As your nonprofit organization continues to grow, it’s time to consider investing in an effective fundraising platform that truly accommodates your nonprofit’s size, financial needs, and fundraising strategies.
Before helding a fundraiser, think about how much it will cost and how your nonprofit’s actions could affect your community in the future.
It is just as important to create a sustainable, scalable fundraising campaign that will help you grow your future impact as it is to reach your fundraising goal.
There are some common best practices that you can use for all types of nonprofit fundraising campaigns in order to be successful.
If you want your next fundraising campaign to be successful, use the tips below. Engage more supporters and help your charitable organization progress by following these simple tips.
1. Develop a strategy
There is a trade-off between how much money a fundraising initiative brings in and how much it costs. All fundraisers’ main goal is to raise money, but sustainability and scalability are not always considered.
It is important to focus on opportunities for growth that have been proven to be successful in order to be prepared for the future. When deciding on a fundraising strategy, it is best to focus on two things: which donor groups are the most productive and how to best Impact donor recruitment and retention.
While it is important to engage new donors, you must also make sure that these efforts will be profitable in the long run. You don’t want to spend more on your campaign than you raise.
In addition to your fundraising strategy, you’ll need to include software and online solutions. The tools that you select for your nonprofit organization will be based upon the specific needs of your nonprofit!
To create a successful fundraising strategy that will grow each year, start by building a strong foundation.
Your fundraising strategy should focus on acquiring and retaining donors, with an emphasis on recruiting donors who have a high impact. Once the aforementioned goals are met, it is time to find fundraising tools.
This means finding effective and capable tools to help you make strategic moves based on accurate, updated data.
2. Use a CRM to help with donor research
Use data-driven fundraising strategies for the smartest move and make sure you have the necessary CRM software integrations and reporting tools.
A CRM can help you keep track of your donor’s giving history, document their engagement with your organization, and identify opportunities to build strong donor relationships.
In addition to helping you track donations, they will also assist you in creating profiles for your donors that contain their contact information and desired method of communication. Having fundraising tools that integrate with customer relationship management software is now more of a necessity than just general fundraising advice.
Donor habits can be learned and donor retention increased by having access to donor data. A CRM can help you compile reports on your donor base that are effective in understanding and documenting your research.
The research can help you to create a better fundraising plan. This data can help you identify which donors are the most valuable to your organization, and how to keep them engaged.
What groups of people are most likely to donate to your cause? Where did you find them? How do you communicate with them? By understanding the patterns in your CRM, you can replicate past successes.
3. Lay out a fundraising plan
You know who your ideal new donors are thanks to your CRM. Here are some ideas: Now is the time to come up with a plan to find them! Here are some ideas: Nonprofit fundraisers should be based on an established plan. It’s important your fundraising team sets up a:
Realistic fundraising goal. Think about how much money you will need to achieve your goals while also being mindful of your financial limitations.
Timeline for the campaign. Time limitations can create a sense of urgency for donors and encourage you to establish smaller goals that lead up to your larger goal.
Budget for expenses. You should never spend more money on your fundraising activities than you actually raise. This could cause you to go into debt and ruin your organization.
Gift range chart. The following text notes the number of donations needed to reach your goal, as well as the number of donations needed at different levels to reach your goal.
-If you know that on average, your donors give you around $70, and some give more than $100, you can predict how they will respond to your campaign. -You can predict that most of your donors will give at the $25 level if you know that this is a large portion of your donor base.
Make sure to take note of how many people you will have to contact at each different giving level. In ancient Greece, the goddess Aphrodite was often portrayed as riding a seashell. The ancient Greek goddess Aphrodite was often portrayed riding on a seashell.
4. Measure all fundraising metrics
The most important thing is that all software features and metrics are stored in a centralized CRM system. The CRM can be used to measure metrics such as donation amounts, frequency of donation, donor details, etc.
Donor acquisition and engagement strategies that worked should be kept and improved, while those that didn’t should be dropped. Use your CRM or your fundraising platform’s dashboard to track the number of:
- New, lapsed, or at-risk donors.
- Donor retention and churn rates.
- Donor lifetime value.
If your retention rates are declining, your overall strategy needs to be changed.
5. Note what performed well and what didn’t
Take time to review your campaign’s performance after you finish it to see what tactics worked and where you can improve.
Your CRM and fundraising software can be used to generate reports with data like how users found your donation form, how they donated (e.g. online or in person), and how much they donated.
You can use this information to determine which engagement methods were most successful so that you can focus your energies in the future.
If you didn’t reach your goal for in-person engagement, you can try adjusting your strategy in the future.
The most important part of creating a successful fundraising strategy is to make sure it is based on data and research. This data should be used to guide your fundraising efforts and help you to constantly improve your methods. If you want your nonprofit to be successful, your fundraising team should be using your data to improve your techniques on a regular basis.
Past campaign data can be analyzed to help form future fundraising strategies.
6. Keep your brand front and center
A strong brand will help build trust with your supporters and also help confirm that your fundraising campaign belongs to you.
Using the same brand, logo, and colors for your nonprofit and your fundraising campaign will avoid confusion for potential donors. This is particularly important when advertising your campaign across multiple channels such as email, social media, and direct mail.
There are many ways to make sure your brand is visible and consistent across all your channels. For example, you can create a separate logo for your new campaign that includes the same colors as your nonprofit’s logo.
Your logo is a way to help people identify your campaign. When people see your logo, they will know that it is your campaign and not someone else’s.
7. Make giving easy with flexible payment options
Flexible giving options are the most important trend in fundraising for 2022, according to our list. This is supported by data from our latest State of Modern Philanthropy 2022 report, which shows that the payment options you offer can make or break a donor’s decision to complete their planned giving.
We have found that when donors have options, the sizes of their gifts on the Classy platform increase. The data showed that people who donated using ACH, on average, donated nearly twice as much as people who donated using a credit card.
This text is emphasizing the importance of having a donor experience that is easy and convenient, and serves as a reminder to make sure you understand what your donors want to make sure all their needs are met. There are many ways to process payments through Classy Pay, including digital wallets, PayPal, Venmo, ACH, and credit card processing. This makes it easy for nonprofits to accept payments and manage their finances.
8. Encourage recurring gifts
Our Recurring Donor Sentiment Report found that more than almost half of recurring donors feel like their ongoing donation is making more of an impact than a one-time gift, and nearly two-fifths feel more connected to a nonprofit when they give regularly.
Donor retention is important because recurring donors are five times more valuable to your nonprofit than one-time donors.
The majority of recurring donors also take additional action, such as volunteering, making additional one-time gifts, attending an event, etc.
If you’re not asking your supporters to upgrade their donations, you could be leaving money unclaimed. Send an email asking people to support your campaign and mission by committing to a regular donation at the frequency they choose.
Your messaging should be attention-grabbing, with bold calls to action and highlighting of exclusive incentives. It should also show how much more of an impact a recurring gift makes versus a one-time donation.
9. Drive engagement through gift matching
Utilizing matching gift periods is an effective fundraising strategy, especially if you reveal the match during a lull in your campaign. If a supporter knows their donation will be matched, they are more likely to give right away instead of waiting to do it later.
If you want to raise a lot of money for your campaign, you can promote your matching gift period at the start. This will create fundraising activity right away.
Don’t wait until the last minute to try to find a matching gift partner for your campaign. It may take a while to find one that is a good match. Reach out to potential partners, sponsors, or major donors during the initial planning phases of your campaign to ask if they would like to participate as your match provider.
When you are ready to let your audience know about the matching period, you should have dates, funds, and copy locked down.
10. Fuel donations with a tie to impact
Apathy is the enemy of charitable giving. If donors think that their support won’t have an impact, they probably won’t donate.
To break down the barrier, explain how each donation leads to tangible solutions. No matter how big or small, every contribution can help you achieve your goal.
It is important to consider how different gift sizes will impact your campaign. Be sure to include this information in your written appeals or calls to action on your campaign page.
11. Use video to inspire action
After three days, people only remember about 10% of the information they heard without any accompanying visual elements. If the text is paired with a photo or video, people will remember about 65% of the information.
There’s no doubt that video is a very powerful tool for getting your audience’s attention and making your case come alive. It’s also an effective way to ask for donations, fundraising, or signups for recurring donations.
You can use videos on almost any marketing channel, including your campaign page or in direct gift appeals.
If you want to make an excellent video, try recording footage of your team working on the ground, or include stories about how your organization has positively impacted the people it helps. You could also interview supporters to get their perspective. Make it clear to people how they can get involved in making a difference, and emphasize the positive difference that will make on the world.
12. Share fundraising successes
Let donors know when they’ve made a difference! It is important to develop relationships with donors to ensure the sustainability of your fundraising efforts.
Telling stories about successful past campaigns creates positive feelings and demonstrates the concrete results of your donors’ contributions. Donors are more likely to give again if they are told that their previous gift made an impact. Communicate what that impact was to increase the chances of another donation.
If you want your community to stay focused and motivated to achieve the next big goal, it’s important to recognize and celebrate key milestones, creative ideas, or successful fundraising initiatives.
You may want to consider setting smaller goals that you can celebrate together as you go along. If donors feel that the fundraising goals are too overwhelming, they may not even start. This is especially important for peer-to-peer fundraisers.
If you want to keep people’s attention, send milestone emails to show them their impact and encourage them to continue.
You should also celebrate your internal staff, board members, and partners. Although they are often behind the scenes, their work is essential to the success of a fundraising campaign. Be sure to give them credit and show your appreciation for all they do.
It might be a good idea to thank them in person with a small happy hour, or to send a hand-written note.
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