By Abby Jarvis, author, marketer, and speaker at Neon One – software program constructed for small and midsize nonprofits to assist them handle fundraising, communications, occasions, volunteers, and extra.
Donor retention is essential. For those who’ve been within the nonprofit area for greater than per week or two, you’ve in all probability learn all about it—how retaining donors is more cost effective than buying new ones, the way it’s an essential a part of constructing a sustainable fundraising program, and the way specializing in retaining your donors must be certainly one of your prime priorities.
All that’s true, however the reality stays that donor retention is a battle. Retaining your donors requires constructing relationships with them, and people relationships will rely closely on efficient communication.
However how can a single fundraiser talk successfully with a whole donor base? And the way can they use these communications to retain their supporters?
Can Tech Instruments Remedy Donor Retention?
The quick reply is “no.” The longer reply is “No, however they’ll definitely assist!”
Donor retention is, at its coronary heart, about constructing relationships. Tech instruments received’t take the place of a human-centric technique for constructing relationships between donors, nonprofits, and the communities they serve. However they’ll make it simpler to construct them.
You’ll in all probability by no means discover a software program or platform that may do the work of constructing donor relationships (and, should you do, please share that with everybody instantly!). However you can use expertise to do three vital issues.
First, you need to use it to higher perceive your donors—to get a really feel for who they’re and why they provide. Subsequent, you possibly can use expertise to place that info into motion by crafting donor communications that make them really feel like an essential a part of your group. Then, you need to use them to automate messages you’ll need to ship repeatedly.
Use Nonprofit Tech Instruments to Perceive Your Donors
There’s a number of speak on the market about how you can know your donors. However what does that imply?
Right here’s what it doesn’t imply. It doesn’t imply it’s a must to individually know each particular person in your donor database—that isn’t sensible.
Understanding your donors means understanding three basic items: what evokes them, why they assist your work, and how they need to work together with you.
You should utilize expertise to achieve these insights. With the suitable instruments, you possibly can study:
- What pursuits them
- Which packages and initiatives encourage them
- How they like to speak
- How (and when) they prefer to donate
- The alternative ways they’ll interact with you
Give it some thought this fashion: The connection between your group and your donors is sort of a friendship: Friendships are simpler to keep up when what your mates get pleasure from, what motivates them, and what makes them tick.
Your donor database is filled with details about the individuals who assist you. Use that information to color an image of the completely different teams of people who find themselves enthusiastic about your trigger.
How you can Get Began
Okay, tech instruments may give you perception into who your donors are and how one can retain them. However how?
Listed below are some concepts!
- Launch a donor survey and ask donors to share their experiences, communication preferences, motivations for giving, and connections to your mission.
- Run some studies on a few of your most up-to-date appeals. Which carried out finest? What widespread parts or speaking factors do they share? How are you going to embody those self same parts in your subsequent attraction?
- Replace your donation type and embody the chance for a donor to go away a word about their present. Periodically evaluate these notes. What do you discover? Can you see any widespread themes that may inform you extra about what motivates your donors to offer?
Check out this donation type. What might you inform a couple of donor who made a present right here? You’d get the concept that they’re all in favour of nature schooling and in supporting college students, not less than—what different particulars might you glean from their donation?
After getting a really feel for who your donors are, you need to use that info to drive donor retention by writing more practical appeals, impression updates, and different communications that may hold them engaged.
Tech might help there, too!
Use Nonprofit Tech Instruments to Ship Inspiring Communications
While you obtain a message from a buddy, what alerts make you are feeling like they care about you?
They in all probability use your first identify—they could even use a nickname! They in all probability don’t converse very formally. Their tone might be extra relaxed in a message to you than it could be in, say, their employer or perhaps a relative. They in all probability reference previous experiences you’ve had collectively, or they’ll speak to you as if they’d a historical past with you.
Now, your donor communications received’t be precisely just like the messages you get from your mates. However they’ll really feel comparable!
When a donor offers to your nonprofit, it’s greater than a easy transaction. They provide as a result of your mission is essential to them—it traces up with their values, it speaks to their id, and it elicits highly effective feelings and the urge to become involved. While you talk along with your donors in a transactional method, what it’s a must to say received’t stick to them.
Expertise can’t have these conversations for you. However it could possibly aid you talk with individuals as a substitute of merely speaking at them. That pleasant, private communication will go a good distance towards maintaining your donors engaged and supporting your retention technique.
How you can Get Began
That every one sounds good, however what particular steps can you’re taking to make use of expertise to make your messages really feel extra private?
Listed below are some issues you possibly can attempt:
- Establish completely different teams of donors and create segmented electronic mail lists based mostly on their shared traits, like what marketing campaign they supported or the alternative ways they assist your work. Then, use these lists to ship emails which are very related to every listing. Create barely completely different appeals for every of your donor segments. Use what you’ve discovered about your donors to make your ask as compelling as potential.
- Use personalization tokens in your messages. Use a donor’s most popular identify or title, thank them for his or her particular presents, and reference their historical past along with your group.
- Experiment with utilizing generative AI (like ChatGPT) to create tough drafts of receipts, thank-you letters, updates, and different communications, then rewriting that content material with your individual tone, voice, and particulars.
As you intend communications that may hold donors engaged and encourage them to offer once more sooner or later, you could possibly use automation to make these communications much more manageable.
The correct tech instruments can flip one thing so simple as a donation thank-you letter right into a memorable expertise your donors will keep in mind lengthy after they made their present.
Use Nonprofit Tech Instruments to Automate Your Communications
Have you ever ever had a pen pal? Or written thank-you notes for presents?
When did you write these messages? You in all probability answered your pen-pal’s letter shortly after you obtained it. Thank-you letters often exit per week or so (or longer—we’re not right here to guage) after your occasion or occasion. Issues like letter responses and thank-you notes must be well timed.
The identical is true of nonprofit communications. When your great-aunt Dottie sends you a birthday present, you don’t need to ship a thank-you card eight months later.
Equally, you don’t need to ship a thank-you letter weeks or months after somebody donates. Welcoming a brand new donor ought to occur shortly after their first present, not days later.
While you attain a fundraising milestone, you need to ship an replace to your donors as quickly as you possibly can.
However how on earth are you able to ship well timed communications if you’ve acquired a to-do listing the size of your arm?
Expertise might help!
Primarily based on the instruments you have got obtainable, you could possibly automate a few of your essential donor communications, together with issues like:
There are such a lot of potentialities! You received’t be capable of automate every little thing, however you possibly can in all probability use expertise to routinely ship emails (and even schedule duties for employees to attach along with your supporters) forward of time.
Learn: The Do’s and Don’ts of Donation Receipts (Plus Templates!)
How you can Get Began
Now, keep in mind, your aim received’t be to automate each single communication you ship to your supporters. Your aim is to automate the repetitive duties that eat up your time and hold you from having the sort of real-life interactions that may make it simpler so that you can retain your donors.
With that in thoughts, you possibly can:
- Write an important donation receipt that celebrates your donor’s generosity and shares a bit about how their present will make a distinction. Then, use the settings in your on-line donation platform to routinely ship that receipt once they give. You get bonus factors should you create distinctive receipts for various donation kinds or campaigns.
- Create a welcome electronic mail (or a collection of welcome emails) for brand new donors that shares a bit about your group, your work, and the way your group of supporters makes your work potential. Then, use automation instruments in your CRM, donor database, or electronic mail advertising and marketing platform to routinely ship these messages to your new donors.
- Construct a handful of emails reminding individuals about your upcoming occasion. Write a message or two encouraging them to register or purchase tickets, and create a message containing essential info attendees might want to know. Then, use your electronic mail software to schedule these messages forward of time so you possibly can give attention to ensuring the occasion goes off with no hitch.
Relying on the instruments you utilize to handle your donor relationships, you could possibly routinely schedule different varieties of duties, too, like including donor follow-up calls to your calendar. Check out what your instruments can do, then get artistic!
Nonprofit Tech Instruments Received’t Remedy Donor Retention, however They Can Assist
Retaining donors is tough. Holding donors 12 months after 12 months requires constructing relationships between them and your group, and which means you’ll must prioritize common communication. You’ll be most profitable when that communication feels private, pleasant, well timed, and related.
However being a fundraiser is a busy job! Sending each particular person donor communications written particularly for them isn’t life like.
That’s the place expertise is available in. You should utilize it to grasp your donors, what they love, and what evokes them. Then, you need to use that info to create thank-you letters, updates, and future appeals that make an impression on them and encourage them to proceed their assist.
Get artistic along with your tech instruments. Use them to study in regards to the individuals who assist you. Write excellent communications they’ll love. Automate what you possibly can. And keep in mind, above all, that no expertise can exchange an important a part of donor retention—reinforcing the human need to attach with others and alter the world.
How has recurring giving grown and developed? We analyzed 5 years of recurring presents from greater than 100,000 donors to search out out!
Seize your copy of this report to discover how this devoted group of individuals supported their favourite nonprofits from 2018 to 2022, study what these patterns imply in your nonprofit, and uncover sensible recommendation and insights from real-life fundraisers and trade specialists which you can apply to your individual group.
