Category: Donor Participation Project

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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Nonprofit fundraisers know that donor engagement is key to building long-lasting relationships and securing major gifts. Engaged donors who feel a strong connection to an organization’s mission are more likely to give generously and consistently over time.

According to research from the Donor Participation Project, the more involved donors are, the more they tend to donate.

While thanking and recognizing donors is important, true engagement goes deeper. Organizations must make donors feel like partners in achieving impact.

How can nonprofits effectively engage their donors?

• First, they need a compelling vision and case for support to inspire donors. Donors want to contribute to organizations that have a clear vision for change.

• Second, organizations should develop a range of strategic engagement opportunities at varying levels of involvement. For example, they can invite donors to exclusive events, join a donor committee, or provide input on new programs.

• Third, nonprofits must report impact to show donors the difference they are making. But reports alone are not enough. Organizations should share impact through meaningful experiences, like videos, site visits, or meetings with program beneficiaries.

• Fourth, nonprofits should take the time to get to know their donors‘ interests, motivations, and values. Then, they can tailor engagement and stewardship to match donors’ passions. This requires listening, asking thoughtful questions, and being genuinely curious about donors and their stories.

• Finally, nonprofit leaders and fundraisers should reframe how they speak about donors using language that emphasizes partnership and collaboration. Terms like “prospects” and “low-hanging fruit” can alienate donors and should be avoided.

Building authentic relationships is essential for nonprofits to achieve their missions. By prioritizing donor engagement, organizations can cultivate true partnerships and turn supporters into champions for their cause. Overall, donor engagement requires strategy, personalization, and a commitment to understanding donors as human partners on a shared journey.

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Nonprofits often struggle with limited resources and budgets, making donor stewardship a challenge. However, automating parts of the stewardship process can help nonprofits do more with less. By eliminating repetitive, manual tasks, nonprofits can free up staff time to focus on building personal relationships with donors.

A first step is to audit your current stewardship process to identify areas that can be automated.

For example, sending an automated thank you email to donors after they make a gift is an easy way to start. You can use free tools like Mailchimp or Sendinblue to set up automated email workflows based on donation amount or other attributes. For donors without an email, use a service like Zapier to automatically generate a thank you letter that you can print and mail.

Surveys are another area where automation helps.

Use a free survey tool like Google Forms or SurveyMonkey to send an annual donor survey. The data can automatically feed into a spreadsheet, giving you insights into donors’ interests and preferences to improve stewardship.

For more personal outreach, use automation to ease the workload.

Draft template emails or call scripts for student callers or interns to connect with donors over the phone. Have them record responses in a shared spreadsheet or use a free CRM like HubSpot to log interactions. Review the data to identify follow-up needs and next steps.

Celebrating donor milestones shows you value their long-term partnership.

Use a mail merge tool like Mailchimp to automatically generate anniversary letters for donors at certain giving levels or after a period of consecutive years of giving. Include a small gift as a token of your appreciation.

While technology and automation are powerful, always keep the human touch. Use automation for repetitive tasks, but have real people make personal follow-ups, send handwritten notes, and make calls. A balance of automation and human interaction will make donors feel most valued and connected to your mission. With some experimentation, nonprofits can find affordable ways to automate stewardship and build better donor relationships.

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

Your donors ask questions—lots of them. The problem is, many nonprofits don’t have a system to capture these questions, analyze them for insights, and turn them into useful content. Questions your donors ask repeatedly point to gaps in the information you’re providing. Fill those gaps, and you’ll strengthen relationships, build trust, and enable donors to become more engaged and impactful partners in your mission.

So where do you find the questions your donors ask again and again?

• Start with your direct communication channels like phone, email, and social media messages.

• Survey frontline staff who talk to donors often. They know better than anyone else what questions get asked daily.

• Monitor online communities and groups where your donors and potential donors connect. Look for themes and trends in the information people are seeking.

• Conduct user experience testing to identify points of frustration in interacting with your organization. The questions that arise here highlight opportunities to better orient donors.

The key is getting into the mindset of your donors and what they need to understand their relationship with you fully. This means analyzing each question to understand the underlying concern or gap in knowledge. Some questions may be straightforward, but others point to bigger issues with how you educate and engage your community.

Don’t dismiss any question as too simple or unimportant. A question that seems basic to you may be a barrier for someone else to donate or get involved.

Low-quality, homemade videos addressing the most common questions are perfect for nonprofit audiences. They convey authenticity, build connection, and show you understand donors’ needs.

Keep your answers concise and let people self-select the information they need. Capture and organize the questions you get to refine your content over time. As donors learn and engage more deeply, the questions they ask will evolve. Continually go back to the source—your donors—to make sure the information you provide is as insight-driven and impactful as possible.

Staying on top of the questions your donors ask again and again is a key way to build relationships, increase trust, and empower your mission.

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Fundraisers test to determine if changes to their fundraising strategies have the intended impact. Rigorous testing also eliminates external variables that could skew the results. Without testing, fundraisers risk making changes that unintentionally decrease revenue or alienate donors.

To test properly, fundraisers must state a hypothesis

A hypothesis would be be “adding a $500 option to our donation page will increase the average gift amount.” The null hypothesis is that the change will have no effect or decrease revenue. Statistical testing aims to disprove the null hypothesis with a high degree of confidence, like 95-99%.

Measuring results requires determining a margin of error, like +/- 3%, based on the sample size. A larger sample size means a smaller margin of error and higher confidence in the results. For multivariate testing of several variables at once, the sample size must increase to account for more possible outcomes.

Back-testing uses historical data to build models that predict future outcomes.

Divide donors into groups, building models based on one group and testing them on the other. This confirms the model works for that donor base before applying it broadly.

While “best practices” provide a starting point, fundraisers must test them.

A tactic that works for some groups could alienate others, gradually eliminating them. Testing also considers donor segments to avoid negatively impacting any group.

Though testing sounds complicated, basic tools can run simple A/B tests. Focus on effect size, like whether results exceed the margin of error, more than statistical significance. For small donor populations like major donors, smaller sample sizes may still yield useful insights.

Testing requires time and resources, but so does making uninformed changes that reduce revenue. As fundraising becomes more data-driven, testing is key to developing evidence-based strategies tailored to each organization’s unique donor base. Fundraisers must test to determine true impact, eliminate variables, and avoid blindly adopting “best practices” that do not serve their donors or mission. Overall, testing leads to more sustainable growth and impact.

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Fundraising analytics expert Kirk Smith recently joined host Carrie Davis to discuss data, metrics, and testing for nonprofit fundraisers. Smith urged moving beyond overly simplistic metrics like average gift size and focusing instead on retention rates, gift amounts, and performance of specific donor subgroups.

According to Smith, investing in fundraising and analytics can yield exponential returns, but most nonprofits underinvest due to outdated thinking that emphasizes low fundraising costs. Advanced tools and plentiful, clean data are required for accurate analytics and AI, but these are often out of reach for smaller nonprofits, creating a divide between larger nonprofits that can invest and smaller ones that cannot.

Incentivizing analytics and fundraising with commissions on increased revenue could drive better results but goes against established ethical codes. Rigorous testing is also required to make data-driven decisions, yet many nonprofits lack the capacity to test properly.

Smith advised starting with a “null hypothesis” that assumes no difference between options. Nonprofits also need to consider sample sizes large enough to draw statistically significant conclusions. While best practices have their place, over-reliance on them can mask more effective combinations of changes for specific subgroups.

According to Smith, the answers lie in the data, but nonprofits must build the capacity to find them.

Investing in people, tools, and building a data-driven culture will be key. For smaller nonprofits, collaborating with others in their community or focus area may make advanced analytics more accessible. Overall, nonprofits that want sustainable growth will need to graduate from overly simplistic metrics and generic best practices to customized, data-driven decision making.

The conversation highlighted opportunities for nonprofit fundraisers to strengthen their use of data and testing to optimize fundraising performance. By moving from one-size-fits-all approaches to customized analytics, nonprofits can uncover insights that truly match their unique mix of donors and programs. While it may require upfront investments of money and time, data-driven fundraising offers substantial and lasting benefits.

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Fundraisers from colleges and universities around the country recently gathered via video conference to discuss effective strategies for launching leadership giving societies. A key takeaway from the discussion was the importance of educating donors about the true cost of operating the institution and the impact of their gifts.

Several fundraisers recommended announcing a new, higher giving level by framing it around the increased costs to educate students today compared to when the society first launched. For example, a society that started with a $1,000 minimum gift 30 years ago would require a $15,000 gift today to have the same impact, accounting for inflation and rising costs. Communicating this message, along with stories of students who have benefited from the society, can help justify the increase to long-time donors.

The fundraisers also stressed the need to restructure giving levels and benefits in a way that allows donors to find an entry point that suits them. Simply raising the minimum gift may prompt more pushback than creating additional, higher levels with incremental increases and benefits. Existing donors who can’t immediately jump to a new top level can be “grandfathered in” at their current level or provided an informal grace period to work up to a higher amount.

Virtually engaging leadership donors through online events, meetings with key administrators, and digital communications has also proven effective during the pandemic. While in-person events may be preferred when possible, offering a mix of online and in-person engagement options can make participation accessible to more donors, especially those outside the local area.

Overall, the most successful leadership giving society launches are tailored to the institution and its donors. Fundraisers should analyze donor data and capacity to set giving levels that make sense for their base. A thoughtful roll-out and stewardship plan focused on education, flexible options, and virtual access will position the new or revamped society for growth and long-term success.

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