Growing a donor base

Ten of every 100 donors your organization receives gifts from this year will not donate come the next year. Some will die, lose interest or be unable to donate for financial reasons.

Donor attrition is the reason why every successful fundraising organization actively seeks new donors. Donor acquisition is the fuel that keeps fundraising campaigns and charitable organizations running.

It is a fact, every year some donors stop giving. Hence the need for fundraisers to put in place acquisition strategies to counteract the loss of donors over the years.

Notice how strategies is in plural? You cannot rely on a single strategy to attract and retain new donors-you need a playbook. Some of these will include; direct mail, hosting events, peer to peer fundraising as well as digital advertising.

Of this, digital advertising is relatively cheaper, easy to track and easy to scale compared to strategies traditionally utilized by charitable organizations.

Direct mail is a time-tested, effective strategy to acquire new donors. A donor acquisition campaign by direct mail will over time aid charitable organizations increase donor giving. This is a time old traditional means of mailing new groups of potential donors asking them to make a charitable donation to the respective organizations.

The hope is that this donor will become a continuing backer and that their lifetime value as a donor will more than offset the cost of acquiring them as a donor.

These are some strategies charitable organizations can utilize to grow their donor base;

Launch a “first gift”;

This is a low lying fruit-a campaign targeting those who already know you, believe in your cause and are interested in your projects and programs but are yet to give.

This includes people who already receive your newsletter, volunteers with you, engage with you on social media or attends your events. Whoever these are, know you, appreciates your value and are clearly interested in your work. A little extra attention, friendly but firm call-to action may be all this group requires to make their first gift.

Target a new email subscriber;

Charitable organizations can develop an automated email series for new subscribers with an objective of welcoming them to their organization and make an emotional connection.

Every new email subscriber is a lead a fundraiser should passionately pursue. These particular group is already interested in the organization’s mission, all one has to do is convince them on why they need to make a donation.

Peer to peer fundraising;

P2P fundraising is arguably one of the best strategies for raising funds and reaching potential new donors an organization would not have access to. Charitable organizations can ask some of their ardent advocates to run P2P Fundraising campaigns for them.

Story telling;

The ability to tell a good story has been prized in society. Today, being able to convey your need in a compelling and inspiring manner is critical to an organization’s fundraising success.

Like beavers building dams or geese flying in information, storytelling is a defining, instinctual feature of humans as a species. Stories can change the world and definitely change your fundraising campaigns through appealing to new donors.

Targeted Social media ads;

Tons of potential donors use social media every day hence Social media is a great tool in the fundraisers’ toolbox. Posts on Facebook, Instagram, Linkein and other social media platforms can be very visually engaging and are easily shared, traits that support fundraising online.

This means that donors and prospects are already on social media and easily reachable. The key is therefore, how to engage these connections with an aim of having them buy into your mission and have them make their first donations.

Donor attrition is a challenge that every charitable organization continues to face. Every year, some donors stop giving, give to more to other charitable organization or simply age out.

This then means that every charitable organization ought to keep growing their donor base. They need to replace old donors with new ones otherwise, their organization will grapple to move their mission forward hence the need for organizations to out in place a  solid new donor acquisition strategy.