Segmenting Your Donor Base: How to Personalize Appeals

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:

1. Choose donor segments that directly align with your overarching goals.
2. When collecting data, build donor trust by being transparent about how you plan to use it.
3. Maintain consistent branding and voice across all of your content.
4. Conduct A/B testing to learn what types of messaging are most effective for each segment.
5. 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.