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

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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):

A Google Ad from the Glacier National Park Conservancy

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

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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.

Best Self-Care Strategies for Nonprofit Professionals

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A guest post by Kyle Cannon of MassageBook

As a nonprofit professional, you know firsthand just how hectic your job is. From procuring auction items for an upcoming fundraiser, to managing your marketing strategy, to applying for grants, there’s always plenty for professionals at small or medium nonprofits to do.

However, when tasks pile up and deadlines get closer, stress builds. And with stress comes a host of negative effects, including burnout.

To combat these effects and ensure you have a long and fulfilling nonprofit career, it’s important to prioritize self-care. Let’s explore the benefits of self-care and some top strategies for staying physically, mentally, and emotionally healthy through the ups and downs in your role.

Why is self-care important for nonprofit professionals?

Self-care, job satisfaction, and employee engagement are all common priorities of businesses, but there needs to be more focus placed on them at nonprofits. Even if they’re passionate about their mission-driven work, nonprofit employees are just as susceptible to the negative effects of work stress. After all, stress can take a toll on their:

  • Quality of life. Chronic or long-term stress can disrupt your body’s processes and put you at increased risk of physical and mental health problems, including anxiety, depression, headaches, and heart disease. It’s also been shown to impair memory and concentration.
  • Quality of work. A lowered quality of life reduces the quality of work. Stressed employees are less engaged in their roles, have reduced focus and productivity, are more frequently absent or tardy, and generally perform more poorly than their less stressed coworkers.

With 83% of workers in the U.S. saying that they suffer from daily work-related stress and 52% experiencing burnout, it’s clear that self-care is more crucial now than ever. You don’t have to work in the massage industry to worry about self-care—start forming good habits today to stay satisfied and fulfilled in your role!

Best Self-Care Strategies for Nonprofit Professionals

Let’s start by looking at ways nonprofit professionals can take self-care into their own hands.

Time Management

Establishing great time management habits is a form of self-care—after all, these practices help you complete your tasks promptly, resulting in less stress. If you’re looking to start prioritizing time management, try one of these tips:

  • Choose a top priority. To stay focused, choose a top priority you commit to completing before the end of the day. For example, if you’re tasked with looking for corporate sponsors for an upcoming event, your priority might be to schedule meetings with three sponsors today. This practice helps you stay accountable and ensures you complete your most important tasks.
  • Break big tasks down. When faced with what seems like an insurmountable task, many professionals feel they don’t know where to start, causing them to procrastinate and waste time. Instead of tackling the task head-on, break it down into smaller steps to make it feel more approachable. Plus, you’ll feel good about completing each step, motivating you to continue your hard work.
  • Reduce distractions. This might mean closing your email when trying to focus, buying noise-canceling headphones in a loud office, or even putting your cell phone away. Additionally, avoid multitasking, as research has shown that it actually takes a toll on productivity.

You may be called on to handle large projects or tasks that require a lot of work at certain times and much less work during other times, such as creating and sending out multichannel marketing materials for your upcoming event. Having a strong grasp of time management will ensure that you’re able to get your work done and take care of yourself even during particularly busy or stressful periods.

Work-Life Balance

Although work is an important part of our lives, it isn’t and shouldn’t be everything. You need the space to relax and do other activities that are important to you. That’s why mastering work-life balance is so crucial.

Here are a few tips to help you develop a better work-life balance:

  • Take breaks throughout the workday.
  • Use your vacation time.
  • Don’t let work bleed into your personal time.

Set aside time to relax and engage in your hobbies when you’re finished with work. This could mean watching Netflix, reading a book, or playing disc golf with friends.

If you’re feeling any physical effects of stress, be sure to get treated as well. While some effects such as heart palpitations and high blood pressure will require a medical provider’s attention, if you’re experiencing less severe effects such as stiffness or mild headaches, a massage might be enough to help you feel better. According to MassageBook, certain practitioners accept health insurance for their services, making massages more affordable for stressed nonprofit professionals.

Best Self-Care Strategies for Nonprofit Organizations

If you’re a nonprofit leader or director, you should both prioritize your self-care and consider how you can encourage your staff to participate in self-care. Here are a few ways you can support your nonprofit’s employees:

  • Add more flexible work options. Although 9-5 in-office is traditional, your employees can benefit from more flexible work arrangements that fit their needs. This might mean offering remote or hybrid work or even flexible hours. For example, instead of requiring employees to work from 9 AM to 5 PM, ask them to work 8 hours anytime between 7 AM and 7 PM.
  • Establish dedicated employee wellness programs. This might mean offering a gym membership stipend as part of their compensation package, offering healthy catered food options for lunch, or partnering with other wellness businesses to promote employee wellness.
  • Create a supportive workplace culture. A negative workplace culture can contribute to more stress and anxiety among employees. Take the time to create a supportive culture where employees feel empowered to do their best. Encourage employees to show appreciation for each other so everyone feels recognized for their hard work.

Additionally, if you’re serious about improving self-care for your nonprofit employees, consider streamlining their workflow with software. Just like a massage business would purchase massage therapy software to reduce its employees’ workload, your nonprofit might benefit from software that automates everyday responsibilities.

The first tech solution nonprofits should consider is a constituent relationship management solution (CRM). These tools allow you to gather key information about your supporters to improve future stewardship and marketing efforts. Check out this list of top platforms from Bonterra to get started.

 

Kyle Cannon head shotKyle Cannon

Kyle is the product evangelist at MassageBook. He’s spent the past 8+ years developing a deep understanding of the joys and struggles massage therapists face daily, and he’s committed to helping them simplify and grow their practices every step of the way.

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