Donor engagement is vital for nonprofits as they seek to not just drive support but maintain it at a high level going forward. Donors who feel actively engaged and connected to the organizations they support are more likely to give on a regular basis, helping provide consistent funds to fuel a nonprofit’s mission. Succeeding in this area requires a strong donor engagement plan that helps you overcome common fundraising challenges all nonprofit organizations face.
Vanco’s tailored, customizable tools help nonprofits tell their story to donors and connect with them in a way that makes them feel like part of the work that’s being done. By empowering donors through engagement, Vanco assists organizations in strengthening those bonds in service of helping them do more good work. They help you figure out the best way for your organization to answer the question of how to keep donors engaged and avoid fundraising burnout while also building trust with donors.
Table of contents
- What is Donor Engagement?
- Benefits of Strong Donor Engagement
- Best Practices for Building Donor Engagement
- Measuring Donor Engagement
- Addressing Challenges in Donor Engagement
- How Vanco’s Services Enhance Donor Engagement
- FAQs
- 100+ Free Fundraising and Donor Engagement Tools
What is Donor Engagement?
Donor engagement is the degree to which those who support a nonprofit feel like they have an active, ongoing donor relationship with that nonprofit. Disengaged donors are those who contribute to an organization, but don’t feel like they have a stake in its success beyond their gift. When donors are engaged, they actively care about a nonprofit, remain in regular communication and often attend events or even volunteer for that organization.
Engagement can take on many forms, including:
Communication - There are many channels for nonprofits to communicate with donors, including email, social media, phone calls, text, face-to-face and online meeting tools.
Events - Nonprofits benefit from direct contact with donors at fundraising events, volunteer events or even meetings to update donors on the impact their gifts are having.
Acknowledgements - Even the most low-key donors appreciate recognition for their support. They may not want a large, attention-drawing celebration, but a simple thank-you note or phone call to express gratitude can have a huge impact.
Benefits of Strong Donor Engagement
Better retention rates
When nonprofits engage their donors and keep the donor relationship strong and active, it leads to improve retention rates. If a donor believes a nonprofit views them solely as a source of money, they’re less likely to remain an active supporter of that organization. Conversely, if the nonprofit makes a consistent effort to engage and connect, a donor sees that they’re a valued, impactful part of the work that’s being done – making them more likely to continue their support.
Stronger relationships
Donor relationships share common ground with relationships in general. When donors are engaged and have consistent contact with a nonprofit, that relationship gets stronger. Interacting regularly grows the relationship and even when challenges come along, that strengthened relationship is better able to withstand them.
Greater mission fulfillment
Nonprofits know they can’t live out their mission if they don’t have support. Their lifeblood comes from those who give – both of their time and their money – and so having engaged donors fuels an organization’s ability to achieve its goals. It creates a cycle of good, as seeing those aims achieved encourages donors to continue giving, which in turn powers even more good works.
Best Practices for Building Donor Engagement
Personalized Communication:
A canned, impersonal message sends a negative message to a donor. It implies that you didn’t put much time or effort into communicating with them and merely found a premade template and cranked out a quick, generic note to them. By taking time to personalize your communications to donors, you show that you care about them and recognize their unique contributions to your organization, as highlighted by research from the Yale School of Business Management. Simply put, a personal touch matters.
Leverage Technology:
Technology is an invaluable ally when it comes to keeping track of donor interactions and preferences. With the right customer resource management tools, you can quickly find out when and how often you’ve communicated with donors, making sure to reach out if there’s been a long lapse in communication. You can also note how often a donor prefers to be contacted and what are the best channels through which to reach them.
Organize Events:
Donors may not regularly have face-to-face interactions with your staff or other donors and hosting events is one way to rectify that. Events tailored to their specific interests promote participation, driving support and engagement in the process. These events help them both connect with your nonprofit and with each other while boosting engagement and support through donor engagement activities.
Encourage Recurring Donations:
Recurring donors give more on average than non-recurring donors, making them a crucial component of support for your nonprofit. In fact, in our benchmark study of 25,000 organizations, we found that recurring givers gave two times as much. Recurring donations allow donors to set up their gifts at a specified frequency, which makes the process easier for both them and the nonprofit. Donors benefit from not having to remember to make their donation each time, while nonprofits benefit from having consistent, predictable support.
Donor Acknowledgment & Recognition:
According to a BFW study, the lack of donor acknowledgement was the second most prevalent reason for givers to stop giving to a cause. We’ve all had times in life where we’ve helped or supported someone, but didn’t receive any acknowledgement of our efforts. Even the most selfless person appreciates a gesture of gratitude and by acknowledging and recognizing donors in a way that they prefer helps develop loyalty to your organization and also encourages continued support due to the donor feeling valued and their efforts appreciated.
Use Impact-Driven Storytelling:
Donors want to see and understand the impact their gift has. Now, more than ever, cause-based giving is on the rise and donors prefer to give to a specific cause rather than a general fund. As shown by research by Indiana University, they want to see and hear the stories of those affected and helped by their gift, which means it’s imperative that your nonprofit shares the stories of those you’ve helped and creates a direct link between donors and those who benefit from their gifts.
Simplify the Donation Process:
The simpler the donation process, the more likely people are to give. If your donation process has too many steps, requires too much technical knowledge or takes too much time, some donors will bail on the process. The more you can streamline donations and make it easier to give, the better your chances are of bringing in the support needed for your nonprofit to do its work.
Implement Text-to-Give Campaigns:
Technology is a crucial part of the giving process, but that doesn’t mean it needs to be complex or confusing. Text-to-give campaigns allow people to contribute by sending a simple text message, just like they do dozens of times a day to communicate with friends and family. By using text-to-give, you turn their phone into a donation tool and given that most of us have our phones with us all day every day, that makes them a very powerful tool for giving.
Build Strong Donor Relationships through Transparency
If a donor entrusts your nonprofit with their gift, then they’re going to want transparency. That means not only showing them how and where their money is used, but how your organization operates and what its goals, motives and mission are. You want donors to feel like they’re a true part of what you’re doing and being transparent with them connects directly to this idea. While you don’t have to share every single detail of everything you do, it’s crucial to be up front and honest with them.
Engage Donors Through Volunteer Opportunities
When a person gives financially to a nonprofit, they’re investing in its success and they’re also likely to care deeply about what that nonprofit is trying to do. Volunteering is another way to contribute and it’s a very personal way to take part in your mission. By giving of their time, talents and energy, volunteers have a tangible impact on the people you serve. Host, promote and communicate regularly about volunteer opportunities supporters can take part in with your nonprofit as another avenue for donor involvement.
Measuring Donor Engagement
One key step to measuring donor engagement is to identify and measure key performance indicators such as donor retention rates and average donation amounts that result from your donor engagement strategies. This will allow you to see how many of your donors provide ongoing support, when and why they stop giving and how much each donor gives per month, year or other frequency. All of these data points allow you to understand engagement better and plan for the future based on when and how people give – and why they stop giving. Research by James Madison University delved into this “why” and how organizations should adapt based on those motivations.
Collecting data with tools like an event evaluation form your fundraisers is the first step, but once you’ve compiled it, you need to set up an ongoing process to continue doing so. You also need to analyze those engagement metrics and determine how to update or adjust your efforts to connect with donors based on your findings. Set up time to do this analysis on a regular basis and develop a plan for when you’ll do so, along with setting aside time to make any needed adjustments based on your findings.
Addressing Challenges in Donor Engagement
Limited resources
The truth is that most nonprofits have limited resources with which to power their engagement efforts. Between the smaller staffs most such organizations have, the financial constraints that come with a smaller budget and the fact that smaller nonprofits may not have a dedicated expert with knowledge in certain areas relating to donor engagement strategies, many are facing an uphill battle. Budgeting effectively allows you to prioritize spending and set aside funds to get any help needed with this work and planning well also helps ensure that staff have time to work on donor engagement as needed,
Tech adoption
Technology is a difference maker for nonprofits of all sizes. Tools to manage donor data, communicate effectively and track your financial data maximize whatever time, personnel and funds your organization has. By leveraging tools such as AI and other similar platforms, you can take the work that a staff of five, 10 or 15 people can do and multiple it several times over. Many of these tools are incredibly user-friendly, meaning you don’t need an entire IT team to help you use them.
Donor fatigue
Anyone who’s given to or volunteered with a nonprofit has likely experienced some level of burnout. Burnout causes supporters to step away temporarily or even permanently in some cases, so it’s important to monitor potential fatigue and understand when your nonprofit needs to give a supporter time and space to avoid burnout. The better you know and are connected with supporters, the better you’ll get a sense for when they are getting burnt out and be able to adjust.
How Vanco’s Services Enhance Donor Engagement
By allowing nonprofits to customize their donation pages, Vanco allows users to tailor the look and feel to their organization. This helps engineer the page for the best possible user experience, making donations as simple as possible and increasing the likelihood that donors will give again in the future.
Recurring Donation Setup:
Setting up recurring donations makes life easier for both donors and nonprofits, reducing the amount of time spent making gifts while also providing a predictable, dependable line of funding for an organization. That way, even when donors go on vacation and giving to the nonprofits they support isn’t top of mind, organizations can still receive regular contributions.
Text-to-Give Options:
Sending a text message is one of the simplest ways to communicate and it’s also one of the easiest ways to give. Donors can set up text-to-give in mere minutes and once they’re done, they can quickly and easily donate anytime, anywhere from their phone. It enables generosity through a device most people have with them throughout their entire day.
Event Management & Ticketing Software
Vanco Events offers powerful event management tools and ticketing solutions that make planning, setting up and hosting events like as hassle-free as possible. By streamlining event management and providing simplified digital ticketing solutions, event organizers can focus on providing an amazing outing for their guests and those guests can show up to support their favorite nonprofit without the hassles of paper tickets.
FAQs
How can Vanco’s tools improve donor engagement?
Simplified Giving Process: Vanco's online giving pages and mobile app make donations easy and accessible from any device. This convenience encourages higher participation rates, especially with features like one-click giving and recurring donation options.
Engaging Storytelling and Impact Visualization: Vanco’s platform allows churches to tell compelling stories about the impact of donations. By integrating visuals and personalized content into donation pages, donors can see how their contributions make a difference, which can drive more engagement and repeat giving.
Recurring Giving Options: Vanco supports recurring donations, which foster consistent engagement by simplifying the process for donors to commit to regular contributions. This feature provides churches with a stable revenue stream and reduces the need for frequent reminders.
Enhanced Communication Tools: Vanco offers integrated communication features like email outreach and mobile notifications, which help churches stay connected with donors. Regular updates about donation impact and upcoming events maintain donor interest and encourage sustained support.
Mobile Accessibility: Vanco's mobile app provides 24/7 access for donations, making it easy for members to give anytime, anywhere. The app also supports group chats and private messaging, fostering a sense of community among donors, which can strengthen engagement and loyalty among donors.
What are the benefits of recurring donations for nonprofits?
Recurring donations provide a dependable source of income and allow nonprofits to plan and budget more effectively. They also help keep donations coming in even when donors are on vacation or otherwise busy and may not have time or remember to give a regular gift. Overall recurring donors give more on average annually than non-recurring donors.
How do Vanco’s event management tools support donor engagement?
A simple four-step process is at the heart of our event management tools, allowing you to create and customize your event, promote it, manage and report and integrate seamlessly with other popular information management tools. This process enables you to build your event to the needs of your donors, run the event smoothly and keep the focus for these events on building donor relationships, promoting your nonprofit and increasing engagement.
How can personalized communication enhance donor relationships?
Donors want to feel valued and appreciated. Personalized communication is one of the best ways to show them they are appreciated and that you took the time and made the effort to understand their gift, why they gave and what the hope to see through their support. Many organizations use prewritten templates that lack personality and personalization, so those that make the extra effort stand out even more.
How does Vanco ensure secure donation transactions?
Vanco strictly adheres to PCI compliance standards, which are the highest standard of security set by major credit card companies like Discover, Mastercard and Visa. We focus on security and protecting donor data so that everyone involved in the process can maintain the highest level of confidence that all transactions are secure from start to finish.
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