Your nonprofit needs to use the tools and resources already available to it to reach your donors.
These stats and tips on donor communication methods, your donors, and their preferred communication channels will help you achieve your goals and better support your mission.
Best ways to Communicate with Donors
After independent research and word-of-mouth marketing, social media is a valuable outreach tool for nonprofit organizations and charities. What communication mediums lead to the most donations?
- Independent Search: 38.7%
- Word of Mouth: 36.5%
- Social Media: 15.6%
- Mail: 5.07%
- Email: 2.25%
- Text Message: 1.17%
- Phone Calls: 0.69%
Here’s a tip.Send a poll to your donors (which you can easily create through Google or Microsoft Forms for free) and ask them:
- To rank or select their preferred communication methods
- How do they want general news to be shared?
- Where do they want to read event updates?
- How do they want to receive appeals or donation requests?
Nonprofit audiences differ, so take the time to survey and understand your donors to better cater to their needs.
Don’t forget to make sure your survey NOT anonymous. You want to know their personal preferences.
Donors’ Personal Needs
How well do you know your donors? Do you feel you know them well enough to target their needs? We asked how technology impacts knowing donors’ preferred messaging.
The percentage of nonprofit professionals who know what messaging appeals to their donors: 86% of early technology adopters versus 69% of late technology adopters
Did you know? The term early adopters signifies an organization that decided to embrace and use fundraising and/or donor technology efficiently from the start, versus late adopters or those still waiting to embrace technology.
Further improve your donor communication strategy by personalizing messages. Doing so can significantly improve donor relationships and willingness to give:
- 54% of nonprofits surveyed said personalized donor outreach is a strategy they plan to employ to meet their goals.
- 64% said they want to engage more with donors overall
Make it easy for your donors to find information anywhere, regardless of their preferred channel. Consistency is key across email, social media, your website, text messages, and even direct mail. Whether they want a link to your fundraising site or an address to send a donation to, make sure they have what they need!
Frequency of Donor Communication
How often do your donors want updates or impact stories? How often do they want events or giving appeals? Use your fundraising and donor management platform to establish these preferences.
The percentage of nonprofit professionals who report knowing how frequently their donors want to be contacted: 81% of early technology adopters versus 58% of late technology adopters
Research shows that nonprofits should ask a donor for support six to 12 times a year. Remember, diversifying your asks can significantly impact a donor’s decision to give. Make your messages direct, powerful, and appealing! And always make sure to include an impact statement after an appeal, as well as personalized thank you messages for your donors.
Appreciate Differences
Managing and organizing donors based on age (or generation), location, giving level, and other demographics can help you improve your segmentation strategy. Not only does segmentation improve your ability to communicate effectively, but it can also help you target new donors and improve relationships with existing donors.
Early technology adopters are nearly 2x more likely than late technology adopters to have a useful, successful donor segmentation strategy
Did you know? The top four reasons why donors leave an organization:
- Poor communication from the organization
- They thought the charity did not need them
- They were given no information on how money was used
- They were never thanked for donating
Meet The 70-20-10 Rule
Best practice determines that a nonprofit’s social media strategy should be broken down into three categories:
- 70% of posts should include mission or program-based information
- 20% should be educational content such as blog posts and infographics
- 10% of posts should fall under the “ask” or “appeals” category for donations, ticket purchases, volunteer requests, and more
Don’t forget to review data from previous years to establish goals and which communication channels were the best for turning supporters into donors.
Expanding your reach is crucial for the success of your fundraising goals. Use these stats and tips to fuel your fundraising and donor management strategy as you plan for your upcoming budget planning, campaigns, and events.
Making Giving Simpler With GiveSmart
MIP and GiveSmart are part of the Community Brands suite of solutions. GiveSmart offers flexible, customizable features to support your online fundraising all year round. Whether you host a distinguished, annual event or you are looking for a platform to support any fundraiser of yours, we are the solution to support your mission. To speak directly with a fundraising expert about GiveSmart’s comprehensive fundraising and auction features, visit givesmart.com/demo or call 800-667-8075.
Sources:
GiveSmart’s 2022 Research Study
https://www.givesmart.com/blog/top-8-fundraising-trends-for-2022/
https://betterfundraising.com/how-often-should-we-ask-donors-for-money/
https://fundraisingcoach.com/2013/04/15/guest-post-why-donors-stop-giving/
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