major donor Archives - Communicate!

Fundraising Tuesday: If You Do Only One Thing in 2021…

January 5, 2021 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

Back when I was in college, a professor told our class, “If you read only one thing this semester, read this….”

He said it every week–about a different book!

Here's the one thing your nonprofit should do in 2021 to raise more money. Share on X

If You Do Only One Thing, Record Donations

I hope you had a great month of December, and the end-of-year donations poured in day after day. But…

Did you just deposit those checks in the bank and forget about them?

Did you just mark those online gifts in your bookkeeping system, so your accountant knows who gave what, but nobody else does?

Aha. Perhaps you made a list of donations, or even put them into a spreadsheet. Congratulations! Except–how easy will it be for you to find out:

who gave money in 2019 and not in 2020?
who gave more this year and who gave less?
who gave once a year, once a quarter, once a month?
who moved (or changed their email address) since the last time they made a donation?

Knowing these data will allow you to figure out which lapsed donors you need to try to win back, and which current donors might be candidates to give major gifts (or leave you money in their wills). It will keep you from sending out communications that never reach the people you want to feel appreciated and important.

Knowing these data will make more money for your nonprofit.

If you only do one thing in 2021, start recording your donor information in a donor database or CRM. Find one that works like you think, then use your new technology to make your relationship with your donors more personal. And by the way…

If You Do Only One Thing, Get to Know Your Donors

Good fundraising is relationship fundraising.

Yes, you might occasionally have a windfall. Your issue moves to the center of public attention and a bunch of people give money to you in the heat of the moment.

But for the long term, those people need to feel seen.

Donors don’t want to be the ATM on the wall you hit up when you’re short of cash. They don’t want to be one “dear friend” out of hundreds or thousands you address exactly the same way.

Donors want to know that you know them and value them. They are giving because they want to think of themselves as good people–and you can help them see themselves that way.

If you only do one thing in 2021, find out as much as you can about your donors. Don’t just send them a thank-you note–not even the ideal thank-you letter. That’s a one-way communication. Beyond the letter:

Pick up the phone and call them. Ask them: what are they interested in? Why did they choose to give? What would they like to see happen as a result? (And record all that in your database!)
Send them surveys, a couple of questions at a time, by email.
Research your donors online. Find out what you can about their lives and interests outside of your organization.
Take a look at your followers on social media. Which of them resemble your donors the most? (Those are your best prospects to become new donors!)

Getting to know your donors will let you segment your list into different audiences who care about different things. Recognizing your different audiences will let you send the right messages to the right people at the right time. And that means…

If You Do Only One Thing, Communicate!

Maybe you have a friend or a family member like this: you never see them. You never hear from them. Then one day, your phone rings, or your doorbell, and it’s them. You groan inside, because the only reason they ever show up is to ask for money.

You don’t want to be “that guy” to your donors. You need to show up for them between the times you ask.

If you have them in your database, you can be sure to send the mail or the email to the right address. And if you know which of your audiences they belong to, you can send them content that matters to them personally.

But even in a more broadcast format, like a newsletter or a social media platform, you can share stories, photos, facts, how-to’s, and other content that makes your donors (and prospective donors) glad to hear from you, every time.

If you only do one thing in 2021, communicate more often with your supporters. Aim for a newsletter every month, an email every week, a Facebook post every day, a tweet multiple times a day.

Does that sound like a lot of work? Yes, it is. But:

a) I can find out who your audiences are and what they want, by doing the research for you.

b) I can help you make the right decision about a database that will work for you and make your communications more powerful.

c) I can teach you to turn one story, photo, news article, or quotable quote into multiple ways to reach out and touch your donors.

d) I can show you ways to get the right kind of content delivered to your email inbox every day, so you can re-package it for your audiences.

If you do only one thing different in 2021, make that 'one thing' getting the help you deserve. Share on X

Get to Know Your Donors: 4 Tips

February 11, 2020 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

A guest post from Sarah Tedesco of DonorSearch

Donors at the heart

Each year, you and your fundraising team work hard to raise money for your cause and make a meaningful impact on your mission.

In the center of all your hard work are your donors, the people who genuinely believe in your cause and take the time and action to support your nonprofit.

It’s more cost-effective and beneficial to retain donors than acquire new donors, so focus your efforts on developing those current donor relationships. And the right tools can help.

Even though fundraisers are now equipped with amazing tools, you still have to learn the best ways to use these modern solutions to build truly authentic relationships. The better you know your donors, the stronger your relationships will be.

In this guide, you’ll be learning about the best ways to get to know your donors and the tools you can use to truly understand why donors give to your organization. Consider these top tips:

Ask donors for their preferences.
Record all donor data.
Invest in a prospect research tool.
Incorporate donor data into marketing initiatives.

1. Ask donors for their preferences.

In order to foster relationships with donors who continuously support your cause, it’s good practice to determine their engagement preferences at the start. This can be as simple as asking them to check off a box in your donation forms!

The more personal and targeted your fundraising engagements are, the better your donors will respond to your outreach efforts. For instance, say a donor doesn’t want any direct mail sent to their home address. Once you know this preference, the worst thing that you can do is to continue sending materials and physical letters. They’ll just get annoyed with the barrage of mail and start to ignore your engagements.

Ask your donors’ preferences on your online donation form. This way, you can record these preferences in their donor profiles right off the bat. It’s also a good idea to let them change their preference as your engagement continues. You can include a link in your email signatures for easy access.

Make sure you keep track of these preferences:

Do your donors want to receive email communications, direct mail, mobile text messaging, or all?
How often do your donors want updates? Do they want to subscribe to your newsletter?
What kind of communications do they want to receive? Event invitations, volunteer opportunities, or donation request letters?
If they opted to give a recurring donation, what is their preferred payment preference?

Once you actively make an effort to meet your donors’ preferences, it’s more likely that they’ll stick around and your retention rates won’t stagger. The best place to keep track of all these preferences is your donor database.

2. Record all donor data.

To truly reach your donors and build life-long bonds, ensure that you’re recording all the important donor data. This will depend on your constituent relationship management (CRM) system, also known as your donor database.

Your CRM system should be recording every donor engagement and all key donor metrics in relation to your nonprofit organization. This means every email sent, every donation given, and each fundraising event ticket sold.

Investing in a capable CRM system is crucial in order to get a comprehensive view of your donors. Once you know their current relationship with your nonprofit, you can better ascertain the ways to improve your future engagement strategies. For example, if you notice that a lot of your donors are active on social media, maybe consider investing more time in that engagement channel.

How do you know if your CRM is doing the best it can for your nonprofit fundraising? Consider its integration capabilities. When the tools within your entire fundraising system are integrated with your CRM, you ensure that your donor data is centralized and accurate. Even as actions and engagements are happening in real-time, the information seamlessly flows into your CRM.

Make sure you’re receiving data from these key fundraising tools:

Online donation tool. Ensure your CRM captures the donor name, key financial information, donation amount, and any other information that was required in your form.

Event registration tool. If your nonprofit often hosts events, ensure that your CRM records data regarding event attendance, registration level, payment preference, and more.

Email marketing tool. Make sure you have all the essential information to communicate effectively with your donors. For example, as soon as a donor makes a gift, your CRM should keep track of their email and send them an appreciation email thanking them for their contribution with that donor’s name and donation amount. Additionally, track which emails are opened and which are ignored to know which engagements are working.

3. Invest in a prospect research tool.

Prospect research is a fundraising strategy that involves screening your donor database to identify high-impact donors.

While it’s possible that prospect research can be done manually and in-house, the efforts and resources your staff will use up might not be worth it. Many modern fundraisers turn to a digital solution to help. With a capable prospect research tool, you can effectively screen your donors against the nation’s largest philanthropic databases.

To determine which of your supporters are likely to be high impact donors, your prospect research tool is looking out for wealth markers and philanthropic indicators:

Wealth markers provide a clue about your donors’ capacity to give. Your prospect research tool is looking at your donors’ real estate ownerships, stock ownerships, and business affiliations.

Philanthropic indicators help determine how charitable your donors are and their affinity to give. Your prospect research tool is looking at your donors’ past giving, political giving, and other nonprofit involvement.

Your prospect research tool is great at highlighting donor metrics that you can incorporate into targeted and high-impact marketing initiatives. Donors with both wealth markers and philanthropic indicators are likely to want to give and have the means to give. Read on to learn how you can leverage this information to increase fundraising.

4. Incorporate donor data into marketing initiatives.

Major gifts make up a large percentage of your revenue, with 76% of yearly giving coming from only 4% of donors. Because your prospect research tool is screening for both a donor’s affinity to give and capacity to give, this tool can accurately highlight those who might become major donors.

Identifying your major donor prospects doesn’t mean that they’re automatically going to make large gifts. You need to cultivate this relationship and set the stage for future giving. Your best bet is to segment these potential high-impact donors for targeted communications and other meaningful engagements. For instance, segment these donors and:

Give them event perks like early-bird registration or a discount code.
Consider writing a handwritten letter instead of an email for a more personal touch. Make sure to keep in mind their communication preferences!
Other non-ask communications like interesting nonprofit announcements, upcoming events, and volunteer opportunities.

Not only can your prospect research tool identify potential major donors, but it can also supplement other fundraising efforts.

Increase your corporate matching gifts.

Corporate matching gift programs are great opportunities for nonprofits, but are not taken advantage of as often as they should. Eligible donors can double or even triple their donations if they just submit a matching gift request. According to one study, an estimated $4-7 billion in matching gift funds goes unclaimed per year.

Corporate matching gift programs aren’t as well known as other fundraising initiatives, so often donors don’t even know that they can increase their gift without giving any additional funds.

Using your prospect research tool and a corporate philanthropic database, screen each of your donor’s business affiliations. Then, send out specific matching gift letters to let them know of their eligibility! For a list of matching gift letter templates from a wide range of organizations, click here.

Target donor advised funds.

Another way you can leverage your prospect research data in smart ways is to look out for donor advised funds (DAFs). As stated in this DonorSearch flash class webinar, DAFs are the fastest growing form of philanthropy today.

A DAF account is a dedicated savings account for charity where an individual will deposit cash, stock, or other assets. However, the donor doesn’t choose a recipient right away and instead makes this decision later on.

Finding out one of your supporters has a DAF is an exciting opportunity for your nonprofit. The supporter has already dedicated these funds to charity, it’s just up to you to convince them that your organization is the right one.

Use your prospect research tool and highlight donors who might have DAFs by screening their wealth metrics. Segment those donors and start fostering those relationships to increase the likelihood of them choosing your nonprofit as their DAF recipient. Focus on non-ask communications so they know that this relationship isn’t purely based on them giving you money.

Getting to know your donors is one of the most important jobs for your fundraising team. After reading this guide, you now know how to effectively reach them and can genuinely develop those donor relationships for future engagement. Good luck!

Sarah Tedesco is the Executive Vice President of DonorSearch, a prospect research and wealth screening company that focuses on proven philanthropy. Sarah is responsible for managing the production and customer support department concerning client contract fulfillment, increasing retention rate and customer satisfaction. She collaborates with other team members on a variety of issues including sales, marketing and product development ideas.

TY Thursday: How to Find AND KEEP Major Donors

May 2, 2019 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

A guest post by Laura Rhodes of Third Sector Consulting

Laura Rhodes

Major gift donors.

Every nonprofit wants them. But only the big nonprofits have them, right? Wrong!

I hear you saying, “We’re a small nonprofit. We don’t have big donors.” But you do.

Every Nonprofit Has Major Donors

When you hear the words “major gift,” what comes to mind? Six- or seven-figure donations?

Guess what? There’s not an industry-defined dollar amount for a major gift or a major donor. Instead, YOUR major donors are the individuals who give the most to your organization each year.

That means, for some organizations, a major donor might be someone who gives $500. Or $5,000. Or $50,000. Maybe even more.

MarketSmart did research on this very topic, asking How Big Is the Average Major Gift? They found that most nonprofits define a major gift as one between $1,000 and $2,500. For some nonprofits in the study, the average major gift was less than $1,000. And for a very few, fortunate ones, the average major gift exceeded $1 million.

While the dollar amount of a “major gift” will vary from organization to organization, every nonprofit has them.

And that means YOU have major donors, too.

How Can You Identify Your Major Donors?

One size doesn’t fit all, when it comes to identifying a major gift or major donor.

Recently, an organization told me, “Any gift above $250 gets our attention.” For them, donors who give $250 and above are their major donors.

There are a few good ways to identify YOUR major donors. Start by thinking about your current donors and their past giving history.

What’s your highest gift to date? Clearly, that’s a major donor. Other high-dollar gifts? Yes, those are your major donors, too.
Another way to identify your top donors is to print a list of your donors and gift amounts. Look for natural clusters of gift amounts. Gifts in those top tier(s) are from your major donors.
Or, here’s a simple, more analytical approach. Print out your donor list, in descending order by gift size. Count the number of donors, then draw a line to mark the top 10%. Those are your major donors.

Why Do Major Donors Matter to Your Nonprofit?

Your major donors are the people who love you and your organization. And they show it by making larger than average donations.

You’ve probably heard of the 80/20 rule. It says that 80% of your results come from 20% of your activities. In fundraising, it’s really a 90/10 rule. Studies show that 90% of your revenue comes from just 10% of your donors.

Let me say that again: 10% of your donors are responsible for 90% of your funding!

That’s why you need to know who your major donors are. Your top 10%.
You want to treat your major donors like the VIPs they are, so they’ll keep giving to your organization.

How Can You Keep Your Major Donors?

One way you can keep your major donors is by thanking this special group of donors very personally.

In a previous post for Thank You Thursday, I shared how A Personal Letter is Better Than a Personalized One. In that post, I also encouraged you to handwrite as many personal notes as possible.

So start now. Grab a stack of note cards. Get your list of major donors. And get ready to write.

Start at the top of your major donor list. Handwrite one or two thank you notes a day, until you’ve written each of your major donors.

In each personal note, tell your donor how much her gift was appreciated. Tell her what her gift has accomplished. Tell her what meaningful changes have occurred as a result of her past support.

Follow this thank-and-report formula, and you’ll be well on your way to keeping more of your donors.

And when you keep more of your donors, you’ll raise more money for your nonprofit.

LIKE WHAT YOU READ HERE?

Check out these posts from the Let’s Talk Nonprofit blog:

How Your Thank You Letters Can Put More Money in the Bank

3 P’s of Better Thank Yous

3 Easy Ways to Show #DonorLove

P.S. If you liked this article, you can receive posts like these each month in your email. Topics include fundraising, grant writing, board development, and best practices.
Sign up today, join the conversation, and Let’s Talk Nonprofit.

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