Author: Rinku Ramchandani

Airtable is a user-friendly database platform that provides a powerful alternative to spreadsheets. For nonprofit fundraisers managing complex projects and events, Airtable can be a game-changer. This accessible tool allows you to organize all your important information in one place, automate repetitive tasks, and create customized dashboards to gain useful insights.

1. To get started with Airtable, create a free account and set up your first base, which is similar to a spreadsheet or database.

Airtable offers many template options, including project management templates that provide a ready-made framework for organizing your work. You can also build your base from scratch by adding tabs, called tables, and customizing the fields. Each table can link to other tables, enabling you to connect records and gain a high-level view of your project.

2. Once your base is set up, you can create views to visualize your data in different ways, like calendars, timelines, and Kanban boards.

For a fundraising event, you might create views to track speaker details, venue logistics, and marketing tasks. Airtable’s automation features can save hours of work. You can set up triggers to automatically notify your team when an action occurs or have Airtable send email updates to stakeholders. For instance, automatically email speakers a week before their session with event details.

3. To maximize Airtable, take time to determine what information you need and how your team will use it.

Build your base collaboratively, starting simple and evolving it over time based on feedback. With some basic training, your whole team can start contributing right away. And if you get stuck, Airtable offers many resources to help you become an expert builder.

For nonprofits looking to work smarter, not harder, Airtable provides an easy-to-use solution for organizing your projects and unlocking valuable insights into your work. This flexible tool puts customization and automation at your fingertips so you can focus on what matters most: your mission and community.

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The future of fundraising is digital, automated and personalized. Dan Lombardi, Donor Innovation Director at Grand River Hospital Foundation, shared how they are innovating to build deeper donor relationships and work more efficiently.

Automate repetitive tasks.

Dan’s team built an app connecting their Shopify website and Raiser’s Edge CRM to automatically transfer donation data and issue tax receipts. They use Zapier to send automated thank you emails and tag donors for personalized communications. Automating frees up staff to focus on high-impact work like stewardship.

Personalize at scale.

Using ActiveCampaign, an email marketing and CRM tool, Dan’s team tracks donor engagement and tags interests. They will customize email content and frequency based on donor interests and actions. Dan says personalization and automation allow them to “make our donor experience more pleasant.”

Explore blank canvas tools.

Dan described Notion, their project management tool, as a “blank canvas.” They created a database to track projects, tasks, hospital funding and donor communications. While still improving how they use it, Dan said Notion’s flexibility allows them to build customized solutions. Blank canvas tools offer opportunities for innovation.

The keys to leveraging technology for fundraising success are: start with small improvements, continue learning and iterating, and choose tools that fit your needs.

Begin automating repetitive work, personalizing communications and trying out blank canvas solutions. Technology is shaping the future of fundraising, and nonprofits must keep up to build meaningful donor relationships. Focus on the why, involve stakeholders, get buy-in and make the most of your tools.

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Nonprofit marketing has become too focused on technology and not focused enough on emotion, according to marketing expert Mark Schaeffer. In a recent podcast, Schaeffer argued that nonprofit fundraisers need to rediscover emotion and put it at the forefront of their marketing.

It’s not about technology. It’s about the story and the emotion and the passion for whatever you do.

Great marketing is about creating an emotional connection between your nonprofit and your donors. However, in reality, most nonprofit marketing conversations center around automation systems, marketing technology stacks, and lead nurturing. These tools have their place but should not come at the expense of making human connections.

To build emotional connections with donors:

1. focus on sharing authentic, interesting, and relevant stories.
2. Identify stories from your nonprofit’s work that will resonate with supporters and spread those stories at every opportunity.
3. Feature real people in your stories and marketing materials.
4. Let your supporters share their reasons for giving and what your organization means to them.

Being in a community is like supporting something, having a banner somewhere. Being of a community is rolling up your sleeves when times get tough, show up and help

Also, become an integral part of your community rather than just working in it.

Look for ways to truly support your community during good times and bad. These actions will build goodwill and cement your status as a vital community partner.

Finally, make your nonprofit’s leader the public face when possible.

While not all executive directors are comfortable with a public role, sharing their passion and vision can be powerful. If your leader is unwilling or unable to take on this role, find other authentic and inspiring voices from your organization or supporters to highlight.

By focusing on emotion, storytelling, community, and personal connection, nonprofits can overcome “marketing rebellion” and build the types of meaningful relationships that spur ongoing support. While technology has an important role, never forget that meaningful change happens through human interaction and relationships. Staying true to your mission and values will build an organization that wins supporters’ hearts and minds.

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Purdue University faced a common challenge: while dollars raised were increasing, donor participation was declining. The development team refused to accept this as inevitable. They reconceived their entire fundraising model, implementing an innovative “pod” structure and “quadrant” approach to revitalize donor relationships.

The pod structure centralized related teams to facilitate collaboration and career growth. For example, prospect researchers, gift officers, and stewardship staff for a college are grouped together in a pod. Regular meetings within each pod and across pods help teams understand challenges and develop joint solutions. This structure reduces duplication of efforts and helps staff feel supported in their work.

Within each pod, the quadrant approach further customizes strategies.

The quadrants represent a matrix of high or low donor interest and high or low capacity to give. The pod devises targeted action plans for each quadrant to optimize the donor pipeline. For example, high-interest, high-capacity donors receive focused cultivation and tailored engagement to move them to major gifts. Less engaged but high-capacity donors are identified for “moves management” to reignite their passion.

This innovative restructuring strengthened relationships in proven ways. Purdue’s focus on “donor centricity” puts the donor experience front and center. The more Purdue understands donor interests, the more tailored their outreach. Regular “self-assessments” survey donors to evaluate communication and impact. Multichannel engagement meets donors where they are with social listening and customized digital journeys.

Metrics also evolved to represent this relationship focus.

In addition to dollars raised, scorecards now track meaningful interactions, proposals submitted, and stewardship activities. Quarterly reviews discuss both fundraising and engagement metrics to craft data-driven strategies.

By revolutionizing their fundraising model, Purdue University achieved the seemingly impossible: raising more money and better engaging donors.

Their inspiring story demonstrates that even large, decentralized nonprofits can implement transformational change with a relationship-centered vision, collaboration across teams, and customization for key donor groups. Overall, Purdue provides a model of philanthropic success for nonprofits seeking sustainable growth and impact.

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Storytelling is the key to motivating donors and raising more money for nonprofits. According to Dr. Russell James, a leading expert on philanthropy, “At the heart of philanthropy is story. Story starts with character. Without a relatable character, the fundraising story is dead.”

To craft a compelling story, focus on three elements:

1. make your character specific,
2. make the story simple, and
3. make it empathetic.

Provide meaningful details about your beneficiaries or donors to help readers visualize them. Keep the plot straightforward and avoid complicated subplots. And choose empathetic characters and situations that will resonate emotionally with your audience.

Surveys and donor insights can help you understand what kinds of stories your supporters will find most compelling. You may find certain locations, life events, or shared experiences that connect your mission to their personal narratives. Use these connections as the basis for your stories.

For major gifts, tell the donor’s story, not your nonprofit’s story.

Ask open-ended questions to discover a donor’s life experiences, values, and motivations. Then identify what about your work aligns with their self-identity and finds common ground. Describe how a gift can help them achieve a meaningful victory or life purpose. When people see their wealth and your cause as interconnected, they give more.

To build long-term donor relationships, share a variety of stories over time about the all facets of your nonprofit’s work. While each story should motivate action, together they demonstrate the full scope and impact of your mission. Consider using surveys, videos, and direct mail to share both individual stories as well as the collective power of your supporters.

Fundraising is hard work, but stories make it compelling. Stories that evoke strong emotions inspire people to give generously. By crafting simple yet empathetic stories and understanding how to make your cause personal to each donor, nonprofits can motivate more and larger gifts to further their mission. Use the power of storytelling to turn your vision into your donors’ passion and purpose.

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Dr. Russell James, a professor of philanthropic psychology, shared his insights on fundraising best practices with nonprofit leaders at a recent Donor Participation Project conference. A renowned expert in fundraising research, Dr. James emphasized the importance of understanding donor motivation and using data to optimize fundraising strategies.

According to Dr. James, donors give primarily to enhance their identity and personal meaning through “identity-challenge-victory” cycles.

Nonprofits should connect donations to donors’ personal values and life experiences. For example, an environmental nonprofit could ask donors about when they first became passionate about conservation and who influenced them. These questions help tell donors’ stories and strengthen their bonds to the cause.

Learning Organizations

Dr. James also advocated for nonprofits to become “learning organizations” that constantly test and optimize fundraising strategies. Even successful organizations need to re-test approaches as circumstances change. While learning organizations risk leaders losing some control or prestige, the rewards of higher donations and a closer donor community make the effort worthwhile.

One key to learning is testing variations of the same campaign. For example, changing just one phrase in an appeal and measuring differences in response can yield valuable insights. The best tests change only one variable at a time to pinpoint what works.

Donors today also want two-way engagement, not just marketing messages. Dr. James suggested inviting donors to share their opinions and stories through surveys, social media, and online communities. Their responses help nonprofits personalize appeals and show donors their impact.

Overall, Dr. James demonstrated how fundraisers can gain a scientific edge. By understanding identity-linked motivation, fostering learning cultures, optimizing campaigns through testing, and creating conversations with donors, nonprofits can build highly engaging communities and help donors achieve meaningful victories together. With Dr. James’ data-driven approach, fundraisers can learn secrets to motivate donors more deeply.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has created many hardships for nonprofit organizations that rely on fundraising events and in-person donor meetings. During a recent discussion, two nonprofit fundraisers shared innovative ways they are overcoming these challenges.

Ali Evans, Director of Development at the Voice Thompson Institute, explained that her organization had to cancel their biggest annual fundraiser, a golf outing. “We’re trying to make how do you nicely say, yes, we’ll take your child and we’ll care for them but you need to, you know, do fundraising and help us do this,” she said. To make up for lost revenue, the Institute is focusing on building personal relationships with key donors through phone calls and letters.

Joan Smith, Director of Development at Little City, said her organization relies heavily on in-person events as well. When those had to be canceled, Little City turned to virtual events and webinars to engage donors, though she acknowledges virtual events don’t work for all donors, especially older ones. “I have donors say don’t mention COVID. I’m sick of it,” Smith said.

Both fundraisers emphasized the importance of donor stewardship during this difficult time. Evans noted that she has been helping donors with daily tasks like signing up for COVID-19 vaccines, which helps cement her organization’s relationship with donors. Smith has sent donors handmade masks with the Little City logo as a way to show the organization cares for the community.

While raising money during a pandemic is challenging, Evans and Smith prove that nonprofit fundraisers can succeed through creative thinking, digital outreach, and a focus on donor relationships. Fundraisers should segment their donor base, determine how different groups prefer to be engaged, and find ways to provide value to donors even when in-person events aren’t possible. A little bit of humanity and empathy can go a long way. Overall, nonprofit fundraisers must adapt quickly to keep their missions, and funding, alive during this crisis.

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Diversity, equity and inclusion are long-term priorities that require persistent work. For nonprofit leaders and fundraisers seeking to build more diverse and inclusive organizations, the path forward starts with allies, inclusion and curiosity.

There is no diversity without allies.

Joey Zumaya

Allies are critical partners in creating change.

Allies of underrepresented groups can advocate for diversity initiatives, endorse new policies, and recruit diverse board members and donors. Identify and empower allies at all levels of your organization. Make space for allies to learn and ask questions. Allies need inclusion too.

Inclusion is a must to achieve belonging. Policies and training are hollow without an inclusive culture where diverse staff and donors feel valued and heard. An inclusive environment encourages difficult conversations, shares decision making, and affirms people of all backgrounds.

Be mindful of how we affirm everyone and how we give them value. Model inclusion in your own words and actions.

Reshunda Mahone

Curiosity is key to learning. Many see diversity and inclusion as politically charged issues, but fundamentally they are about humanity. Approaching diversity with curiosity allows us to see our shared humanity.

Smart people ask more questions than make statements.

• Ask open-ended questions to learn from those with different life experiences.

• Create opportunities for donors and staff to share their perspectives.

• Check assumptions and be willing to feel uncomfortable.

Overall, advancing diversity and inclusion is challenging work, but allies, inclusion and curiosity can help overcome obstacles. Diverse and inclusive organizations are stronger, more innovative, and better able to serve their communities. With time and effort, nonprofit leaders can build a culture where everyone belongs. The rewards for this difficult work are well worth the investment. Focus on allies, foster inclusion, remain curious — and keep learning, asking and trying. Progress will follow.

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A university in Chile recently conducted in-depth interviews with long-time donors to better understand their motivations and desires. The results revealed that loyal donors want more opportunities to engage with the institution they have supported for years.

The university had previously relied on assumptions about what donors wanted based on industry research rather than directly asking supporters. They worried more communication and requests might irritate loyal donors or be seen as bothersome.

However, donor interviews uncovered strong interest in increased contact and chances to participate in the university community.

Donors reported they continue to give to support the university’s longevity and impact.

They feel a strong connection to the institution and want to help ensure its future. While donors appreciated being informed about the impact of their gifts, many said they likely wouldn’t closely read reports but wanted them as a sign of accountability.

The most surprising and actionable insight was donors’ interest in more invitations to campus events where they could connect with students, faculty, and other donors. Nearly all said they would welcome more frequent communication by email and phone and chances to refer friends to support the university.

For universities and nonprofits, these findings underscore the importance of speaking directly to donors to confirm or counter assumptions. Loyal donors may be far more open to engagement than expected if they feel a strong connection to the mission. An open-ended survey or series of interviews can reveal possibilities for better serving and further engaging valuable long-term donors.

With more opportunities to participate on campus and spread the word about the university, these dedicated supporters may become powerful ambassadors and open doors to even more philanthropic giving. Giving donors meaningful ways to do more for a cause they care deeply about can transform a transactional interaction into a lasting and mutually rewarding relationship. Overall, the moral of this story is simple: don’t be afraid to ask. Your most devoted donors will likely be thrilled you did.

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To rapidly expand an annual giving program, nonprofit fundraisers need a strategic vision, the right metrics, and a team-based approach. Eric, AVP of Annual Giving at the University of Tennessee, shared key strategies that grew the university’s annual giving donors by 54% over the course of a campaign.

Develop a long-term plan with ambitious goals.

UT set a goal to increase annual donors by 4,500 per year which drove strategies and accountability. While adjustments were needed, the goals provided direction.

Establish metrics and monitor data.

Metrics like donor participation, new donor counts, and lapsed donor reactivation rates were tracked to measure growth and make data-driven decisions. Daily monitoring of key metrics kept the team on track.

Build a cross-functional team.

UT adopted a “team-based” philosophy that aligned staff across advancement, colleges, and the university. Regular meetings with staff at all levels fostered collaboration to reach shared goals. Expanding the team beyond advancement was key.

Diversify fundraising channels.

While UT started with four channels (direct mail, email, phone, online), they expanded to include crowdfunding, student philanthropy, faculty/staff campaigns, and special events. Testing channel effectiveness using benchmarking data optimized the fundraising program.

Focus on the first gift and loyalty.

Programs targeting first-time donors and multi-year donors were prioritized. Segments like students, parents, and young alumni were engaged to acquire new donors. Loyalty programs like UT’s “Ten for Tennessee” turn new donors into recurring supporters.

Ultimately, rapidly growing an annual giving program requires vision, metrics, teamwork, channel diversity, and a priority on new and loyal donors. By strengthening these fundamentals, nonprofit fundraisers can build a thriving annual giving program. With strategic urgency and ambition, rapid growth is possible.

View the full recording of this session in our Resource Library.