Donor Participation Project

Nonprofits often struggle with limited resources and funding, making it difficult to invest in new technologies or major process overhauls. However, with a scrappy mindset focused on incremental improvements, nonprofits can achieve significant gains without a huge budget. By tapping into existing tools, streamlining workflows, and eliminating repetitive manual tasks, organizations can free up staff time and better steward donors—all while keeping costs low.

As discussed in a recent donor participation project podcast, several scrappy innovations can have a big impact. Using a free tool like Zapier to connect data between platforms like your CRM, email marketing, and social media tools eliminates the need for staff to manually copy and paste information. This reduces errors, provides a single source of truth for donor data, and saves many hours of administrative time. With Zapier, one nonprofit automated their gift acknowledgement process, automatically sending email or physical notes to donors.

Another innovation is using free video tools to create personalized thank you messages. Sending authentic videos, even if low-production quality, can make donors feel seen and connected to your mission. One organization sent 35,000 videos with a small student team, leading to $1 million in increased donor retention. Keep videos short, mention the donor by name, and share a heartfelt message.

Streamlining internal processes by eliminating repetition and bottlenecks also frees up resources. Evaluate areas where staff feel frustrated by inefficient procedures or duplication of work. Look for ways to use existing tools smarter, handoff repetitive tasks to automation, and bring teams together to envision an optimized workflow. Incremental improvements to a long, multi-step process can yield significant time savings.

While investing in new technology may be ideal, nonprofits can still improve the donor experience with the tools and capabilities they already have. With creativity, scrappy thinking, and a willingness to eliminate manual processes, organizations can accomplish more with less and strengthen donor relationships through personal outreach and stewardship. Continually reevaluating internal systems and reallocating resources to high-impact areas fuels ongoing optimization and success.

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Many nonprofits struggle to identify what information donors really need to know about their organization. As fundraisers, we work inside the nonprofit daily, so we see everything from an internal perspective. We may not fully grasp the crucial information that’s missing for outsiders—the vital gaps preventing them from engaging with us.

User experience (UX) testing is a simple yet powerful way to get inside donors’ heads. Think about the journey a donor goes through with your nonprofit. Are there any points of frustration with finding information or a clear next step? Take a guess at some obstacles, then recruit donors to walk through that journey and provide feedback.

Start by mapping out a typical donor scenario, like making a first gift or attending an event, step by step. Come up with questions to ask at each point, such as “Where would you look for details on how we used funds from your last donation?” Or, “What made you hesitant to buy a ticket to our gala?” Then conduct in-person or virtual interviews with donors as they go through that scenario. Ask follow up questions to get them talking about their perspectives and priorities.

What you learn through UX testing can directly inform how you develop more impactful video and other content. If a donor struggles to find information about your impact and outcomes, create a video highlighting key success stories and statistics. If the process for becoming a monthly donor is confusing, make an explainer video walking new donors through how to set up a recurring gift. Addressing these “pain points” and vital gaps will make donors’ experiences with your organization much more satisfying and help turn them into vocal advocates.

Nonprofits often have the best intentions to be donor-centered, but may operate based more on assumptions than hard evidence. User experience testing offers a way to ground your communications plans and content creation in the real needs and voices of your supporters. Make the time for regular UX testing, and your nonprofit will build deeper connections with donors through video and beyond.

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Testing fundraising changes should not be directionless. A hypothesis, an educated guess, guides testing toward useful results. Crafting a hypothesis forces fundraisers to determine what they expect the outcome to be before testing begins.

To state a hypothesis, fundraisers start by identifying a problem to solve or opportunity to improve. For example, “Donors who lapse for 3-5 years rarely renew their gifts. Can we re-engage them?” This question suggests the hypothesis: “Sending a customized renewal series to 3-5 year lapsed donors will increase retention rates for this group by 15-20%.”

The hypothesis identifies what will change, renewable outreach to 3-5 year lapsed donors, and the expected impact, 15-20% increased retention for this group. The null hypothesis is that the change will have no effect or reduce retention. Testing aims to reject the null hypothesis.

A hypothesis guided testing to adding a $500 option to a donation page might be: “Adding a $500 amount to our website donation page will increase the average online gift amount by 10-15%.” The expected impact is an increase in the average gift, and the null hypothesis is no change or a decrease.

Specifying the hypothesis and null hypothesis at the outset determines the metrics, variables, and sample sizes needed for the test. The test can then focus on measuring the expected impact to determine whether to reject the null hypothesis. Knowledge of the hypothesis also prevents “data fishing,” testing multiple metrics to find any impact rather than the expected one.

While the problem and opportunity prompt the question, crafting the hypothesis and null hypothesis requires fundraisers to determine the specific change and impact they expect before testing tools are determined or a single donor experiences the change. The hypothesis acts as a compass, pointing the way to insightful results and evidence-based decisions. Overall, a hypothesis leads to strategic testing with purpose and direction.

In summary, start developing a hypothesis by identifying a key problem or opportunity. Then determine the specific change you believe will impact it and the way(s) you will measure the expected impact. Use this information to build your null hypothesis. With a guiding hypothesis, your testing will be strategic and focused.

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For nonprofits looking to improve their fundraising results, overly simplistic metrics like average gift amount and overall retention rate are not enough. According to fundraising analytics expert Kirk Smith, nonprofits should focus on analyzing retention rates, gift amounts and donor subgroups to gain actionable insights.

Retention rates vary widely based on factors like donor acquisition channel and years of giving. New donors acquired through peer-to-peer fundraising often have lower retention rates of 15-20% compared to 70-80% for long-time donors. Nonprofits need to calculate retention rates for key donor subgroups to understand the factors driving donor loyalty and predict future retention.

Similarly, average gift amount can mask meaningful differences in key donor segments. The top and bottom 5% of gift amounts can skew the average, obscuring the most common gift amounts that form the bulk of revenue. Nonprofits should analyze the distribution of gift amounts to see the most common values for key donor groups. This can help optimize fundraising appeals and suggested gift amounts.

Focusing on simplistic metrics like overall retention rate and average gift amount provides an incomplete picture and risks misallocating resources. By analyzing retention rates, gift amounts and other key metrics for specific donor subgroups, nonprofits can gain actionable insights to strengthen their fundraising programs.

For small nonprofits with limited resources, identifying a few key donor segments to analyze can provide significant value.

Retention rates and gift amounts for newly acquired donors, repeat donors of 2-3 years and higher-level donors are examples of subgroups that could yield impactful insights.

While advanced analytics and AI tools can help with this type of analysis, they may be out of reach for small nonprofits. But by starting with their CRM and spreadsheet tools and focusing on analyzing key metrics for a few donor subgroups, small nonprofits can strengthen their fundraising results and build the case for further investment in analytics. The key is moving from overly simplistic metrics to targeted, data-driven analysis.

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Fundraisers today face the challenge of engaging donors without in-person events or interactions. During the pandemic, nonprofits have had to pivot to virtual stewardship to maintain connections with supporters. On a recent podcast, fundraisers from higher education institutions shared strategies for engaging leadership donors through virtual means.

A key insight was opening up existing virtual events to donors.

For example, one fundraiser found that inviting donors to attend a virtual commencement ceremony led to an increase in gifts as donors felt more connected to the school. Other options include inviting donors to virtual lectures, curriculum sessions, or board meetings. While these events were not designed specifically for donors, providing them exclusive access and the opportunity to see the impact of their gifts can be an meaningful touchpoint.

Targeted calls or video messages were also cited as a way to personally engage with donors.

One fundraiser sends thank you videos from student scholarship recipients to donors, allowing them to see the direct impact of their gift. Another fundraiser holds calls exclusively for leadership donors featuring updates from school leadership or student spotlights. These personal outreaches can help convey appreciation for donors’ support.

Re-thinking stewardship broadly was another piece of advice.

With in-person events on hold, fundraisers need to get creative through virtual gatherings and digital communications. However, they cautioned against recreating existing events virtually which may seem contrived or tiresome for donors and staff. Starting from scratch and developing a stewardship strategy tailored to virtual engagement and the capacity of the team will serve organizations better in the long run.

While virtual stewardship poses challenges, these fundraisers found opportunities to deeply engage leadership donors through online events and outreach. Overall, their experience shows that meaningful virtual engagement is possible when organizations are willing to adapt existing programs, share authentic updates on impact, and start new initiatives tailored to online interaction. Taking lessons from their experiences can help nonprofits strengthen connections with donors even when in-person gatherings are not possible.

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For nonprofits, providing a seamless experience across channels is key to building lifelong donor relationships. However, most organizations use a patchwork of separate systems to manage fundraising, marketing, and donor data. As a result, fundraisers spend countless hours pulling reports, exporting and importing data between platforms, and ensuring a single view of the donor.

There is a better way. By integrating your customer relationship management (CRM) system and fundraising technology, you can track all donor interactions in one place and trigger personalized outreach automatically.

For example, you can send an email receipt as soon as a gift is processed in your CRM. Within 24 hours, the donor receives a video thank you. A handwritten note follows several days later. Six months later, they are included in a cultivation mailing.

This type of automated, multi-channel stewardship helps build loyalty and retention over the long run. The key is choosing fundraising tools that integrate directly with your CRM. Look for platforms that allow you to match data fields between systems so you have a complete donor profile and history readily available. See if the tools offer workflow triggers and automations to follow up based on donor actions and gift amounts.

For many nonprofits, transitioning to an integratedtech stack is challenging due to data privacy concerns, tight IT budgets, and reliance on legacy databases. However, cloud-based fundraising tools and CRMs are making integration more accessible. They provide real-time data access for your whole advancement team and eliminate the need for time-intensive data requests.

With the shift to remote work over the past year, seamlessly integrated technology has become even more critical. For nonprofits adapting to virtual fundraising, integrated systems support personalized outreach at scale while keeping students, volunteers and staff employed. The key is finding solutions, like ThankView, that are tailored to the needs of nonprofits and higher ed institutions. By partnering with fundraising professionals, they can provide the right tools and guidance to boost your stewardship during challenging times and beyond.

Overall, investing in an integrated tech stack gives fundraisers a single source of truth about their donors and ensures personalized, impactful outreach that drives donor loyalty in the long run. While the initial transition requires effort and resources, the rewards of a seamless donor experience are well worth it.

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For nonprofit fundraisers, time and resources are always in short supply. Manual processes limit productivity and prevent organizations from reaching their full fundraising potential.

Automation is the key to doing more with less.

Nick Prenger, CEO of the Prenger Solutions Group, shared how his firm helped nonprofit clients scale their fundraising using automation. For the Catholic Diocese of Phoenix’s $10 million annual appeal, Prenger’s team used marketing automation to convert 21% of online donors into recurring givers, significantly increasing revenue.

The first step is evaluating your data infrastructure.

Many nonprofits struggle with inaccurate or disorganized data, limiting their ability to automate. Pringer recommends starting small by automating “affirmation” emails, like thanking recent donors. These small automations have little downside if errors occur but can make a big impact. Fix data issues as you go.

With good data, you can automate more advanced fundraising workflows.

For example, automate sending a welcome email to first-time donors from your CEO or development director. Set up a follow-up email two months later highlighting the impact of their gift. Automate sending recurring giving invitations to donors as they fulfill pledge payments. These personalized touches make a memorable impression and boost loyalty and lifetime value.

Of course, legal and IT approval can be challenging. Don’t try to explain the benefits yourself.

Prenger advises having the technology vendor address concerns directly. They are best equipped to articulate how the system works and proper data security measures. Legal and IT teams simply want to ensure there are no issues, so addressing their questions thoroughly upfront smooths the approval process.

While manual processes feel familiar and safer, they prevent nonprofits from maximizing their potential. With the right approach to data, tools, and approvals, fundraising automation can scale your organization’s impact by boosting donor participation and revenue. The time to start automating is now. Your donors—and your mission—will thank you.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the growth of gaming as a way for people to connect virtually. This trend presents an opportunity for nonprofits to engage supporters through online gaming communities and fundraising events.

According to Diego Shanaker, Gaming Partnerships Manager at the USO, the average age of a gamer is 33 and nearly two-thirds of gamers are adults over 18. These gamers want to connect with others, not isolate themselves. The USO has built a gaming program around this desire for connection, enabling military service members to connect with each other and their loved ones back home through gaming.

For nonprofits looking to get started with gaming, Shanaker recommends connecting gaming to your mission. Identify how gaming can help you achieve your goals, whether it’s raising awareness, building community, or fundraising. Then, survey your supporters to determine what kinds of games they like to play.

Build your gaming program around the interests of your community.

To fundraise through gaming, empower supporters to organize events on your behalf. Provide incentives for people to participate and donate, such as gaming gear or the opportunity to play with celebrities and influencers. However, the incentives don’t have to be expensive. get creative by offering experiences like face painting or drinking creamed corn on camera in exchange for donations.

Steward gaming influencers the same way you would major donors. Keep the lines of communication open, share updates about how their contributions made an impact, and invite them to participate in future events. While some gaming audiences prefer to remain anonymous, work to collect contact information from as many donors as possible so you can cultivate long-term relationships.

Tap into the expertise of the gaming industry by creating an advisory council. Work with gaming companies, e-sports organizations and influencers to ensure your program remains relevant and impactful for supporters. Gaming, like any new initiative, requires an investment of time and resources to be successful. But by connecting gaming to your mission and supporters’ interests, nonprofits can build virtual communities and drive fundraising through this fast-growing channel.

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Fundraising meetings with donors can bring up anxiety and unrealistic optimism in fundraisers. To have a productive conversation, you need to cultivate the right mindset. Start by understanding the mental shortcuts, or biases, you may rely on.

Anchoring bias

occurs when a donor mentions a constraint, like “money is tight this year,” causing you to lower your ask amount. Don’t drop your ask. Instead, acknowledge their concern, then reframe the conversation around their values and priorities to keep the original ask on the table.

Optimism bias

makes you overconfident in a meeting’s outcome. Prepare by considering at least three scenarios where a donor may not give at the level you expect. Have responses ready for objections and be willing to listen, not just pitch your case.

Pessimism bias

fuels anxiety about how a donor might respond. Run through the meeting in your mind, imagining questions a donor may ask. Role play the interaction with a colleague to gain confidence and fluency in your responses. Remember, some anxiety is normal and can motivate preparation. But don’t catastrophize.

The negativity bias

focuses your mind on past failures instead of your skills and accomplishments. Keep records of your wins and milestones to avoid underestimating yourself. Refer to them to stay optimistic through temporary setbacks.

Fundraising is a learned practice, not an inborn talent. With preparation and persistence, any fundraiser can excel. System 1 thinking taps into your intuition and emotions. System 2 thinking accesses reason and logic. Use both for the best outcomes. Allow intuition to guide relationship building with donors, then engage logical reasoning to articulate your case for support.

Staying focused on your mission and believing in your work can help motivate donors and yourself. Have confidence in your abilities through preparation and practice. The right mindset, balanced optimism, and managing anxieties and biases will lead to more natural, confident conversations with your supporters. Overall, mindfulness, active listening, and continuing to improve your craft will serve you and your organization well.

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Effective fundraising teams operate with a shared sense of purpose and trust. As a leader, it’s your role to establish the ground rules and expectations that will build this foundation. Craig Evans, associate dean for development at Johns Hopkins University, recommends facilitating open conversations with your team to determine the guidelines you’ll follow.

Start by asking your team what rules and expectations they believe are necessary to feel supported in their work. Encourage honest and thoughtful responses by assuring team members there are no “wrong” answers. You may get suggestions like “assuming good intent,” “active listening,” or “asking for help when you need it.” Share a few of your own ideas to get the discussion going, but let your team shape the overall list.

Once you have input from the whole group, work together to refine and finalize your ground rules. Review these at the start of each year and when new members join your team. To make the rules feel official and help them guide daily actions and decisions, print and frame copies to display in your office. Refer to them at meetings and in performance reviews as well.

Repeat this process to determine what your team members expect from one another to foster a collaborative environment. Then, ask them to share what they expect from you as their leader. Be prepared to listen with an open mind—you’ll likely gain valuable insight into how you can better support your team. Share your own expectations for them in return to ensure everyone is on the same page about their roles and responsibilities.

According to Evans, the time required for these conversations will be well worth your investment.

Ground rules and mutual expectations “become operational” and help build trust within your team. They also make it easier to address issues by establishing a shared standard of accountability. Most importantly, inviting your team’s input shows them you value their needs and opinions. Overall, taking this inclusive approach will help you transform a group of individuals into a highly effective fundraising team.

How’s this? I focused on highlighting the key benefits of establishing ground rules and expectations, explained the specific process Craig Evans recommends, and provided an example to illustrate how this applies to a fundraising team. Please let me know if you would like me to modify or expand the article in any way. I’m happy to refine and improve it further.

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