There are many variables that can impact whether a prospective donor will give to your NFP, and, how much they are likely to contribute. The following strategies can help you encourage your supporters to join and in and help advance your mission forward by giving generously to your cause.

Review Prior Fundraising Campaigns to Discover What Does and Does Not Work

Every new fundraising endeavour should begin with a thorough review of your previous efforts. After all, it makes little sense to continue doing what you’ve always done if your strategy simply doesn’t work. Even if you’ve had some fundraising success in the past, and met all your goals, it’s still important to review your previous plan to find the areas where you could have changed your approach and even slightly improved your results. Incremental improvements over time in your fundraising will help you to stay current on the latest marketing trends and help you to gain better results.

Use Analytics, Testing and Other Techniques to Refine Your Approach

Use analytics to measure your results and help you to discover the types of communications that your donors prefer, along with the methods that they prefer to use when they contribute.  Use a/b testing to determine which emails are opened, and which languish in your donors’ inboxes. Once you’ve identified the open rate, decide which messages actually persuaded your donors to convert and act.

Look for ways to update and streamline your processes to ensure that your website and dedicated fundraising pages are easy to load, and that donating is as simple as clicking on one button. Ensure that your site and processes use current, mobile friendly, technology so that its easy to browse and navigate on your site and easy to take action and give.

Discover Who Your Donors are as People

What do you know about your donors and their tastes and preferences? How does the demographics of your potential donors’ influence what they are interested in, and what organisations they are likely to connect with? If you want to build genuine relationships with your donors to increase your connection and response levels, you must learn who they are. Show them what’s in it for them when they give to your cause by demonstrating how your mission aligns with their core values and beliefs as well as the topics that they care about.

Identify your prospective donors, and segment them based on demographics such as age, location, and estimated wealth. Use social media profiles to discover what they care about, and why. Create a list of your prior donors, along with the frequency that they gave and the average amount of their gift. Segmenting your list helps you to tailor your fundraising messaging to their needs, increasing the chance that they will support your work by giving to your NFP.

Make Certain Your Donors Understand What’s at Stake

Finally, it’s important for nonprofits to understand why generic donation requests often fail. These types of campaigns typically underperform because they don’t explain why your cause is worthy and deserving of a gift. It’s hard for potential donors to connect with your organisation, and truly feel that their gift matters, if you don’t explain specifically how much good their contribution will accomplish.

In your fundraising appeals, it’s always important to show just what is at stake. Tell your NFP’s stories from the perspective of the impact created by your work, and how donations at specific levels of giving helps you to create change at specific levels.

Help your donor make the connection in their mind that by giving a particular amount, they are helping this many people, or, creating this specific amount of positive change. Invite your donor to be part of the team that’s working to make things better! By connecting your requests to a specific amount, and, showing how much good can be accomplished at this particular level of giving, you invite your donor to join in and share in the feeling of accomplishment that comes from doing something selfless to help others!