As we move through the 2022 fundraising season, many nonprofits have continued their experiments with hybrid and virtual fundraisers. However, how can you be sure that these events are actually making a difference in your donor relationships? Your data is the answer and can effectively take these relationships to the next level.
Building valuable relationships with supporters takes time, but you can ensure that your team continually makes the right decisions to keep them on track by referencing your donor data. Your donor management software will play a vital role in collecting data, and strengthening relationships will heavily depend on your ability to make the most of that data.
To help you understand how your nonprofit can leverage your donor data to make significant improvements in donor relationships, this article will explore how to:
Remember that one of the benefits of using your data to improve your relationships with supporters is that if you’re ever unsure about your strategy, you always have your data to look to for guidance. And the more you interact with your supporters, the more data you will have to analyze.
Maximizing your relationship with supporters requires understanding where they currently are in their donor journey and when the right to ask them to make the next step is. Of course, keeping track of every individual’s relationship with your nonprofit is only possible with the right software.
Your nonprofit’s donor management or CRM software should enable you to:
EveryAction’s nonprofit software guide walks through several potential tools nonprofits can leverage to connect with donors, track their relationships, and generate reports about that data. Ensure all of the tools you add to your techstack are compatible with one another to keep data flowing smoothly from one solution to another or consider investing in an all-in-one solution to keep everything in one place.
Donors want to build relationships with organizations that genuinely value them. To do that, your nonprofit will need to understand each donor on an individual level, and routinely collecting and leveraging your donor data in communication is an effective way to accomplish that.
When reaching out to donors, leverage your donor management tools to personalize your messages as much as possible. Here are a few common ways nonprofits are able to connect with their supporters by tailoring their messages to each recipient:
Personalizing messages will also apply to how your nonprofit makes requests for increases in donations. For example, if a donor is currently giving $100 annually, asking them to consider increasing their giving amount to $500 annually likely will not be as well received as a request to switch to $10 monthly.
While your first instinct to maximize supporter relationships might be to just consider how to increase their monthly donations, there are a few other ways your supporters can bring value to your organization. Specifically, take a look at your donor data and use it to consider how you can create new content that supporters will be interested in purchasing.
Depending on what they might find valuable, here are a few popular types of purchasable content and experiences you can consider offering your supporters:
To determine what type of content you should offer your supporters, look at your donor data. If you don’t already have significant numbers regarding how supporters feel about your nonprofit expanding its offerings, you can always send out surveys asking questions about what types of opportunities they would like to see from your organization.
Imagine that you make a donation to two nonprofits. The first thanks you, and then asks for another donation. The second also thanks you, then encourages you to sign up for their newsletter, shares updates on the project you funded, and invites you to a series of events hosted in your community. For most donors, it’s far more likely they’ll form a relationship with the second nonprofit instead of the first.
You can strengthen your relationships with supporters by engaging them in a variety of opportunities outside of just donating. As you host these opportunities, you’ll be able to collect data on their overall performance, enabling you to further refine how you engage with supporters.
Here are a few ways you can connect with supporters based on their interests:
Beyond these common opportunities, you can engage your supporters by helping them find new ways to give without requiring them to reach back into their pockets. For example, some of those donors who decide to try volunteering might work for a business with a volunteer grant program.
A variety of well-known companies such as Google, Disney, and Pfizer have volunteer grant programs. Help your supporters research their volunteer grant eligibility and how to apply for one with their employer.
The more you know about your donors, the more you’ll be able to connect with them. Collect data and put it to use by treating each supporter as a valuable individual contributor, giving them more ways to get involved, and always knowing where they are in their donor journey. Good luck!