Nonprofits looking to increase their funding should place a greater focus on their individual contributors. Donation management software can help organizations better communicate with donors and provide a more personalized experience.
Giving the USA found that 72 percent of all charitable giving in the U.S. comes from individual contributors, rather than corporations or groups. The amount that these individuals donate can increase by up to 12 percent when nonprofits provide resources and support oriented to these givers.
Personalization of donation management software
Individual donors like to know that not only do they make a difference to the success of an organization but that they are acknowledged and appreciated. In fact, a recent set of data compiled by npEngage stated that 50 percent of donors value a personalized display of gratitude over a timely one. This means that taking the time to send out thoughtful, unique thank you messages to each donor is much more effective than rushing to send out mass emails as soon as contributions come in.
Another effective method for personalizing a donor’s experience is offering them several funding choices, rather than a single option. An experiment conducted by GlobalGiving found that when donors were presented with five projects to support, they were 27 percent more likely to donate than those who only offered one project. Timing is also a key player when sending out email messages to remind donors of impending deadlines. When organizations send a message with several calls to action the day before a fundraiser ceases accepting money, constituents tend to make greater donations than if a message is sent on the day of a deadline.
Transparency
Individuals are also more concerned with how their money will be spent and exactly which cause it will be used for. This desire likely played a role in the experiment mentioned above; when givers choose where their contributions go, they feel a greater sense of involvement in the cause and are more comfortable with sending in donations. In Hope Consulting’s Money For Good report, it’s stated that 63 percent of donors place high importance on knowing exactly how their funding will go towards the nonprofit’s cause. To cater to these individuals, nonprofits should find creative and informative ways to display where funding goes and demonstrate results on their website in the form of graphics, charts, photographs, and videos. Testimonials are excellent tools when it comes to informing constituents on how their monetary contributions affect change.
Retention
Ensuring that individual donors continue coming back to give year after year, nonprofits need to approach donor retention differently than they would a corporate partnership. All individual donors looking to invest less than $10,000 to the charity of their choice combined make up $31 billion in fundraising opportunities for nonprofits. Unfortunately, after giving once, only 23.7 percent of contributors donate to the same charity again. To ensure the acquisition and retention of these donors and their funds, charities must focus on communicating and appreciating individual givers.
Front Range Source advocated for a platform that capably handles donor relationships and an open mind when it comes to using new technology to hold onto donors. To accurately measure retention and determine whether or not tactics work well to meet goals, it’s important to monitor donor gifts and constituent growth over time. With donor management software this process becomes exponentially easier as data is saved in user-profiles and direct communication is streamlined. It’s also recommended not to rush this process. Finding new donors and seeing them return every year takes time to build awareness, interest, and trust. Stay the course and never lose sight of the difference one donor can make.
