1. Digital Wallets!
The World is changing and so is how people pay. People don’t want to dig through their wallets, or purses, or find their checkbooks. This is why digital wallets are so important.
Donors are looking for an easier experience which means you need to implement new methods of donation such as Apple Pay, Venmo, PayPal, and GooglePay.
The average one-time donation is close to 1.5 times more when an NFP offers ACH, PayPal, and digital wallet payments. AND the Apple Pay stats from a previous test are even better:
- 160% increase in the average donation amount for Apple Pay
- With 26% of iPhone-owning donors giving with Apple Pay (fundraising)
2. Focus on Retaining Donors
Did you know that approximately 70% of donors only give to an organization once? These donors have already felt your mission was strong enough to donate to you once, now the key is to get them to donate again. Some ways you can retain donors are:
- Demonstrate Impact: Donors are often left wondering how their money was spent, and what impact their money had. Don’t leave them wondering. Organizations must continually demonstrate how their donors are making a difference.
- Send personal Thanks-yous, a handwritten note from staff or someone who benefited from their donation will go a long way.
- Email campaigns to keep you on their mind.
- Use Events to Further Nurture Donors: Events provide an opportunity for your donors to interact with your team and your mission from an immersive perspective. According to Classy’s 2022 Fundraising Event Report, 91% of event Attendees are more likely to take further action after having a positive experience at an event. A deeper dive:
- 51% attend future fundraising events held by the organization
- 44% look for more ways to support the organization hosting the event
- 33% fundraise on behalf of the organization
3. E-Comercify your Website
Nonprofits need to start taking notes from For-Profits on their websites, and treat them more like a store than a donation platform … but how?
- Create an option at check out to become a recurring donor
- Flag abandoned donations, email them, and remind them of the impact they can have
- Create a confirmation page that asks them for email, and phone, and have them opt into your marketing updates
4. SMS Communication
To add to the last point, what do after you capture their phone number? Text messages have an open rate of 95% as opposed to email where the normal is closer to 18%. For these text messages to be effective remember to:
- Keep it short, sweet, simple, and scannable
- Always provide an opt-out option
- Provide a clear call to action
- Send relevant links (donation page and contact information)
5. Connect with influencers
Every time we log on to social media we see an influencer sponsoring a product…why not have them sponsor your nonprofit. Share your mission, of course you do need to make sure that you are picking the right person so the connection seems genuine. Using influencers can:
- Increase brand awareness
- Get you in front of the right audience, if your mission resonates with the influencer you work with, it will resonate with their following as well
- Enhance your credibility
- Provide more content for you
Gaming for Good is another platform you can use as opposed to Insta, Tiktok, or Facebook. Partner with games and sponsor a play on Twitch where watchers can donate.
6. Use THE RIGHT Social Media
Nonprofits use social media to share missions, promote events, fundraise and connect with their network. But what platform should you be using? Where are your target donors?
- Facebook has about 3 billion users, proving its enormous impact on social media worldwide. With a primary demographic between the ages of 25 and 35 years of age, Facebook offers plenty of tools for nonprofits, including fundraising. Though it is important to keep in mind that they are losing GenZ members daily.
- Instagram tends to skew to a slightly younger crowd with nearly 62% of Instagram users between the ages of 18 and 34 years old. And, while most social platforms skew more heavily toward male users, Instagram splits the gender gap nearly down the middle with the percentage of male users only slightly higher than females at 49.3% female to 50.7% male. Much like Facebook, it has good tools for fundraising.
- Twitter’s demographic is mainly between 25 to 34. The character limit on Twitter sits at 280 characters per tweet. This makes it a great choice to share quick updates, links to your site, or start discussions with your followers.
- LinkedIn differs from other social media sites on this list as it’s geared more toward business professionals with its primary user demographic falling between the ages of 46 and 55 years old. With this demographic, LinkedIn provides your nonprofit opportunities to network professionally with potential partners, donors, volunteers, or even employees.
- TikTok has 1 in 4 users that are under 20 years. TikTok allows you to make quick easy videos to give people a look behind the scenes.
7. Personalize your Campaign!
Make your donors feel seen and heard, especially when doing email marketing. Something as simple as personalizing your email subject line with a Donors name, past giving, or engagement at specific events can increase the chances of an email being opened by 20%.
8. Use Videos!
The amount of time we spend scrolling on our phones has only increased in the last few years, so how do you stand out above the noise…..videos? 10% of millennials prefer to watch videos, and by adding videos to your social media strategy you can generate 1200% more shares.
But videos are not just for social media, adding a video to an email blast can increase your click-throughs by 200%.
9. Social Responsibility
Roughly 2/3 of large North American corporations believe that using philanthropy to advance their business goals is a priority. A successful private-nonprofit partnership model should contain the following pillars:
- Mutually beneficial: The partnership should benefit both the nonprofit organization and the business. These benefits should outweigh any costs to either entity.
- Alignment of values: Does the business represent the values of your nonprofit? Your cause should reflect the company’s model or industry, and the business should operate in a way that is respectful to the perspectives and values held by your organization and its community members.
- Open communication: Communicate and agree upon expectations of the partnership. What are you hoping to get out of the partnership? What is the company hoping to gain from the partnership? Transparency is key to a fair partnership.
Kelli-Anne Cerini
Marketing Manager
Kelli-Anne is a Manager for Cerini & Associates’ marketing staff. She oversees all marketing and communications efforts for the firm. Kelli-Anne is heavily involved in firm operations, recruitment, and development. She work’s with the firm’s various services areas and management team to define and meet growth goals, as well as working to help organize and promote the Long Island and New York City Imagine Awards.