4 Ways to Engage Your Donors in Your Next Fundraiser
By guest blogger Abby Jarvis
Communications Coordinator, Qgiv
Modern fundraisers are connected to their donors now more than ever. Social media and the internet give you a first-hand look into your supporters’ likes and dislikes while other fundraising tools can automate processes and send messages to your entire donor base within seconds.
However, with an increased dependence on digital solutions, only fundraisers with a comprehensive knowledge of their tools can truly leverage them and engage their donors. What does it take to connect with your donors past just images on a screen and words in a database?
As nonprofits plan their next fundraiser, some turn to consultants and agencies (like Allegiant Direct) for marketing services in order to get their donors excited and connect with them in meaningful ways. When your donors are fully engaged in your fundraiser, they’re more likely not only to give more, but to feel closer to your mission and emotionally invest themselves in your work. These are the donors who are the most effective and passionate advocates for your cause.
Take a look at your current fundraising solution and get a sense of whether you’re taking advantage of every opportunity to further engage your donors. Consider the following top tips and best practices:
Motivate your supporters.
Equip donors with a convenient mobile app.
Encourage social sharing.
Promote community building.
Donor engagement efforts don't just correlate with the success of your current fundraiser. According to Qgiv, donor retention efforts are much more cost-effective and beneficial than donor acquisition, so engaging your donors now sets you up for future success. Engagement strategies have long-term effects and can provide the foundation for life-long giving. Let’s get started!
Motivate your supporters
Fundraising campaigns, though stressful, are some of the most exciting parts of working for a nonprofit. This is the moment where you and the rest of your team accomplish a goal and make a genuine difference for your cause. It’s also an exciting time for your donors as they’re getting involved in something meaningful.
Get your supporters amped up for your upcoming fundraising initiative! As you’re planning your campaign, consider some general ways to engage them in the fundraising process. The following tips will supplement most fundraising campaigns:
Send top donors exclusive deals like event ticket discounts. This not only gets them excited for the event but can incentivize them to actually attend.
Offer public recognition for high-impact donors. Maybe even reference generous gifts in a nonprofit newsletter or give them a shoutout in social media.
Always send thank-you donation letters as soon as a gift is made. The top way to lose donors forever is to not thank them after they make a gift. For your top donors, consider sending a handwritten letter.
Donors like to give to your cause, but they also like to feel appreciated. By giving back in the relationship, you set the stage up for future giving.
Equip donors with convenient mobile solutions
Depending on your organization and the type of fundraiser you’re running, a great way to further engage your donors is to provide solutions and perks that meet them where they already are: Their mobile phones.
Taken from a study done by the PewResearch Center, it’s estimated that over 5 billion people have mobile devices, with over half of them owning smartphones. Offering tools that are accessible from mobile devices empowers your donors to give and engage with your fundraiser from the convenience of wherever they are.
Consider the following situations and how a mobile fundraising solution can elevate the experience:
Auction fundraising. If your organization often hosts auctions, providing a mobile bidding app can optimize the entire experience for your guests. Within the app, donors can peruse auction items, easily bid on items, and pay for their winnings in a smooth and seamless process.
Time-sensitive fundraising. There are some campaigns and fundraising efforts that are extremely time-sensitive because they’re responding to an event. This happens often after natural disasters or other large scale incidents. In this situation, it’s a good idea to open up a text-based fundraising channel so that donors can give on the go.
Faith-based consistent fundraising. If you help run a faith-based organization, there are some giving tools out there that can facilitate collecting smaller, frequent payments. For example, there are church giving tools that help process tithes and other gifts.
Offering a mobile app or text fundraising is a convenient solution that almost any donor can use. Engage your donors in your upcoming fundraiser—no matter what it is—and reach them anywhere.
Encourage social sharing
A great way to supplement any type of fundraising effort is through social media! Social media isn’t just good for expanding your outreach! It can also help you engage your donors and get them excited about your work.
Did you know that on average, a person has 7.6 social media accounts? On top of that, the most popular social media platforms are all free and make it easy for your audience to engage with you.
To encourage social media engagement and get your donors to “follow” you, make sure you:
Get a good sense of which platforms your donors are most active on and begin increasing your activity on those channels.
Consistently post interesting content. Post a mix of non-ask content, exciting organization updates, upcoming events, and project accomplishments in addition to fundraising asks. All perform well on social networks.
Include social sharing buttons on your emails, website, and other literature. You can even put a graphic icon on your direct mail!
You can also host a social fundraising campaign and recruit your top supporters to fundraise on your behalf. Many nonprofits plan peer-to-peer campaigns with their supporters on various social media platforms. This doesn’t just get donors excited about raising money to support your work; it also helps them feel empowered and connected to your cause.
To motivate your peer-to-peer campaign volunteers, some platforms and tools will let you:
Include a public scoreboard and encourage volunteers to compete! See who can raise the most money and share successes on social media.
Post a fundraising thermometer so people get more and more excited the closer you are to reaching your goal.
Put your volunteers in teams to encourage them to engage with each other and also compete to be a top fundraiser.
This article states that choosing the right peer-to-peer platform is extremely important. Ensure you can customize each volunteer’s fundraising page and effectively track donations from one place. Make sure you invest in the platform that’s best for you.
Promote community building
On top of increasing engagement between your organization and your donors, consider ways you can also provide a space for them to engage with each other. Fostering a community for your donors will not only keep them invested in your mission, but it also builds a sense of camaraderie and loyalty. This is a great recipe for life-long supporters.
Encouraging your donors to engage with each other can be tough, especially if they come from all walks of life and live in different areas. However, there are some tips you can follow, especially if you have a fundraiser coming up in the works:
Equip your donors with fun shirts. If there’s one thing people always love, it’s merchandise. Whether you’re repping your own school or a tv show you love, there’s a huge sense of camaraderie when you see someone else wearing the same thing. With one glance, you know that you share a passion and a commonality. If you use Bonfire, you can even use your merchandise to fundraise further by selling it to other supporters.
Build a community on Facebook. Do you have a group of committed donors who would benefit from engaging with each other? Try creating a Facebook group where they can interact with each other and your staff! This is especially useful when you have named groups or clubs for donors who give at a certain level or support specific restrictions or programs.
Keep donors updated with achievements. To get donors excited and proud of their community’s work, you should send them updates on your campaigns. However, don’t over email your attendees and annoy them! A good idea is to utilize your donor database to create comprehensive reports. This way, you can let donors know how each campaign goes based on actual, concrete numbers.
While supporting your cause is enough reason to donate to your nonprofit, being a part of its genuine and passionate community is also a huge motivator for a lot of donors. It not only gives donor’s pride in their actions, but they’ll feel compelled to continue supporting your cause for the foreseeable future. It’s a great feeling knowing you have accomplished something together and made a real difference.
While you and your team work incredibly hard to plan the best fundraiser and reach your goal, you still have to think about your donors. Consider the top ways you can engage them and get them excited about your mission. Good luck!
Abby Jarvis is a blogger, marketer, and communications coordinator for Qgiv, an online fundraising service provider. Qgiv offers industry-leading online giving and peer to peer fundraising tools for nonprofit, faith-based, and political organizations of all sizes. When she’s not working at Qgiv, Abby can usually be found writing for local magazines, catching up on her favorite blogs, or binge-watching sci-fi shows on Netflix.