For most associations, membership dues keep the organization up and running. Because members must renew their memberships each year to remain active and retain access to benefits, this is a fairly reliable stream of revenue for associations. Since strong, consistent membership is key to growing your association, it’s important to satisfy and engage members to motivate them to renew.

However, relying too heavily on dues to fuel your association can put pressure on staff to retain and recruit as many new members as possible. While staff should strive to retain and grow your membership base, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the demand to constantly reach new members to remain profitable. To relieve some of this pressure, consider further diversifying your revenue beyond membership dues.

While associations have relied primarily on dues, times are changing and revenue diversification is essential. In a 2016 study by ASAE, the organization found that on average, dues only make up 30% of total revenue for professional associations. In this guide, we’ll explore the following types of non-dues revenue streams and how you can implement them:

• Conferences and Special Events
• Continued Learning Courses
• Merchandise
• Fundraisers

Remember that while your organization’s finances are important, members’ experiences should take first priority. To smoothly integrate these new revenue opportunities, consider combining your new revenue opportunities with members’ experiences through meaningful storytelling to promote the revenue streams. For example, you might feature a testimonial from a member who completed a course offered by your association and subsequently got a promotion using the new skills she learned.

To get started, let’s explore how conferences and special events can become valuable additional revenue streams.

Conferences and Special Events

For many associations, an annual conference or event is what their members look forward to each year. These events provide many benefits to members, such as networking opportunities, educational sessions and keynote presentations, and interactive workshops where they can learn new skills. They even have non-financial benefits for your association like assisting with new member outreach and supporting relationships with influential exhibitors and sponsors in your field.

Conferences also have clear financial benefits because attendees typically have to purchase tickets to enter—they might even purchase merchandise or food while at the conference. Additionally, any exhibitors at the conference will need to pay for their booth.

If your association doesn’t currently host a yearly conference (or is looking for ways to improve its events), follow these tips:

• Use event planning software. Choose association management software (AMS) that offers helpful event management features. For instance, your software should automate conference communications, offer an eCommerce platform where members can purchase tickets, and have a mobile app that will help attendees navigate the event. Fonteva’s guide to Salesforce for associations recommends choosing a solution that integrates with your existing tech stack so all event data will flow seamlessly into your existing reports.
• Market the event in advance. The key to profiting from a conference is attracting enough attendees and exhibitors. To reach these organizations and individuals, you’ll need to promote the event via association meetings, emails, newsletters, social media, and more. Make sure to reach out to your audience through the communication channels they prefer and use often.
• Choose a flexible event format. If you run a large, multi-chapter association or your conference is well-known in your field, it’s possible that not every interested individual will be able to attend in person. To accommodate potential attendees who may not be able to travel and attend physically, offer a hybrid event. This way, those who wish to attend in person can, and other registrants have the option to tune in from their homes or offices.

While an event does require some upfront costs and planning, it can be a large source of revenue for your association. To make sure your organization profits from the conference, carefully budget during the planning process, place effort into event promotion, and implement constructive feedback and suggestions into future events.

Continued Learning Courses

One reason many members join associations is to learn new skills and information. While covering new topics during meetings or hosting monthly educational sessions is a good starting point, offer members the chance to go deeper with educational courses.

Host these courses on your association website or learning management system and sell access to them on your eCommerce site. Morweb’s membership website guide recommends keeping these resources behind a paywall that members have to log into to access.

Some common ways to structure these learning opportunities include creating:

• A series of video lectures or presentations
• Interactive microcredential courses
• Written guides in a PDF or eBook format
• Mentorships or coaching sessions
• Discussion-based courses (e.g., members enrolled in the course read an article each week and meet to discuss it)

If your organization is smaller or doesn’t currently have the resources to build a full course, don’t shy away from offering other educational resources. For example, you might record and compile a series of webinars given about a specific topic and sell access to the series to members.

Merchandise

Selling merchandise is an easy way to passively generate revenue. Once you complete the initial preparation steps, your staff won’t need to put in much additional time or effort into this revenue stream. All your association will need to do is:

1. Design the merchandise. Make sure it includes your association’s name and branding.
2. Stock up on inventory for members to purchase.
3. List each item on the eCommerce website powered by your association management platform.

To boost your sales, take advantage of opportunities to promote your merchandise. Conferences are a great time to sell special t-shirts, hats, or bags that attendees can take home as a souvenir. Additionally, you might offer sales around special occasions such as Black Friday or offer discount codes to new members to motivate them to browse your e-store.

Fundraisers

Fundraisers are exceptional for generating additional funding for specific programs, events, or valuable member perks. For example, maybe you need to fundraise in order to support your mentorship program that connects members with college students looking for guidance. Or, maybe your association wants to partner with a local nonprofit to raise money for both causes.

While often necessary, it can be difficult to motivate members to participate in fundraisers when they are already paying membership fees. Try out these strategies to inspire their support:

• Be clear about the fundraiser’s purpose. Address any confusion about why you are fundraising at the beginning of the campaign. Because members already pay membership fees, they might feel more comfortable donating if they know there is a specific reason for the fundraiser. Be as detailed as you can to paint a picture of how their support will benefit the association (e.g., “With your support, we can book an industry celebrity to speak at our yearly banquet.”).
• Tailor your fundraising asks. When you reach out to members for donations, make sure to personalize your messages. Start by greeting them by name and explicitly naming any support they’ve given in the past. If they are a long-term member, acknowledge their years of membership. Create email segments that group donors by their level of involvement or the relationship with your association to ensure you ask for appropriate amounts.
• Have a stewardship plan ready. When a member decides to make a generous gift to your association, be ready to recognize this generosity. You might send donation eCards to members who donate to thank them for their support or even offer exclusive perks. When members see that you value their support (and that donating is rewarded with prizes and recognition), they’ll be more likely to donate again in the future.

When planning your fundraiser, utilize fundraising features in your AMS. These features will help you track fundraising progress, send donation receipts, and identify top donors. If your current solution lacks these capabilities, consider upgrading to a more comprehensive solution.

As you introduce these new revenue streams, remember to remain cognizant of things like donor or consumer fatigue. To avoid turning members off to these opportunities, make sure any new revenue stream you introduce will directly benefit members—and make sure those benefits are clearly communicated. Then, by the time renewal letters go out, members will be excited to renew and enjoy your organization’s new offerings.

When it comes to auctions, the items your nonprofit procures can make or break your fundraising success. To maximize your event’s potential, your items need to be unique, high-value, and appealing to your specific supporter base.

One effective way to showcase your nonprofit’s auction items is to design a catalog. By listing all of the available prizes in a single booklet, along with additional information about your fundraiser and organization, your auction catalog can serve as both a marketing tool and a guide to the auction event itself.

To design an auction catalog for your nonprofit’s next event, try the following five strategies:

1. Understand When to Create an Auction Catalog
2. Incorporate Your Nonprofit’s Branding
3. Write Item Descriptions With Your Audience in Mind
4. Acknowledge Your Event Sponsors
5. Develop Digital and Print Versions of Your Catalog

While some nonprofits pay professional graphic designers to produce their auction catalogs, it’s possible to make one yourself with the right tools and a little creativity. There are plenty of templates available online which you can customize to meet your organization’s needs, no matter your level of design experience. Let’s dive in!

1. Understand When to Create an Auction Catalog

Although creating a high-quality auction catalog isn’t as difficult as it might seem, it still requires an investment of time and effort. So, it isn’t necessary to make one for every auction your nonprofit might host.

According to the fundraising experts at Winspire, auction catalogs are best suited to in-person live auctions. These auctions tend to feature fewer items than silent or virtual auctions, and the list is finalized further in advance, giving you the time to create a catalog that include all of the items you’ll feature.

Attendees at an in-person silent auction are most engaged when they’re actively browsing the tables instead of reading a booklet, and it’s easier for virtual auction participants to view items directly in your event software rather than going back and forth between the platform and a catalog. For an in-person live auction, however, it’s helpful for participants to read through a guide to the event and choose the items they’re interested in before the intense bidding process begins.

The silent and virtual auction alternative to a live auction catalog is well-designed bid sheets. Above the space where participants write their bids and contact information, include a creative title, description, and photo of each silent auction item on the corresponding sheet to catch supporters’ attention.

2. Incorporate Your Nonprofit’s Branding

Branding makes your nonprofit recognizable and memorable for supporters, and it helps maintain consistency across various marketing materials. Your auction catalog is no exception. As you design the booklet, make sure it accurately reflects your nonprofit’s brand.

Kwala’s guide to nonprofit branding lists several essential brand aspects to incorporate into your auction catalog, including:

• Your organization’s name and logo. Especially for newer supporters, these elements provide a first impression of who your nonprofit is and what you stand for, so they should appear on the cover page of your auction catalog.
• A consistent color scheme. Make sure the text colors in the booklet contrast adequately with their background colors to improve readability.
• Interesting but legible typography. Add visual variety to your catalog by choosing two fonts—one for headings and one for body text—that complement each other. However, to avoid a cluttered look, it’s best not to use more than three different typefaces. Also, make sure to choose typefaces that are easy to read, even for titles and other aspects of your catalog where you might want to add a visual flair.

Additionally, consider writing a few sentences in the booklet detailing your organization’s mission and how you plan to use the funding you bring in from the auction. This way, supporters can feel confident that their event contributions will further a good cause.

3. Write Item Descriptions With Your Audience in Mind

Your auction catalog should contain enough information to be a useful resource for event participants, but not so much that it could become overwhelming. In most cases, a total of 12-15 live auction items allows you to keep both the catalog and the event itself to a reasonable length.

As you describe each item in the catalog, consider your supporters’ perspective by following these tips:

• Group the items into relevant categories. To appeal to different supporters’ interests, organize the catalog so they can easily find what they want to bid on. You might include categories such as travel, food and beverages, arts and entertainment, and family-friendly prizes.
• Keep your descriptions concise. You’ll want to fit a maximum of two to three item descriptions on each page. Make them easy to skim by keeping paragraphs short and using bullet points when possible.
• Mention any item restrictions. If concert tickets are only valid for certain dates or a vacation package limits the winner’s choice of airline, let supporters know in the catalog so they can make an informed decision about whether to bid on the item.

Next to each item description, include a related image—either a photo of the physical item or something related to the experience you’re auctioning off, like a picture of the destination the winner of a vacation package would travel to. This not only makes your catalog design more aesthetically pleasing but also gets supporters excited about bidding on each item.

4. Acknowledge Your Event Sponsors

Many fundraising events, including auctions, can benefit from corporate sponsorships. Some businesses may be willing to support your event through financial contributions, while others will provide auction items at a reduced cost or as in-kind donations.

However, for a partnership between a business and a nonprofit to succeed, it needs to be mutually beneficial. Your sponsorship requests should clearly state that in return for your corporate partner’s contributions, they’ll receive free publicity from your organization. The easiest way to do this is to include your sponsors’ names and logos in your event marketing materials—including your auction catalog.

If a business donated a specific auction item, include a brief acknowledgment under its description, such as “This item was contributed by [sponsor name]” accompanied by the business’s logo. Then, add a page listing all of your financial sponsors with a title like “Thank You to Our Event Sponsors” to show your gratitude and honor your agreement.

5. Develop Digital and Print Versions of Your Catalog

Make sure your auction catalog is finalized well in advance of your event, so you can both convert it to a PDF and send it to a print shop to make physical copies. There are two main reasons for this, and the first is convenience. During your auction, participants can choose whether they’d prefer to look through the print booklet or download the digital version on their smartphones.

The other reason is to improve your event marketing strategy, as aligning your online and offline efforts allows you to reach more supporters. Include a print catalog with any event invitations you send by mail, and link to the PDF on your nonprofit’s website and in emails to give supporters a sneak peek of your auction items.

An auction catalog is an essential tool for the success of any in-person live auction events your nonprofit may host. Well-written item descriptions convince supporters to bid on your high-value items, and incorporating your nonprofit’s branding into both the print and digital versions of your booklet helps align your catalog with your other marketing efforts. Plus, it’s a great place to thank the sponsors who made your event possible.

After your auction, revisit your catalog to evaluate its strengths and areas for improvement. As with any marketing strategy, time and practice will help each auction catalog you make turn out better than the last.

Capital campaigns can be absolutely critical to take your nonprofit’s work to the next level. These campaigns are concentrated fundraising efforts meant to raise a significant amount of money to advance your mission. 

Your nonprofit might decide to launch a capital campaign to construct a new building, create a new program, or purchase a necessary but expensive piece of equipment. No matter what level of experience your organization has with capital campaigns, an outreach refresher will help you make the most of your campaign communications. 

Your capital campaign will involve two outreach phases: the quiet phase, where you reach out to your existing network of major donors, and the public phase, where you introduce your campaign to the general public and solicit final donations to your cause. 

In this guide, we’ll review six outreach best practices to help raise donations for your campaign and build long-lasting supporter relationships during both phases. Here’s what to expect: 

• Quiet phase outreach best practices
• Public phase outreach best practices

Bloomerang’s donor management guide recommends striking a communication balance “to ensure you’re engaging with donors regularly without overwhelming them.” These outreach methods will allow you to create a multichannel communication strategy that appeals to donors while still driving you toward your goal. 

Quiet phase outreach best practices

The first stage of your capital campaign is the quiet phase. In this phase, you’ll set up meetings with your major donors to see if they’re interested in supporting your current campaign. 

At this time, you’ll receive the largest donations to your campaign, so it’s important to optimize your outreach efforts to make significant strides toward your goal.

One of your greatest outreach assets in the quiet phase of your capital campaign is your nonprofit’s donor management software. You can use the information stored in this system to identify past major donors to connect with and supporters who have the potential to become major donors. For instance, your regular mid-tier donors who have the capacity to give more might be willing to do so because it’s a one-time campaign designed to accomplish a single specific goal. 

Look for these opportunities in your donor database by analyzing the potential generosity of your existing supporters as well as their engagement metrics. Supporters with a high giving capacity who are regularly engaged with your organization are the most likely to contribute during the quiet phase of your campaign. 

Use these strategies to reach donors: 

1. Send fundraising letters.

Even though it may seem old school, a well-crafted fundraising letter can make all the difference in boosting capital campaign donations. 

Use fundraising letters to reach out and inform supporters about your campaign before setting up a meeting, or send a letter after a meeting to put the information you’ve discussed in writing and make a final appeal. 

When you’re ready to write your letters, you can use a donation request template to speed up the process. Use these tips to customize these templates to your capital campaign: 

• Describe the goal of your capital campaign and how it fits into supporting your organization’s overarching mission.
• Tell a compelling story of how the fundraising from your capital campaign will enhance your organization’s ability to help people in the community. Focus on telling the stories of individual community members to connect your campaign to real impacts. 
• To personalize your letters, greet your recipients with their preferred names and ensure that the fundraising request amounts you pose are tailored to their capacity and willingness to give.
• Customize the templates to match your organization’s tone and brand. Include your unique brand logo, colors, and typography. 
• Sign the letters with your name and contact information so supporters can reach out with any questions. 

In the quiet phase, you’re asking for a significant level of support from your major donors. Ensure the tone of your outreach letters reflects the seriousness of your request and the depth of your gratitude to donors. 

2. Call potential and existing donors.

Some major donors may prefer personalized phone calls over letters or email communications. Specifically, you might want to use your outreach phone calls to see if donors might be willing to be a sponsor of your capital campaign kickoff event or contribute a general campaign donation. 

These tips will help you have successful phone conversations:

• Make your calls during the evenings from 6-9 p.m. when people are generally at home and done working for the day. 
• Use donor data from your CRM to reference the donor’s specific history of engagement with your organization and explain how grateful you are to have their continued support.
• Use a script for reference to keep the conversation on track and include a personalized ask amount for each donor.

According to a Bloomerang study, well-timed phone calls after donors give to your campaign can boost your organization’s retention rate. Calling donors more than once after they donate boosted donor retention to 58% compared to 33% for those who didn’t receive any phone calls. Making phone calls both during and after your campaign can propel your donor stewardship efforts. 

3. Optimize your campaign website.

As the quiet phase winds down and you start preparing to introduce your campaign to the public, ensure your website’s capital campaign content is optimized for educating the public on the goal of your campaign and providing easy access to donation pages. 

Your capital campaign website can be a separate microsite linked from your main organization site or a page within your website. Be sure this optimized information is ready to be pushed live on the day when you kick off the public phase of your capital campaign.

Your capital campaign page or website should include an overview of the campaign’s goals and illustrate the ways that donations will help achieve your mission. Include prominent call-to-action buttons that encourage supporters to “Donate now!” and take them to a well-designed donation page where they can easily input their payment information. 

Consider online advertising, such as Google or Microsoft ads, to promote your capital campaign web pages to a broader audience. You can also look into applying for the Google or Microsoft Ad Grant program to earn free advertising that you can use to promote your campaign more widely on search engines. 

Public phase outreach best practices

After you’ve received the support of several major donors in the quiet phase of your capital campaign (nonprofits typically receive anywhere from 50-70% of total capital campaign donations during the quiet phase), you’re ready to launch into the public phase of your campaign. In this step, you’ll gather support from the larger community for your cause. 

This phase aims to reach out to as many potential donors as possible using public-facing events and communications. Your outreach efforts should focus on energizing your audience to reach your fundraising goals. 

Let’s dive into some public phase outreach ideas: 

1. Incorporate giving (and fun!) into your kickoff event.

Your kickoff event will set the tone for the rest of your capital campaign, so use it to generate buzz at the start of the public phase. 

Whether you host a virtual or in-person kickoff event, make sure it’s educational and engaging. MemberClicks recommends using event engagement strategies such as: 

• Giveaways
• Q&As 
• Trivia
• Live performances

Use your kickoff event to not only make people aware of and excited about your capital campaign but also provide donation opportunities during the event itself. Encourage virtual or in-person event attendees to visit your online donation page. Keep a running log of donations received on your website to allow donors to see how their contributions are pushing you further toward your goals. Creating and refreshing a fundraising thermometer graphic is a fun way to continuously update supporters. 

2. Reach out via social media.

Social media can be an effective way to connect audience members to online giving opportunities throughout your capital campaign. Depending on the size of your social media following, your campaign posts have the potential to reach hundreds, if not thousands, of potential supporters of your cause.

Post to social media platforms like:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram
• TikTok

Ensure your social media posts are concise so anyone who scrolls past immediately understands the purpose of your campaign and how their donations can help achieve your goal. Also, use the unique features of each platform to better appeal to followers. For example, you might promote your campaign using a Facebook or Instagram story, a unique Twitter hashtag, or a TikTok trend. 

3. Follow up with thank you letters.

As the donations pour in during the public phase of your campaign, thank each donor with a personalized message of gratitude.

Demonstrating appreciation is a crucial part of donor retention. Boosting your donor retention rate has major payoffs because your organization won’t have to spend as much time or money on donor acquisition and donors tend to give in higher quantities over time. 

Go above and beyond to show your appreciation to donors to boost your donor retention rate. For example, in addition to an initial thank you in the donation confirmation email, you might also send a handwritten letter or host an appreciation event after the campaign ends. Donor appreciation letters help supporters feel valued, leave donors with a positive impression of your organization, and encourage them to stay engaged in your mission.

You’ve already gotten the attention of an abundance of capital campaign donors. Now, you can focus ongoing outreach and communication efforts on converting these capital campaign donors into repeat donors who are actively engaged with your organization.

With these outreach strategies in mind, your next capital campaign can thrive at any stage. By putting donor relationships at the forefront of your outreach efforts, you can gain the support of a wide range of people in your community, allowing you to build strong donor relationships that will persist even after your campaign concludes.

Jay Love

Co-Founder and current Chief Relationship Officer at Bloomerang.

He has served this sector for 33 years and is considered the most well-known senior statesman whose advice is sought constantly.

Prior to Bloomerang, he was the CEO and Co-Founder of eTapestry for 11 years, which at the time was the leading SaaS technology company serving the charity sector. Jay and his team grew the company to more than 10,000 nonprofit clients, charting a decade of record growth.

He is a graduate of Butler University with a B.S. in Business Administration. Over the years, he has given more than 2,500 speeches around the world for the charity sector and is often the voice of new technology for fundraisers.

In the nonprofit world, expressing gratitude for your donors’ gifts is not only polite, but essential to your long-term success. Donor recognition is a critical piece of the donor retention puzzle that helps secure lasting support for your organization’s mission.

After marketing your campaigns and events like a pro and driving results in your fundraisers, there’s still important follow-up work to do to keep your nonprofit’s momentum going. Donor recognition solidifies your donors’ support and leaves them much more eager to get involved in your future work.

In this guide, we’ll share some best practices and ideas for donor recognition by answering some basic questions you might have:

• What Is Donor Recognition?
• Why Is Donor Recognition Important?
• What Are Some Best Practices for Donor Recognition?
• What Are Popular Donor Recognition Ideas?

Having a concrete strategy in place for how you thank your donors, along with an arsenal of effective recognition ideas, will go a long way to strengthen support for your mission over time. Let’s get started!

What Is Donor Recognition?

Donor recognition refers to the practice of thanking your nonprofit’s donors for contributing in support of your mission. Depending on your goals, donor contact preferences, and resources, this can take many forms, from thank-you notes to appreciation events. Regardless of how you approach it, though, an effective donor recognition strategy will ensure that you cultivate strong and reliable donor relationships in the long run.

Your nonprofit’s supporters engage with your organization because they want to contribute to the change you’re powering in the community. The more you emphasize the role they play in this change, the more invested they’ll be in contributing financially and spreading awareness of your work.

Why Is Donor Recognition Important?

Donor recognition is a key component of your nonprofit’s larger donor relations strategy. Building relationships with donors helps to create the strong support network necessary for your organization to achieve your fundraising goals and further your mission.

Here are some of the specific benefits of donor recognition:

• Showing appreciation. Probably the most obvious purpose of donor recognition is to let donors know you’re grateful for their support, no matter how much they’re able to give. This helps donors feel like your organization values them and that they’re making a difference with their contributions.
• Boosting donor retention rates. Donors who feel appreciated are more likely to give to your nonprofit again, allowing you to bring in more reliable funding year after year. Although your organization will sometimes need to reach out to new donors to grow, focusing more heavily on donor retention is more cost effective and less time consuming for your team.
• Inspiring others to give. Recognizing your donors publicly can motivate potential supporters who are on the fence about giving to your nonprofit to take the first step. And don’t underestimate the value of word of mouth—if donors share their positive donation experiences with their friends and family, you may gain new supporters!
• Increasing transparency. Donor thank-you messages provide the perfect opportunity to share concrete examples of how your organization plans to use the contributions you bring in to further your mission. This accountability builds trust with donors and improves your nonprofit’s reputation as an organization that follows through on its promise to make a positive impact.

To make the most of these benefits, make sure to recognize all contributions to your nonprofit—large or small, one-time or recurring. Over time, you’ll be able to create a dedicated community of supporters that not only give regularly but also engage with your organization in other ways, such as volunteering, attending events, or advocating for your cause.

What Are Some Best Practices for Donor Recognition?

Make the most of your organization’s time and resources by employing a thoughtful donor recognition strategy tailored to your donors’ interests. Your donor management system (or CRM) should have valuable information on your supporters, such as communication preferences, giving history, demographics, and other involvement details to inform your approach.

1. Make it prompt.

Prompt recognition of your donors’ contributions is vital to making sure they feel noticed and appreciated for their support. After a donation, supporters should immediately receive a confirmation or receipt via email with details such as the:

• Donation amount. Include the donation amount and payment method to assure the donor that their gift has been accurately processed.
• Donation context. Be sure to include the specific context of the donation, such as the name of the fundraiser or event the donor attended. For instance, if they attended a virtual auction and won an item, specifically mention the event and the item that they bid on to let them know you’re paying attention to each and every donation you receive.

55% of U.S. donors prefer to be thanked for their gifts via email, so be sure to have automated thank-you emails set up to keep donor recognition from falling through the cracks. However, don’t forget about direct mail—a physical follow-up letter can add a thoughtful touch and show donors that you value their support. For more tips on using direct mail to communicate with your donors, Pursuant’s direct mail fundraising for nonprofits guide is a great resource.

2. Make it personal.

Take your donor recognition efforts to the next level by tailoring your communications to each individual supporter. Adjust each thank-you message by:

• Addressing the donor by name. The more your donor feels like your communications are to them specifically from you specifically, the stronger a bond you’ll forge between them and your organization.
• Including an individual signature. Instead of a generic signature from your nonprofit, sign the letter from a real person at your organization whose job is relevant to the donation, whether it’s your development chair, major gifts officer, board president, or other trusted staff member.
• Adding a video with your thank-you. This is another effective way to humanize your message to donors. This could be a recorded thank-you from a member of your team, a constituent of your mission, or both.

Additionally, consider segmenting your donor base by age, gender, or location to further customize your letters and make your letters even more effective.

3. Make it powerful.

No matter what form your donor recognition takes, it’s essential to communicate the impact of your donors’ gifts. Always try to be as specific as possible about the positive change that their donation has powered. This will give the donor something concrete to feel good about and reinforces their connection to your cause.

For example, perhaps a donor’s $50 donation provided school supplies for three students for a semester of school. One way to make this statement more powerful could be naming the students (with their permission), having them sign the recognition message, or sending pictures of them along with your letter of gratitude.

As well-intentioned as another request for support may be, asking for another donation in the middle of your thank-you letter may come across as ungrateful and disingenuous. Instead, offer the donor additional ways to engage with your nonprofit, such as signing up for your email newsletter or volunteering

4. Make it public.

Donors will appreciate your recognition, but they’ll feel especially important when you promote their efforts for everyone to see. Publicly celebrating your donors bridges the gap between your gratitude and the overall impact donors had on your organization.

To do this, you might include information about your generous donors in annual reports or on your nonprofit’s website. For example, incorporate specific numbers on a page about your program. Detail the number of donors and donations, the timeline of the fundraiser’s progress, and how the money collected was spent within the program.

To further promote donor recognition, focus your resources on boosting visibility. Google’s Ad Grant program, for example, can draw more attention to your website’s landing pages. If you’re approved for the grant, you’ll receive $10,000 in ad credits, which you can use to help your webpages rank higher on the search engine results page (SERP). This leads more people to click through to your website, where they’ll learn more about your donors’ significant contributions!

What Are Popular Donor Recognition Ideas?

Once you have the essentials down, it’s time to get creative. There are all sorts of ways to recognize your donors beyond traditional thank-you letters. First, evaluate your nonprofit’s resources and capabilities.

Large organizations conducting major undertakings like capital campaigns might have the ability to construct permanent donor recognition installations on a grand scale, while smaller-scale nonprofits might opt for creating a virtual donor wall or sending thoughtful gifts.

The scale of the gift should also be considered when acknowledging donors. Establishing giving levels will ensure that smaller tiers of donations made to a crowdfunding campaign and large endowments for a building expansion are proportionately recognized. We’ll cover both ends of the spectrum with the following popular donor recognition ideas.

1. Donor recognition walls

A donor recognition wall is a meaningful way for you to permanently convey your appreciation for your donors. Because they can accommodate many names, donor walls are usually associated with large capital campaigns. There is plenty of room for customization, so get inspired with Eleven Fifty Seven’s donor wall ideas.

For example, the Berry Family Foundation features prominent donors’ names on a wall titled “Thank You For Building Independence” beside the facility’s welcome desk.

At the same time, nonprofits with limited budgets can benefit from the ease and added flexibility of virtual donor walls. With this appealing option, you can acknowledge donors as traditional recognition walls allow, while also having the ability to make updates at any time and drive online traffic to your nonprofit’s site.

2. Donor recognition plaques

If a large-scale donor wall isn’t quite feasible but you still want to recognize your major donors in a meaningful way, custom plaques are another excellent choice. Donor plaques are often featured outside the doors of a new building expansion or on landscape features like benches, but get creative to find the perfect fit for your unique donors and community.

3. Branded merchandise

For smaller-tier donations your nonprofit receives, gifts of branded merchandise are a more reasonable option than plaques. Consider sending out pens, T-shirts, mugs, and other customized items featuring your organization’s name and logo as a token of your appreciation. This method has the added benefit of doing a little marketing work for you!

4. Events

Shine the spotlight on your donors by inviting them to an exclusive supporters-only occasion or finding ways to recognize them at public events. Making them a part of your community and your cause helps to ensure they’ll keep supporting your mission well into the future. Casual virtual gatherings and happy hours are particularly cost-effective yet impactful ways to show your appreciation.

Out of these options, select which best fits your organization and the giving scale. Remember to always be prompt, personal, and powerful in all of your communications with your generous supporters.

Nurturing your relationships with current donors through effective and genuine recognition is a smart long-term strategy for securing enduring support for your nonprofit. And, you can show your gratitude for them every day, with your own donor recognition methods. Even when you aren’t throwing an appreciation event, actively steward your supporters and send out regular surveys seeking their feedback.

By keeping tabs on which aspects of your work and mission resonate best with donors, you’ll be able to optimize their experience with your organization. Best of luck!

Additional Resources

• An Overview of Donor Relations – Nonprofit Catalog – Dive deeper into strengthening your donor relationships with this guide.
• How to Write The Perfect Donor Thank You Letters – Master your donor communications by learning to craft effective thank you letters to supporters.
• 16 Top Donor Management Software Solutions (+ Buyer’s Guide) – Make the most out of every donor interaction with comprehensive donor management software for your organization.