Donor engagement is the talk of the town these days. It’s all about how you can attract people, bring them into your community, and create a loyal donor base for years to come.
To help you create the perfect donor engagement strategy for your organization, let’s take a look at what it means, how to measure it, and some fun ways to increase engagement.
What Is Donor Engagement?
Donor engagement can actually have a couple of definitions. First, it refers to your organization’s approach to communication with donors. It’s your mindset around building donor relationships and staying in touch. You’ll want to have a strategic approach to donor engagement to see the best results.
Secondly, donor engagement can also refer to the way that your donors interact with you. It’s the actions and steps they take, like making a donation or sharing your content on social media.
How Do You Measure It?
You might be asked to measure your organization’s donor engagement. This means taking a look at the different ways your donors interact with you, and what you as an organization do to enable that two-way relationship.
Donor engagement can take lots of different forms. Not every engagement will be a donation — sometimes it’s as simple as replying to one of your emails. Here’s a look at different ways your donors can engage with you:
- Set up recurring donations
- Become a major gift donor
- Add a credit card on file for online donations
- Volunteer
- Attend fundraisers
- Subscribe to emails
- Open emails
- Forward emails
- Interact on social media
- Take part in surveys
- Visit your website
There are also ways to see which donors aren’t engaging with you, like looking at email unsubscribe numbers or lapsed memberships. It’s just as valuable to look at this data as it gives you an opportunity to figure out why and improve your donor retention rates.
How you measure donor engagement depends on your goals and also your access to technology. Most fundraising software and marketing tools offer reporting features that let you see how many people have clicked through on your emails, or show you when a donor last gifted. Keep an eye on the figures you have access to and chart their growth or decline over time to build up an idea of how your donor engagement is going.
Once you have this data in your hands you can start to make some really strategic moves. You’ll be able to run specialized campaigns to target donors who have lapsed or not donated since their first time, or set up a VIP club for donors that are super active within your community.
How To Encourage More Engagement From Your Donors
Having highly engaged donors and supporters is any nonprofit organization’s dream. But how do you get there in the first place? Donor engagement is complex, but you can break it down into a few simple steps.
Get To Know Your Donors
You need to know your donors and potential donors really well if you want them to live and breathe your mission. Survey them for their thoughts, set up personalized calls to get to know them, and do everything you can to understand what drives them.
Once you’re familiar with your donors you can start to segment them into groups. From there, you can run personalized campaigns that truly speak to the programs they’re most interested in. They’ll feel like every communication they get from you is exactly what they’re looking for, and you’ll get better results from your targeted efforts.
Be Visible
If you want your donors to engage with you more you have to get visible. Hang out in the physical and digital spaces that your donors spend time in and welcome conversation.
Dive into research and figure out which social media sites your donors love the most. Learn those platforms like the back of your hand then show up, be relevant, and offer new ways for your audience to engage with you.
The same goes for email — create a monthly newsletter so you’re showing up regularly in their inbox. And don’t leave out your local area too — for community-based nonprofits make sure you’re a warm face out in the community.
Make the Ask
You want your donors to get to know you and feel aligned with your programs and goals. Once they’re there though, you’ll need to make the ask to get what you wanted in return.
Many organizations are a little too heavy-handed on the ask, but sometimes we aren’t forward enough. Don’t forget that it’s okay to make the ask. Let your donors know what you need and how they can help you make that happen.
Your ask won’t always be a direct call to donate. Sometimes it’ll be to recruit volunteers for a project or event, or to spread the word about a fundraising campaign on social media. Try to vary what you’re asking your donor base to help you with so they’re not overwhelmed by a stream of similar requests.
Express Your Gratitude
Donor engagement shouldn’t end as soon as you receive what you were looking for. It’s so essential that you keep up those feel-good communications after the donation and throughout your relationship.
Right after your donor gives, make sure you express your gratitude. You can do this in a number of ways. Send a handwritten thank you note, or arrange a follow up phone call with your donor.
One of our favorite ways to say thank you is with a personalized video. You get to share your warm smile and voice with your donor and light them up too. Plus, you can create hundreds of personalized videos in moments using our dynamic personalization feature. Record a heartfelt thank you once and send it out to a whole collection of donors with their name on it. They get the warm fuzzy feeling knowing they matter, which equals better donor engagement for you in the future.
Wrap All This Up in a Donor Engagement Plan
You don’t want to be recreating the wheel every time you want to ramp up donor engagement. Take what you’ve learned and create a donor engagement plan that you and everyone in your organization can refer to.
Start your plan by noting down your mission and reflecting on what your donor engagement looks like currently. Next, make some goals and plan how you’ll make them happen using different donor engagement tactics. Figure out how you’ll measure your progress and keep your plan updated every quarter or year with fresh insights.
Creative Donor Engagement Tactics You Can Try This Year
Ready to ramp up your donor engagement? Keep your tried and tested classics like email newsletters, direct mail, and social media campaigns, but don’t be afraid to throw something new into the mix. Here are some creative tactics to boost donor engagement:
- Create fun volunteer opportunities for your donors. Look for ways to step beyond traditional volunteer roles at fundraising events and offer something a little different. Maybe volunteers could help you come up with ideas for a product launch, or help you plan, organize, or film your donor engagement videos — especially for major giving days.
- Transform your next survey into a quiz. Who doesn’t love a quiz? Gamify your surveys by making them a joy to complete. A fun way to do this is with this Mad Libs style approach. You’ll still get the data you need, but in a way that’s more exciting for your audience.
- Offer your donors a behind-the-scenes tour. Most of us are curious by nature, and that extends to wanting to see behind the scenes at our favorite organizations or places. Invite your donors to join you at yours for a tour — whether that’s in person or through a recorded or live video.
- Upgrade your giving programs. Survey your existing donors and ask what they’d like to see, then tailor your programs to match. This might mean getting a little more creative with your tier names, or offering highly requested perks at higher tiers that encourage more frequent gifts.
- Introduce a donor of the month. Turn the spotlight on your biggest supporters by introducing a donor of the month program. Opt for a measurable figure like who has raised the most through peer-to-peer fundraising, or stick with something holistic and reward a heartfelt contribution you loved.
- Host a VIP retreat for your most engaged donors. When we think of retreats they often feel exclusive and out of bounds for anyone that isn’t a major donor. Flip this over and stage a special get-together for your most engaged donors instead. This can easily be virtual with webinars for yoga sessions, wine tasting, or craft classes.
- Create reward tiers within a membership program. Reward engagement in a fun way by transforming it into a game. Donors can stack up points by sharing on social media, raising funds, or volunteering. They can then use these points to unlock rewards.
- Send a personalized video to your donors when they reach a memorable milestone. Let your donors know you’re thinking of them. Record and send a video when they hit a special birthday, have been with you for several years, or another milestone that’s important to them. You could even send out a personalized welcome video to new donors to set the tone for your time together.
These are just some of the ways you can step outside the usual channels and create a more personalized donor engagement experience. Try different ideas and see what works best for your organization until you’re a powerhouse when it comes to donor engagement.
Why Video Is a Powerful Tool for Donor Engagement
It’s no surprise that we love video as a tool for donor engagement. It’s a medium that lets you deliver your message and your story in a way like no other.
Video gives you the opportunity to share the faces behind your organization or project. These people are no longer just a vague concept to your donors but they’re real faces with a name and a story. That’s powerful stuff.
Any organization can hop into a graphic design program and create an image to share on social media. But taking the time to plan, film, and share video content is an investment that really shows. And at the end of it, you have something you can share with your donors to express your thanks, ask for support, or inform them about a new project.
Jumping into video content can feel overwhelming. We get it. That’s why we’ve created a free guide on how to use video to maximize donor engagement. Inside you’ll find a walkthrough of the donor engagement cycle with ideas on how to use video for each stage. Plus, we’ve shared our tips to help you create video content that makes an impact.
Create the Ultimate Experience for Your Donors
Engaging donors is about so much more than putting content out there and hoping your audience will interact with it. You have to understand your donors and build your plans around their interests, abilities, and needs. Throw in some creative ways to deepen that relationship and you have a winning strategy for increasing donor engagement.
Ready to start using video to build lasting relationships with your donors? Book a demo with our team to take a look under the hood of our automated video platform that lets you personalize videos in moments.