5 Fundraising Appeal Strategies that Maximize Donations
Guest post By Leigh Kessler – VP, Marketing & Communications
CharityEngine
Donations are key to achieve your nonprofit’s mission. Of course, you also have funding sources such as grants, but donations are what ultimately keep your nonprofit going.
So why wouldn’t you work to maximize these donations?
There are some tried and true fundraising appeal strategies designed to help nonprofits like yours earn more. That’s why we’re writing this article: to communicate some of these strategies and help nonprofits achieve their missions.
The 5 fundraising appeal strategies we’ll cover in this article include:
Prominently display your nonprofit’s mission.
Segment your donors into relevant groups.
Show the impact of your organization.
Display impactful visuals on your donation pages.
Promote matching gifts.
Ready to learn more? Let’s get started!
1. Prominently display your nonprofit’s mission
When your nonprofit asks for money from your donors, especially using digital resources, it’s important to make sure your donors know exactly what it is their money is going towards.
Displaying your mission in a location where it’s easy for donors to learn the core values of your organization and feel driven to contribute.
Therefore, the steps you should take in order to best communicate your organization’s mission are as follows:
Make sure your mission statement is well written. Appeal to the emotions of your supporters while accurately communicating exactly what it is you’re trying to achieve and why that’s important.
Consider the platforms where your statement should be written. The first place on which you should make sure your mission is prominently displayed is your website. Then, make sure it’s on your direct mail, newsletter, and other marketing documents.
Make a connection to fundraising. In the locations where your mission statement is written, make sure to include a call-to-action so that your supporters know exactly how they can give to help achieve that important mission.
Take, for instance, your nonprofit’s website. Write your organization’s mission statement on the home page or the about page so that it’s easy for supporters to find. Then, include a button nearby that leads to your donation page. This button may say “Donate Now!” or “Give Today!”
Making this connection between your nonprofit’s website, mission, and donation page is most effective when you have software that also connects the various aspects of your digital presence. It leads to a smoother transition from your supporters’ sparked interest in your mission to their research to their actual contribution.
To learn more about the advantages of a fully connected, nonprofit-specific software solution, check out CharityEngine’s fundraising platform.
2. Segment your donors into relevant groups.
Segmenting donors is standard practice for an effective nonprofit marketing strategy. It can help you save money on direct mail, send emails to the most relevant audiences, and make sure you’re sending the right message to the most appropriate supporters.
Why would you send a letter to someone who won’t even open it? Or why would you send a message that isn’t relevant to the reader? Not only will these practices waste valuable time and money for your nonprofit, but they’ll also devalue your messages to those people. If they’re not interested in one message, they’re more likely to ignore the next and assume it’s also irrelevant to their interests.
That’s why it’s important to hit the mark every time when it comes to your fundraising appeal outreach. Segmenting your donors into groups based on common features saved in your donor database ensures your nonprofit will appeal to the interests of those donors in your communications. For example, consider dividing up donors based on:
Preferred giving platform. When you know supporters prefer giving through a certain channel (take, for instance, online giving), you will reach out to them and connect them directly to that channel. It makes their lives easier and it saves your organization time.
Historic giving campaign type. Check out the types of campaigns donors have given to before. Was it a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign? Crowdfunding? Event? The next time you launch a campaign, reach back out to people who have given to the same type before.
Donor interests. When you’re writing your fundraising appeal to donors, make sure you consider their interests. What drives them to give? What have they indicated to your team that they enjoy? Leverage this information to ensure they take an interest in your message to them.
Sending messages that target the specific interests of your donors makes them more personal in nature. It makes it something supporters want to pay attention to. However, don’t forget to take an additional step toward personalization when it comes to your appeal outreach.
Choose nonprofit software that will autofill personal information about your donor pulled from the data in the CRM donor profile. For instance, use their preferred name and prefix. If you’re looking for a new solution that will take care of this, consider the top picks listed here.
3. Show the impact of your organization.
Donors want to know that their contributions toward your organization are making a difference for your mission. Showing the impact that your nonprofit makes on the world around you is a great way to entice supporters to give.
Be sure the way you present your impact also lines up with the interests of your donors (remember the donor interest segmentation strategy from the previous section).
For example, if your organization works to find homes for lost or abandoned puppies, you may present your impact in a couple of different lights. For some donors, you may talk about the puppies themselves and how many you’ve rescued; meanwhile, for others, you may discuss the happy families who have adopted puppies from your organization.
Knowing what frame of reference your donors use to determine success for your organization will help keep them engaged.
4. Display impactful visuals on donation pages.
Images are incredibly compelling on donation pages. This is because humans are very visual creatures. We like putting a face to a name or seeing the face of someone who our contribution will impact.
However, images are most effective when they are included in a smart way. Some of the donation page best practices found to be most effective for nonprofits when it comes to visual design include:
Consistent branding. One of the best ways to establish trust with your donors on your donation page is to make sure your branding is consistent. Using the same logo, fonts, and color scheme from page to page on your site (especially your donation page) show your supporters that they haven’t been redirected to an untrustworthy site by accident.
Limiting images. Your organization may have many compelling images that are available to use on the donation page. However, too many images can actually be distracting to donors. Instead, use one or two compelling images to draw the eye of supporters, but not to distract them from their real intent (donating).
White space. One common error people make in the design of their various website pages is that they feel the need to fill all of the space available. In reality, white space is a very pleasing-to-the-eye element for donation pages. This will hold the attention of your supporters on the most important features on the page.
When you create your attractive donation page, make sure to test it on both a computer screen and on a mobile device.
Because so much of web traffic is completed on smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices, making sure your donation page is mobile-responsive and attractive on any device is key to retaining supporters. If it’s too much of a hassle to zoom in and out to see the images on your donation page, they’re more likely to abandon the effort before completing their gift.
5. Promote matching gifts.
If there was a way that your nonprofit could earn more without asking donors to dig deeper in their pockets, would you do it? The answer is probably a resounding, “yes.” Well, great news! You can maximize your nonprofit’s donation amounts with matching gift revenue.
Matching gifts are contributions provided by a supporter’s employer in response to the supporter’s donation. Generally, companies will have parameters around what employee contributions that they will match. These parameters may include a donation minimum and maximum, type of employee (full-time, part-time, retired, etc.), and match ratios.
According to Double the Donation, promoting matching gifts in your nonprofit’s marketing initiatives can boost your donation revenue in a few key ways, including:
84% of donors say they’re more likely to give if their gift will be matched, increasing your nonprofit’s number of donors.
1 in 3 donors says that they’ll give a larger gift if it will be matched by their company.
An estimated $4-$7 billion in matching gift revenue is left unclaimed each year, and an estimated $2-$3 billion is claimed. Promoting matching gifts will help you tap into that revenue source.
Make sure you ask for the right amount from donors. Then, when you promote matching gift programs, you may see that “right amount” double or even triple in donation revenue.
After you’ve appealed to your donors in the most effective manner, make sure you thank them. This will help keep them coming back year after year (but only if you keep up the good work!).
These tips should give you the tools you need to maximize your already awesome fundraising strategy.
Now, go and get started!
About the author: Leigh Kessler is VP of Marketing and Communications at donor management software platform CharityEngine and a frequent speaker on branding, fundraising, data and technology. He is a former nationally touring headline comedian and has appeared on numerous TV shows including VH1's "Best Week Ever", CNN's "Showbiz Tonight", Discovery Channel & Sirius Radio. He has overseen and informed research and branding strategies for some of the most well known brands in America.