Harnessing Email Marketing for Nonprofit Fundraising Success

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Email is a powerful tool for nonprofits of all types and sizes. Whether you’re promoting a fundraising event, trying to boost traffic to your online donation page, or sharing information about your cause, email marketing is a great way to spread your message. There’s a tangible ROI for fundraising via email—
according to Double the Donation, for every 1,000 fundraising emails sent, nonprofits raised an average of $90.

If you’re not effectively harnessing the power of email marketing or are looking for ways to improve your email campaigns, this post will help you hone your email marketing plan with five fundamentals: audience targeting, subject line optimization, personalization, and storytelling.

Audience Targeting

Segmenting your audience is key to reaching the right people with messaging that resonates and compels them to take action. Segmentation is the process of grouping your audience based on shared characteristics. There are several ways to approach segmentation, but some common segments include basic demographics (age, location, gender), plus individual donors’ giving history, participation in events, volunteer engagement, or favorite outreach campaigns.

While it might sound tricky, segmenting your audience for targeted email marketing is a crucial part of database management. Here are some ways to improve your audience segmentation:

  • Collect donor information. Don’t stress if you don’t have this information readily available. Now’s the time to start and you’ll be better prepared for future campaigns. Survey your audience to collect basic demographics and dive into your database to pull data points that relate to their history with your nonprofit.
  • Leverage digital marketing tools. There are a ton of choices available for nonprofit marketing tools. For instance, you might use an event management tool specific to a fundraising event. Use this to collect pertinent information for integration into your CRM. Nonprofits can often utilize these tools and no or reduced cost.
  • Review previous segments. If you’ve done segmentation in the past, it’s a good idea to periodically review your processes and individual segments to ensure you’re getting the information you need and that it’s accurate. You might also dive into past campaigns for each segment to see what’s worked and where you can improve.
  • Monitor engagement metrics. After you send an email campaign to specific segments, keep an eye on metrics such as open and click-through rates to see how folks are responding. Your email marketing tool might also be able to help you identify promising new segments within your broader audience.
  • Use A/B testing. Try different messaging within your audience segments. For example, split your past gala participants into two groups and use different calls-to-action in each email to see what resonates.

Once you’ve identified your core audience segments, document them in your nonprofit’s overall marketing plan so they can be effectively leveraged down the road in future campaigns.

Subject Line Optimization

How often have marketing emails landed in your inbox, only for you to ignore them because the subject line wasn’t compelling or interesting enough? Engaging subject lines have a major impact on open rates, and subsequently, engagement with your nonprofit. Subject lines are the first opportunity you have to make an impression on the reader, so it’s important to get them right.

Try these strategies to make your subject lines irresistible:

  • Use relevant and appropriate emojis. Sending an email about a dog adoption event? Drop the dog emoji in the subject line. Inviting people to your annual golf fundraiser? Use the golfer emoji. Emojis are fun and engaging and often prompt people to click.
  • Use active language and verbs. You want the reader to act, so your subject line should compel them to do so. Words like help, act, and give are great to include, as well as verbs that relate to your cause, like feed, clothe, protect, and rescue.
  • Create a sense of urgency. Like with active language, your subject line should encourage folks to do something
    right now. Words or phrases that imply a time limitation or that people are missing out on something are good examples, such as donate now, feed 10 kids today, don’t wait, and time is running out.
  • Make it personal. Use merge tags to pull personal information into subject lines to draw readers in, like “[First Name], we need your help” or “A special offer for you, [First Name].
  • Mention impact data. Numbers are attention-grabbing. Drop some data in your subject lines and watch your open rates climb. For example, you could mention the number of constituents you’ve served, data from a survey, or how much you need to reach your fundraising goal.

Above all, subject lines should accurately reflect the purpose of the email and entice them to participate. For example, let’s say you’re adding a new fundraising idea, like a hole-in-one contest, to your annual charity golf tournament. Use the real estate in your subject line to mention the contest’s prize to grab your audience’s attention.

Personalization

We’ve talked about how segmentation is the driver for you to be able to personalize messaging, but how you use that personalization in the email’s content is also important. Once you have your segments in place, it’s time to incorporate details about those segments into the email copy. Some information you can integrate could include:

  • Previous amount giving to a past or similar campaign
  • The outcomes of their donation
  • How they can grow their impact in a new campaign that’s targeted to their interests

For example, let’s say you’re hosting a charity golf tournament to raise money for your organization’s mission to build homes for underprivileged families. Your audience’s occupation segments might include homebuilders or realtors, so your personalized content could focus on the need for affordable housing in your community.

Storytelling

Everyone loves stories. It’s how nonprofits can authentically connect with donors and supporters. And while it might seem challenging to tell a nonprofit story through a medium such as email, there are many strategies you can employ to make it impactful, such as:

  • Using photos and videos that feature beneficiaries
  • Focusing on a single beneficiary and telling their story in detail
  • Highlighting your nonprofit’s impact and transformation with tangible facts and data
  • Give your email a narrative structure that has a beginning, middle, and end
  • Includes clickable call to action buttons and banners

The most important thing to keep in mind is to let the human aspect of your cause shine in your email. Don’t focus on hitting your fundraising goals in a vacuum—instead, contextualize your fundraising asks with the emotions of your beneficiaries to show that your cause and their donations impact real people.

Suppose you’re collaborating with a business as a sponsor for a specific fundraising event, campaign, or matching donation. GolfStatus suggests including them in promotional materials to maximize exposure to their target audience. You might consider sending a specific email that tells the story of the impact the sponsor has had on your mission or specific beneficiaries.

Wrapping Up

Email is one of the most heavily used digital marketing tools for a reason—it’s effective. These marketing strategies will help give dimension to your cause and solicit emotional responses from your audience—all through a screen.

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How to Write An Attention-Grabbing Job Posting: 10 Tips

Attracting top talent to your organization requires more than publishing a job description on a job board. A job description is used as an internal document outlining the specific duties, requirements, and qualifications for a role, while a job posting is a marketing tool.

A job posting serves as your first point of contact with potential candidates, making it crucial to grab their attention from the outset. To achieve this, it’s essential that your job posting aligns with your internal job description but also presents your organization in a way that is candid and compelling.

Let’s take a look at 10 tips you can use to create winning job postings.

10 Tips to Help Your Job Postings Stand Out

List of tips to help your organization’s job postings stand out (detailed in the text below)

  1. Start with a captivating headline. The headline is the first thing potential candidates see, so make it count. Instead of a generic title like “Website Developer Wanted,” opt for something more engaging and descriptive like “Innovative Website Developer Wanted to Revolutionize Web Page User Experience.”
  2. Highlight your organization’s unique selling points. Begin your job posting with a brief overview of your organization’s mission, culture, and values. This helps candidates understand what sets your organization apart and why they should be excited about the opportunity to work with you.
  3. Focus on the candidate’s needs and benefits. While it’s essential to outline the responsibilities of the role, don’t forget to emphasize what’s in it for the candidate. Highlight perks, incentives, benefits, growth opportunities, and any unique selling points that make your organization an attractive place to work.
  4. Use clear and concise language. Avoid jargon and overly complex language that might alienate potential candidates. Keep your writing clear, concise, and easy to understand, ensuring that every word serves a purpose.
  5. Inject personality and authenticity. Your job posting should reflect your organization’s personality and culture. Use a conversational tone in your writing to make it more engaging and authentic and don’t be afraid to showcase your organization’s unique voice.
  6. Provide specific details. Be specific about the qualifications, skills, and experience required for the role. Avoid vague language like “strong communication skills” and instead provide examples of what this entails, such as “experience creating tailored donor outreach cadences that boost retention.”
  7. Highlight opportunities for growth and development. Talented candidates are often looking for opportunities to grow and advance in their careers. Highlight any training programs, mentorship opportunities, or potential career paths within your organization to attract ambitious individuals.
  8. Optimize for search engines. Make sure your job posting is optimized for search engines by including relevant keywords related to the role and industry. This will increase the visibility of your posting and attract more qualified candidates.
  9. Include a call-to-action. Encourage interested candidates to respond by including a clear call-to-action at the end of your job posting, similar to a call-to-action you might issue to your supporters to donate. Whether it’s inviting them to apply online, attend a recruitment event, or contact you directly, it makes it easy for them to take the next step.
  10. Proofread and edit carefully. Before publishing your job posting, take the time to proofread and edit it carefully. Typos and grammatical errors can detract from your credibility and professionalism, so ensure your writing is polished and error-free.

Wrapping Up

Writing attention-grabbing job postings is a crucial part of the recruitment process. By treating your job posting as a marketing tool and aligning it with your internal job description, you can attract top talent to your organization and stand out from the competition. Follow these 10 tips to craft job postings that engage, excite, and ultimately attract the best candidates for your team.

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4 Donor Retention Strategies to Build Deeper Connections

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A regular flow of revenue can help your organization deepen its impact and advance its mission. However, between donor acquisition and retention, your nonprofit has multiple options to bring in more donations for your mission. So, how do you know what to focus on? 

While acquiring new donors is an important part of any fundraising strategy, investing the bulk of your time, energy, and resources into retention can make a huge difference. A strong donor stewardship strategy can help you turn casual supporters into loyal donors, eager to give larger and more frequent gifts over time.

If you’re like most nonprofits, your organization’s retention rate likely sits at around 40%. To grow your retention rate and boost your donors’ connection to your nonprofit, use these tried and true best practices:

With a high donor retention rate, your nonprofit won’t have to stress about constantly finding new donors whenever you launch a new campaign. Let’s dive into how you can experience financial stability and secure a bright future for your mission.

Leverage sustainer tools

To grow your donor retention rate, you need to successfully prompt donors to give again. However, simply communicating a vague “Please donate again!” message is ineffective and likely to be skipped as donors scan their dozens of daily emails or texts. Instead, you need to craft highly personalized solicitations and reach donors at the right time with the right messaging.

Jackson River recommends leveraging a fundraising platform with automated sustainer tools to deliver personalized messages that resonate with donors and inspire action. Let’s take a closer look at the sustainer features you should add to your fundraising toolkit:

  • Sustainer upsells: Convert one-time donors to monthly donors as part of the donation process, increasing their involvement in your mission and earning your organization more revenue over time.
  • Sustainer upgrades: Suggest a predefined upgrade amount for existing sustainers that they can accept with one click.
  • Native integration with a top CRM like Salesforce: Reduce your administrative burden and use donor data insights to automatically power highly relevant donation appeals that prompt increases in giving amount and frequency. A fundraising solution with Salesforce donation processing empowers your nonprofit to spend less time chasing after donors to give and more time to focus on what matters: setting the building blocks for strong relationships.

Individually reaching out to all of your supporters to give can be taxing, inefficient, and, depending on your nonprofit’s size, nearly impossible. The right technology will empower your nonprofit to send tailored solicitations when your donors are most likely to act on them, making it simple to grow your recurring giving program over time.

Create donor stewardship activities

Aly Sterling Philanthropy defines donor stewardship as strategic efforts designed to deepen relationships with supporters over time through systematic outreach. To successfully steward donors to the next giving level, you need a variety of donor engagement tactics that connect supporters emotionally to your mission.

Some donor stewardship activities include offering:

  • A tour of your facilities
  • A one-on-one meeting with leadership
  • An exclusive donor club, with accompanying events
  • An invite to an educational luncheon or dinner
  • A day-in-the-life experience shadowing a staff or volunteer
  • Surveys to voice suggestions for improvements

As you get to know your donors, you can create donor stewardship activities that align with their interests and are likely to excite them. For example, let’s say you’re a marine conservation organization and a first-time donor has expressed interest in your sea turtle rehabilitation program. Invite that donor to watch your next release of rehabilitated turtles back into the wild. This way, they can see how their donation is truly making an impact!

Plan peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns

Peer-to-peer fundraising motivates supporters to take on a more involved role in your mission, empowering them to raise funds for your cause. As a result, they’ll feel more connected to your organization. Once you’ve recruited peer-to-peer fundraisers, equip them with all the tools and best practices they’ll need to hit the ground running.

To smoothly manage your peer-to-peer fundraising and make it simple for supporters to get involved, look for a fundraising platform that offers these key capabilities:

  • Website builder: Easily create a visually appealing and user-friendly campaign page that inspires donations.
  • Personalized peer-to-peer fundraising pages: Allow supporters to generate their individual fundraising pages and add personal touches like pictures and the story behind why they’re supporting your mission.
  • Embedded donation forms: Rather than directing donors to another giving page and potentially losing them in the process, embed a donation form right into your campaign page and your supporters’ fundraising pages.
  • Automated emails: Send off highly engaging emails that motivate your peer-to-peer volunteers and prompt giving among your supporters. Acknowledge important milestones, like hitting the halfway point on their personal goals, to support your recognition efforts.
  • Text engagement: Reach your team of volunteers more directly and create segments so you can send donation requests to all types of donors.
  • Social media integrations: Share your fundraising pages widely on social media to amplify your reach.
  • Digital advocacy tools: Spread petitions, raise awareness of the problem your nonprofit seeks to address, and effectively boost revenue with built-in advocacy features.

A fundraising application with a seamless CRM integration like Salesforce will also enable you to track supporters’ peer-to-peer activity. For instance, if supporters haven’t had any activity on their peer-to-peer campaigns in a month, your nonprofit should be able to send an automated email series to reengage peer-to-peer fundraisers in the action.

Backed by a Salesforce donation application, you’ll be in great shape to inspire deeper relationships, grow your donor networks, and set up a predictable donation pipeline.

Express donor appreciation

Donor appreciation helps supporters feel valued and recognized by your organization. As soon as supporters give, send them an automated thank-you note that explains the impact of their gift. Be sure to include a personalized greeting and offer opportunities for your donors to engage more deeply with your mission, such as volunteering at your next event.

Along with sending a thank-you note, you should practice donor appreciation in a variety of ways to strengthen your supporter relationships. For example, you might:

 

This chart depicts six ways that you can show appreciation to your donors, repeated below.

  • Create a donor recognition wall
  • Spotlight supporters in your email newsletter
  • Offer branded gifts
  • Shout-out supporters on social media
  • Send customized eCards on birthdays
  • Host a donor appreciation event, such as a luncheon

Donors might like to be thanked in different ways, so consider surveying your supporters to learn their preferences. For instance, some supporters might prefer a public shoutout, while others would rather be thanked in private. A strong donor retention strategy is rooted in consistent and meaningful donor appreciation, so be sure to constantly highlight your gratitude for donors’ support.

Wrapping Up

With a high donor retention rate, your nonprofit will have a reliable pipeline of donors who are eager to champion your cause and push forward your goals year-round. To achieve this, leverage a fundraising solution with powerful tools to automate donation requests, streamline the peer-to-peer fundraising process, and support your overarching strategic plan.

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Nonprofit Landing Pages: How to Turn Visitors into Donors

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Picture this: you’re a frequent nonprofit supporter who found a new organization that aligns with your values and you want to donate. You visit its website, only to be met by a barrage of poorly organized information and landing page links crammed onto one page. You get frustrated trying to find what you’re looking for, so you click off the website and find another nonprofit to support instead.

Fortunately, your nonprofit can easily avoid this outcome and secure support by prioritizing web design best practices when creating landing pages. Use these tips to optimize your landing pages for online fundraising and user experience:

As we explore these essentials, consider your nonprofit’s current web design approach and digital strategy, as well as your bandwidth for implementing these improvements. Let’s dive in! 

1. Tell a dynamic story

Telling your organization’s story compellingly and emotionally can seem difficult through a screen. However, by leveraging online tools, you can actually tell your story more vividly than you can from just a face-to-face interaction. 

Evaluate how you’re currently telling your story on your “About Us” page, then try these strategies to add dimension:

  • Incorporate photos and videos. A picture really is worth a thousand words if you use branded multimedia elements to tell your nonprofit’s story. For example, let’s say you represent a food kitchen. Instead of writing a long paragraph explaining your mission of providing meals to hungry families, include a video of one of your beneficiaries describing what life is like in a food desert. 
  • Use interactive graphics. Clarify and highlight key events in your history with interactive graphics, such as timelines and maps. Continuing with the food kitchen example, you could highlight the different communities you’ve been able to serve and how your influence has grown over time.
  • Embed a real-time impact tracker and calendar. Remember that your story is still unfolding, and you can convince potential donors to be a part of it by keeping them updated on your mission’s progress. For instance, you could showcase the number of meals your food kitchen is currently serving and have the tracker automatically update every day or week. Or, you could embed your event calendar into the page so audience members can see that you’re ramping up volunteer opportunities, for example, which is a sign of growth. 

Whichever strategies you choose to tell your story on your website, ensure that your nonprofit’s branding stays consistent so your audience can form a unique connection with you. This includes visual elements, like your logo, and abstract elements, like your tone of voice. Use this sample brand guide for a fictional nonprofit from Fifty & Fifty’s guide to nonprofit branding to inspire your own branding journey:

A sample brand guide that includes these sections: color palette, logos, mission statement, typography, and tone of voice

2. Use a CMS made for nonprofits

As a nonprofit professional, you’re likely more focused on your mission than on learning the ins and outs of web design. That’s why it’s so important to find a content management system (CMS) or web builder that’s custom-built for nonprofits like yours. 

There are several options available, but Nonprofits Source’s guide to web design suggests looking for a solution with these top features:

  • Intuitive interface. Your landing page builder should be accessible to everyone on your team, even those with limited technical expertise. Some user-friendly features to look for include drag-and-drop editors and customizable templates that simplify the page design and layout experience.
  • Integration with other digital tools. Whether it’s a payment processor, a digital marketing plugin, or an event registration system, your CMS should be able to integrate with your other software solutions to provide a streamlined experience for both admins and site visitors. 
  • Brand customization. As previously mentioned, your brand is everything when cultivating a community of supporters. Ensure that your CMS can implement your nonprofit’s logo, color scheme, and other visual assets so you can claim your landing pages as your own. 
  • Accessibility tools. Make your landing pages accessible to anyone who comes across your nonprofit’s website for maximum exposure. Your CMS should be able to add alt text to images, offer keyboard navigation, and support screen readers. This ensures that people of all backgrounds and abilities can navigate and make use of your website pages.
  • Search engine optimization (SEO) features. Publishing your landing pages is just the first step to securing supporters online. SEO can help you reach people who are more likely to convert (your target audience) by incorporating keywords that are relevant to your cause. Then, search engines will serve your landing pages to users looking for similar information. Web builders that come with SEO tools built-in are ideal for accessing your target audience.  


Choosing a CMS is an important decision, so ensure that you lay out your needs ahead of time, research your options carefully, and leverage free trials and consultations with providers so you find the best fit. 

3. Establish trust with the audience 

Just as with other forms of nonprofit marketing, it’s crucial to leverage your landing pages to build trust with potential supporters. To bolster your brand’s credibility with your landing pages, you might:

  • Include impact metrics. Ultimately, your donors need to know that your nonprofit will use their gifts to make a real difference. Convince them of your skills by highlighting impressive impact metrics. For example, you could embed calls-to-action that prompt site visitors to read your annual report with eye-catching statistics. Emphasizing your impact metrics across all landing pages establishes a trusting and transparent relationship with site visitors.
  • Use social proof. Your site’s visitors will be more likely to trust your organization if people they care about or even relate to endorse you. You can leverage this phenomenon (known as social proof) by integrating positive testimonials from donors, beneficiaries, and other stakeholders. You could also shout out inspiring supporters on social media and integrate the post into your landing pages with plugins.

As you design your landing pages, leverage any opportunity to establish your positive reputation. After all, landing pages are highly visible, making them a great addition to your nonprofit marketing plan. 

Your nonprofit’s landing pages (especially your donation page) are critical parts of your fundraising and donor cultivation strategies. By carefully designing and leveraging their unique qualities, you can transform casual site visitors into passionate supporters. 

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Following Up With Donors After a Product Fundraiser: 5 Tips

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Picture this: you’ve just hosted a successful cookie dough fundraiser. Throughout the campaign, you sold delicious treats and watched families come together to bake cookies in support of your cause.

When the campaign ends, you wonder how you can keep the momentum and magic of your product fundraiser alive once the campaign is over. With proper follow-up and donor stewardship, however, you can sustain the relationships you’ve created and encourage long-lasting support.

Whether you’ve hosted tons of fundraisers or just wrapped up your first-ever campaign, these five tips will help you conclude your product fundraiser on a high note and leverage the campaign end as an opportunity to grow your donor relationships.

This image shows five tips for following up with donors after a product fundraiser, as outlined in the text below.

1. Thank donors for their generosity.

The best place to start with fundraiser follow-up is by sending a simple thank-you. Show donors that you recognize their contributions and appreciate their participation in the campaign.

To ensure your thank-you note is complete, eCardWidget recommends including the following elements:

  • A personalized greeting
  • A statement of your appreciation
  • Your nonprofit’s plans for using the donation
  • A short testimonial or story
  • Additional engagement opportunities
  • A closing and final thank-you
  • Signature and contact information

Get creative with your thank-you notes by adding images or sending eCards. That way, your appreciation efforts will be more interactive and exciting for recipients. Just make sure to send your thank-you notes as soon as possible after the campaign ends—preferably within 48 hours—while your nonprofit is still fresh in donors’ minds.

2. Personalize your outreach.

Add a personal touch to your fundraiser follow-up by acknowledging donors’ individuality. Address donors by name and reach out using their preferred communication method.

You can also personalize your outreach to your organization’s mission and goals to make your communications stand out. For instance, let’s say your cheerleading team hosted a product fundraiser to raise money for new uniforms and competition fees.

Instead of sending a generic follow-up email, you can include pictures of team members dressed in their new uniforms at your latest competition to show donors what their funds went toward. Additionally, you might interview one of your team members about what donors’ support means to them and include that testimonial in your follow-up to show donors how much their contributions make a difference to individual team members.

3. Invite donors to get more involved.

Donors have more to offer beyond their monetary contributions. Welcome them to your nonprofit’s community by encouraging them to get involved in other ways.

For example, you may invite donors to your nonprofit’s annual gala. Give them the option of attending the event, helping to secure sponsors, or volunteering to set up beforehand and clean up afterward. That way, they can expand their involvement in your organization in the way that most appeals to them.

4. Update your donor database.

Throughout your fundraiser, you likely collected lots of important information about your donors, especially those who are brand new to your nonprofit. To stay in touch with these supporters, you’ll need to store their contact information in your constituent relationship management platform (CRM).

As you create new donor profiles, consider adding the following data points to steward these new donor relationships:

  • Names
  • Mailing addresses
  • Email addresses
  • Phone numbers
  • Preferred communication channels

For existing records, add information about donors’ product fundraiser involvement and anything else you learn about them. Perhaps one donor engaged with your social media post about the fundraiser and participated shortly after. This piece of information would be useful to note because you can target this supporter using social media during future campaigns for the best results.

5. Collect feedback.

Hearing your donors’ thoughts about your product fundraiser can improve your approach in the future. For example, you may ask for feedback on the products you sell. ABC Fundraising recommends hosting a popcorn fundraiser since it has high earning potential and caters to a wide audience. You may check to see if donors would be interested in this type of fundraiser or inquire about which popcorn flavors they like best.

In addition to asking about the products themselves, you can also collect feedback on the logistics of your fundraiser by asking questions such as:

  • How did you hear about our product fundraiser?
  • What did you enjoy about the fundraiser?
  • Is there anything we could improve for next time?
  • How does this fundraiser compare to others we’ve hosted in the past?
  • Would you be interested in participating in this type of fundraiser again?

These types of open-ended questions allow donors to elaborate on their answers and provide you with rich, detailed feedback. Make sure to set aside time for your team to comb through the responses and note any helpful insights.

While the main purpose of your product fundraiser is to raise funds for your cause, it’s also a great opportunity to build upon your connections with donors. When you continue communicating with donors after the final transaction has been made, you show that you care about your donors beyond their monetary contributions and want to create mutually beneficial relationships with them.

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4 Tips for Using Your CRM to Foster Supporter Engagement

Engaged supporters are key to your nonprofit’s success. For your organization to retain a strong base of support, you need a consistent strategy for communicating with donors and cultivating relationships throughout the year. However, managing all of these crucial relationships can be a challenge.

That’s where your nonprofit’s CRM, or constituent relationship management software, comes in. This platform houses all of your supporter data and comes equipped with other valuable features you can leverage to boost supporter engagement. But to access these benefits, you have to know how to use your CRM effectively. We’ll explore the following best practices that can help you leverage yours:

  1. Analyze CRM Data to Learn About Your Supporters
  2. Create Segments to Personalize Outreach
  3. Leverage Automation Features
  4. Build Out Your Technology Stack

Whether your nonprofit uses a highly customizable platform like Salesforce for Nonprofits or a more basic donor database, you can use these tips to maximize your CRM’s unique potential to engage supporters. Let’s dive in!

1. Analyze CRM Data to Learn About Your Supporters

By housing all your supporter data in one place, you can more easily see overarching trends and patterns in your donor base. Through analysis, you can then unlock key insights to help you determine the best engagement strategy for your audience.

Specifically, your CRM helps you learn about your supporters’:

  • Giving habits and preferences. Knowing how individual donors prefer to give helps you tailor fundraising appeals, increasing the chance they’ll engage with your requests. For instance, a donor who gives $15 a month is far more likely to respond to a tailored increase request asking for $20 than a standardized message that asks for $50. Plus, you may discover wider giving trends—such as peak donation periods—that can inform the structure and timing of future fundraising campaigns. 
  • Charitable interests. Each of your donors has their own reasons for supporting your nonprofit. By analyzing giving data and looking into supporters’ involvement history, you can find out which aspects of your mission each donors engage with most. For example, you might find that one supporter volunteers to help with local food pantries. To better engage this supporter, you would send them information about an upcoming food insecurity campaign.
  • Preferred type of involvement. Learning which supporters prefer to attend events, volunteer, or participate in advocacy helps you determine the most relevant types of involvement to promote to them. Of course, supporters can get involved with multiple parts of your nonprofit—volunteers often make great donors. However, be conscious of how supporters first choose to interact with your nonprofit and send them materials that align with their expressed interests. 
  • Employment information. Ask supporters to share the name of their employer and potentially even their job title. With this information, you can find donors whose employers participate in corporate philanthropy. Then, encourage these supporters to engage with your nonprofit through their employer’s CSR portal to earn extra support for your organization, like matching gifts. 
  • Communication preferences. There is a wide range of ways to stay in touch with your donors, and chances are that many of them have a specific way they’d prefer for your nonprofit to reach out. Allow supporters to share whether they’d like you to contact them via email, text message, social media, direct mail, or some other platform. 

With this data, you can create tailored stewardship strategies that are designed to engage your most important supporters. As you learn more about each individual, make sure to record the information in your CRM to tailor your strategies even further in the future.

2. Create Segments to Personalize Outreach

Personalizing your communications with supporters is vital for maintaining a high donor retention rate. To convince supporters to stick around and continue engaging with your organization, show your donors that you’re paying attention to their specific contributions and value them as individuals.

Fortunately, your CRM doesn’t just store supporter data but also allows you to arrange it to divide donors into segments based on shared characteristics. Group your supporters based on an attribute that might impact how you would communicate with them, like: 

  • Giving preferences. Consider how you would reach out to a donor who prefers to give by check over one who always makes online donations. 
  • Involvement methods. Use the data you’ve collected on donor engagement and continue promoting ways to get involved that align with their interests. 
  • Length of time as a donor. New donors need an introduction to your organization and an extra initial push to persuade them to stick around long-term. In contrast, long-term donors still require routine communication, but there’s no need to continually go over the basics with them. 

Use grouping strategies like these to enhance the personalization of your messages. For example, one of your involvement method segments might consist of all past volunteers. From there, you could narrow it down further into a group of those who volunteered at least 10 hours this year and those who volunteered over 20 hours together. To engage the volunteers in both of these segments, craft two different volunteer thank-you messages that recognize each individual’s contributions.

3. Leverage Automation Features

Your CRM likely comes equipped with a variety of automation features to make your staff’s lives easier. These tools save your staff time, cut down on manual data entry, and mitigate data loss—but you can also leverage them to engage supporters. Often, these features allow you to:

  • Auto-fill donor profiles with information from your online giving page when a supporter donates.
  • Automatically send donation receipts, thank-you emails, or reminder texts when supporters take specific actions.
  • Fill in email templates with personal details from your donor profiles, such as supporter names and gift sizes.

Marketing automation tools within your CRM can be especially useful for fostering supporter relationships. According to Redpath Consulting Group, these tools seamlessly pull data from your CRM into automatically tailored donor communications, handling personalization and other baseline stewardship strategies for you. Some tools even allow you to create complex automations that use branched logic to increase personalization.

For instance, you might create an automated email stream that sends supporters a feedback survey after they attend an event. After the initial email, the email stream might branch in two directions: supporters who fill out the survey receive a personalized thank-you email, while those who don’t fill out the survey receive a few reminder emails spaced out over a week.

4. Build Out Your Technology Stack

Finally, don’t limit yourself to the features that come with your base CRM. Many CRMs have add-ons available to expand your technology’s capabilities and meet any additional needs you may have.

For example, if you use Salesforce, you can browse hundreds of native and third-party apps for nonprofits and choose the ones that best fit your technology needs. Double the Donation’s list of the best Salesforce apps includes several types of apps that are designed to help you engage supporters, such as:

  • Matching gift software. Integrating a matching gift tool with your CRM helps you find out which of your donors are eligible for a corporate match and automatically lets them know, greatly increasing your fundraising potential while adding another layer of supporter engagement. 
  • Event management apps. If your nonprofit hosts a lot of fundraising events, you can simplify event planning and management by integrating virtual event tools with your CRM. These tools can help you create events that resonate with your audience and yield a better turnout.
  • Nonprofit marketing tools. Need to refresh your donor communication strategies? Expand your marketing automation capabilities, manage complex promotional campaigns, or tap into a new marketing channel with these apps.

If you’re not sure where to start, a nonprofit technology consultant can help you find the best solutions and even implement them for you. Look for qualified experts with nonprofit experience who will evaluate your existing technology and work by your side to determine the best path forward. Be sure to let potential consultants know that your goal is to better engage supporters with your CRM’s help.

As you try out these strategies, keep track of your results and don’t be afraid to pivot your approach when necessary. With your CRM as your organization’s technological foundation, you’ll be on your way to creating a stronger community of supporters who feel personally connected to your nonprofit.

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Connecting With Church Donors During Your Annual Appeal

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Your Catholic diocese’s annual appeal offers a great chance for you to connect with your parishioners during the Easter season as you invite them to contribute to the growth of the church and the service of their fellow man.

So, when it comes time to don your fundraising hat, it’s important to remember to not get too caught up in the dollars and cents. Instead, focus on building genuine relationships with your parishioners and teaching the principles of generosity and sacrifice. This will help secure their continued engagement and support in the long run.

In this quick guide, we’ll cover four tips for connecting with your donors during annual appeal season. As you explore these tips, consider what you know about your own parishioners and how you can tailor your appeal messaging and fundraising approach to their needs. Let’s begin.

1. Craft messages that resonate with your donors.

Thoroughly prepare for your annual appeal by examining the results of past annual appeals. What worked? What could you have done differently to get better results?

One common focus area for improving Diocesan annual appeals is the messaging around your campaign. It’s important to craft appeal messages that will resonate with your church donors.

Your messaging should be strongly connected to the core pillars of Lent—prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. According to Averill Solutions, it should be clear to your parishioners that “your annual appeal is associated with the overarching principle of sacrifice and spiritual refinement that can bring your parishioners closer to God.” Messaging that reinforces these ideas will help parishioners recognize donating as an act of giving something up to benefit the greater good.

Additionally, your appeals should be highly personal. This will help each parishioner feel seen and valued as an individual instead of making them feel like a walking ATM. Use the following best practices to personalize your appeals:

  • Lean on the records you have for each parishioner to access their contact information, church attendance details, and giving history.
  • Segment your parishioners into groups based on shared characteristics (such as age or preferred communication method) and tailor your appeals to those groups.
  • Share compelling stories to demonstrate the need for participation in the appeal.
  • Use parishioners’ names in your messages instead of generic greetings.

While most of these best practices apply to written messages, don’t overlook the importance of in-person interactions. Whether you’re chatting with a parishioner after Mass or making a visit to their home, you have the opportunity to communicate that your diocese cares about them as an individual and appreciates any way they can give to the annual appeal.

2. Offer multiple ways to give.

Just as each parishioner’s Lenten sacrifices are unique, so too are their approaches to giving to your annual appeal. Anticipate your parishioners’ giving needs by offering multiple ways to contribute. For instance, you could:

  • Provide a variety of donation tools. Make the giving process simple and accommodate a variety of giving methods by providing many different donation platforms, like text-to-give tools, a donation form on your website, gift envelopes, and mail-in forms.
  • Design opportunities for young parishioners to get involved. Empower entire families to give to your annual appeal by creating child-friendly opportunities. For example, Double the Donation recommends hosting a product fundraiser like a candy bar sale, which is a fun and easy way for your youngest parishioners to give back.
  • Communicate that non-monetary contributions are valuable, too. Some parishioners may not be in a position to give a monetary donation, or they may have items, talents, or services to contribute. For instance, someone might give office supplies that your diocese can use in its elementary schools. Another might donate their time and talents to create an auction catalog for your upcoming fundraising event.

Stay open-minded about the different ways in which your parishioners can give and what a successful annual appeal looks like. When your parishioners feel like their contributions are valued no matter what they look like, they’ll feel more included in the church community and be more inclined to continue to give down the road.

3. Prioritize transparency.

Share with your parishioners what their past annual appeal donations have been used for and how you plan to use the funds you raise this year. Being transparent about how your diocese intends to use their contributions will instill more trust in your diocese and the church in general, leading to greater engagement and more contributions.

When sharing how donations will be used, be specific. This will help you appeal to different individuals’ interests and charitable priorities. For example, say you share that you’re going to use some annual appeal funds to launch a new religious education and engagement program for the children in your community. Parents, teachers, and other individuals invested in children’s spiritual development may then be inclined to give (or give more!) to your annual appeal.

4. Continue to cultivate generosity after your appeal ends.

The annual appeal season shouldn’t be the only time of year when your parishioners learn about the principles of sacrifice, generosity, and consecration. In fact, if you’re not teaching these principles (and living them) year-round, your annual appeal can ring hollow.

Here are some best practices your church can use to continually cultivate generosity among your parishioners:

  • Teach generosity. Actively seek out opportunities to share messages, scriptures, and stories related to generosity. This will help establish it as an important part of being a believer.
  • Practice what you preach. Lead by example to serve and give to your parishioners, whether you’re providing spiritual counsel or volunteering with community organizations.
  • Set up regular opportunities to serve. Make it clear to your parishioners that monetary giving isn’t the only way to give back. Set up service projects and volunteer days that encourage them to put their faith into action.

Ensuring that your parishioners are spiritually fed in this area will not only inspire them to give to your annual appeal but will also help them become more refined, selfless, and Christlike individuals.

Your annual appeal is about more than just meeting a fundraising goal—it’s also about connecting with your parishioners. To take your appeal to the next level, consider hiring a Catholic fundraising consultant. These experts understand the nuances of faith-based fundraising and can help you meet your goals and influence parishioners for good.

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3 Reasons to Switch from Salesforce NPSP to Nonprofit Cloud

Salesforce is one of the top CRM providers for businesses, associations, and nonprofits. As a nonprofit professional, you may be familiar with Salesforce’s nonprofit solution Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP), built on top of its core CRM as a comprehensive, user-friendly fundraising tool and CRM.

Thousands of organizations have found success with NPSP over the years, so much so that Salesforce decided to transition its nonprofit-specific technology to a more robust offering in Nonprofit Cloud. Nonprofit Cloud boasts more features, a new data model, and a stable infrastructure within Salesforce. However, Salesforce plans to continue supporting NPSP, leaving nonprofits to question if switching to Nonprofit Cloud is right for their organization.

In this guide, we’ll explore the basics of Nonprofit Cloud and why it might be best for your organization to implement this new tool. Let’s start by covering what Nonprofit Cloud is and what it means for nonprofits using NPSP.

What is Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud?

As Fíonta’s guide to the Salesforce nonprofit family explains, Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud is an expansion of the existing package of nonprofit technology. Nonprofit Cloud is meant to be a one-stop-shop for nonprofit organizations, offering technology to assist with case and program management. Fundraising features will be added as soon as Winter 2023.

Why Use or Switch to Nonprofit Cloud?

1. It is a core product on the Salesforce platform.

NPSP is essentially a set of apps installed on the Salesforce platform, often called a managed package. While nonprofits using NPSP were able to take advantage of new releases from Salesforce, managed packages are not considered core products and have more difficulty smoothly connecting with other Salesforce tools.

Salesforce’s core products are considered foundational to the platform, whereas managed packages function as extensions of the core product, often developed by a third party or Salesforce partner. While both can be effective tools for nonprofits, here are some considerations to keep in mind about core products like Nonprofit Cloud:

  • It will receive investments from Salesforce. As a core product, Salesforce will invest more heavily in Nonprofit Cloud in the future. Nonprofits using Nonprofit Cloud can count on continued updates and use it alongside other Salesforce offerings outside of the NPSP data model.
  • It is one of the Salesforce Industry Clouds. Salesforce offers collections of cloud-based tools designed specifically for different industries, such as the Financial Services Cloud. Nonprofits in industries that require precise reporting and compliance features, like healthcare organizations, can easily connect with data stored in Nonprofit Cloud to other relevant Industry Clouds.
  • It is built on the Industry Data Model. The Industry Data Model is the model used by all of the Salesforce Industry Cloud Solutions. This means that going forward, Nonprofit Cloud users can seamlessly access and implement tools from other industry clouds. For example, your nonprofit might leverage tools from the Financial Services cloud for tasks like donor management, data analytics, wealth screening, and financial tracking.

Overall, this means that it will be possible for nonprofits to use more of Salesforce’s offerings. However, migrating to the new data model can be time- and labor-intensive. For advice on how to navigate this change and prepare your data for the transition, consider working with an industry expert such as a Salesforce partner.

2. It offers access to more tools.

Because of its Industry Cloud status, Nonprofit Cloud can provide your nonprofit with more tools through the Common Features available for use in multiple Industry Clouds.

Some new offerings your nonprofit could take advantage of with Nonprofit Cloud include:

  • OmniStudio. Using OmniStudio, your nonprofit can develop positive, guided user experiences. For example, you might use this feature to guide supporters through your organization’s volunteer onboarding process, improving your stewardship efforts. OmniStudio does not rely on custom code but instead offers drag-and-drop configuration capabilities so you can set up these guided experiences in just a few clicks. For NPSP users, this is somewhat similar to Flow or Apex.
  • Actionable Relationship Center (ARC). This tool is similar to the NPSP’s Relationship Viewer, but it offers a more comprehensive and easy-to-visualize way to view donor relationships. If your nonprofit uses Experience Cloud, you can further customize it with ARC. For example, you might allow partner organizations to view ARC relationship graphs to understand how they’re connecting with your supporters.
  • Identity Verification. This feature offers an easy way for your nonprofit to validate an individual’s identity before allowing them to access certain pages of your website or disclosing sensitive information. This is important for staff members, volunteers, and program participants who may access or be told sensitive data.

Remember that no matter which of these features your nonprofit may need to use, they will integrate seamlessly with the other features included in Nonprofit Cloud.

3. It supports long-term scalability.

Nonprofit Cloud is designed to accommodate your nonprofit’s growing and changing needs, helping you better manage projects, oversee staff and operations, and obtain sustainable funding.

Additionally, its data analysis and reporting tools, like Einstein Analytics, are built to support growing organizations with large volumes of data. For example, when creating your annual report, you follow best practices such as those outlined in Double the Donation’s guide to annual reports that advise you to use concrete data and statistics. Because you use Nonprofit Cloud, you quickly and easily organize your data and generate custom reports that reveal the exact statistics needed for the report.

To weigh the pros and cons of switching to Nonprofit Cloud, consider working with a managed services partner who can provide their expertise, assist you in implementing new technology, and optimize the solutions and apps in your toolkit.

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Reaching Your Donors Where They Are with Mobile Fundraising

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Every nonprofit dreams of having sustainable sources of funding that fully fuel every part of its operations. However, this isn’t the reality for many organizations. The National Council of Nonprofits indicates that a minority of nonprofit organizations are able to set aside the recommended six months of cash reserves (or “rainy day fund”). Many nonprofits have less than three months in these reserves.

To overcome these odds, your nonprofit needs to meet donors where they already are—meaning that you need to take your fundraising efforts to the communication channels they spend the most time on. Using more traditional approaches like direct mail is still effective and generates significant amounts of revenue for nonprofits each year. But, it could be time to modernize your efforts to push your campaigns to the next level by implementing mobile fundraising.

Let’s get started by covering the basics of this strategy.

What is mobile fundraising?

Mobile fundraising is a technique that allows donors to give to your nonprofit via a mobile device like a smartphone or tablet. Mobile giving can serve as a standalone campaign or as a piece of a larger fundraising initiative that involves other giving methods.

When you use this fundraising technique, you can reach more supporters with less time, effort, and money than more traditional outreach methods. Because you’ll be able to connect with a much larger audience, you can connect with untapped audiences of passionate supporters who could one day become important major donors. Additionally, because it makes giving so convenient, mobile fundraising is a great way to enhance donors’ experiences with your organization.

4 Mobile Fundraising Best Practices

1. Use effective technology.

Because this form of giving is entirely digital, you’ll need the right technology to keep everything running smoothly.

Depending on your nonprofit’s needs, goals, and the way you’ll use mobile giving, consider using one (or a combination) of the following solutions:

  • Mobile donation pages. These pages are simply mobile-responsive versions of your digital donation form. Because so much web traffic occurs via mobile devices, it’s best if your website (and all of its pages and forms) are mobile-friendly. Make sure your donation form software is able to resize the form for any device and that all buttons and form fields are large enough to be tapped on a touchscreen.
  • Text-to-give software. When your nonprofit registers with one of these platforms, you’ll receive a unique phone number to share with your donors. Instruct donors to text a code or dollar amount to the number, and they’ll typically be prompted to click a link to enter payment information and confirm the donation. Some platforms store this information so that in the future donors can donate just by sending a text or two.
  • Mobile giving apps. Some donors may want a method that is still convenient but feels more secure. In this case, you may want to opt for a mobile app instead. There are a variety of these apps tailored to different organizations and sectors, so make sure to do your research and choose one that fits your needs and budget. Ideally, the app should have features such as the option to make one-time and recurring gifts, a feature for covering transaction fees, and built-in text-to-give tools.

Investing in the right technology before launching your fundraising campaign will streamline your efforts, ensure that each payment made is secure, and even provide you with valuable data that can be used to guide future fundraisers.

2. Learn what your donors want.

Understanding your donors is the foundation of any successful fundraiser, and it’s a key stepping stone on your path toward sustainable fundraising.

Allegiance Group’s guide to driving donations highlights the importance of personalizing outreach to your donors, explaining that “by making donors feel like they are part of a larger cause and can directly contribute to achieving those goals, you’ll encourage them to increase the value and frequency of their gifts.”

Here’s how you can translate this advice into actionable next steps for your mobile giving campaign:

  • Conform to communication preferences. While it may seem obvious, it’s important to make sure that the donors you reach out to through a mobile fundraiser use and prefer digital or mobile communication channels. If they seldom engage via mobile devices or are uncomfortable with mobile giving, they may have a negative reaction to a seemingly random ask via text message (e.g., deleting and reporting the message as spam).
  • Tailor your ask amounts. If you are reaching out to donors with fundraising appeals through their mobile devices, make sure the appeal aligns with each supporter’s giving affinity and capacity. You can determine what those thresholds are by analyzing their past giving behaviors, conducting wealth screenings, and studying demographic data.
  • Segment donors. Among your donors who prefer mobile giving, some will have other unique preferences. For example, if you run a food pantry, some of these supporters may support your pantry because they have personally struggled with food insecurity, while others simply want to give back to their community. If your nonprofit is aware of these different motivations, it can create custom messages for each segment.

One of the simplest ways to add warmth and authenticity to these messages is with a personalized greeting. If possible, configure your mobile giving platform to begin each message with the donor’s first name.

3. Study and follow giving patterns.

Your nonprofit can also use data analytics to identify and align with organization- and sector-wide trends in giving.

For example, according to NPOInfo’s charitable giving statistics, 17% to 22% of nonprofit donations occur in December. So, it’s wise for nonprofits to ramp up fundraising efforts—including mobile donation asks—significantly during the end-of-year season of giving.

Some other broad giving trends to look out for include:

  • Increased giving as a response to disasters, political events and outcomes, or other urgent needs. For instance, many organizations experienced a boost in revenue during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Event-driving giving that occurs around galas, 5Ks, auctions, or other similar fundraisers.
  • Internal milestones, such as your nonprofit’s ten-year anniversary, that warrant special gifts from donors.
  • Initiatives from influential external parties that could drive an increase in revenue. This might include partnering with an influencer for a cause marketing campaign or working with a corporation on their CSR campaign.

Your sector and organization will likely encounter other, more niche giving patterns as well. Just remember to keep a record of and address any significant increases (or decreases) in fundraising revenue from your mobile giving efforts.

4. Continue your donor stewardship efforts.

Just because mobile giving tends to be a more informal way to solicit donations doesn’t mean that you should abandon your stewardship efforts for mobile donors. These supporters require (and deserve) just as much recognition and gratitude for their contributions as a more traditional donor would receive.

As you would with your marketing or fundraising efforts, you should tailor your recognition method to each donor’s preferences and contributions. Continue to greet them by name, and mention the amount of their contribution along with details about its impact. Returning to the food pantry example, you might tell a supporter who gave $50 that their donation provided a family with a week’s worth of groceries.

Additionally, you’ll need to reach out via a digital channel to ensure donors actually see your message. Sending a text is great for a short, casual thank-you. For longer, more official messages to recognize donors who gave larger amounts, consider sending them an email or include a link to an eCard in the text.

Keep in mind that with a little creativity, you can leverage mobile giving in many different ways. For example, if you use this method during virtual or hybrid fundraisers to help attendees quickly make donations, you might gain the momentum you need to meet or even exceed your set fundraising goal. Over time, this simple, low-cost fundraising technique can expand your supporter base while making it easier than ever to contribute to a good cause.

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How Donor Analytics Can Boost Involvement at Your Nonprofit

It’s no secret that highly involved supporters are essential for your nonprofit to further its mission. Retaining donors and building long-term relationships with them allows you to bring in the consistent funding you need to run your programs and operate your organization. Plus, your volunteers, event participants, and advocates play their own critical roles in your mission, so it’s also important to keep them engaged.

Data-driven supporter engagement strategies tend to be the most successful, and you likely have a lot of information stored in your donor database that you can reference. However, this data needs to be analyzed in order to provide actionable insights. The conclusions drawn from this process are collectively known as donor analytics.

In this guide, we’ll discuss four ways donor analytics can help your nonprofit boost supporter involvement, including:

  1. Creating Targeted Appeals
  2. Making Your Storytelling More Compelling
  3. Sending Personalized Thank-You Messages
  4. Improving Financial Management

To glean these insights, you first need to analyze the right information. Jitasa’s guide to donor analytics recommends looking at giving, engagement, demographic, and predictive donor data to better understand your supporters’ motivations and preferences for being involved with your nonprofit. Then, you can tailor your fundraising, marketing, and financial planning activities to those motivations and preferences. Let’s dive in!

1. Creating Targeted Appeals

Chances are your nonprofit runs a variety of different initiatives that you ask supporters to participate in. To maximize the number of supporters who respond to these appeals, use donor analytics to determine the best target audience for each opportunity. Then, tailor your communications to those audiences.

Some initiatives where targeted appeals can be particularly helpful include:

  • Volunteer opportunities. In your database, make note of supporters’ interests that are relevant to certain areas of your mission. That way, you can promote your volunteer opportunities to those who are most likely to be interested in participating. For example, an animal shelter might keep track of which supporters prefer dogs or cats and advertise different volunteer positions accordingly.
  • Matching gifts. By tracking donors’ employment information, you can identify those who work for a company with a matching gift program. Then, you can reach out to these donors individually to remind them to submit match requests to their employers each time they contribute, multiplying the impact of their gifts.
  • Major gift solicitation. Analyzing supporters’ wealth and philanthropic markers allows you to identify potential major donors among your supporter base. A strong prospect needs to have both the financial capacity and the willingness to support your mission through a major gift. Supplement the information in your donor database with specialized prospect research tools to get a complete picture of each candidate before reaching out.

To figure out the best way for each supporter to be involved, leverage demographic data like their age, location, employer, and interests, as well as the predictive analytics drawn from wealth and philanthropic data. Analyzing information on supporters’ past giving and engagement can then help you decide how much money or time is reasonable to ask for in your appeal.

2. Making Your Storytelling More Compelling

Many nonprofits use storytelling to inspire supporters to get involved with their mission because stories engage supporters’ emotions more than facts alone. To make your stories even more compelling, leverage donor analytics to discover:

  • What types of stories would catch your supporters’ attention. Supporters often like to see themselves in stories, so feature donors as main characters who share demographic characteristics and engagement histories with your target audience. Alternatively, if you want your story’s protagonist to be one of your organization’s beneficiaries, ensure the story aligns with your audience’s interests.
  • Which marketing channels to use for storytelling. Donor engagement analytics also encompass the marketing content your supporters prefer to engage with. Determine which channels are receiving the most interactions and concentrate on telling compelling stories in those materials.

To see these tips in practice, let’s say an educational nonprofit is preparing to send out its year-end fundraising appeals, and the campaign’s primary target audience is Millennial donors. By analyzing demographic and engagement data, they determine that many supporters in that generation are interested in improving elementary education, and their preferred communication channels are email and social media.

With this in mind, the organization could convince this audience to donate by sharing stories about an elementary school’s students who achieved academic success through its free after-school tutoring program in their Instagram posts and email newsletter.

3. Sending Personalized Thank-You Messages

In addition to appeals, donor analytics can influence your follow-up communications after supporters engage with your organization. In particular, the insights you glean will help you send personalized thank-you messages that help donors feel valued.

To effectively leverage analytics for donor recognition, try these tips:

  • Address each supporter by their preferred name. Along with other demographic data, make notes in your database about whether each supporter likes to be addressed by their title and last name, their first name, or a nickname in the greeting of a thank-you note.
  • Mention the donor’s individual contributions. Review the donor’s giving and engagement history to thank them for the exact amount they gave, the number of hours they volunteered, or the ways they participated in your event or advocacy campaign.
  • Provide an opportunity to give feedback. If a supporter fills out a survey or answers a satisfaction question, it shows that they care about their involvement with your organization. Not only can you use their responses to improve their experience, but you should also track which supporters give feedback as part of your engagement analytics.

According to eCardWidget, leveraging analytics to personally thank donors is important for retaining them. Supporters who feel valued are more likely to stay involved with your organization over time, saving you money on donor acquisition and ensuring consistent support.

4. Improving Financial Management

Although they may not be the first aspects that come to mind, your nonprofit financial management activities are essential to your supporter engagement strategy. Being transparent with donors about how you manage their contributions builds trust in your organization, which encourages them to stay involved.

Here are a few ways that donor analytics can apply to your nonprofit’s financial management:

  • Budgeting. Analyzing supporters’ giving patterns helps you predict when you’re most likely to receive a large number of individual donations so you can allocate your funding accordingly. For instance, nonprofit giving often peaks at the end of the calendar year, so you might wait to launch a new program until after the new year to ensure you’ll have enough funding to do so.
  • Revenue generation. Diversifying your funding allows you to bring in more sustainable revenue. Review your donors’ engagement histories and interests to determine what new revenue streams would appeal to your supporter base. For instance, you might decide to create a membership program to increase long-term involvement or add a new annual fundraising event to your calendar.
  • Financial reporting. By tracking supporter contributions accurately, you can ensure you report your revenue and expenses correctly on your end-of-year financial statements. Plus, you’ll know which supporters you’ve sent donation acknowledgements to for tax deduction purposes.

While many nonprofits view fundraising and financial management as separate processes, they actually work together to further your mission. Therefore, make sure you don’t overlook financial management activities as you work on involving supporters more deeply in your organization’s efforts.

When deciding whether to get involved with your nonprofit, supporters take a variety of considerations into account. Some of these include their personal interest in your mission and available opportunities, the experience of contributing their money or time, the potential impact of their involvement, and their trust in your organization. So, an engagement strategy that also considers these desires and is backed by donor analytics is most likely to succeed in boosting involvement at your nonprofit.

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