Donors are the financial drive of a nonprofit organization. The fuel to the nonprofit engine. But how do you make sure that you always have enough fuel, and hopefully that the source of fuel is growing? If you improve donor retention, you make sure you never run out of that fuel.
Getting donors is a critical function, but we want to look more closely at keeping the donors that you have. Because if you improve your donor retention, it is a much more cost-effective strategy than getting a new donor.
While it may not be exactly the same, we can see a similar function at play in businesses keeping current customers versus gaining new customers. It’s estimated that it costs approximately 5 times more to gain a new customer than retain a current customer.
But it just makes sense, it’s easier to maintain than it is to gain. But let’s look at the best way to improve donor retention.
Show them their value
People become a donor because they care about the nonprofit and what the nonprofit accomplishes. They want their donations to make an impact. To help the people or the cause they are giving to.
So that makes it key to show that impact, early and often. And in fact, you can even show donors what their money will do before they even donate, but then following through and showing them the real impact of their donation closes the loop.
And how do you do this? Any way you can. Use any contact point to share more information about the impact of your organization. Emails, newsletters, social media, flyers, letters, conferences, and personal interactions. Every touchpoint is an opportunity to tell the story of how you do achieve the wins that the donor is giving to achieve.
And you can use marketing automation to make the job easier, by sorting your donors into key groups by topic of interest, how long they’ve been a donor, how much they donate, and more. And you can also have automated emails that are easy to create, design and send.
But the key, to make sure that your donor knows how his donation helps others. And then to make sure that they understand that there are other ways that they could continue to help others.
And many groups do a great job in sharing the impact of donations. The nonprofit Against Malaria (www.againstmalaria.com) is a great example as they keep their messaging on the focus of the goal of the nonprofit, which is simply to provide bed nets for those who are at risk for malaria. And then they show the direct impact of the funds raised.
You can even see photos, videos, and stories of those that are being helped by the nonprofit effort.
This creates an extremely simple and direct impact of the exact donations that are made. And there’s even more information on how a prospective donor can help or fundraise for the cause.
And while it doesn’t always have to be that direct, it is a necessary strategy. It is about donor engagement, and the more direct the better. And engaged donors are donors that are working closely with you and are “plugged into” the nonprofit culture. The closer to the actual impact you can share with a donor, the more likely many will continue to donate or donate more.
And last but not least, a part of this is listening to your donors and the difference they want to make. Not just any difference. But specifically what they want. And then setting realistic expectations of how that difference can be made. And then share with them the realization of those expectations being met.
Donor retention isn’t easy, but it’s also not rocket science. Listen to them and help them achieve what’s important to them. And that takes time. But you may be able to find extra time to take the next step if you automate some of your processes.
The more time you spend with your donors, the easier it is to make sure they are excited about that next donation they give and the very real impact.
And that is the core of how you improve donor retention.
You can also learn more about how you can automate some of your processes for your donors, from your marketing, to records to reports with Giveffect. Learn more: www.giveffect.com
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