How to sustainably increase your donation income

The more donations generated, the better. But the challenges you have to overcome are not small. Many organizations face hurdles that make fundraising considerably more difficult. We would like to summarize these challenges for you: 

 

• Limited budgets, which make the planning and implementation of fundraising activities more difficult.

 

• High technical complexity in managing donor data and communication strategies.

 

• Low response rates in donor communication if it is not customized.

 

• Difficulties in actively and continuously involvingnew donors .

 

• Lack of knowledge about optimizing donation amounts and their influence on cash inflows.

 

The good news is that there are ways to overcome these hurdles and increase your fundraising. Start by actively engaging your supporters and communicating in the right way.

 

To generate more donations in the long term, you should use five key levers.

Engage new donors immediately after their first donation - with personalized, automated communication. Maintain contact with existing supporters through regular, individual project updates.

Deliberately select higher amounts in the donation form, as these have been proven to lead to higher donations - tools such as "Dynamic Donations" help with this. Identify potential major donors based on their previous donations and interests and approach them specifically.

Finally, you should rely on direct debits and standing orders: They offer planning security and increase donor loyalty. Segmentation and automation can also be used to initiate targeted changes here.

 

1. Actively involve new donors

 

If you want to collect more donations, it is important that you do not wait weeks before contacting new donors again. It is better to involve them in the communication immediately. Send them a welcome letter. Thank them for their donation and then continue to provide them with customized content. Pay attention to individual communication. Don't send a first-time donor mailings that are primarily aimed at long-term donations. With marketing automation, the new donor automatically receives customized content.

 

2. Look after your donors

 

Let your supporters participate in the successes and milestones of your projects. Send them regular updates and tell them what amount is missing to reach the next milestone. Ideally, of course, this should also be personalized and automated.

 

3. Enter higher amounts on the donation form

 

Give your donors a preselection of donation amounts. Experience shows that supporters give more the higher the amounts you specify. Instead of 10, 25 and 65 euros, give them the option of donating 80, 100 and 120 euros. As a fourth option, donors can enter a desired amount. This will also be higher if you preset high amounts. The determination of donation amounts is a complex topic and the potential should not be underestimated by organizations. Our solution is called Dynamic Donations! You can read more about this below  

 

4. Generate large donations

 

Analyze your database for donors who have already transferred four-digit amounts. Approach them directly. You can refer to specific projects when canvassing. To find out which topic is of interest, it helps to look at previous donations, provided they are project-related. If no project-related donation has been made to date, you can use Engagement Tracking to find out which content has aroused particular interest. Engagement Tracking allows you to see exactly how long the donor has been engaged with it and which ones have aroused so much interest that they have been forwarded or shared.

 

5. Use direct debits and standing orders

 

Regularly recurring donations allow you to plan your budget better. Many donors also find it easier to give several small amounts than to spend a large sum once. Be clever and use the convenience of your supporters: The donor must take action to make a bank transfer. They also need to take action to cancel the standing order or direct debit mandate for the donation to you. Segment the contacts from your database who do not yet pay by direct debit or standing order but who donate regularly. If the marketing automation system is connected to your CRM, you can contact these donors via automation to offer a change of payment method. How does this work? Find out more here.

 

These steps are crucial to raising more donations and building an engaged community of supporters.