With New Year’s resolutions fresh on everyone’s minds, it’s time to revitalize your fundraising to maximize your organization’s potential over the coming months and beyond.
Your calendar may be completely new, but your fundraising strategy doesn’t have to be. For instance, you could take another look at your donation page to optimize its accessibility or review your marketing materials. The slightest adjustments can snowball into majorly positive results as the year goes on.
In this guide, we’ll look into five tips for revamping your fundraising strategy for greater success this 2023:
- Emphasize your organization’s story.
- Personalize your outreach.
- Diversify your revenue sources.
- Revitalize your online donation page.
- Accept multiple payment options.
Take these tips into consideration as you perfect your organization’s fundraising strategies in preparation for a much more rewarding and successful year. Want to see some real-life examples? Donately’s online fundraising ideas include stellar examples of nonprofits that have excelled following some of these tips.
1. Emphasize your organization’s story.
Go beyond facts and statistics to attract potential donors and create emotional connections with them. Share your organization’s story through meaningful marketing to boost their interest and make a lasting impression in their thoughts. When you establish a powerful emotional bond with your donors, you may discover that they’re much more driven to give.
Use these tips to better convey your story this 2023:
- Gather and promote direct quotations from those who your organization has helped, from community members to students. Allow potential donors to witness the actual impact that your organization has had on people. Remember the power of empathy. It’s very easy for people to get invested in other people, so find relatable voices to help share your organization’s story.
- Employ a multimedia storytelling strategy to spread the emotional impact of your organization’s mission. When approaching nonprofit storytelling for fundraising, don’t limit yourself. From videos to infographics to pictures, utilize the instant power of visuals to imprint your organization’s story in the minds of your supporters.
- Spread your story on multiple platforms. Now that you have your story materials, it’s time to give them as much exposure as possible. By employing SEO strategies in a deliberate and informed way, you can ensure that your website connects with more potential donors. Don’t forget to make use of your social media and email connections to extend your story’s reach.
According to researchers, when you tie facts into a story, people will find them 22 times more memorable than when presented on their own. Sharing your organization’s story with your donors is a crucial way of communicating information that they’re bound to remember.
2. Personalize your outreach.
Your donors have diverse motivations, interests, and concerns. Instead of communicating with them as one generic group of supporters, create a personalized fundraising outreach strategy. This way, your donors will feel much more appreciated and acknowledged for their individual contributions.
Follow these steps for effective personalized outreach:
- Research your supporters’ interests, demographics, and giving habits to identify your audience. By understanding who your potential donors are, you can tailor your website and communications to better suit their preferences and encourage them to support your mission.
- Organize your audience based on their shared characteristics through segmentation. You can analyze your donors’ engagement with your organization, such as how they get involved and how much they donate on average. Group them accordingly. For example, you could segment donors based on how frequently they give or their average gift size.
- Send personalized content to each group. Your messages will have a much more powerful effect when they’re tailored to your segmented donors. Don’t send generic content that some of your supporters may find irrelevant to their interests. Instead, with personalized content, you can ensure that your words will resonate with each donor without having to painstakingly craft a message for every individual.
Taking the time to value your supporters as individuals is a courtesy that they will certainly notice and appreciate. After all, it’s much easier to forge deeper connections through interactions that feel more one-on-one than messages broadcasted out to a general crowd.
3. Diversify your revenue sources.
Your organization should pursue multiple fundraising avenues at the same time. That way, if one avenue suddenly dries up, you can mitigate any negative consequences with your other sources.
Make sure you have multiple fundraising sources in action, such as:
- Monthly giving. Provide your supporters with the convenient option of recurring monthly gifts to provide your organization with a reliable and consistent increase in revenue. By allowing donors to opt into recurring donations, they can make a contribution without having to navigate to your donation page every month. You’ll construct easy and long-term relationships with your supporters by allowing them to consistently get involved in your mission.
- Corporate giving. Don’t overlook corporate philanthropy programs offered by your supporters’ employers. Many companies match their employees’ donations to uphold their social responsibility, yet your donors may not know about it. Double the Donation simplifies corporate matching gift programs with software that automatically lists opportunities for donors to utilize their company’s programs.
- Planned and legacy gifts. These giving options can serve as a significant source of revenue for your organization while simultaneously allowing your supporters to contribute with assets beyond just cash funds. You can encourage your dedicated donors to consider making an impact on your mission in their will. This will build donor connections that will last a lifetime.
- Grants. Grants can open up significant room in your budget to pursue even more fundraising events and opportunities to benefit your organization. Dedicate some resources to either hiring an outside grant writer or take some time to apply for applicable grants to broaden your funding.
4. Refresh your online donation page.
Your online donation page is essential to your organization. It provides your donors with access to give from any place at any time. This new year, take the opportunity to review your online donation page to ensure that it’s optimized to encourage online giving. As you plan to improve your online donation form, consider essentials such as page design, user experience, and accessibility.
Here are some key guidelines for taking another glance at your organization’s donation page:
- Check the page for accessibility. You want your supporters to arrive at your organization’s website and find a streamlined, convenient way to give. Is your donation page mobile friendly? Will your donors be able to sit back on their couch and tap on their phone to contribute to your mission? Make sure that everything is easily navigable and clear to find.
- Use fundraising data to update suggested giving amounts. At the beginning of 2023, check to see if your median online donation amount has changed and adjust your suggestions accordingly. By presenting suggested giving amounts that are reflective of your average donor contribution, you can encourage your supporters to give more when they reference their pre-filled options.
- Refresh the images. Take another glance at your organization’s logo, banner, and visuals. How can you make these more appealing and compelling to visitors? Replace any generic stock photos with images that will catch your supporters’ eyes. This is a wonderful opportunity to find ways to showcase your organization’s story better.
5. Accept multiple payment options.
Your donation page should offer multiple ways to give. Donors will appreciate the flexibility to choose their most preferred and convenient option to contribute, rather than finding limitations to their means of supporting your organization.
Ensure your online donation form can process payment options such as:
- Credit and debit cards
- Venmo
- Paypal
- Stripe
- ACH direct deposit
List all available payment options clearly on your donation page so your donors can effortlessly glance through and determine their preferred choice. Supporters who are confident that sending their gifts is a secure and easy process will be much more eager to contribute to your organization.
If you’ve examined your current page and decided the time has come to upgrade your donation software, prioritize platforms that allow you to provide these secure payment options. Look for added features such as suggested giving amounts and mobile-accessibility to ensure you have everything you need for a successful donation form.
This new year brings the perfect opportunity for your organization to review and revamp your fundraising. Dive deeper into optimizing your organization’s storytelling, outreach, revenue sources, and donation page! You should find exciting opportunities to transform anything stale in your fundraising strategy into new and enticing improvements. Best of luck this 2023!
