Planned giving is an important part of a robust nonprofit fundraising strategy. This diverse category of gifts can unlock growth for your organization, help you reach new prospects, and deepen your ties with donors.
Getting started with planned giving is challenging for many organizations since this form of fundraising is unlike typical campaign-based and annual fundraising. However, the benefits of launching even a small-scale preliminary planned giving program are worth the effort and will scale over time to drive even greater results for your nonprofit.
To get started, you must understand the basics. This quick guide will cover the essentials by answering the following key questions:
Planned giving consists of donations to nonprofits made through donors’ estates or financial plans. Organizations that pursue these gifts consistently do so through dedicated planned giving programs, which are often managed as part of or alongside their other development efforts like major gift fundraising.
Most planned gifts are bequests established in donors’ wills and disbursed after their passing. But planned giving is much more than bequests—it’s an extremely diverse category of gifts.
What are the common types of planned gifts?
In addition to bequests, planned giving includes donations like:
Retirement plans and life insurance: A donor chooses to name a nonprofit as the beneficiary of a life insurance policy or unused retirement assets.
Charitable gift annuities: A donor gives a large donation in exchange for a fixed income payment. The nonprofit can invest these funds and keep any remaining funds when the annuity’s terms are up or the donor passes away.
Charitable remainder trusts: A donor gives a gift of cash or securities in exchange for an income payment of a percentage of the principal amount, which can be revalued and increased annually depending on the type of trust created.
Charitable lead trusts: A donor makes payments to the nonprofit for a certain number of years or their lifetime. At the end of that term, the payments are returned to the donor or their beneficiaries.
Each type of planned gift brings different requirements and benefits, so the gift that a donor ultimately decides to make will hinge on several factors including their financial situation and giving motivations. Some gifts will also work best for only certain types of high-impact donors.
Many nonprofits also pursue a variety of non-cash gifts alongside their planned giving programs since the processes of identifying these donors and setting up their gifts can be fairly similar. Popular non-cash gift options include:
Grants from donor-advised funds
Donations of real estate
Gifts of private or public stock or mutual funds
Gifts of cryptocurrency
Explore the additional resources at the end of this article to start learning more about these types of donations.
What is the state of planned giving today?
How much opportunity is there for nonprofits in planned giving today? Who creates planned gifts? Understanding the context and trends of this type of giving will empower your organization to create the best possible strategy.
Consider these 2023 statistics from FreeWill, a will creation and planned giving platform for nonprofits:
The total number of estate plans created increased by 12% over the previous year.
15% of those users chose to create a bequest gift—a total of 40,123 bequests adding up to a value of over $2.36 billion.
The average size of a charitable bequest was $46,594.
Younger will-makers are expressing an increased interest in bequests. Those aged 18-24 were the most likely to include a bequest in a will, and their average gift increased by over $9,000. Those aged 25-44 were the only other age segment to also increase their average gift value.
Older will-makers still represent the largest groups involved in planned giving, with adults aged 65-84 committing 38% of all bequest dollars.
These trends are occurring within the larger phenomenon of the “Great Wealth Transfer,” an unprecedented transfer of assets from the aging Baby Boomer population to their heirs and charitable organizations—estimated to be around $68 trillion over the next 25 years.
Key takeaways: Donors are making wills and estate plans, especially as they age. If you’re not asking them to consider creating a planned gift, you’re missing out. Considering the giving patterns of older donors, the Great Wealth Transfer, and younger generations enjoying or entering their prime working years, a robust planned giving strategy can generate significant revenue for your organization. You’ll just need to know how to talk about planned giving effectively, starting with its benefits.
What are the benefits of planned giving?
Planned giving can help both the donor and the nonprofit in significant ways. Let’s take a closer look.
Benefits for Donors
Planned gifts allow donors to create lasting legacies and impact on the missions that they care about and/or have been meaningful for their families.
These donations are also highly flexible, giving donors the option of designating specific purposes for the funds and updating their instructions over time.
Planned gifts often also bring significant tax benefits for donors, usually relating to estate taxes, which can be a major motivator for some. However, the exact tax implications of planned gifts can vary widely, so it’s crucial to avoid giving donors explicit advice and instead direct them to professionals to confirm the specifics.
Benefits for Nonprofits
Planned giving is inherently meaningful and can greatly deepen relationships between your organization and its donors when thoughtfully stewarded.
Financially speaking, planned gifts can be extremely helpful for nonprofits. They’re often much larger than typical cash donations, and they’re usually unrestricted. A planned giving program can create a projectable, dependable source of general funding.
Planned gifts are also more accessible to more donors than cash gifts of the same values—while you might have only a handful of donors who can give a major cash gift, there’s a good possibility that you have more donors who could give the equivalent through saved assets.
Effective stewardship strategies have also been shown to increase annual donations from committed planned donors over time.
How do you get started with planned giving?
Your organization should spend time creating a strategy for its planned giving program before getting started asking for these gifts. Follow these steps to successfully execute your program:
Educate and organize your teams. Decide your goals and determine who will lead your planned giving efforts (usually a member of your development or fundraising department). Educate the members of your fundraising, marketing, or communications teams and any other staff who will play roles in your program.
Gather the right tools. You’ll need tools to market your program, track donation data, and help donors set up their planned gifts. Look for a planned giving platform that gives donors free will creation tools and provides you with the data you need to follow up and steward your relationships with them over time.
Identify potential donors. When looking for prospects, start with those most dedicated to your cause, including board members, volunteers, and longtime donors. Ask about their awareness of and interest in planned giving (and if they’ve already created a planned gift). Use these responses to build an initial prospect list, get a sense of their shared characteristics, and refine your approach as you learn more.
Create a legacy giving society. This can cultivate a feeling of community and inclusion in your organization, especially if it comes with perks like public acknowledgment or access to special events.
Outline a marketing strategy. Use multiple marketing channels to explain what planned giving is and why it’s so beneficial for both donors and your mission. Make it easy for donors to access information about planned giving, ideally by adding it as a section on your Ways to Give page or on a dedicated planned giving microsite.
Steward and learn more about planned donors over time. As you begin asking for and receiving planned gifts, actively work to keep those donors involved and engaged. Learn more about why they choose to give to inform your future strategies.
Don’t be afraid of starting small—your planned giving program can grow over time. By beginning with a targeted focus on simpler gifts like bequests, you can lay out an effective framework for eventually asking for more complex planned gifts or different types of non-cash gifts over time.
The key is to keep learning more and refining your approach as you go. Your development team already likely follows best practices for conducting prospect research, qualifying donors, building relationships, and stewarding donors. Use and adapt these strategies to your new planned giving goals.
Additional Planned Giving Resources
Nonprofit Basics – Learn more nonprofit management essentials by exploring our other introductory guides and glossary entries.
Planned Giving Marketing – Here are seven strategies to get your donor base on board with planned giving.
Donor-Advised Funds — Check out this complete introduction to DAFs, a type of philanthropic fund that’s skyrocketed in popularity in recent years.
Moves Management — Learn the basics of how to keep track of donor interactions as you work towards a specific goal like creating a planned gift.
What would you do if your organization hit a record number of new donors within a year?
Celebrate! But what about after the initial excitement wears off? Discovering that donors share the same passion for your cause is exhilarating. However, many organizations fail to communicate their appreciation adequately, which can have negative retention effects.
In fact, lack of recognition is one of the top five reasons why donors choose to stop giving. That said, donor recognition is a key part of donor stewardship, which can usher first-time donors into long-term supporters.
In this guide, we’ll explore the ins and outs of donor recognition and discover how your organization can create an effective acknowledgment strategy. Let’s dive in!
What is donor recognition?
Donor recognition describes the practice of thanking your organization’s donors for their gifts to your nonprofit. It’s a way for nonprofits to express gratitude and reinforce supporters’ commitment to the cause.
Many nonprofits separate recognition into tiers based on the type of gift and amount given by a donor. We’ll explore this concept more later, but for now, know that nonprofits refer to this tier system to ensure their recognition level matches a donor’s generosity.
There are several methods for recognizing donors. Everything from a simple phone call to a fancy outdoor display falls under this category. At the most basic level, you should send a prompt donor thank-you letter or email acknowledging them for responding to your fundraising appeal and supporting your mission. As with any nonprofit fundraising letter, this thank-you should:
Be personalized with the donor’s preferred name
Include relevant, engaging images
Convey the impact of the donor’s support
Despite the various methods, the purpose of every donor recognition strategy is always the same: to acknowledge a donor’s generosity.
Why does donor recognition matter?
Donor recognition is a vital component of nonprofit fundraising and relationship-building. It’s what inspires donors to stick around and continue supporting your cause, so you can pursue your mission and build a community behind your cause. Let’s explore how meaningful donor recognition impacts both nonprofits and their donors.
Benefits for Nonprofits
Acknowledgment plays a fundamental role in acquiring, retaining, and inspiring greater support. For nonprofits, meaningful donor recognition helps:
Increase donor retention. Recognizing donors makes them feel like they are making a difference. It also indicates that your organization prioritizes showing appreciation regardless of the gift amount.
Encourage recurring giving. Donors who feel recognized are more likely to give more and give more often. When you take time to recognize a donor’s gift, you indicate that they’ve made a smart choice to donate to your cause.
Acquire more donors. Recognizing donors publicly can act as a form of social proof. When people see their friends donate to a cause, it motivates them to explore the organization and maybe get involved themselves.
Promote a positive brand image. Organizations that prioritize donor recognition further their positive perception in people’s minds. People notice when nonprofits go the extra mile for their supporters.
Encourage an atmosphere of gratitude. Staff, volunteers, and other supporters want to work for an organization that expresses gratitude regularly. The positive emphasis on appreciation creates a vibrant work culture.
Nonprofits rely on their donors to power their missions, making proactive recognition a vital part of their fundraising efforts. From retaining donors to expanding your community of supporters, showing gratitude goes a long way.
Benefits for Donors
On the other side of things, proper acknowledgment can impact donors in several ways, too. Here’s a quick rundown of how you can influence supporters by recognizing them:
Make donors feel valued. Donors like knowing that their gift is appreciated. Frequently showing recognition makes them feel valued as important contributors to your organization.
Affirm their decision to give. Donors could have given to any cause, or not given at all. When you recognize their contributions, you reassure them that they made the right choice.
Deepen their connection with your organization. When organizations recognize donors individually, it makes them feel like a part of the team. This deepens their connection and can even encourage them to get involved in other ways like volunteering.
Remind them of their impact. With plenty of distractions, donors can easily forget to support your organization regularly. But, when you recognize them, you remind them of their special part in driving impact. After all, 41% of donors will give again when they receive personalized outreach on the impact of their support.
Offer community connections to like-minded people. Recognition policies, especially event-oriented ones, allow donors to connect with like-minded individuals and expand their personal and professional networks.
As you can see, consistent donor recognition accomplishes both nonprofit-related and donor-related objectives. That’s why creating a robust recognition program now can cause positive ripple effects for your organization for years to come.
When should you recognize donors?
The short answer: as soon as the gift is received. Expressing acknowledgment and gratitude promptly is what makes donor recognition matter. After all, saying thank you a few weeks or even a few days later does not carry the same meaning. Instead, aim to recognize a donor within 48 hours of receiving their gift. Many nonprofits document their official gift recognition and substantiation procedures in their gift acceptance policies.
Of course, more involved recognition strategies like a naming opportunity will take longer to complete. However, all donors should receive a prompt and personalized acknowledgment. More specifically, plan to thank donors at every touch point. For example, capital campaigns should use donor recognition strategies that actively support the larger campaign purpose and complement each stage of the project.
Who should your nonprofit recognize?
Your goal should be to make all supporters feel recognized and valued for their contributions, regardless of the size of their gift.
But, it’s important to choose recognition strategies that adequately address the level of a donor’s generosity. Responding with an unexpected abundance or limited amount of recognition can throw your donor relationships off-kilter, leading to feelings of dissatisfaction.
To avoid this, you’ll need to create donor recognition levels based on donation type, donation amount, engagement level, and donor type. Let’s explore each in more detail below!
Donation Type
There are several different donation types, from matching gifts to in-kind donations. Generally, donors give through one of the following donation methods:
Cash: Direct monetary deposit to your nonprofit organization.
In-Kind: Food supplies, medical supplies, or other tangible goods.
Time: Donors can choose to devote part of their time to volunteering with your organization and may even apply for volunteer grants to help you raise more funds.
Matching Gifts:Many corporations offer matching gifts as a part of their philanthropic initiatives, meaning they match their employee’s donations at a 1:1 or 2:1 ratio.
Depending on the type of donation, you can organize your recognition program to acknowledge donors’ specific gifts. For instance, if a donor opts to give through a matching gift program, your recognition should acknowledge their thoughtfulness in doubling their donation.
Donation Amount
Many nonprofits segment their donor tiers by donation amount. How you determine the tiers will depend on your organization’s average donation size. A smaller nonprofit’s average donation size might be $200 while a more established nonprofit’s average donation size might be closer to $2,000.
For example, a community-based nonprofit’s donation recognition levels might look something like this:
Friends: $100 – $499
Tax receipt and handwritten thank-you note from the Executive Director
Recognition in annual report
Believers: $500 – $4,999
All the benefits of the Friends level
Exclusive updates on nonprofit activities, impacts, and forthcoming initiatives
VIP experiences and behind-the-scenes access or unique networking opportunities
Advocates: $5,000 – $19,999
All the benefits of the Believers level
Website or newsletter recognition feature
Named sponsorship recognition
Visionaries: $20,000 – $49,999
All the benefits of the Advocate level
Press release and major publication recognition
Special event recognition
Naming opportunities
Ongoing personalized stewardship
You can also organize these levels based on impact. For instance, a food pantry might categorize amounts by their ability to feed five families, 50 families, or 250 families. Adjust the amounts and the recognition titles to best suit your organization’s average donation size and mission impact.
Engagement Level
You can also categorize donors by their engagement level with your organization. This identifier will significantly impact how you decide to recognize them. Here are the various engagement levels to consider:
First-time donors: It’s important to promptly recognize first-time donors to affirm their decision to give to your cause and welcome them to your organization. Welcome packets full of fact sheets about your organization, branded merchandise, a thank-you note, and upcoming volunteer opportunities are a great way to recognize new donors.
Repeat donors: Currently active donors who know your organization well are also worth recognizing. Show them your appreciation with personalized phone calls, exclusive nonprofit updates, and event invitations tailored to their interests.
Major donors: Donors who give significant amounts of money to your cause deserve thoughtful recognition. Keep them in the loop with specialized impact reports and dedicated donor thank-you events as a part of your stewardship efforts.
Legacy donors: People who decide to dedicate their life’s earnings through planned gifts or estate plans qualify as legacy donors. Include these generous individuals in legacy society publications and send them exclusive updates on their future gifts’ impact.
You can categorize this donor data within a dedicated CRM so that your team can reference and update it throughout your relationship. That way, you’ll never miss a beat when recognizing new or long-time donors.
Donor Type
When you think of donor recognition, you might primarily think of individual contributors. However, there are a few different types of donors, and you should adjust your recognition strategies for each type. Donor types differ across three major categories:
Individual donors are private individuals who contribute their personal funds. They are the most common type of donors and range from small contributors to high-net-worth individuals making major gifts.
Foundations are organizations formed to provide funding and support to charitable causes. They can be private (i.e., established by individuals or families) or public (i.e., government-funded or endowed by corporations).
As mentioned, you’ll need to adapt your recognition efforts for each donor type. For example, personalized acknowledgments and donor spotlights are suitable for individual donors, while corporations might benefit from specialized CSR employee engagement programs. Foundation recognition, on the other hand, would take the form of grant acknowledgments.
Top Donor Recognition Ideas
Depending on the above considerations for each donor, there are several ways you can recognize them. As always, you’ll need to match the strategy to your relationship with the donor for maximum impact. Here are some top recognition ideas based on engagement levels and donation amounts:
Digital eCards
To make your recognition both prompt and personalized, use digital eCards. This approach allows you to send a branded thank you to donors. These digital tools make it easy to honor donors and spread the word about your cause. It’s as simple as logging in, customizing your design, drafting a thank-you, and sending it to your donor’s social media account or inbox.
Not to mention, eCards are a great source of revenue when you sell them to supporters, too. Check out this video for an in-depth review of how this technology works:
From thanking donors to raising funds, digital greeting cards can add a special touch to your fundraising techniques. Greeting cards are perfect for any occasion, including saying thank you to your valued supporters!
Phone Calls
Simple and straightforward, a phone call from your nonprofit’s Executive Director is a meaningful way to recognize a donor. This strategy will make donors feel seen by your nonprofit’s efforts. Be sure to have the donor’s donation type and amount handy so you can express gratitude for their specific gift.
Branded Gifts
Send your donor nonprofit branded merchandise as a thank-you! Blankets, t-shirts, hats, and hoodies all make for fabulous donor recognition gifts that will make your donor feel welcomed into your organization. If your nonprofit has an online gift shop, consider sending a donor a discount to choose a branded gift that best suits them.
Thank-You Notes from Beneficiaries
Your donors likely expect a thank-you message from your nonprofit’s team, but you can pleasantly surprise them with a handwritten appreciation letter from your beneficiaries. All you need to do is:
Sign up beneficiaries to write letters. Ensure they know that this is a small time commitment to encourage more people to join.
Provide writing resources for beneficiaries. Offer items such as a thank-you card template, paper, and pens to make the writing process as easy as possible.
Coordinate letter drop-off. Instead of sending letters themselves, ask your beneficiaries to drop their thank-you letters off at your office. This way, beneficiaries don’t need to pay for stamps, and your donors’ sensitive information is kept safe.
Send the thank-you notes to donors. Make sure to send your letters in a timely manner. If you’re worried about stamp prices, look into qualifying for USPS’ nonprofit discount to cut costs.
Take the following example from Youth For Understanding. The nonprofit offers study abroad opportunities, helping young adults learn about the world via semester and year-long exchange programs. They had previous program participants craft thank-you notes to send to their host families or anyone else who made their experience memorable.
This idea is a fun twist on traditional approaches to nonprofit thank-you cards, allowing your beneficiaries to build personal connections with donors and secure their future support.
Looking for a way to make an individual donor feel special? Social media spotlights are an effective option for highlighting your donor’s generosity. First, make sure your donor follows you online and regularly engages on the platform you choose. Then, with their permission, feature an image of them with a caption describing the impact of their generosity and why your team is grateful for their support. Or, host a livestream during a big campaign to thank donors.
Appreciation Videos
Appreciation videos are great for social media posts and blog posts on your website. These do not need to be long. However, be sure to include your executive staff thanking individuals for their support. You can also include, with their permission, a thank-you from the beneficiaries who your donors have helped. Doing this will help your donors understand the importance of their gifts.
Donor Lunch
Invite your donors to a dedicated lunch to celebrate their generosity. Send an invitation in advance and keep the invite list small to focus on a couple of key individuals. This option is great for donors who would appreciate more than a thank-you note but are uncomfortable attending a large dedicated event.
Donor of the Month Program
While your donors don’t give for the attention, you can still provide public shoutouts to your mid-tier contributors. Unlike social media spotlights, Donor of the Month is a time-bound award that’s given to the donor who’s made a big impact during that calendar month.
For instance, some good candidates for this award include a volunteer who decides to donate for the first time or an existing donor who smashes their peer-to-peer fundraising goal. You can highlight their dedication to your mission by:
Featuring them in your newsletter
Allowing them to write a guest post for your blog
Interviewing them and sharing the video on your website and social media accounts
Ensure your donor consents to being publicly recognized and notify them in advance so you can get your appreciation materials out on time.
Outdoor Displays
Take your recognition outside with a vibrant outdoor display to honor your donors. A nonprofit-specific monument or statue outside your facility can be a valuable addition to your headquarters. Consider partnering with design and construction partners to ensure that your display can withstand weathering and is designed to inspire. Include donor names in a plaque beneath the display.
Donor Plaques or Walls
Probably the most well-known recognition practices, donor plaques and donor walls are popular strategies. Donor plaques honoring the sole donors of a nonprofit project are often posted outside of buildings that the donors funded, for example. Donor walls can display several names and are best unveiled following a capital campaign.
Appreciation Events
Host a virtual happy hour or in-person dinner as a way to say thank you to donors. This can provide a valuable opportunity for donors to network with other supporters and discuss your cause. You could even run an online cooking class or informal craft tutorial. Or, you can make your event larger scale and host a fancy gala; just be sure to keep the focus on donor appreciation.
Donor Hall of Fame
Donor social media shoutouts and Donor of the Month are great ways to publicly appreciate your donors, but you can take this idea to the next level for major donors by starting a Donor Hall of Fame. This honor should be reserved for your most engaged and influential donors and awarded sparingly (e.g. once or twice a year). You can inaugurate donors by:
Hosting a dinner in their honor
Adding their picture to a wall in your organization’s office
Naming events and items after your donors
Unlike Donor of the Month and one-off shoutouts, this idea immortalizes your most impactful contributors. By going the extra mile with this idea, you can demonstrate how donations fuel your mission and that donors forever mark your nonprofit.
Board or Committee Invitations
Invite mid-sized and major donors to serve on advisory boards or committees. This form of recognition engages them more deeply in the organization’s work by showing you value their input and expertise.
Volunteer Opportunities
Volunteering might not seem like an appreciation idea at first glance. However, many donors will appreciate engaging with your cause in new ways. By encouraging donors to volunteer, you’ll deepen their involvement in your mission. This will help them form a more personal connection to the work your organization does and see the impact of donations.
Private Tour
With this donor recognition idea, you’ll show donors where the magic happens! Even though they contribute to your mission substantially, many of your mid-sized and major donors may not have seen your office space and work sites before. Give donors an inside look into your organization by showing them around.
A great chance to use this type of recognition is when someone contributes to fund a specific project or initiative. For example, let’s say a major donor gave to your capital campaign to relocate to a bigger office. You might host an in-person tour or record a virtual one to show them around the new space.
Tips to Level Up Your Donor Recognition
Now that you have some creative donor recognition ideas, it’s time to brainstorm how you’ll cater each one to your unique donor community. Here are some ways to take these donor recognition ideas up a notch:
Communicate impact. According to Blackbaud, two of the top reasons donors churn are because they never received information on how their gift was used, and they don’t think the organization needs them. Avoid this by tying donations to tangible results. For example, show donors you need their support by telling beneficiaries’ stories and giving them an inside look into their impact.
Get permission for public recognition. While some donors might love a public shoutout, others might prefer private recognition, like a phone call or letter. Before acknowledging anyone publicly, ask them if it’s okay first!
Get creative. While a traditional thank-you letter can show appreciation, catch your donors’ attention by testing new recognition techniques. You have tons of powerful technology at your fingertips. Pair that with your team’s creativity, and you’ll come up with out-of-the-box ideas. Even formatting your letters as eCards can make recognition more impactful.
Creating a thoughtful donor recognition strategy can go a long way in showing that you genuinely care about their support. Pay attention to what resonates with donors, and you’ll learn how to show appreciation in more meaningful ways.
Final Thoughts and Additional Resources
Your donors are the reason you can continue pursuing your mission. By properly recognizing them, you’ll increase donor acquisition and retention. Remember, acknowledge your donors often and authentically to convey your nonprofit’s appreciation for them. Be sure to always ask for their permission for public recognition and mention how their specific gift impacted your mission. In turn, thoughtful recognition will pave the way for stronger donor relations.
Did you enjoy this guide to donor recognition? Check out these resources to learn more:
Donor Data Management: A Quick Guide for Nonprofits – Keep your donor data clean, organized, and accessible with NPOInfo’s guide to donor data management. That way, you can make sure to send the best types of acknowledgment to each donor!
https://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Donor-Recognition_Feature-Image.png3751000Adam Weingerhttps://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/logo-dtd.svgAdam Weinger2023-11-08 06:00:022024-05-06 15:19:07Donor Recognition: When & How to Acknowledge Supporters
Donor walls are a great way to show appreciation to donors and demonstrate the impact of their contributions, which can aid in donor retention and acquisition. They provide a tangible way to thank and recognize donors for their support, while also creating a sense of community and allowing donors to show off their commitment to the organization.
What is a Donor Wall?
A donor recognition wall is a permanent display honoring an organization’s generous supporters, which can take the form of an immersive, interactive experience. Nonprofits, universities, medical facilities, and faith-based organizations are among those that create these walls to recognize major donors, corporate sponsors, and major contributors. The cost of a donor recognition wall will depend on its size and materials used, but it’s considered a critical investment that can improve donor retention and add a beautiful focal point to a space.
Different Types of Donor Walls
Traditional Donor Walls
Traditional donor walls are the classic option, often made of engraved metal plaques, acrylic with vinyl or etched lettering, glass, or other material-based components. They’re typically arranged in a board or giving tree. The appeal of a traditional donor wall is in the art-like overall aesthetic and the luxury of tactile donor names. These are a good option for organizations with low volumes of donors to recognize. Updating the list of donors can be moderate in cost, and the initial investment is less than a digital donor wall.
Digital Donor Walls
Digital donor walls are a more modern approach, made of a screen or a series of screens. They can display a dynamic amount of names with many giving levels and types of giving. Videos, photos, and other multimedia elements can be added to the screen(s) in real-time. They’re great for organizations with a high volume of donors to recognize or that want to showcase their history, mission statements, ‘Why I Give stories’, donor highlights, impact stories, and more. There’s no cost to add or update the list of donors, but the initial investment is more than a traditional donor wall.
Hybrid Donor Walls
Hybrid donor walls are the best of both worlds. They combine the art-like cabinetry found in traditional donor walls and blend it with the ease of use and magnificence of digital donor walls. This provides a more interactive and engaging experience for donors and visitors, while still providing a tangible way to recognize and honor donors. The initial investment for a hybrid digital donor wall is the most expensive option, but there is generally no cost to update the list of donors.
Virtual Donor Walls
Virtual donor walls are accessible through nonprofit websites, leveraging much of the same software technology as a digital donor wall. These can be used to keep recognition up to date and leveraged for online marketing strategies. They are particularly useful for organizations with no physical or public presence that other donor walls would require. Updating the donor lists has no cost, and the initial cost to develop a virtual donor wall is a fraction of the cost of other digital or hybrid solutions. Virtual donor walls are a great way to recognize and honor donors online, making them a cost-effective solution for organizations that don’t have the budget for traditional or digital donor walls.
Benefits of A Donor Wall
Culture of Philanthropy-Building
Donor walls are a powerful tool for building a culture of philanthropy within an organization. They provide a tangible way to steward and thank donors for their support, while also creating a sense of community and shared purpose. By displaying donor names and contributions in a public space, donor walls demonstrate the impact of individual giving and encourage others to get involved.
Donor Acquisition and Retention
In addition to recognizing donors, donor walls also serve as an important tool for donor acquisition and retention. They provide a way for potential donors to see the impact of giving and understand the value of their contributions. They also help to build a sense of community and shared purpose among donors, which can encourage them to continue giving and even increase their level of support.
Donor Engagement
Donor walls are not just a display of appreciation, but they’re also a way to engage donors and encourage them to continue their support. They provide a tangible representation of the impact of giving, and help donors to see the value of their contributions. By recognizing donors in a public space, donor walls create a sense of community among donors and build a sense of shared purpose. This can encourage donors to stay connected with the organization and continue their support.
Overall, donor walls play a crucial role in building a culture of philanthropy within an organization. They provide a powerful tool for recognizing and thanking donors, encouraging giving, and promoting transparency and accountability. They are a valuable investment for any organization committed to building a strong culture of philanthropy and fostering a sense of community among donors.
Other Resources to Explore
Nonprofit Basics – Learn more about other nonprofit management essentials by checking out these expert resources.
Both online shopping and online fundraising have grown in popularity in recent years. More than 268 million people in the United States shopped online in 2022 alone, and 54% of donors worldwide prefer to donate online.
With online shopping and online giving soaring in popularity, it makes sense that nonprofit organizations would attempt to find a solution to bring online shopping into the online fundraising world in an effort to earn more donations. That’s why many nonprofits have combined those two trends to bring in revenue through programs like Amazon Smile.
What is Amazon Smile?
Until its discontinuation in early 2023, Amazon Smile was a program that allowed shoppers to give back to their favorite charities while making everyday online purchases through Amazon. Shoppers could give to nonprofits through purchases that they were going to make anyway, regardless of whether they were able to make an additional donation. It was also an easy way for nonprofits to earn donations from their loyal supporters, many of whom are happy to make additional donations through fundraising programs like this if given the opportunity.
Once an organization registered with Amazon Smile, supporters would start shopping for their cause, and a portion of their total sales went back to the nonprofit of their choice.
Benefits of online shopping fundraiser programs like Amazon Smile
Although Amazon Smile has come to an end, it isn’t the only program of its kind that nonprofits can participate in. Here are some reasons your nonprofit may consider signing up for an online shopping fundraiser program:
It’s unique. Your nonprofit holds various fundraisers each year to encourage donations and inspire support. Take advantage of this creative fundraising idea that’s free, easy to set up, and brings in year-round revenue.
It’s passive. Amazon Smile is considered a “passive fundraiser” because supporters are taking actions they would have taken anyway and can contribute to your nonprofit without a second thought. However, you should still market your fundraiser to continuously remind supporters to access the resource.
Supporters feel like they’re making a difference. Online shopping fundraisers allow supporters to make a positive impact through their purchases, meaning that these supporters are not only gaining the benefits of whatever item they’ve purchased, but also the benefit of helping their community through your nonprofit. Plus, many people enjoy looking into ways they can shop ethically, and shop-for-a-cause programs are great ways to do so.
Whether your nonprofit is new to the online shopping fundraiser space or participated in Amazon Smile and is wondering what next steps to take, be aware that there are other similar fundraising programs available with connections to different networks of retailers. Your nonprofit should do research and carefully consider which shopping donation option is right for your organization.
Other Resources to Explore
Nonprofit Basics – Learn more nonprofit management essentials by exploring other expert resources.
As one of the most influential companies in the world, Google empowers charitable organizations to increase their visibility within Google Search for free through its dedicated corporate giving program called Google Ad Grants. We’ll cover everything you need to know about this program.
Since Google has over 92% of the global search engine market share, you’d be remiss to turn down the free advertising money. The program can help you connect with prospects around the world without negatively impacting your marketing budget.
What Are Google Ad Grants?
The Google Ad Grants program awards organizations $10,000 worth of Google Ads credits each month. Eligible organizations use these credits to bid on keywords and promote their web content. With free access to Google’s keyword research tools, nonprofits can place compelling ads in prominent locations on Google Search results pages, connecting them with likely supporters for their cause.
Google’s program enables nonprofits to go beyond driving more meaningful website traffic. Depending on the pages you promote with the Google Grant, here’s how the Google Ad Grant can support your initiatives in more creative capacities:
Increase revenue by sharing donation and sponsorship opportunities.
Recruit volunteers to support your projects.
Boost attendance for your webinars, charity races, and other events.
Effect change through grassroots activism, petitions, and other advocacy activities.
Inform and educate users about your cause and work.
Participants can fully leverage the program by crafting powerful ad copy combined with effective keyword research, strategic bidding strategies, and carefully-chosen landing pages.
How To Get Started With Google Ad Grants
The good news is that Google makes it straightforward to join the program. Applying for the Google Grant is a simple, multi-step process. Here’s what you’ll need to do:
Meet the requirements. You’ll need to agree to the program’s policies, hold valid charity status, and have a high-quality website to meet the eligibility criteria. Governmental entities, healthcare organizations, and educational institutions are automatically ineligible.
Sign up for Google for Nonprofits. Visit Google for Nonprofits’ registration website and fill out the subsequent forms. Once you’re approved, this will unlock the Google Grants application. Plus, you’ll have access to a variety of other organizational tools and perks through Google for Nonprofits.
Wait for verification from Percent.Percent partners with companies like Google to provide mission-driven organizations with free and discounted products. When you apply for Google for Nonprofits, they’ll be the ones to verify your nonprofit’s legitimacy. Typically, requests are reviewed in 2-14 business days. Know that Percent may reach out for more information or documentation to verify your organization.
Apply for the Google Ad Grant. Log into your Google for Nonprofits account and fill out the Google Grants application. You’ll provide additional identifying information, such as your website URL and details regarding your goals with the program.
Keep an eye on your email for your invitation within the next few business days. Once you’re approved, you’ll automatically receive $329 per day to spend on your Google Ad campaigns.
Best of all, the grant will automatically renew each month. You just need to keep your account in good standing by adhering to the ongoing compliance requirements.
Make the Most of Your Google Ad Grant Budget
As with any marketing effort, you need a carefully-crafted plan to drive real results for your nonprofit. Let’s walk through some tried-and-true tips.
1. Optimize your website.
Your Google Ads will drive traffic to your website. With this in mind, you should prioritize the user experience to drive more donations, boost volunteer registrations, or achieve any other goal. Ultimately, you want users to click through your site to find a professional design that drives them to engage with your organization.
Here are a few elements of your website to consider:
Promotable pages: Fill your site with high-quality content to promote through Google Ads. Each page should be centered around a core topic, whether it’s your donation form, volunteer registration page, or information about a major initiative.
Mobile responsiveness:Half of all nonprofit website traffic comes from mobile devices. Mobile users will likely encounter your Google Ads, so make sure your design automatically reformats itself based on screen size.
Security: Your website should encrypt information users share with you. Your URL should show “https” instead of “http” to offer users greater protection on your site.
Organizational information: List your EIN somewhere on your site, preferably in your website’s footer. You might also have a page devoted to explaining your mission.
Tie all of these elements together with powerful graphic design. This will create a cohesive site that inspires users to explore your site and convert into supporters.
2. Create robust ads with compelling copy, landing pages, and ad extensions.
Optimize your ads by paying special attention to these core building blocks for your ads:
Landing pages: These are the pages you’ll drive users to visit. Choose ones that match the user intent for your keywords and are designed to drive users to complete the desired action. For example, if you’re targeting terms like “animal rescue volunteering,” you should link to your volunteer registration page.
Copy: Users will read this to understand the content of your landing page and determine whether it meets their needs. Ensure your ad copy is specific, concise, and strategically features keywords. You’ll also want to include a call-to-action with action verbs such as “donate,” “sign up,” or “support” to tell users what next step you want them to take.
Ad extensions: These allow you to expand your ads with additional information. For instance, sitelink extensions allow you to link to additional landing pages on your website, while call extensions include a button that mobile users can tap to call your organization.
These will result in more compelling ads and ultimately drive more clicks and meaningful traffic to your nonprofit’s website.
3. Maintain compliance.
Nonprofits interested in the Google Ad Grant need to keep a few requirements in mind when selecting their keywords and monitoring their campaigns. Specifically, they need to:
Use keywords longer than a single word. Choose keywords that are at least two or three words long. This helps ensure that your content is more closely aligned to specific search queries. However, Google does allow a few exceptions specifically for nonprofit ad campaigns.
Avoid generic keywords. Generic keywords provide little context for what content a website visitor is about to click on. For example, “e-books and downloadable content” does not explain what type of content visitors would download. Choosing words specific to your mission and goals also increases the chances that the visitors who click on your ads will be interested in your content.
Remove or pause campaigns with low-quality scores. Quality scores are a 10-point assessment of your campaign’s relevance to the keyword, useful content, and potential to earn a high CTR. Google Ad Grant campaigns must have a quality score of at least three. If you have campaigns with lower quality scores, pause or remove them.
Maintain a 5% click-through rate (CTR) each month. Google Ad Grants accounts that fail to achieve a 5% CTR for two consecutive months may be deactivated. You can avoid this by ensuring all of your ad campaigns are enabled and potentially pausing ad campaigns that have a high impressions rating but low CTR.
Have valid conversion tracking. All Ad Grants accounts created after January 2018 need accurate conversion tracking. You can track your conversions by creating a Google Analytics account and connecting it to your Google Ad Grants account. Set a goal in Google Analytics related to the action you want a supporter to take after clicking on one of your ads, like donating. Then, import your goal to Google Ad Grants, so you can monitor if supporters who click your ads go onto complete your target goal.
Have at least two ads per ad group and two ad groups per campaign. When launching a Google Ad campaign, you’ll create ad groups. Ad groups are multiple ads that target the same keyword cluster of closely related terms. For example, you might target both “donate” and “charity” in separate ads in an ad group. Creating multiple ad groups helps get your ad in front of more people searching keywords related to your nonprofit.
Use at least two sitelink ad extensions. Sitelink ad extensions make your ads better and provide searchers with more opportunities to click on your ads by listing additional pages on your website that are relevant to the searcher’s query.
Respond to the Ad Grant program survey. Google surveys Ad Grant participants every year. Your survey will be sent to the email addresses connected to your Google Ad Grants account. Be sure you get a confirmation email when you have completed your survey. You can also access the survey directly from Google if you aren’t receiving confirmation notices.
Maintaining compliance improves your ads and ensures you continue getting Google Ad Grant funding. Of course, meeting all of these requirements can be difficult, especially when you’re just getting started. That’s why many nonprofits turn to consultants for help. Working with a Google partner makes this process much easier since these agencies are the first to here about programmatic updates.
4. Consider professional Google Ad Grants management.
A lot goes into managing a Google Ad Grant account between developing compelling ads and meeting ongoing requirements. The last thing you want is your account to be deactivated after not meeting the compliance requirements.
That’s where a professional Google Grants manager can step in to save the day. Turn to a professional to ease your marketing team’s workload through services like:
Google Ad Grants applications
Campaign development, including keyword research and ad copy development
Ongoing compliance and account reactivation
We recommend working with one of Google’s certified partners. These consultants have been vetted by the Google Ads team and demonstrated a clear understanding of the program. Plus, this will give you a direct line to the latest updates to the program, so you can create the best ads possible and comply with regulations.
Whichever agency you choose, professionals know what it takes to stand out on Google Search. They know the ins and outs of the program, so you can sit back and relax knowing that you’re inspiring as many prospects as possible.
Other Resources to Explore
Nonprofit Basics – Learn more nonprofit management essentials by exploring other expert resources.
https://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Google-Ad-Grants_Feature.png400800Adam Weingerhttps://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/logo-dtd.svgAdam Weinger2022-12-20 20:13:092024-01-24 21:14:07Nonprofit Basics: Google Ad Grants for Nonprofits
As a mission-driven organization, it’s important for your nonprofit to have employees that are invested in and passionate about their work. In other words, it’s critical to the nature of nonprofit work to have engaged employees who want to drive your mission forward and deliver results for your beneficiaries.
While that might seem obvious, it is a little easier said than done. According to Gallup, only 36% of U.S. employees are engaged at work. Nonprofits face unique challenges when it comes to employee engagement, not the least of which is that they have to compete with the for-profit sector for talent and often have limited resources to work with when honing the employee experience. Actively pursuing ways to engage your employees can help with this issue.
What is nonprofit employee engagement?
Employee engagement refers to how your employees feel about their jobs and how invested they are in your organization’s larger goals. Engaged employees are passionate about their work, enjoy their jobs, and feel satisfied with how they are valued and compensated for their efforts. They’re also very loyal to the organizations they work for and are more likely to stay retained in their roles.
Fostering employee engagement and overall satisfaction is an important part of nonprofit HR, which manages all aspects of the employee lifecycle. From recruiting to exit interviews, keeping the entire employee experience in mind can help you strategize to come up with employee engagement ideas that boost employee retention and help you meet employee needs.
6 Ideas for Engaging Your Nonprofit Employees
Nonprofit employee engagement is essential for building up a strong internal team that can drive your mission forward. These ideas can help you fine-tune your own organization’s strategy:
Give Them Meaningful and Challenging Work.
Menial, repetitive tasks aren’t fun for anyone. Employees should be doing meaningful work that challenges them and helps them tap into their strengths and build new skills. Employees won’t be innovative and excited about their work if they feel their skills are undervalued or that they aren’t really contributing to a larger purpose.
Make sure you give them meaningful work that puts their skills to use. They’ll feel much more fulfilled this way!
Provide Opportunities For Continued Learning And Career Development.
Employees don’t want a stagnant experience at your organization. To encourage continued growth, provide them with opportunities to do things like:
There should also be a clear-cut path for career development and growth so that employees know how they can advance in their roles. For example, employees should have access to knowledge about how they could pursue becoming a manager or director and feel able to discuss those opportunities with their manager.
Start An Employee Recognition Program.
An employee recognition program sets up a formal framework for acknowledging staff members for their work and accomplishments. Implementing these programs shows your employees that you see the hard work they’re doing on your nonprofit’s behalf. Some common examples of these programs include:
Employee of the month. For this recognition program, you’ll highlight your top performer every month. You can make this announcement in a company-wide meeting and present the top performer with a trophy and a gift.
Structured bonuses. Recognize hard workers by compensating them for their efforts. Select a few performance metrics for evaluating your employees. Set a threshold for that metric, and give bonuses to employees who meet and exceed that threshold. For example, for roles in sales, you could reward employees who’ve sold over $100,000 of products in the past year.
Loyalty awards. Recognize employees who have been employed at your company for certain durations of time. For example, you can recognize employees on their one-year work anniversary, five-year anniversary, and ten-year anniversary.
Peer-to-peer appreciation. Foster a more positive work environment by prioritizing peer-to-peer appreciation. Encourage employees to recognize each others’ hard work and contributions. This visibility will create an atmosphere that will empower employees to give you their best work.
Regularly recognizing employees’ accomplishments and progress lets them know you’re paying attention and value their hard work. Plus, don’t forget to appreciate your remote employees as well. Since these staff members work virtually, it’s easy for them to feel disconnected from the workplace. Implementing a recognition program for them can make them feel more engaged in their jobs and help them form connections with other employees.
Celebrate Milestones and Special Days With eCards.
Recognizing milestones and reaching out on special occasions communicates that you care about employees beyond their day-to-day work at your company. From celebrating anniversaries to spreading cheer during the holidays, online greeting cards have so many great uses, which is why they make the perfect addition to your employee engagement program.
Not to mention, they’re incredibly low-cost, so this initiative won’t take much to fund. Here are some special occasions that you might celebrate for your employees:
Birthdays: Say “happy birthday” to your employees, letting them know you’re thinking of them on their special day.
Work anniversaries: Show appreciation for employees’ dedication to your company by recognizing their work anniversaries.
Promotions or achievements: Send congratulatory eCards to celebrate employees’ promotions, achievements, or milestones in their professional growth.
Holidays: Spread joy by sending eCards to employees during holidays like Christmas, New Year, Thanksgiving, or other cultural and religious celebrations.
Personal milestones: Commemorate important personal milestones for individual employees, such as marriages, births, graduations, or other significant life events, with eCards that convey warm wishes and congratulations.
Create work eCard designs for different occasions like these. Then, personalize the message you send with each one. Employees will feel appreciated and engaged in no time!
Hone Your Organization’s Internal Culture.
Liven up your work atmosphere and make sure employees have fun. Encourage employees to get to know their coworkers by hosting parties and events. Surprise your employees with fun perks to make them feel appreciated.
Cultivate an atmosphere of positivity and openness so that concerns don’t fester and employees are comfortable in their work environment.
Be Transparent With Your Employees.
Being honest about the good and the not-so-good will show your employees that you see them as valuable team members that should be included in organizational happenings. Show your employees that you care about them by addressing issues honestly and focusing on solutions for moving forward.
If employees feel like they can bring up issues with management, then you’re more likely to catch potential problems before they’ve fully evolved. Not to mention, employees who feel cared for are more likely to care about their work.
Other Resources to Explore
Nonprofit Basics – Learn more about nonprofit management essentials by exploring other expert resources.
Working With a Nonprofit Human Resources Consultant – An HR consultant can provide a third-party perspective on how your nonprofit handles employee relationships and help you to improve. Learn more in this guide.
Compensation Consulting: The Ultimate Guide (+ Top Firms!) – Compensation affects employee satisfaction. Working with a compensation consultant is a great option for nonprofits looking to hone their approach. Start exploring these recommendations!
Between donations, events, and volunteer participation, you collect donor data constantly. The rise of fundraising technology and nonprofit digital marketing has only made data more accessible, and that can be a great thing for professional fundraisers!
Your donor data is incredibly valuable. It provides you with insight into who your donors are, what motivates them to support your cause, and how you can keep your cause top of mind.
In this quick guide, we’ll share the fundamentals of managing your nonprofit’s donor data, so you don’t let yours go to waste!
What Is Donor Data?
Donor data refers to the information that nonprofits collect about their individual donors. The most common types of supporter data organizations store include:
Full names, preferred nicknames, and titles
Contact information such as mailing addresses, emails, and phone numbers
Employer information
Preferred communication channels
Donation history and average gift amount
Wealth indicators (such as real estate or stock holdings)
Other engagement history (such as events attended and hours volunteered)
To organize this information, nonprofits typically store data in a donor database or a customer relationship management (CRM) system. Nonprofits can integrate external tools (such as online donation forms and event management software), so new donor details will automatically be added to supporters’ profiles within the main database.
Why Is Donor Data Important?
Data fuels today’s fundraising efforts. As we mentioned, you collect data at every turn. When you leverage this data thoughtfully, your nonprofit can experience these benefits:
Cultivate donor relationships. The data you store for supporters gives you a better understanding of what types of engagement opportunities will resonate with them and what channels will help effectively deliver those opportunities to them. By knowing donors’ priorities, communication preferences, and behaviors, you can cultivate meaningful relationships that drive improved fundraising results.
Prevent donors from lapsing.Jitasa’s guide to donor analytics explains that your donor data can help you monitor individual donors’ engagement. If someone stops giving, attending events, or reading emails, you can reach out to engage them before they lapse entirely.
Demonstrate impact. By storing engagement history, you can track the impact of donors’ contributions on your organization’s mission and programs. In turn, you’ll be able to follow up and demonstrate the impact of your work when thanking donors and other stakeholders. That will help build credibility and trust with your community.
Tap into corporate philanthropy opportunities. By gathering employer names and job titles, you can pinpoint which donors are eligible for their companies’ corporate giving programs, such as matching gifts and volunteer grants. Then, you can follow up and let eligible donors know about relevant opportunities. (Hint: If you don’t have this information on hand, you can invest in a matching gift solution or conduct an employer data append.)
Between highlighting the right engagement opportunities and communicating impact, your organization stands to gain a lot from effective donor data management practices. Of course, to properly manage donor data, you first need to collect the right details.
What Donor Data Should We Collect?
The more information you have about your donors, the better prepared your organization will be to tailor your fundraising efforts and communication strategies to meet individual needs and preferences. This ultimately fosters deeper donor engagement and maximizes philanthropic support for your cause!
Understanding giving histories, communication preferences, interests, and more enables your organization to craft targeted appeals that foster long-term donor loyalty. While we briefly touched on common types of supporter data nonprofits gather, it’s worth a closer look. NPOInfo’s guide to donor data management delves into a range of data you should collect to set your team up for success.
Some of the highlights include:
Demographics: Get to know supporters based on their characteristics. Demographic donor data typically includes age, gender, location, and employment details.
Contact information: Make sure you collect postal addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and social media handles. This will allow you to connect via multiple channels and ensure you reach out to the right people for your email solicitations, phonathon fundraisers, and other campaigns.
Giving habits: Common giving data you’ll want to collect includes gift amounts, frequency, preferred methods, and recency. You can also track recent upgrades and downgrades in support to stay on top of lapsed engagement.
Interactions: The types of interactions nonprofits record vary from organization to organization. For inspiration, you might track event attendance, social media engagement, volunteer activities, website visits, email open rates, and direct mail response rates.
Storing this kind of information will empower you to separate your community into meaningful segments and deliver targeted fundraising appeals to each group.
Knowing who your supporters are depends on your ability to collect and synthesize the right data. Doing so will ultimately empower you to experience the benefits we mentioned earlier.
How to Effectively Manage Donor Data
You know why you should collect details and have all the right information about supporters. Now, how can you leverage that data to drive deeper relationships?
Let’s take a look at three recommendations for maintaining a clean CRM and ensuring your donor relationships thrive.
Use Data Appends to Build Stronger Profiles.
You won’t know everything about your supporters. But did you know you can use reliable data sources to enhance your donor profiles and append missing or outdated data elements in your database?
When you leverage a trustworthy data append service like Double the Donation, you can pull details like these to inform your strategy:
Then, backed with these fresh new donor insights, your team will be empowered to…
Fill in data gaps: Fill in missing or outdated elements to establish a more complete understanding of who your donors are and what drives them to give.
Enhance its fundraising strategy: Appending demographic and behavioral data can help your team understand donors’ backgrounds, values, philanthropic motivations, and giving capacities. This information can help inform your fundraising and engagement plans, leading to more effective cultivation and stewardship efforts overall.
Stay in contact: Supporters move, get new email addresses, and change their phone numbers daily. Appending donor data means you can stay connected by filling in missing or outdated contact details.
Luckily, the appending process is fairly straightforward. Your team will send a file with donor data for each constituent to your appends provider. Then, the appending company matches the information you supply to a larger, external database with updated information. Some providers will even conduct manual checks to make sure the appended data is accurate!
Dive into the appending world with our data append starter guide. You’ll learn what types of information you can append and how to get started.
Use Your Donor Data to Personalize Communication.
Donor relationships are built on establishing personal connections. Show individuals that you care about them individually by using donor data to:
Craft tailored messages for segments. Segment donors into different groups based on interests and engagement levels. Once you’ve done that, you can craft tailored messaging that speaks directly to each group’s interests and needs. This may include personalized emails, direct mail campaigns, or phone outreach specific to the group’s giving history or interests.
Send relevant engagement opportunities. Store each donor’s past history with your organization, so you can reach out with applicable opportunities. For example, share information about corporate giving based on individuals’ eligibility, upcoming events based on past attendance, and certain programs based on recent giving history.
Use the right outreach channels. Make sure you’re delivering these wonderful engagement opportunities through the right channels. By questioning each donor’s communication preferences, you can reach out using the channels they check most frequently, whether it’s email, text, phone call, or direct mail.
Your donor data can take your nonprofit marketing up a notch. Today’s CRMs allow you to store pretty much any information you want, so you can form meaningful segments and deliver the right messages to the right groups.
Protect Donor Data By Taking Security Precautions.
When someone gives to your organization, they’re entrusting you with their personal information. Failing to take proper security precautions can result in a violation of that trust. If your donor data falls into the wrong hands, you might even lose some of your donors altogether.
To avoid this, here are a few security steps any nonprofit should take when handling donor data:
Implement access controls. Restrict donor data access to only those individuals who need to access it to fulfill their responsibilities. Access to any sensitive information should be granted on a need-to-know basis based on an individual’s job.
Use reliable software. Any tools you use should exercise proper security practices. For starters, ensure any systems encrypt donor data. Encryption scrambles data, making it unreadable to unauthorized users.
Regularly update and patch systems. Ensure your software systems are up-to-date at all times with the latest security patches to prevent vulnerabilities a hacker can exploit.
Increased reliance on technology can be a benefit and a challenge all at once for nonprofits. While you can gather more information than you ever thought possible, unauthorized users can exploit system vulnerabilities to steal that information. Make sure to take every precaution you can to protect your donor data, and it’ll pay off!
Other Resources to Explore
Nonprofit Basics – Learn more nonprofit management essentials by exploring other expert resources.
https://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/DTD-How-to-Collect-Manage-and-Use-Your-Nonprofits-Donor-Data-2.jpg3801000Adam Weingerhttps://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/logo-dtd.svgAdam Weinger2022-12-01 21:20:122024-05-09 12:52:25How to Collect, Manage, and Use Your Nonprofit’s Donor Data
Today’s marketers rely on customer data to make informed decisions to inspire interest, increase engagement, and ultimately sell their products and services.
In the nonprofit space, nonprofit marketing and fundraising professionals stand to gain from strategically collecting, maintaining, and leveraging the donor data stored in their organization’s CRMs. But your supporters move, get new email addresses, and their information changes over time. That means your data can quickly become outdated, which is where data appending swoops in to save the day.
Updating and gathering data manually can be a taxing process, but data appending uses automation to streamline the work for you. We’ll clear up confusion surrounding the process to help you transform your CRM into an effective tool your nonprofit’s fundraising and marketing efforts can rely on.
What Is A Data Append?
A data append is the process of adding missing or updating existing data points in an organization’s database. The process involves comparing the information in the nonprofit’s current database to that stored in a larger, more comprehensive data source. Data append services use external data sources to fill gaps in data, including:
Contact details
Demographic data
Behavioral information
Employment details
All kinds of organizations use data appends, including for-profit businesses, charitable nonprofits, and political campaigns. For example, have you ever gotten a text message promoting a candidate in an upcoming election even though you can’t recall sharing your phone number with any political causes? Chances are they got your information—your name, phone number, and political party registration—from a data append.
For nonprofits, specifically, data appends allow them to maintain clean donor data and gain more comprehensive insights into their supporters when they have limited information. Ultimately, accurate data can help your organization learn more about your supporters, leading to better tailored fundraising and donor cultivation strategies.
Why Is Data Appending Important?
At its core, data appending enhances your data quality by filling in gaps and correcting inaccuracies. With this information, you can strengthen your donor management and make the most of each dollar spent on your data append.
There are all sorts of situations nonprofits might find themselves in where a data append is the right answer, including:
Missing key information. Do all of your nonprofit’s various forms require supporters to complete all core fields? For instance, your email newsletter subscription might only ask supporters for their name and email, meaning you’ll miss all of those supporters’ phone numbers. Not to mention information you’re unlikely to ask supporters for but is still useful, like demographic data.
Current information is outdated. As mentioned, your supporters aren’t static, and many donors aren’t going to think to update your nonprofit when they change addresses, start using a new email, or even change their names. An append keeps you up to date, helping you maintain your connections to each supporter over time.
Data got lost. It’s not ideal but it happens: your nonprofit lost data when migrating systems, something with your technology went wrong and information needs to be deleted, or someone just made a mistake and got rid of data you needed. Appends are your nonprofit’s lifeline in these scenarios.
But beyond simply cleaning up your donor database, you stand to benefit a lot from the appending process. Backed by accurate and complete data from the append, you can:
Personalize outreach: Marketers use data to personalize communication, content, and offers to match each recipient’s needs and preferences. Customizing outreach to suit individual donors makes for a memorable supporter experience. Appending demographic and behavioral data can help nonprofits personalize communication.
Update contact information: When a supporter’s information does change, appending emails, phone numbers, and other contact information allows you to stay connected without needing to get in touch with them.
Cultivate donor relationships: Sending appeals based on accurate data allows you to present valuable engagement opportunities and communicate that you care about each individual donor. When you send messages that fit donors’ interests and demographic details, they’re more likely to respond positively to your outreach.
Ultimately, data appending can enhance your understanding of supporters, which will shine through in your outreach. With your append, you get the data you need to drive greater fundraising outcomes and forge stronger supporter relationships.
How Data Appending Works
At the surface level, data appending seems like a simple process, but there’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes to ensure accuracy and completeness. For the most part, your provider will take care of all the nitty-gritty details, such as gathering the data, ensuring it’s accurate, and formatting it to easily fit into your CRM.
NPOInfo’s guide to data append services offers a look behind the scenes of what your provider will do to make sure the data will be usable for your nonprofit:
Format the data from the nonprofit to be consistent, usually in a comma-separated value (CSV) format, in order to be analyzed correctly.
Upload the data into a single file and send it via the service’s secure file transfer protocol.
Match the organization’s database with the data in the external source by using your donors’ unique identifiers, such as their names, addresses, and phone numbers.
Enhance the data by filling in missing information and correcting inaccurate data based on the corresponding records in the organization’s database.
Verify and validate the appended data to ensure accuracy and completeness. This ensures the supplemental data is high-quality and will be useful for the client, which in this case is your nonprofit.
Send the data file to the client to be downloaded for their use. The file can be offered in essentially any format your nonprofit needs.
On your nonprofit’s end, the process is much simpler. From the nonprofit perspective, all you need to do is send your constituent information to a provider. You can streamline the process by taking the time to clean your database beforehand by removing duplicate information, unnecessary data, and donor profiles you don’t need (such as the information of deceased and long-since lapsed donors).
But if you just want to send your data append provider your database information in its current state, you can do that, too. Whatever the state of your database, your service provider will take it from there!
Types of Data You Can Append
As a nonprofit marketer, you’re likely flooded with new data points at every turn. With all the constituent data you collect through volunteer registrations, event sign-ups, and donations, it can be challenging to filter it down to the most helpful details.
When it comes to data appending, we already know the burning question on everyone’s mind: What information is actually worth appending?
Before getting an append, ensure you know which information will actually propel your marketing and fundraising efforts forward. While the append service will be happy to take you as a client, purchasing data you don’t need is far from the best use of your nonprofit’s resources.
Of course, what is the right data depends on your nonprofit’s unique situation. To help you get an idea of what you should request, here’s an overview of the most common types of data nonprofits need from appends:
As the graphic shows, there are a wide number of specific data points you can get from an append, but all of these can be sorted into roughly three categories.
Contact Information
Like we’ve touched on, your constituents move, change their phone numbers, and get new email addresses all the time. Having accurate contact information allows you to successfully deliver appeals and stay in contact without interruption.
Leverage data appending to verify contact information, including:
Phone numbers. Contacting donors via text or phone call is one of the most personal ways you can connect with your supporters. It also opens the door to innovative fundraising strategies like text banking and text-to-give. Phone number appends ensure you have the right phone number for each supporter at all times.
Email addresses. Email marketing remains one of the most lucrative digital marketing avenues for nonprofits. Whether you’re making fundraising appeals, sending out volunteer schedules, or providing an update on your latest project, make sure you have the right email addresses for supporters with this data append.
Postal addresses. Digital marketing might be the default for your outreach, but some supporters still prefer the personal touch of direct mail. Plus, knowing people’s addresses allows you to send them engagement opportunities based on their location, such as inviting nearby supporters to in-person events and remote ones to virtual activities. Ensure your solicitations, thank-you letters, and event invitations are delivered to the right addresses with a postal address append.
Social profiles. As a marketer, you know the immense power that social media holds to connect you with a global audience. Get in touch with current supporters and inspire them to share your cause online by finding their social media profiles. Boost your presence online by reaching out to loyal supporters to ask them to follow you and share your posts.
Communication is the foundation of nearly all nonprofit’s fundraising efforts, making this one of the most helpful types of data appends. If your email bounce rates have skyrocketed or you get sent straight to voicemail, a data append can verify whether you have the right contact details for constituents.
Employer Data
We can’t emphasize the importance of corporate philanthropy enough. Between matching gifts and volunteer grants, your nonprofit has a lot to gain from promoting these opportunities to supporters.
However, to promote these opportunities to the right supporters who actually qualify, you need accurate employer data for constituents. That’s where an employer append comes in handy. NXUnite’s guide to data appending explains that knowing employment details empowers your team to:
Uncover corporate giving opportunities. Knowing where your donors and volunteers work enables you to find their employers’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) guidelines. Then, you can determine your supporters’ eligibility for matching donations and volunteer grants.
Identify corporate partnerships. If several of your supporters work for the same company, that’s an indicator that the business might be a strong candidate for a corporate partnership, such as a sponsorship or an arranged corporate volunteer day. Use that information to kickstart a conversation with the company. You might even have supporters facilitate introductions with company leaders.
Estimate wealth data. While not a direct wealth indicator, knowing who employs your donors and what their roles are can help you estimate their incomes and giving abilities. Though append services can’t provide you with donors’ salary information, some may be able to provide job titles, which at the very least lets you know if a donor is working in an entry-level position or has risen to a senior management position.
Between driving donor engagement and establishing meaningful corporate partnerships, employer appending has quite a few benefits worth looking into. We recommend pulling this information if you’re looking to tap into the world of corporate giving or need help identifying major giving prospects.
Demographics
A supporter’s demographics can give you insight into their backgrounds, values, and philanthropic priorities. This type of data append allows you to extract important background details like:
Whether you want to send a birthday gift or verify contacts have a certain political affiliation, demographic data appends allow you to deliver highly personalized outreach that speaks to supporters’ interests.
Other Resources to Explore
Appends provide nonprofits with the data they need to strengthen their support relationships, build lasting connections, and make strategic marketing decisions. Supplement and update your database with the information you need to stay current with your supporters’ busy lives.
The right append for your nonprofit depends on your engagement strategy and current data-gathering practices. Curious to learn more about data appending? Check out these breakdowns on specific append types:
https://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/data-append_Feature.jpg8801680Adam Weingerhttps://doublethedonation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/logo-dtd.svgAdam Weinger2022-11-25 20:23:402024-05-09 12:56:36What is a Data Append and Why Does it Matter for Nonprofits?
Nonprofits are challenged to capture and maintain their supporters’ attention every day. If your standard development efforts aren’t measuring up to expectations, it might be time to rethink your online fundraising strategies. Try creating charity eCards to reinvigorate your supporters and provide an interactive way to support your work.
From environmental organizations to churches, any cause can get in on the action and create charity eCards. They’re a fantastic way to raise extra revenue and spread awareness for your mission without requiring too much extra work for your team.
If this sounds like an exciting opportunity, we’re here to help. Before diving into crafting your nonprofit eCards, let’s review the fundamentals!
What Are Charity eCards?
Charity eCards are digital greeting cards that supporters can send to loved ones to celebrate special occasions and spread awareness for an organization. Some nonprofits even create virtual greeting cards for staff to show appreciation for committed supporters and corporate partners.
Perfect for any organization, they’re a low-cost, eco-friendly way for donors to make a difference without having to spend a lot of money. They also serve as a powerful source of peer referrals. Whenever someone purchases a nonprofit eCard, they can create a personalized message to go along with it. This allows them to express their love for the cause and encourage their loved ones to look into the nonprofit, too. All you need to power these campaigns is an online greeting card website.
Types of Charity eCards
What makes nonprofit eCards so valuable is their versatility. Whether you’re creating a few for a cause awareness campaign or offering a year-round collection, there are countless ways you can incorporate them into your work.
Let’s take a look at a few ideas and examples that’ll supercharge your approach to nonprofit eCards!
Cause Awareness Campaign eCards
As explained in Fundraising Letters’ guide to digital cards, “Cause awareness days help nonprofits raise support for particular causes by engaging people in dialogue and inspiring them to take action. If there’s an awareness day associated with your cause, that’s the perfect opportunity to design an eCard that supporters can send to their loved ones.”
Environmental organizations can celebrate Earth Day. Mental health organizations can boost awareness during Suicide Prevention Week and World Mental Health Day. Homeless prevention organizations can amplify their work during Poverty in America Awareness Month or Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. Do some research and see if there’s a day, week, or month connected to your work.
Even if there’s not one associated with your mission, you can launch an awareness campaign to gain support and credibility. This is a great way to position your organization as a pioneer in the space.
Either way, there are two approaches you can take when offering these nonprofit eCards:
Offer them for free. Create a collection of three or four eCards. Then, encourage your supporters to share their favorite designs with their friends and family.
Connect them to a fundraiser. Have supporters donate and then send eCards letting their loved ones know and encouraging them to do the same.
To spark inspiration, we’ve pulled an example from Peace Winds. For World Refugee Day, the organization offered a collection of Father’s Day cards that highlighted refugees’ situations. Since the two holidays fall near each other each year, supporters could select an eCard to send to a father figure in their life while also spreading awareness for the cause.
Invitations
When planning your next event, create virtual invitations your supporters can send to their loved ones. Invitations can help boost registrations, whether it’s a massively-attended 5K or a small volunteer appreciation event. Especially when sent by a loved one or someone at the organization, invitations can add a personal touch to your event promotion.
You’ll want to offer this type of nonprofit eCard for free. Include key details like the date, time, and location of your nonprofit’s event, either in the message that populates with each eCard or on the card itself. Make it incredibly apparent the event is associated with your nonprofit by using your nonprofit’s branding, such as your logo, colors, and fonts.
For this example, we’ve grabbed a church service invitation from Vineyard Vines. At any point during the year, church members can grab their favorites and send them to invite someone to the next service personally. The church keeps its strategy fresh by creating new nonprofit eCards for special services, like Easter.
Birthday and Holiday eCards for Nonprofits
Spread some birthday and holiday cheer with personalized eCards for your cause. Birthdays and holidays happen year-round, so you can create digital greeting cards for every occasion. Best of all, people already send personalized cards during these special days, making them the perfect fundraising opportunity. After all, who wouldn’t want to send a card that’s also associated with a cause the recipient cares about?
Beyond birthdays, some holidays that lend themselves well to cards include:
This strategy works especially well for holidays associated with gifts. Instead of finding the perfect gift to celebrate a birthday or holiday, the sender can simply donate in the recipient’s name. Then, they’ll select a nonprofit eCard, letting them know. Either create generic cards for holidays or tailor them to your cause.
Let’s look at a Valentine’s Day charity eCard example from One Tail At A Time. As an animal rescue organization that supports under-resourced animal shelters and pet families, they connected the holiday to their furry friends. As part of their Puppygram campaign, they created a series of charity eCards that featured One Tail’s rescue animals. Supporters could purchase each card for $25.
Supporters could also donate $500 to have a “puppygram” delivered directly to someone. With this option, the organization would show up with a couple of rescue pups directly to someone. To take the puppy cuddles up a notch, a donor could give $1,000 to have a whole litter of pups show up. What an innovative way to spread cause awareness and love on Valentine’s Day!
Appreciation Charity eCards
Thank-you cards are a time-tested tradition for expressing gratitude for someone’s generosity and growing relationships. There are a few approaches you can take with this type of nonprofit eCard:
Create a simple thank-you card for your supporters to send to loved ones.
Have your team use these cards to cultivate relationships with donors, sponsors, and volunteers.
Have leadership and staff members express appreciation for hardworking colleagues.
As explained in eCardWidget’s guide to employee engagement, getting creative with your appreciation tactics allows you to form interpersonal connections and celebrate major milestones. It doesn’t matter if they’re donating, volunteering, or working hard every day as a staff member. Everyone deserves some recognition, no matter how they support your mission!
To get your creativity flowing, let’s look at an example from Youth For Understanding. This card was part of a collection that was launched for a specific appreciation campaign but offers a generic design you can emulate.
While each example we’ve explored has been tailored to each organization, this design is a great example of a generic charity eCard you can offer. It suits every occasion, no matter who’s sending it. Whether you send these greeting cards internally or let supporters get in on the action, a thank-you card is a must for your nonprofit eCard collection.
How to Create Spectacular Nonprofit eCards
Even if you’re not an expert graphic designer, you can create charity eCards that generate more awareness and donations for your cause. So long as you use an intuitive eCard service, you’ll have access to every design tool you’ll need, whether you want to work off a template or start from scratch.
Here are a few ways to make engaging eCards that excite your team and supporters:
Infuse your nonprofit’s brand. Connect each nonprofit eCard to your mission by using your colors, logo, font, and graphics associated with your cause. Edit the message associated with each eCard to emphasize that all proceeds of the eCard purchase will go to your nonprofit.
Add a call to action to each eCard. The best way to do this is to edit the message that will be sent with each eCard. Direct the recipient to your nonprofit’s website where they can learn more about your cause. Make it clear whether you want them to donate, volunteer, register for an event, or simply read about your work.
Get creative with how you offer eCards. You might offer them for free or in exchange for a donation. Remember, you can also allow staff to send them to supporters or to their colleagues to recognize outstanding work. The right eCard platform will give you a few options. Some offer fundraising tool integrations, allowing you to integrate eCards into the donation process or sell them as fundraising products in your nonprofit’s eStore.
Other Resources to Explore
Nonprofit Basics – Learn more nonprofit management essentials by exploring other expert resources.
Birthday Fundraisers: How to Secure Year-Round Support – Birthday eCards are a great way to bring in donations. Get guidance for your birthday eCards and dive into some other tried-and-true birthday fundraisers with this guide.
Volunteers are a powerful force for driving your nonprofit’s fundraisers and on-the-ground impact. Long-term volunteers, especially, can provide more than just short-term assistance with events or projects. Rather, their commitment, time, and skills can help you complete your mission and achieve your goals.
Keeping track of your supporters’ involvement is crucial for ensuring they’re in roles where their skills can be utilized and where they’re most needed. By implementing an effective volunteer management strategy, you can empower your volunteers to maximize their contributions toward your cause.
What is volunteer management?
Volunteer management encapsulates the entire process of getting volunteers involved in your mission, supervising their experience with your nonprofit, and thanking them for their efforts.
Some organizations may have more or less hands-on volunteer programs, but the need for effective management to create positive engagement remains the same.
Volunteers who walk away from your nonprofit’s events or activities with a positive experience are much more likely to stay involved in the future. The more invested they feel in your cause, the more eager they’ll be to share their contributions with their family and friends. Consider implementing volunteer management software to improve your programs and enable you to encourage long-term investment from your supporters.
What are the steps for effective volunteer management?
Successful volunteer management requires thoughtful planning, execution, and follow-through. After all, retaining your volunteers is just as essential as attracting them in the first place.
As you prepare to optimize your nonprofit’s volunteer management strategy, focus on these following steps:
Recruit volunteers. Dedicate a page on your website to your volunteer program. This page should include details about various volunteering opportunities, required skills and time commitments, as well as your volunteer schedule. You’ll also want to embed a corporate volunteer database so it’s easy to uncover corporate volunteer incentives (such as volunteer grants or paid volunteer time off) in your recruitment efforts! Then, integrate your CRM and website so when you approve a volunteer for a position, it will automatically be reflected on your website. This can be especially useful for volunteer opportunities where you only need a set number of people.
Communicate. Once you’ve recruited volunteers, start establishing strong and productive relationships using your centralized communication system. Keep your volunteers educated about program updates and new opportunities. For instance, be sure to make your volunteers aware of volunteer grant programs for which they may be eligible.
Prepare them for success. An ideal volunteer management strategy provides volunteers with everything they need to participate and succeed. This includes training, supplying any necessary resources, and having a supervisor they can readily turn to for assistance.
Collect data. By gathering detailed information on volunteers’ skills and interests, you’ll be able to delegate the right tasks to the right people. Furthermore, this data can be immensely valuable when you’re measuring and reporting the positive impact of your efforts to donors, grantmakers, the community, and prospective volunteers.
Show appreciation. No volunteer management strategy is complete without promptly recognizing your volunteers for their dedication and hard work. Have plans in place for sending out thank you letters, spotlighting long-term contributors on social media, or even organizing appreciation events.
Your volunteers, by choosing to get involved, are already invested in your cause. With proper volunteer management, you’ll be able to nurture long-term, enthusiastic participation from your existing supporters.
What are corporate volunteer grants?
Corporate giving statistics show that 40% of Fortune 500 companies offer volunteer grant programs. Essentially, corporations with these programs provide funding to nonprofits where their employees have chosen to volunteer their time.
Don’t forget to take advantage of these opportunities by staying on top of your volunteer data and encouraging your contributors to be informed about any programs their companies may offer.
How can volunteer management software help?
Effectively overseeing the various aspects of the volunteer management process doesn’t have to be overwhelming nor time consuming. Volunteer management software is an easy, time-saving solution that allows you to devote your time and resources to the most important parts of your program.
When choosing software to help your volunteer management, look for these important features:
Volunteer Records. The right software will enable you to create a comprehensive collection of volunteer profiles, similar to a donor database. By having all of this information accessible online, you can minimize paperwork clutter and stay organized.
Projects and Events Calendar. Keep everyone on the same page about volunteer opportunities and events with a virtual calendar. Use this tool to optimize your productivity and create schedules for your volunteers.
Segmentation and Communication. Your volunteer management software should offer the ability to segment your contributors into relevant categories for more effective communication. For instance, you can group volunteers based on their involvement history or skills and personalize your messages to them.
Data Analytics. Use data collection and custom reporting tools to analyze the impact of your volunteers’ contributions. This information is vital for discovering insights into how you can improve your volunteer program in the future.
By incorporating these digital tools into your volunteer management strategy, you’ll be equipped to provide a more positive and encouraging experience for all of your most dedicated supporters.
Other Resources to Explore
Nonprofit Basics – Learn more nonprofit management essentials by exploring other expert resources.
Salesforce Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP): A Guide – Salesforce NPSP is one of the top CRMs, and can be a strong foundation for managing your volunteer program. Discover how to leverage NPSP and what apps you can use to further flesh out your volunteer management tools.
Nonprofit Basics: Fundraising Video – A fundraising video can be a powerful way to communicate your nonprofit’s impact story and showcase your volunteers’ accomplishments. Discover how to produce a compelling fundraising video with these basics.
