Guest Post Archives - Page 2 of 36

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 Quick Tips for Creating a More Engaging Impact Report

November 12, 2024 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

A guest post by Stephen Minix of UpMetrics

Imagine you work for a local chapter of the Humane Society. Each day, you work tirelessly to rescue animals, provide them with affordable care, and match them with loving homes. Recently, you’ve gathered a ton of data and insights that demonstrate your impact on the community, but you’re not sure how to best compile and share this information effectively.

In this case, your team should create an impact report. As UpMetrics’ impact reporting guide explains, an impact report is “a document that gives an overview of a mission-driven organization’s outcomes and achievements, focusing on the social, economic, or environmental effects of the organization’s work.”

With a solid impact report, you can communicate the effects of your work and build trust with stakeholders like donors, sponsors, and grantmakers, showing them the direct impact of their support and encouraging them to continue contributing to your organization. In this guide, we’ll provide some quick tips to make your impact report stand out and grab your audience’s attention.

1. Include a compelling narrative.

While the data you present should speak for itself, pairing that data with a narrative can draw your audience in and put a human face to your nonprofit’s cause. When you tell a story, you bring the data in your report to life and remind your supporters that these numbers connect to real people and real outcomes.

To create a compelling narrative, make sure to include the following elements:

Character, which is who the narrative is centered around.
Setting, which is where the story takes place.
Plot, which is what happens in the story, including an exposition, inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.

Conflict, which is the problem the main character faces.

Resolution, which is how the main character solves the problem (with the help of your organization).

You can obtain these qualitative narratives from a variety of different sources, including testimonials, case studies, and interviews. For example, you may ask one of your legacy donors to tell the story of why they decided to contribute to your nonprofit in this way and (with their permission) include their story in a section of your impact report about your legacy giving program.

2. Highlight key metrics and achievements.

You likely have a variety of different data points about your nonprofit’s work and how it has impacted your community. Narrowing in on the most significant outcomes can keep stakeholders focused on what is most important and hold their attention throughout the report.

Determine which data points are most relevant to include in your impact report by asking your team the following questions:

What is timely? While an annual impact report might be the best time to share the results of your recent year-end campaign, an impact report released at the end of Q3 may focus on your summer fundraising push.

What relates best to our current priorities? Connect your impact report to your most pressing goals. For instance, if you’re trying to increase matching gift revenue, demonstrate the impact matching gifts have on your overall fundraising outcomes. 360MatchPro recommends highlighting the number of donors who have already participated in your matching gift program and the total funds you’ve raised from matching gifts.

What do stakeholders want to hear about the most? Cater to stakeholders’ preferences to ensure your report keeps them interested. Consider surveying your stakeholders throughout the year to discover which areas of your work they want to receive updates on.

What are we most excited to share? Have you already seen success with your new program? Did you just break a fundraising record? Have you just completed an incredible new case study? Incorporate data that your team is eager to share so your passion for these outcomes shines through in your report.

Although you’ll focus on your nonprofit’s achievements, make space for information about campaigns or priorities that didn’t go as planned, such as a fundraising goal you didn’t meet or an aim to increase program attendance that didn’t work out. This honesty helps build trust with donors and gives you an opportunity to demonstrate your plan to improve upon these outcomes. You may even incorporate a call to action that calls on stakeholders to help you reach these objectives.

3. Use visuals wisely.

Did you know that the brain processes images about 60,000 times faster than text? Incorporating charts, graphs, and images not only makes your report more visually appealing but also makes dense data and insights easier to process and understand.

Visuals can give your supporters a break from long chunks of text and make your report more digestible. Including these visual elements can keep your audience tapped in and ensure they engage with the entire report.

Lastly, images allow readers to visualize your nonprofit in action. Leverage photos of your events, volunteer outings, or meetings with beneficiaries to show people exactly what your hard work looks like.

4. Include a call to action.

End the report by encouraging readers to get involved in your work. While asking them to donate may seem like the obvious route, this doesn’t have to be the only way you ask readers to show their support.

For instance, you may create a call to action that asks readers to:

Share the report with their personal networks
Participate in skills-based volunteering opportunities
Attend upcoming events
Sign a petition
Subscribe to your newsletter for more frequent updates

No matter the activity you choose to promote, your call to action should be clear and direct users to a relevant link that prompts them to take action.

Measuring your impact allows you to assess the effectiveness of your work, but taking the next step and reporting on your impact allows you to share these positive outcomes with the world. When you create impact reports with your audience in mind, you’ll ensure they get the most out of your reports and continue helping you make an impact for years to come.

Stephen joined UpMetrics in 2015 for one reason: a unique opportunity to continue to uplift communities. In his role as Senior Director, Community Strategy, Stephen empowers partners to utilize their data to accelerate progress toward outcomes: informing all decisions, gaining new insights and telling their story to a wider audience.

Stephen is passionate about building capacity at impact organizations as he has dedicated his life’s work to the advancement of youth and communities through education and development. He began his career by serving young people and communities in Southern California as a public school and public charter school teacher at Locke High School, coach, athletic director, administrator, district coordinator for afterschool programs and adjunct professor. He was recognized as the CIF Los Angeles City Section Athletic Director of the Year in 2015. Today, Stephen continues to be active in the community, serving as a Green Dot Public Schools Ambassador and an inaugural board member(board chair) for MENTOR California.

Stephen graduated from Pepperdine with a BS in Physical Education and a MA in Secondary Education. Stephen lives in San Diego, where he is married with three young daughters.

5 Questions to Ask in the Nonprofit Interview Process

November 4, 2024 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

A guest post from Stephanie Sparks of Employ

Talent acquisition strategies rely heavily on the interview process because they’re the best way to understand each candidate’s qualifications, skills, and personality in their own words. In fact, interviews have only become more important to nonprofit recruitment teams, with most jobs requiring two to four interviews for each role.

To make an informed hiring decision, you must make interviews as productive as possible to ensure you have everything you need—and the questions you ask can make or break the process. Let’s review top questions that gauge candidates’ capabilities and commitment to your mission, as well as how to curate questions that are best for your hiring needs.

Questions to Ask in the Nonprofit Interview Process

1. Why are you interested in our organization and work?

Nonprofits account for only one in 10 jobs in the overall workforce, so there’s usually a specific reason applicants seek out these opportunities. Understanding candidates’ motives for working with nonprofits provides insight into their personalities, passions, and career goals.

Here are some common motivations for working with nonprofits:

An enthusiasm for a specific organization’s mission
A general desire to make a difference
Opportunities to develop new skills
Ability to make community connections

Pay close attention to how candidates answer this question—it can tell you how serious they are about nonprofit work and whether they’d be a good addition to your team.

2. What do you know about our mission?

This question is fundamental for building relationships with donors and spreading awareness of your programs, giving you insight into their natural inclinations or affinities with your work. That’s why it’s also a great question to ask in the recruitment process, as it helps you understand who will stick with your organization for its mission.

Candidates who have a personal connection to your mission are more likely to stay with your nonprofit long-term and be engaged with their work.

3. What new skills are you hoping to develop through this role?

If you’re hiring for a specific role, you should have written a job description that includes daily responsibilities, required qualifications, and more. However, some organizations hire people generally before placing them in an open role, and that’s where this question comes into play.

For an effective recruiting cadence, confirm that candidates aren’t just a good match for your nonprofit—they should also be excited about their specific roles. Asking this question empowers the candidate to communicate their expectations for you as an employer, which ensures that you’re a good fit for each other and that the candidate doesn’t pursue an opportunity that doesn’t align with their goals.

4. How do you perform under challenging circumstances?

Nonprofits exist to support communities facing social challenges. This work can be demanding and stressful. Moreover, nonprofits are highly impacted by external factors, such as legislation and economics—meaning that an economic downturn or adverse policy decision could greatly harm their work.

This is why you must gauge how a candidate handles adversity. Remaining positive and resilient through turbulent circumstances is what keeps your organization afloat. Ask candidates about how they’ve persisted and remained effective throughout a crisis, whether in their personal lives or professional careers.

5. How do you practice self-care?

As previously mentioned, nonprofit work can be stressful, contributing to a sector-wide issue with burnout—95% of nonprofit leaders think burnout is a concern and threatens their recruitment results. While your organization can (and should) provide mental health resources, your employees need to have other outlets outside of work to practice wellness. Some common ways of practicing self-care include:

Physical: exercising regularly, getting enough sleep, and cooking healthy meals

Emotional: participating in hobbies or other activities that “fill their cup,” having a support network to rely on, and committing to other mindfulness practices (like journaling and meditation)

Professional: adhering to work-life balance and seeking out fulfilling projects

While every candidate deals with stress differently, knowing that they have ways to relieve stress mitigates concerns about turnover, allowing your team to save on recruitment costs and retain talent in the long term.

How to Curate Ideal Nonprofit Interview Questions

Though the questions above are well-rounded and provide relevant information, they might not align closely with your nonprofit’s needs. You can create a list of ideal questions for your recruitment process by focusing on:

The role’s unique requirements and challenges
The candidate’s understanding of and connection to your nonprofit’s mission and vision
The candidate’s career goals
Workplace culture fit

Also, Lever recommends using information from your recruiting tools to shape your questions. Analyzing data and trends illuminates gaps in your strategy and provides a starting point for improvements. Some metrics to look out for include:

Time to hire: how long it takes from a candidate initially applying to accepting their offer
Offer acceptance rate: how many candidates accept their offer
Time to fill: the amount of time it takes from opening a job role to it being filled

These data points will give you key insights you can use to adjust your recruiting strategy.

Interviews can feel stressful for both your team and candidates, but don’t let that get in the way of a productive conversation. After all, discussing your nonprofit with a new connection is a daily activity for your fundraising and outreach efforts, so just rely on the strategies you use for those situations. And above all, be friendly, attentive, and professional to make a great first impression.

Stephanie Sparks, Director of Content Marketing at Employ

As Director of Content Marketing & Social at Employ, Stephanie leverages 17 years of marketing and communications experience, and her master’s degree in marketing, communication studies, and advertising, to craft compelling content across the JazzHR, Lever, Jobvite, and NXTThing RPO brands. She is a thought leader for the HR technology and talent acquisition space.

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Segmenting Your Donor Base: How to Personalize Appeals