtfulness, and personalization, your supporter thank you letters can be a powerful tool for building stronger relationships and bringing in reliable support for your fundraisers, volunteer opportunities, and other initiatives.

Author: Ann Fellman

As the Chief Marketing Officer at Bloomerang, Ann is responsible for the company’s overall thought leadership, brand, marketing, and community outreach programs that work to strengthen relationships with customers and the broader nonprofit community. Ann brings with her more than 24 years of experience in business-to-business (B2B) marketing in the technology industry, including time spent working at a nonprofit organization.

 

How to Keep Your Organization Relevant Online: 3 Tips

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A guest post by Carl Diesing, DNL Omnimedia

Online conversations move quickly. Your nonprofit fundraisers can underperform if you aren’t able to capture your supporters’ attention.

Whether your nonprofit already has a digital strategy or is just branching out to online platforms, an overview of how to maintain attention online can be helpful for maintaining your audience. We’ll review three tips for attracting and holding your supporters’ interest in highly competitive online spaces.

1. Create regular engagement opportunities.

When determining your approach to a social media site, first consider why supporters use that platform. Are they looking to connect with friends? Interact with new people? Create content themselves? Knowing what your audience is looking to do on social media first will help you shape your engagement strategy.

Your audience will likely scroll quickly through most posts they see online. However, they are far more likely to remember content that invites them to engage with it. Your approach to engaging supporters will depend on the platform, but it may include:

  • Interacting with supporters online. When someone comments on one of your posts, whether they’re asking for more information or sharing a personal story about how your cause relates to them, respond to their message. This type of communication shows that there is a person behind your organization who is interested in what supporters have to say, creating memorable connections.
  • Creating content that encourages comments. Your nonprofit should aim to create shareable content that your audience will spread to their friends and family. One approach is designing content that encourages comments. These might be posts that ask questions, invite supporters to share a story, vote in a poll, take a survey, or otherwise share their thoughts. Many social media sites also have algorithms that will promote content with many comments to other users.
  • Encouraging supporters to make their own content. You can build a community online by encouraging your current supporter base to interact with your new social media accounts through their own content. For example, during and after a volunteer day, you might help supporters take photos of their hard work, then encourage them to tag your social media accounts when they post them.

Engaging content will help you create a strong first impression. Create a social media calendar to manage your posting schedule and ensure you are regularly engaging the supporters your first posts attracted.

2. Empower your supporter community.

Regularly creating new content for your social media accounts is important but also time-consuming. To cultivate an active online community, your organization should  empower supporters to hold conversations about your nonprofit between posts.

Nonprofits rely on highly dedicated supporters known as “superfans.” These superfans are passionate about your nonprofit and willing to advocate on your behalf. You can encourage these superfans to continue promoting your nonprofit by:

  • Highlighting key supporters. Public recognition can go a long way towards deepening a supporter’s commitment to your cause. Show your appreciation and draw attention to interesting projects in your community by creating support spotlights. These could be features in your nonprofit’s newsletter, blog, or social media accounts.
  • Providing communication channels. Supporters will stay engaged with your nonprofit if they have other supporters to talk to about your cause. Encourage supporters to interact with one another in the comments of your posts, whether they’re on a social media platform or your blog. Nonprofits with membership programs can consider creating forums where supporters can engage with one another and create their own discussion threads.
  • Establishing a group identity. There are many ways to build a community, and you can encourage supporters to form a connection with your organization faster with branding. Give your dedicated supporters a name to help them identify as part of a group. For example, the Big Brothers Big Sisters youth mentoring nonprofit calls their volunteers “big brothers” and “big sisters,” providing a sense of community identity.

Ensure your supporters are aware of the resources you provide to encourage their involvement in your community. DNL OmniMedia’s nonprofit website design guide lists “ways to get involved” as one of the top items supporters should be able to find upon landing on your website. This might take the form of either a single page with engagement opportunities listed or a dropdown menu with multiple resources, including links to follow your nonprofit on your social media accounts.

3. Conduct market research.

Staying relevant with your audience requires understanding your audience’s needs and wants and knowing when those needs and wants change. This could be as simple as your audience losing interest in one social media platform in favor of another or as complex as needing to reconfigure your entire engagement strategy after a major rebrand.

To stay informed, regularly conduct market research. This includes polling your audience and taking note of supporter demographics, as well as monitoring other similar organizations and how they engage with their supporters. Also, strive to stay up to date with broader changes in the nonprofit sector. Resources like NXUnite’s nonprofit conferences page and similar listings can be useful for identifying where and when professionals in your industry are gathering.

If you are unsure how to make sense of your market research or apply your findings to your strategy, consider partnering with a nonprofit consulting firm. Nonprofit consultants that specialize in digital marketing can offer a professional, outside perspective on your current strategies. Services like this can be especially useful for launching new types of campaigns and outreach your nonprofit is trying for the first time.

Carl Diesing DNLCarl Diesing, Managing Director – Carl co-founded DNL OmniMedia in 2006 and has grown the team to accommodate clients with on-going web development projects. Together DNL OmniMedia has worked with over 100 organizations to assist them with accomplishing their online goals. As Managing Director of DNL OmniMedia, Carl works with nonprofits and their technology to foster fundraising, create awareness, cure disease, and solve social issues. Carl lives in the Hudson Valley with his wife Sarah and their two children Charlie and Evelyn.

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