Your donors make it possible for you to move your nonprofit’s mission forward. However, to retain their support for the long term, you need to keep them invested in your work by engaging them effectively.
One of your best resources for doing this is your donor data. Whether stored in a few spreadsheets, a constituent relationship management (CRM) system, or a data warehouse, your donor information holds the insights you need to connect with your community and encourage them to stay involved with your cause.
In this post, we’ll explore three strategies for using your data to fully engage your donors. Let’s begin.
1. Choose the right outreach channels.
Having regular touchpoints with your donors is essential to keeping your organization top of mind and maintaining the relationships you’ve worked so hard to build over the years.
Increase the likelihood of your donors seeing your messages by choosing the right communication channels. Review the data you have on your past marketing efforts for campaigns and general outreach efforts, as well as any notes you have about donors’ communications preferences or feedback on past messaging.
From there, choose your channels. These might include:
- Social media: According to Statista, over 62% of the world’s population uses social media. Dig a little deeper into your own data to determine which platforms you should focus on. Note that each platform has its own style. For instance, Instagram is great for photos and short videos, whereas Facebook is better for text-heavy posts. You should also look into whether your existing technology has an integration point with your chosen social media platforms, as this can make it easier to create content and collect additional data about how your donors interact with you online.
- Your nonprofit’s website: Your website is a great place to offer educational information about your mission and provide regular updates on your operations. Additionally, your website can be a tool for your donors to take action, whether that means giving a monetary donation, signing up to volunteer, or registering for an upcoming event.
- A member center: Your nonprofit may offer a membership program. One of the best ways to stay in touch with your members is to offer a member center donors can access through a portal on your website. Here you can provide member-only information, updates, and resources. You may also create groups or forums where members can interact with each other, which can strengthen your community.
- Email: Research shows that 99% of email users check their email every day, and 58% of users do so right when they wake up in the morning. This means email is an excellent channel for keeping your cause at the forefront of donors’ minds. Create a consistent email strategy by sending out a weekly or monthly email newsletter.
- Direct mail: Direct mail is still a viable option for staying in touch with your donors, especially those of older generations. Plus, a brightly-colored mailer with information about something that the donor cares about deeply (your cause!) will stand out in a sea of advertisements and bills.
- Google Ads: When you Google something, you’ll often see ads at the top of the search results page. These are denoted with a small “Sponsored” note. Typically organizations pay for these ads each time they’re clicked on, but nonprofits can use them for free with the Google Ad Grant. To ensure your ads are optimized to reach your current (and prospective) supporters, consider working with a consultant well-versed in Google Ads.
- Text messages: Since 81% of people check their text notifications within five minutes of receiving one, texting is a great avenue for connecting with people on a platform they’re already using consistently. Keep your texts short and sweet and always encourage your recipients to take some sort of action, like following a link to your donation page.
After reviewing what your data says about your donors’ communication channel needs and preferences, prepare for success by selecting multiple channels. This will help you reach more people in more places and reinforce your core messages when someone sees your content on different platforms.
2. Personalize your communications.
To stay interested in your organization and feel inspired to give again, your donors need to know that you view them as unique individuals, not blank checks. The best way to communicate that you value your donors is through personalized communications.
Here are some tips for giving your messages a personal touch:
- Segment your donors. Segmentation is the process of grouping your donors by shared characteristics and then catering your messages to those groups. This is a good first step to creating more personalized communications because doing so makes your personalization efforts much more manageable. Note that you’ll want to avoid doing this with major donors, who need a much more individually tailored approach. You can segment your donors by communication channel preference, geographic location, age, giving level, or volunteer status.
- Use their names. Which sounds more personal—an email salutation that reads “Dear Donor” or one that says “Dear Hannah?” The second salutation stands out because it feels personally directed toward the recipient. Use your donors’ names to help them feel like your messages are meant specifically for them. Go further by ensuring that you’re using their preferred names and/or titles. For instance, someone named Jeremy may prefer to be called “Jerry.” Others may prefer you use Mr., Ms., or Mrs. and their last name.
- Reference past interactions. Another way to signal to your donors that you know them and appreciate their past support is to reference past engagement. For example, you might thank them for their recent donation by mentioning the specific amount or what it helped to fund. Or, you might thank them for attending a recent event. Doing this lets them know that however they have supported you, your nonprofit has appreciated it.
To help reframe how you think about your donors and your relationships with them, think of how you would address a friend or a close colleague. You would want them to feel seen, heard, and appreciated. The same goes for your donors. Demonstrate to them that your nonprofit sees them as an integral part of its community and essential for accomplishing its mission.
3. Conduct prospect research.
Once you’re consistently reaching your donors in ways that resonate with them, you should find ways to deepen their level of engagement with your organization. This will help them become more and more invested in seeing your nonprofit succeed.
One of the best ways to do this is to invite donors to level up their giving. You can do this by conducting careful prospect research, which involves examining your donor data to discover indicators that a donor is capable of and may be willing to give a large gift. These indicators include:
- Capacity indicators, which demonstrate the donor has the financial wealth to give a large gift.
- Examples: Net worth, real estate ownership, political giving history, and SEC stock holdings
- Philanthropic indicators, which show that a donor values charitable work and has a history of giving large gifts to causes like yours.
- Examples: Previous donations to your nonprofit or gifts to similar organizations
- Affinity indicators, which signal that a donor cares deeply about your cause.
- Examples: Personal values and interests, as well as a history of volunteering, advocacy, or board service
To take your prospecting efforts to the next level, try using a predictive modeling tool powered by artificial intelligence (AI). These tools can supplement your data with additional information and make accurate predictions about your donors, such as how likely they are to give within a certain time frame or what size of gift they would be likely to say yes to giving.
With prospect research insights on your side, you can personalize the donor stewardship experience and work up to asking your donor to level up their giving. While working through this process, think broader than just securing a financial donation. You may also want to ask high-value prospects to join your next volunteer activity, attend an event, or even sit in on an upcoming board meeting. Making your donors feel like partners in your work will increase the likelihood that they will respond favorably to a future donation solicitation.
Engaging your donors is key to securing sustainable support for your mission, and your donor data makes it possible. Use the strategies above to refine your own donor engagement strategy, and if you need assistance managing your donor data, consider reaching out to a nonprofit technology expert.
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Carl Diesing, Managing Director – Carl co-founded DNL OmniMedia in 2006 and has grown the team to accommodate clients with ongoing web development projects. Together DNL OmniMedia has worked with over 100 organizations to assist them with accomplishing their online goals. As Managing Director of DNL OmniMedia, Carl works with nonprofits and their technology to foster fundraising, create awareness, cure disease, and solve social issues. Carl lives in the Hudson Valley with his wife Sarah and their two children Charlie and Evelyn.