Guest Blogger

Street Canvassing vs. Virtual Canvassing: The Pros and Cons

Guest Blogger

After a difficult year fraught with changes, advocacy organizations have had to change how they work. As the new normal settles, what solutions and strategies can you carry over from 2020 into the future? Russ Oster of Grassroots Unwired has a few ideas about how to choose the right techniques and technologies. 

The challenges of 2020 have caused grassroots advocacy organizations to rethink their approach to canvassing. Looking to the future, organizers planning their next canvassing campaign have the options to return to form, use innovative strategies developed in response to the pandemic, or apply a mix of both. 

As an advocacy professional, you know that weighing the pros and cons of street and virtual canvassing is vital for your organization’s growth and future success. Whether you use it or not, advocacy software for virtual canvassing is available, and many groups are likely to make use of it, no matter what your organization decides. 

While your grassroots organization may choose not to use virtual canvassing software, the availability of improved software solutions in the advocacy field means your organization must choose the right technology. 

This article will offer an overview of both methods, then explore the pros and cons of street and virtual canvassing to help your grassroots organization understand which is right for you.

Street Canvassing 

Traditional street and door-to-door canvassing have been reliable tactics for advocacy groups for a good reason. Volunteers armed with clipboards taking to the streets to gather support and signatures are an image almost everyone is familiar with. Advocacy groups have had success building bases and fulfilling their causes with it. 

However, while street canvassing has seen advances, it still lacks the accessibility and convenience of virtual canvassing. This past year has also demonstrated that unforeseen circumstances can severely disrupt street canvassing and other in-person forms of advocacy work. Advocacy groups without backup plans in place can then suffer significant setbacks in productivity. 

Pros

The pros of street canvassing include: 

  • Face-to-face connections. Advocacy work succeeds when your volunteers can connect with new supporters. Engaging in one-on-one conversations allows volunteers to build a rapport between your organization and potential supporters, even when working with pre-written scripts. People also tend to notice when approached in person, which may convince some to stop and listen when they might ignore virtual outreach efforts. 
  • Volunteers can reach out to communities they are already a part of. While virtual canvassing may give your organization freedom to assign any volunteers to any neighborhoods, street and door-to-door canvassing can maximize its volunteers’ potential by having them get to work in areas they’re already familiar with. Doing so can help increase your connections in that area and improve your volunteers’ experience working for your organization. 
  • New canvassing technology for improved efficiency. Virtual canvassing may seem like the most technologically advanced way to reach supporters, but street canvassing also has software solutions to explore. For example, Grassroots Unwired’s canvassing software replaces clipboards with tablets, allowing volunteers to report collected signatures and contact information straight to your central database.  

When evaluating the pros of street canvassing, also consider what your volunteers will be most comfortable doing. As mentioned, some may enjoy engaging in outreach in communities they’re already familiar with, while others might want to explore and get the word out in new areas. 

Cons

The cons of street canvassing include:

  • Volunteers need to travel to assigned locations physically. Physical travel takes time that your volunteers could spend getting in touch with more supporters. Additionally, many volunteers who would like to participate in advocacy work are not physically able to meet the demands of street canvassing.
  • Volunteers can suffer burnout. In-person conversations hours of work on street corners can lead to increased burnout among volunteers. While volunteer retention is still a concern for virtual canvassing, street, and door-to-door canvassing provide unique challenges such as exhaustion, even among other advocacy volunteer responsibilities.
  • Door-to-door canvassers can waste their time visiting houses when no one is home. Knocking on doors is only effective if someone is home, and while chances of that have improved over the last year, your volunteers can still end up wasting their time by visiting empty houses. 

As you weigh the overall effectiveness of street canvassing, use data from previous street advocacy campaigns as a comparison point. Whether you’re planning to test virtual canvassing or already have, you’ll only know which solution is adequate for your advocacy group if you have the data showing why. 

Virtual Canvassing 

Virtual canvassing lets your supporters conduct outreach remotely with advocacy software. Advocacy software varies in functionality, but virtual canvassing solutions generally include messaging tools, donation payment processing capabilities, real-time reporting, and canvasser management tools. 

Advocacy software is an investment, and finding the right solution can require extensive research. Guides like this one often provide a helpful starting point for understanding what software providers are out there. Your team can then compare these selections to your organization’s needs and budget to start narrowing your list down to your top solutions. 

Pros

The pros of virtual canvassing include:

  • Supervisors can manage multiple volunteers at once. Virtual canvassing platforms allow your supervisors to monitor incoming data from all of your volunteers from one centralized dashboard. Suppose your volunteers report a problem or your supervisor notices an issue based on their reports. The supervisor can quickly get in touch with the volunteer and provide feedback to resolve the issue. 
  • Faster data reporting and filtering. Virtual canvassing automates many data entry tasks that occur even with software-supported street canvassing. Supervisors can collect data in real-time and adjust canvassers’ strategies in the middle of your campaigns, allowing your volunteers to respond to both challenges and opportunities immediately. Many virtual canvassing solutions also integrate with the rest of your organization’s tech stack, meaning you can smoothly transfer data collected by volunteers into your donor database, volunteer management system, and other software solutions.
  • Your organization can reach a wider audience. Without location restrictions, your organization can get in touch with volunteers and supporters across the country. Even if your advocacy group isn’t operating at a national level, you can still expand your audience with inclusive technology that enables volunteers who can’t meet the physical demands of street canvassing to still participate in your organization. 

If your organization is interested in virtual canvassing software, you might also consider investing in advocacy apps. Smartphones have changed the way people interact with political and advocacy campaigns. As DNL Omnimedia’s guide to advocacy apps explains, apps “act as crucial links in multichannel advocacy strategies, centralizing the other digital elements of your campaign in one organized place. They encourage deeper engagement and open up new ways to get supporters involved.”

Cons

The cons of virtual canvassing include:

  • Missing face-to-face element. While virtual canvassing has attempted to overcome the limitations of remote interactions with video conferencing features, remote canvassing is still remote and can miss out on the benefits of in-person conversations. For some organizations, this difference may be negligible, but others may find themselves struggling to build relationships with supporters the same way their street canvassing efforts did.
  • Volunteer engagement can decrease. Without direct contact with other volunteers and their supervisors, volunteers may feel more alone in their efforts and potentially become unengaged. Overcoming the lack of face-to-face interactions with video conferencing can also lead to burnout and cause volunteers to become less inclined to use one of your software’s most valuable tools. 
  • Volunteers need to learn new technology. Any new software requires training. Ensure your virtual canvassing software has sufficient onboarding resources, and take the time to help your volunteers get up to speed on your new software. Avoid changing or adding too many software solutions at a time because productivity slowdowns often accompany new software as volunteers learn how to use it. 

You’ll additionally need to consider your organization’s future as you invest in software. While some virtual canvassing tools are adequate for smaller advocacy groups, you might find yourself leaving them behind as your organization groups. Find a scalable solution and ask providers about their software’s long-term use before making any purchases. 

As we enter the post-pandemic era, your advocacy organization will need to decide what new practices should be adopted, but also what you can continue to carry with you. While not free of drawbacks, virtual canvassing offers many unique benefits that can result in tangible benefits for the right advocacy group. Take inventory of your advocacy group’s current practices to determine which pros and cons weigh most heavily for your organization, so you can come to an informed decision about street and virtual canvassing. 

About the Author: Russ Oster

Russ’ first experience in the world of grassroots organizing came when he was an infant and his mother pushed him in a stroller door to door to collect signatures for the Impeach Nixon movement. Eighteen years later he embarked on his college career in Washington, DC and during that time developed a passion for campaigns and elections that started with an internship on the campaign of the first woman ever elected to Congress from the State of Virginia. 

For the next 15 years Russ lived and breathed campaigns, running field operations in a wide range of races and for a number of coordinated campaign efforts. When it became obvious to Russ that the technology existed to make field efforts drastically more efficient and accountable but the solutions did not, he launched Grassroots Unwired and has worked every day since to keep GU on the cutting edge, pushing new features and enhancements to meet the needs of every evolving grassroots organizing efforts.

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Capital Campaign Marketing 101: Crash Course for Nonprofits

Andrea Kihlstedt

Every ten years or so, organizations often find themselves needing to make significant investments that allow them to grow their fundraising capacity and operate more effectively. Especially amid today’s challenges, the ability to serve more constituents and reliably raise support efficiently could be game-changing for your nonprofit’s mission.

For many nonprofits, capital campaigns are the answer. These major undertakings are complex, intensive, and high-stakes, but the payoff from a well-planned and -executed capital campaign can be immense.

One of the most critical aspects of capital campaigns is relationship-building. Connecting with donors, volunteers, and partners in meaningful ways is essential for success at every stage of your campaign. This means that communication, messaging, and marketing have extremely important roles to play at different points in your strategy.

For instance, once you’ve completed a capital campaign feasibility study and have outlined concrete plans, you’ll need to spend the majority of your campaign focusing heavily on personalized outreach to your prospective major donors. However, broader marketing strategies will be essential in the later kickoff and public stages of your campaign. 

If your organization has never conducted a capital campaign before, it can be difficult to know exactly how these marketing strategies should differ from your typical approach when promoting fundraising campaigns and events. We’ve got you covered with this crash course. We’ll discuss these essentials:

  • The Team
  • The Timeline
  • The Materials
  • The Tools

For the best results (and fewest headaches), these elements all need careful attention long before your campaign reaches its public stage. Having a clear understanding of what you’ll need ahead of time will help ensure you’re ready to connect with your broader community and show them how their help will take your campaign over the finish line.

The Team

As you get started planning a campaign, go ahead and form a dedicated marketing committee. This team should consist of board members, staff, and volunteers. Although many of your broader marketing efforts won’t come into play until the last stages of your campaign, your team will need ample time to prepare. 

Clearly designate what this committee’s responsibilities will be, and delegate tasks to specific individuals whenever possible. Outline in advance the different points at which they’ll need to work closely with other campaign teams, like getting sign-off from the steering committee on major strategic decisions or collaborating with the kickoff committee to promote your virtual kickoff event. 

With these guidelines in place, you’ll then need to actively prepare and equip your marketing team with the right tools and strategies for the job. For example, consider these core areas where they’ll need initial guidance and support:

  • Templates and style guides. We’ll walk through specific types of marketing materials you’ll need below, but it pays to put some thought into them early in the process. This gives you plenty of time to refine the templates, visual branding, and core messaging of your public phase marketing long before it’s time to roll them out.
  • Tech guidance. Make sure your marketing team is familiar with the different tools they’ll need to promote your campaign effectively. For instance, does everyone (or at least one point person) know how to create segmented mailing lists in your CRM? Think about the tech-related tasks on their plate and provide training and documentation as needed.
  • Meeting etiquette and cadences. How exactly will your different teams and committees interact? Set some standards early about meeting etiquette, drafting agendas, and follow-up processes. Then, clearly document and communicate these protocols to your various teams to start them off on the right foot.

Capital campaigns are complicated and long (often lasting upwards of two years), so it definitely pays to take an organized approach. Although many of your marketing efforts won’t ramp up until your campaign’s later phases, your marketing team will still need time to refine their strategies and prepare relevant materials. Give them a head start by clearly outlining their responsibilities and providing additional guidance! 

The Timeline

With your marketing committee formed and initial guidelines and responsibilities in place, you’ll then need to ensure they actually understand the bigger picture of your campaign. 

If this is your organization’s first capital campaign, it’ll be useful to start with the basics. This Capital Campaign Toolkit guide walks through the seven core phases of successful campaigns:

  1. Pre-campaign planning
  2. The feasibility study
  3. Campaign planning
  4. The quiet phase
  5. Kick-off 
  6. The public phase
  7. Post-campaign activities

Once everyone has a solid grasp on the overall trajectory of your campaign and its timeline, it’ll be helpful to put some thought into the exact roles that each committee or team will play during the different stages. For your marketing team, these roles might be broken down like this:

  • Planning Phase – Preparing marketing materials and outlining marketing strategies
  • Public Phase – Creating and sharing relevant materials needed for discussions with prospects, including the campaign’s website or project renderings
  • Kick-Off – Promoting your campaign’s kick-off festivities to a broader audience of smaller donors and the community as a whole
  • Public Phase – Using the prepared materials to market your campaign to the entire community using social media, email, your website, and any other relevant outlets that are part of your overarching digital strategy

This is a fairly basic example, but the main idea is that more preparation and clearly outlined guidance are always better than less. Try taking an extremely detailed approach, listing out the specific activities, milestones, and KPI goals that need to be accomplished at each stage. This level of detail will give your marketing team solid footing and a concrete plan of action to continually refer to and refine as needed.

The Materials

As mentioned above, you’ll need a wide variety of marketing materials ready to roll out at different stages of your capital campaign. Preparing many of them in advance is definitely a smart move and can prevent backlogs and logistical confusion between teams once the campaign is fully underway.  

Common types of marketing collateral that you’ll need during a capital campaign include:

  • A case for support document. While your actual case for support is a much broader concept than a single brochure, having a visually-appealing document that distills your argument into its essentials can be very helpful. This Capital Campaign Toolkit overview walks through the critical questions that your own case for support must answer before it can be translated into a brochure or packet. 
  • Campaign logo and style guide. Your capital campaign will likely have its own unique brand and theme separate from your nonprofit’s main brand. Start gathering these resources and guidelines in one central location for easy reference during the campaign.
  • Donor discussion guide. This resource likely won’t be donor-facing, but giving your development team an organized document that details your campaign’s case for support, goals, and relevant contextual details can be invaluable during their conversations with prospects.
  • Renderings and other design collateral. If your capital campaign is funding a physical project, like a new building or renovations, professional renderings will show your prospects and the broader community exactly what their support is going towards.
  • A dedicated campaign website. Create a microsite (or even just a dedicated page on your main website) to host all relevant materials for your capital campaign. This can be an extremely effective way to anchor all of your digital marketing strategies and gives you a central location to point supporters towards during the public phase.
  • Email and social media templates. Having ready-made templates for announcements, event invitations, and fundraising appeals can save your team a ton of time during the broader last stages of your campaign. Create a library of these resources in advance, and be sure to link them to the most appropriate landing pages on your campaign’s site.
  • Training materials for volunteers. Chances are some (if not most) of your team will be working on a capital campaign for the very first time. If you’re recruiting dedicated volunteers to help with any aspects of your campaign, you’ll need to set them up for success. Although not directly related to marketing, you should still take the time to gather or create relevant training materials as needed.

Compiling and creating materials like these before you need them will be a smart move. Take time during the campaign planning process to outline the types of marketing and communication resources that you’ll want, and have your marketing committee start crafting them right away.

Pro tip: It’s a common misconception that capital campaigns need to rely on glossy brochures from the very start. You’ll definitely want to prepare these types of materials in advance to ensure you’ll have them on hand when the time comes. However, don’t start heavily using them until the later stages of your campaign. Your conversations with prospective major donors should be highly personal and one-on-one, not handled by a brochure alone!

The Tools

We’ve already touched on the importance of technology and web design for modern capital campaigns, but it’s worth diving into more deeply. In today’s digital age, a variety of tech tools are needed for effectively marketing a capital campaign during its public phase. These include:

  • A dedicated website builder tool, also called a content management system (CMS). Your organization likely already uses a professional-grade CMS to manage its main website, so see how easily you can create new campaign pages or microsites.
  • A database or constituent relationship management (CRM) platform to receive incoming engagement data and generate segmented mailing lists. Your database will also be an essential tool for your development or fundraising team, so make sure it’s in good shape before the campaign begins.
  • Email design and scheduling tools for streamlining your email marketing efforts. Free platforms like Mailchimp are a popular choice for smaller organizations, but your CRM may also include built-in email tools.
  • Social media profiles to promote your campaign to the public and direct readers towards your campaign’s main page or site. If you don’t yet have dedicated profiles for your nonprofit on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, now is the time to set them up!
  • Design software for creating digital and physical marketing materials. The Adobe suite of design tools is a reliable choice, but there are other free options online that may work for your organization, as well.
  • Google Grants for free advertising to promote your mission and campaign. Just be sure to study up on these opportunities and then apply for them well in advance of your campaign’s public phase.

Even beyond marketing tools, you’ll need to ensure your nonprofit is well-equipped to handle various aspects of your capital campaign in an organized way. For example, explore prospect research tools and volunteer management software if you don’t yet have reliable systems in place. 

Revenue-boosting tools like corporate philanthropy databases can be a great idea as well! The right options can help you secure matching gifts for individual donations and volunteered time, laying the foundation for larger corporate sponsorships in the future. Plus, you may even choose to promote matching gift opportunities as part of your public phase marketing. In that case, giving donors an easy way to check their eligibility will be essential.

Although broad marketing efforts won’t come into play until the later stages of your capital campaign, it definitely pays to be prepared. An organized team, coherent timeline, library of marketing collateral, and the right tools for the job will all be critical pieces of the puzzle when it’s time to start spreading the word about your campaign to the larger community.

Step-by-Step Campaign Checklist & Guide

This intuitive guide breaks down each step of your campaign, and the timeline allows you to visualize your whole campaign from start to finish! Download this free campaign checklist now!

Amy Eisenstein, ACFRE, and Andrea Kihlstedt are co-founders of the Capital Campaign Toolkit, a virtual support system for nonprofit leaders to run successful campaigns. The Toolkit provides all the tools, templates, and guidance you need — without breaking the bank.

About the Author: Andrea Kihlstedt

Andrea Kihlstedt is a Co-Founder of the Capital Campaign Toolkit.  She is the author of Capital Campaigns: Strategies that Work, now in its 4th edition, as well as How to Raise $1 Million (or More) in 10 Bite Sized Steps, in addition to other books. Andrea has been leading successful capital campaigns for more than 30 years. To learn how the Capital Campaign Toolkit can support you through a capital campaign, visit capitalcampaigntoolkit.com. 

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Boosting Online Conversions: Tips for a Donor-Centric Site

Guest Blogger

At the same time that in-person fundraising efforts were put on hold, the need for donations grew. Further, as new generations gain giving power, online giving and digital connection are becoming key outlets for supporting nonprofits. Because of this, your nonprofit’s website has stepped into the limelight as a primary channel for collecting donations. 

This is where the conversion rate of your website comes into play. Conversion rate describes the percentage of website visitors who complete a desired action, whether making a donation, signing up for an email list, or another type of online engagement. To optimize your site and bring in more donations, it’s important to track and understand how certain elements of your website can impact your conversion rate.

In one 2019 study, only .17% of website visitors made donations. If your nonprofit’s website conversions stayed at this less-than-one-percent rate in 2020, you may have felt the impact on your bottom line.

However, there are a few impactful changes that you can make to your website to create a stronger donor experience and boost conversions. We’re going to cover these updates in the following categories:

  • Design Elements
  • Call-to-Action (CTA) Strategies
  • Technical Streamlining

At Cornershop Creative, we’re experts in nonprofit web design and development. While working with organizations just like yours, we’ve seen the difference that effective design can have on conversion rates and nonprofits’ abilities to grow their missions over time. Let’s dive in.

Design Elements

A bland, dated website will do little to motivate site visitors to donate to your cause. As you can see in this Cornershop Creative guide to the best nonprofit websites, your site’s overall design should be fresh, attractive, and motivating to inspire site visitors to give.

Balance informational copy with visually appealing elements, such as impactful imagery of donations at work, video testimonials of volunteers, modern typography, and subtle animation. This will draw users in, keep your nonprofit’s “big picture” mission front-and-center, and push them closer to conversion. But, be mindful not to overdo it, as you don’t want to overwhelm users and distract from the rich informational content about your cause.

Beyond being attractive and motivating, the overall design of your website should be straightforward and simple to follow. Your website’s main navigation menu should follow an intuitive content hierarchy, ensuring donors can find the most pressing pages (such as your donation form) with ease. 

Last, but certainly not least, all of your site elements should be mobile responsive. This means that regardless of the screen size (mobile phone, tablet, desktop monitor), the page elements should adapt to be clearly displayed. This doesn’t mean simply resizing to fit smaller screens but actively transforming. For example, less essential elements (such as a sidebar navigation menu) may be disabled altogether on smaller screens to preserve space for more essential elements.

Designing an effective donation form

Beyond the design of your website overall, we’d be remiss if we didn’t discuss the actual form through which your site visitors donate— your online donation form. This form needs to balance the needs of your organization and its donors, collecting the right amount of information without creating an inconvenient giving process.

The design of your donation form should prioritize user experience (UX), providing both a streamlined and secure giving experience. Follow these best practices:

  • Set suggested donation amounts. Determine your average online donation amount and use that information to provide convenient suggestions to web donors. Use a tiered model to set suggested amounts. So, if your average donation is $25:
    • One tier that’s slightly lower, at $20.
    • One tier that’s slightly higher, at $30.
    • One tier that’s even higher, but still reasonable based on the data you’ve gathered, at $50.
    • One tier that’s well above average, at $100, with the goal of encouraging donors to give more than they would normally.
  • Use multi-step donation forms. Essentially, multi-step forms visually simplify your online donation form by breaking the process out into click-through stages. It’s a more sleek, modern design and asks donors to answer one to two questions per step, rather than including multiple questions on a single form page. Check out the example below to see what we mean:
  • Directly embed the donation form. Linking donors out to a third-party page to process their donation can lead to distrust in your online giving procedures. Just as you want your donation form to be integrated with your donor database for easy access to data, your supporters want to give to your organization directly on your website.
  • Streamline donation information. One in four donors gives via a mobile device. Streamline the giving process for smartphone and desktop supporters alike by limiting the number of fields required on your donation form, prioritizing essential contact and payment information.

And, if you’re unsure of whether you’ve designed an effective form, A/B test your donation page. A/B testing involves providing two different versions of your form to online donors and seeing which has the more positive response. You can test and fine-tune elements like:

  • The wording of your fundraising ask
  • Suggested donation amounts
  • Number of required fields
  • Images or other visuals included
  • Multi-step form or one-page form

But remember, you should only alter one element at a time to understand which elements are truly having an impact. If you’re changing more than one, it will be challenging to discern which is the deciding factor for donors.

Call-to-Action (CTA) Strategies

CTAs, or calls-to-action, are elements that encourage visitors to take a specific action, such as making a donation, signing up for volunteer opportunities, or contacting their local political representatives. In the case of increasing online donations, the goal of your CTAs is to encourage donors to give and give them a clear way to do so (like by linking directly to your donation form).

CTAs should be clear, concise, and attention-grabbing. Here are a few strategies we’ve found that can shine a clear spotlight on your giving opportunities:

  • Eye-catching donation buttons. Donors should always be a click away from giving opportunities on your website. Across your website, such as on your homepage, blog, and About Us page, include bold “Donate Now!” buttons. 
  • Lightboxes. A lightbox is an attention-grabbing pop-up that greets web visitors once they take a specific step on your website, such as navigating to your homepage or submitting a donation. These boxes should be visually appealing, use impactful imagery, and present straightforward next steps. Consider this CTA strategy on your homepage to direct prospective donors to your giving form, and on your donation page after a gift has been secured to encourage upgrading to a recurring gift. Check out the example below, pulled from Cornershop Creative’s guide to digital fundraising:

This lightbox stands out due to a few best practices, including an eye-catching, vibrant image and straightforward next steps.

  • Links in multichannel communications. Whether you’re using social media, email, texting, or even direct mail to reach supporters, include links (or printed URLs) directing them to your website. Note that readers can learn about your nonprofit and make secure donations through the site so that opportunity isn’t overlooked.

Giving through your donation form is the final step for a site visitor— or is it? Securing that first donation is a breeze compared to securing the second one, often referred to as the “Golden Donation.” In fact, only 19% of donors give again after their first gift, but 63% of those who make it to the golden donation continue to give repeatedly over the long run.

Create a donor-centric website with features that engage the donor long after they hit “submit.” Outline clear next steps for your donors to follow post-donation, whether in a lightbox confirmation pop-up or an automated confirmation email. Each of the following tactics can help your website turn a one-time donor into a long-term supporter:

  • Joining your email list to stay in-the-know with upcoming events and campaigns.
  • Upgrading the one-time donation to a sustaining, recurring gift.
  • Telling a friend (through social media) about the gift.
  • Reviewing other engagement opportunities, such as volunteer and advocacy efforts, located on other pages on your site.

Or, you could use this opportunity to deploy one of the strategies for smarter fundraising while working from home— corporate philanthropy. Encourage donors to research their eligibility for matching gift programs in which employers will financially match donations made by employees. Bonus points here if you have a dedicated matching gift database embedded on your website so that donors can search their eligibility with ease!

With CTA language outlining clear next steps post-donation, your website becomes an engagement-generating machine. 

Technical Streamlining

Technical streamlining refers to the behind-the-scenes updates that make your website operate in a more efficient manner. For example, rather than thinking only about the images that site visitors see, you should pay just as much attention to how fast those images load on visitors’ browsers.

Optimize the following technical elements to provide an inclusive, trustworthy, and efficient experience for all of your site’s visitors:

  • Accessibility. Your website should be compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to ensure that all visitors, regardless of ability, can engage with the site. A few highlights include providing alternative text for multimedia elements, including alt-text in all form fields, and following a logical content hierarchy. These considerations empower site visitors using screen readers to access your site with ease.
  • Security. Your website should have a secure HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) certificate. Most modern web hosts offer a free SSL certificate, but your site should actively enforce SSL— meaning visitors cannot access the insecure version. Additionally, you should work with a payment processor that ensures your data is encrypted and safe. Generally, if you’re working with a third-party, nonprofit-specific provider (think: EveryAction, Blackbaud, SalsaLabs, etc.), then you’re good to go. 
  • Page load speed. Your donors are looking for instantaneous information, not a 10-second wait time for the page to load. Use a tool (like GTMetrix or Google’s PageSpeed Insights) to measure how long your website takes to load and then take direct action to speed up the process. Pay attention to multimedia elements, such as images, to ensure the files are sized optimally for quick loading. Check that your web pages are caching effectively, which can reduce the work for your web host by loading cached versions of static pages. Finally, ensure your web host is prepared for spikes in traffic to your site and able to allocate resources effectively.

Technical streamlining of your website shouldn’t be a one-and-done effort. Conduct ongoing maintenance checks of your site to resolve any small issues before they snowball into big challenges. Something as straightforward as resolving broken links and optimizing design segments can go a long way toward providing a streamlined experience for potential donors. If your organization has an outdated website or you’re unsure of any of the concepts discussed above, you’ll likely benefit from working with a tech professional.

Streamlining the technical aspects of your website can have benefits beyond increasing donation conversions. For example, according to this Charity Engine guide, your website can be an impactful player in your multichannel marketing strategy. However, that’s only if it’s relevant, navigable, and accessible to all.

In conclusion, your website’s design, CTA strategies, and technical elements all play central roles in determining your ability to convert visitors into donors. So, what should your team’s next steps be to give it the best chance of success?

  1. Evaluate your website using these recommendations to discover gaps in its performance.
  2. Do additional research or consider working with a consultant to bring each element of your website up to standard.
  3. Maintain your website over time, rather than conducting annual one-time tune-ups.

Taking a proactive approach to using and maintaining your website will prevent a poor conversion rate from affecting your bottom line. Good luck!

Guest Author: Ira Horowitz

With 15 years’ experience, Ira is an expert in nonprofit online communications and online fundraising. His work has resulted in increased funds and resounding supporter engagement for hundreds of organizations.

Ira oversees our project management team and works with clients to provide our clients with the best possible final product. He also manages all of our strategic engagements and helps guide nonprofits to determine their long-term strategy goals for online communications.

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Poor Donation Forms Losing You Revenue? 7 Changes to Make

Guest Blogger

Online donation forms don’t just offer a convenient avenue for donors to support your mission. These pages anchor your nonprofit’s entire online fundraising presence. Donation forms are used in all online fundraising drives, from crowdfunding and peer-to-peer campaigns to annual events like Giving Tuesday. In other words, they’re one of the most utilized points of connection between your nonprofit and your supporters. 

As technological advances and social-distancing restrictions force nonprofits to find ways to connect with supporters using modern tech tools, you can’t afford to have a messy, confusing, or poorly-designed giving page. Streamlining and optimizing your donation forms attracts more supporters to your cause and encourages donors to give more, increasing your online fundraising revenue. 

At Donately, we’ve helped plenty of nonprofits improve their online fundraising strategies using our dedicated donation pages. We’ve identified several improvements to make to your organization’s online giving page, so you can maximize your revenue. To optimize your donation forms, be sure to: 

  1. Share your story.
  2. Optimize your forms for all devices.
  3. Improve user accessibility.
  4. Adhere to your organization’s branding and style guidelines.
  5. Add suggested donation amounts.
  6. Include recurring giving options.
  7. Reassure donors with a secure giving process.

With just a few relatively simple adjustments, your digital donation forms can be transformed to drive your organization’s online fundraising. To help make these adjustments, be sure to start with an online donation platform that makes it easy to create a well-designed donation page, even without any coding experience. Let’s jump right in!

1. Share your story.

The heart of your nonprofit is your mission’s story. Since your donation form is one of the most visible donor-facing aspects of your online fundraising strategy, be sure to share your organization’s story in a concise yet powerful way to appeal to both long-term and casual supporters alike. 

Work with your team to construct a compelling description of your nonprofit’s mission that captures the essence of your organization, commands reader attention, and motivates supporters to give. Place this summary alongside or above your donation form fields to catch readers’ attention as soon as they click your form. 

The best nonprofit donation forms capture the attention of not only dedicated donors and volunteers but also those donors who encounter your site via a peer-to-peer or social media crowdfunding campaign. They might not have as much information on your organization’s purpose and work, so your donation page can be an effective gateway to get more people on board with your cause. 

2. Optimize your forms for all screens. 

These days, supporters aren’t just reaching your nonprofit’s website on their desktop computers. They’re using phones, tablets, and other devices to browse the internet and their social media feeds. In fact, according to Double the Donation’s nonprofit fundraising statistics page, half of last year’s nonprofit website traffic came from people using a mobile device or tablet. 

Therefore, you must take critical steps to optimize your organization’s donation forms with formatting that’s responsive to all digital screens. Plenty of donation page platforms allow you to view how your page will look across desktop, mobile, and tablet screens. Take a look at these different versions to ensure everything looks normal and that the formatting is correct for each screen. 

When you optimize your donation forms for all screens, you’ll improve:

  • Responsiveness. Your donation page will be responsive and automatically adjust to fit mobile, tablet, and laptop screens. This allows you to avoid any frustration from your supporters when they attempt to navigate your donation forms. Otherwise, their frustration could lead to less support for your mission. 
  • Convenience. When donors can quickly give to your cause from their favorite devices, it enhances the convenience of your donation forms and ensures donors won’t abandon the form because they can’t read it or because the formatting is wonky on their device. 
  • Shareability. In addition to donating, you want to make it as easy as possible for supporters to share your donation pages as well. Optimizing donation pages so they can be shared on any screen and any digital platform (such as social media and email) ensures supporters can easily spread the word about your mission.

Today’s donors are increasingly on-the-go and will appreciate being able to support your cause from wherever they are. By taking the necessary steps to optimize your forms, you’ll also ensure you aren’t excluding anyone who wants to give to your organization online, which boosts digital fundraising revenue. 

3. Improve user accessibility.

Not only is it important to improve your donation form’s responsiveness to ensure people using any device can read your page, but it’s also important to improve accessibility all-around. That way, people of any ability can access and use your donation forms. 

Improving the accessibility of your online donation forms and pages ensures your website is inclusive and can be used by everyone. To boost the accessibility of your donation forms and ensure your website complies with the specifications of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), there are a few design improvements you can make right now if you haven’t already:

  • Give the page a clear title, and ensure form fields include proper instructions or labels.
  • Provide alternative text options for any images on your donation page so those using screen readers can understand what’s being displayed.
  • Avoid low-contrast color palettes that make it difficult or impossible for users with visual impairments to interpret your page.
  • Organize your page logically using a hierarchical structure with heading tags.

This is just a brief overview of everything that goes into website and web page accessibility, so be sure to check out DNL OmniMedia’s overview of nonprofit web accessibility for more information. According to the guide, “the single biggest benefit of creating a compliant website is that accessibility and usability go hand in hand.” In the process of creating a more inclusive website, you improve the user experience for all supporters by making your website easier to navigate and interact with. 

The more you focus on inclusiveness and accessibility, the more people will be able to interact with your forms, and the more useful your forms will be for soliciting online donations. 

4. Adhere to your organization’s branding and style guidelines.

Your volunteers and other long-time supporters are already familiar with your organization’s brand specifics such as your logo, font styles, and colors. Use this familiarity to your advantage by designing your online donation page with your nonprofit’s brand guidelines in mind. 

This reassures supporters that their donations are going to the right place. Plus, it creates a uniform, professional page to draw in a wider audience. Casual supporters or people who encounter your site on their social media feeds will be more likely to interact with your donation page if it’s streamlined and polished. 

When creating your donation page, make sure that: 

  • Your page uses the same font styles as your marketing materials or other communications. 
  • Your introductory paragraph includes eye-catching, useful images or graphics that illuminate your mission and use your organization’s brand colors. 
  • Any copy is written in your organization’s tone/voice. 

Paying attention to these details ensures your page is primed to appeal to both long-time supporters and those who randomly encounter your page in the course of their internet browsing. 

To maximize your donation page for online fundraising success, there are a few simple tips and tricks that influence donors to give more. One tip is to add suggested donation amounts to your online form. 

5. Add suggested donation amounts.

According to Donately’s online fundraising guide, including suggested donation amounts within your donation page form fields streamlines the process for donors and boosts fundraising support.  

Without suggested donation amounts, supporters won’t have a good idea of what kinds of donations you’re looking for, which can lead to a wide range of donations that mostly fall on the lower end. It also can discourage supporters from giving in larger amounts. On the other hand, adding a few pre-filled suggestions to your form encourages donors to give in those exact amounts. 

Be sure to also include a custom donation field so you don’t discourage those who can’t give as much right now or those who’d like to make an even larger donation. These small changes to your forms speed up the giving process for donors, encouraging them to stick around and follow through with their donation.

For example, you could allow supporters to choose a donation amount of $25, $50, $250, or $1,000. Here’s what your form could look like (image to the right):

6. Include recurring giving options.

Another way to maximize the impact of your donation page is to make it easy and convenient for donors to sign up for your monthly giving program. Recurring gifts provide your organization with a more reliable revenue stream and give donors more flexibility in how they choose to give to your organization. 

Use your donation form as a jumping-off point to introduce donors to the program and encourage them to get involved. Create a section on your form that allows donors to turn their one-time donation into a monthly, quarterly, or yearly donation. Don’t forget to include a brief description of your monthly donation program, including information on what the donations go toward (whether it’s a specific program, project, or your organization as a whole). 

Be sure to also provide supporters with a way to manage and update their monthly donations themselves to save your staff time and effort. In turn, you’ll strengthen your relationship with supporters by making it as easy as possible for them to deepen their commitment through your monthly giving program. 

7. Reassure donors with a secure giving process.

According to this page of fundraising statistics, 63% of donors in the U.S. and Canada prefer making an online donation using a credit or debit card. That means you must facilitate a secure process for donors to input their payment information and reassure them that their information will remain safe. 

To help in this process, invest in dedicated nonprofit payment processing tools that streamline the process on your end and protect donors’ information. Find a system that:

  • Offers flexible payment processing options.
  • Handles data securely and generates reports for your staff to review.
  • Is simple to start up and operate. 

Your payment processor will protect donors’ credit and debit card information via a payment gateway. Donation processing tools can optimize these donor-facing aspects of your fundraising process to ensure your donation form is equipped to facilitate a greater fundraising effort. 

Don’t let a poor donation form slow down your fundraising efforts. Bring better fundraising practices into this year with an effective donation page that drives revenue to your nonprofit and ultimately enables you to help more people through your organization’s work. And remember, a strong giving form starts with the right technology and a dedicated platform to take your online fundraising efforts to the next level. Good luck!

About the Author: Andrew Berry

Andrew is the head of marketing and customer success for Donately. After getting involved with nonprofits at a young age, he discovered a passion for helping the organizations that are making the world a better place. Knowing how vital online fundraising has become, his goal is to help nonprofits raise more money online each year! In his spare time, you will find him cooking up dinner, playing with his dog or cheering on Boston sports teams.

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5 Reasons a Well Maintained Nonprofit Website is Essential

Guest Blogger

Almost 4.66 billion people in the world are active internet users. As the core pillar of modern information, the internet is now your greatest asset when it comes to furthering your nonprofit mission and improving your fundraising efforts. With more people online than ever before, it’s a no brainer that a well maintained website should be top priority. But what does this mean for your organization?

Let’s take some guidance from top experts in web design and development at Kanopi: “In order to have a well maintained website, you need regular website maintenance.” 

However, a well maintained site doesn’t just mean a working one. Along with conducting security and plug-in/module updates, regular website maintenance involves ensuring you comply with accessibility standards, that your site values user experience (UX), that you tell a story through your site content, and that it is the focal point of all of your online engagements.

To learn more about what makes a well maintained website, let’s walk through the following benefits this can bring to your nonprofit: 

  1. Increases fundraising revenue
  2. Teaches new audiences about your mission
  3. Leads to better search engine result ranking
  4. Acts as a source for supporters to engage directly 
  5. Improves relationships with current supporters

How does a well maintained website accomplish the above? Let’s dive into each benefit and the optimizations you can make to your site to achieve them. 

1. Increases online fundraising revenue

Your nonprofit website is where supporters make online gifts to your organization. Without a dedicated site and online donation page, it’s likely that prospective donors won’t know where to look and possibly skip out on giving altogether. When you take the steps to maintain your website and make it the best it can be, you’re also directly affecting your online fundraising revenue. 

The easier it is for supporters to navigate your site, find the information they’re looking for, and fill out the online donation form, the more likely it is that they will continue to give to your cause and support your mission.

If you want your own nonprofit site to continue driving increased fundraising, make sure to implement these strategies:

  • Include clear buttons and links to your online donation page
  • Streamline the giving process with an optimized donation form that only asks the essentials
  • Use an integrated and secure payment processor to keep donors on the same page and protected
  • Make sure your online donation tool is working and integrated with your website
  • Ensure your online giving process is mobile optimized

Additionally, the way your online donation page is laid out can make a huge difference in how likely someone is to complete their gift. If the form takes them to a third-party page, if the donation tool has errors, or if the form just takes too long to fill out are all reasons why users decide to click away and not donate at all.

Unsure if your website and donation page are up to standard? Use these top donation page examples in this iATS Payments resource from real nonprofits for guidance. 

2. Teaches new audiences about your mission

Did you know that 27.5% of individuals have reported discovering new nonprofits through the internet and technology? 

Kanopi-VolunteerLocal-5-Reasons-a-Well-Maintained-Nonprofit-Website-is-Essential_extra.jpg

According to this graphic depicting the donor journey, the next step after awareness is research. And, it’s likely that the first place prospective supporters will go to learn more about your organization is your nonprofit website.

With a well maintained nonprofit website, you’re able to welcome new audiences, introduce them to your mission, and showcase why you’re a worthwhile cause to support. In fact, many people actually have little patience for poorly maintained websites.

One survey conducted on millennials stated that top pet peeves on nonprofit sites include mobile-unfriendliness, missing information, and the inability to find what they’re looking for quickly and easily. If this is something your own site lacks, you’re missing out on a whole scope of potential supporters.

To ensure that your website meets the needs of new audiences, make sure to:

  • Consistently update site content so that it showcases recent success stories and nonprofit accomplishments
  • Check your mobile-optimization status with this free Google tool
  • Optimize image and other media content size so that the website loads quickly (the Google recommended time is under 2 seconds)
  • Include a navigation menu with clear links to content to help people learn more about your organization, like your mission statement, about us page, event calendar, and community testimonials from those you’ve helped
  • Design your site with accessibility in mind and full compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), ensuring that users can engage with it despite location, language, ability, or device

Your nonprofit website is the most valuable way to market your organization online, and by taking the steps to properly maintain it, you can appeal to new audiences and turn prospects into full-time supporters.

3. Leads to better search engine result ranking

Along with optimizing your site to act as a reliable research tool for new audiences, you can actually take specific steps to increase your own search engine result ranking. 

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of tweaking and updating your website to make it easier for search engines like Google to read and determine its value. When someone looks up a keyword related to your mission, you want Google to pull up your organization— otherwise, you’re buried by other similar content and possibly even other nonprofit sites. 

Nonprofit website maintenance should also include actions that support search engine optimizations. Here are some easy ways to ensure this:

  • Publish website content that with keyword phrases that your supporters are most likely to search for
  • Use a specific heading structure with H1s, H2s, and so on to make it easier for search engines to crawl and read your site
  • Include metadata into your website to include specific information that search engines read
  • Use alternative text for media types like graphics and videos so search engines know what they are about

These are only some of the optimizations you can make to your website for improving search engine ranking. Explore qualified resources like Moz.com, a professional source for SEO tools, to learn more about what you might need to do for your own website. 

4. Acts as a source for supporters to engage directly 

In the end, the best nonprofit sites are the ones that act as the focal point of all important online engagements. From facilitating online fundraising to being the core research tool that supporters use, your website should be the first place people turn to support your organization in any way.

To explain this idea, let’s walk through a few scenarios: 

  • A supporter wants to contact your nonprofit to learn how they can get more involved — Your website should have clear contact information, including email and phone numbers.
  • An individual wants to volunteer for an event — Your website should have a dedicated page listing all your volunteer opportunities and how to register for them.
  • A supporter wants to follow your social media pages to have more frequent and casual updates — Include clear connections to all of your social media accounts through prominent links, widgets, or with an embedded running social feed.
  • A supporter wants to attend a fundraising event to give to your cause and meet others — Create an event calendar for your upcoming events and campaigns. Be sure to have links that lead users to the registration page. 

No matter how someone wants to engage with your organization, your nonprofit website should be their first instinct. If you don’t properly maintain your website, these needs are not met.

Make sure you consistently update your website navigation menu so that it connects users to their most desired actions. Not only does this present your site as a reliable resource, but also builds the positive relationship you have with supporters. 

5. Improves relationships with current supporters

Not only can your website help you attract new audiences and increase your online fundraising revenue but it can also provide insight into your current supporters.

As the focal point of the majority of your online engagements, the data that your website collects is extremely valuable to your nonprofit digital strategies. 

Use your content management system (CMS) to track data on which pages are most popular, how different users interact with your site, and the types of content they engage with the most.

With this information, you can even create different user or donor personas based on the typical habits of your various audiences. Then, create targeted marketing content and website optimizations that appeal to those groups. 

However, this is almost impossible to do with a poorly maintained website. It’s critical that your CMS, any plug-ins or modules, and software integrations are consistently updated for full site functionality. This way, you can accurately track those key data points and learn more about what your current supporters value and how you can better meet their needs. 

Conclusion

Most modern nonprofits have some sort of website to facilitate online engagements. But not every organization truly takes the time to make sure their own site is the best it can be. With limited time and resources, nonprofits often make the mistake of deprioritizing their website over more urgent tasks. 

However, your website is the focal point of many of your important engagements, and without a well maintained one, you’ll miss out on several valuable opportunities. Remember to conduct consistent maintenance and keep your audience’s needs top of mind to reap the benefits. Good luck!

About the Author: Anne Stefanyk

As Founder and CEO of Kanopi Studios, Anne helps create clarity around project needs, and turns client conversations into actionable outcomes. She enjoys helping clients identify their problems, and then empowering the Kanopi team to execute great solutions.

Anne is an advocate for open source and co-organizes the Bay Area Drupal Camp. When she’s not contributing to the community or running her thoughtful web agency, she enjoys yoga, meditation, treehouses, dharma, cycling, paddle boarding, kayaking, and hanging with her nephew.

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Integration Announcement: VolunteerLocal Chooses Double the Donation for Integrated Volunteer Grant Solution

Guest Blogger

A warm thanks to Julia Beltran and our integration partners at Double The Donation for this guest post!

Double the Donation is proud to debut its integrated partnership with VolunteerLocal, one of the most powerful volunteer management platforms. This duo has come together to offer 360MatchPro to nonprofits, event planners and volunteer coordinators of all types through its seamless integration.

“Our volunteer grant integration with 360MatchPro will take the mystery out of volunteer grant submissions,” said Brian Hemesath, Founder of VolunteerLocal. “Volunteer coordinators can expect a simple way to contact eligible supporters and encourage them to submit their grants – leading to more funds for qualifying organizations.”

Through this new and innovative solution, organizations can now use 360MatchPro to identify volunteer grant-eligible supporters and guide them to their employer’s volunteer grant guidelines and submission steps directly after a volunteer shift. This technology helps organizations take advantage of corporate volunteer grant programs, which are offered by 40% of Fortune 500 companies.

“VolunteerLocal offers a range of features that are essential to an effective volunteer management strategy, and we are so excited to add volunteer grant outreach to their platform.” said Adam Weinger, President of Double the Donation. “This robust solution will help organizations everywhere take advantage of corporate volunteer grant opportunities.”

While volunteer grant opportunities are significant, many organizations miss out on these funds because of a lack of donor awareness and outreach. This solution can now educate supporters and help organizations take advantage of this revenue stream.

“Our organization is so excited to integrate 360MatchPro with our VolunteerLocal account,” said Lin Lu, Web Developer at AnitaB.org. “We now have a simple way to tailor volunteer grant outreach to eligible supporters. This valuable integration will help us raise more without any extra effort.”

With around 63 million Americans volunteering each year, the value of volunteerism is worth an estimated $175 billion annually. Using 360MatchPro and VolunteerLocal, organizations can educate their supporters and guide them to submit a volunteer grant application.

Start raising more from volunteer grants!

Activate in Seconds and Start Raising More from Volunteer Grants!

The 360MatchPro and VolunteerLocal integration process is simple, allowing your organization to quickly enhance your volunteer grant fundraising initiatives. To get started, just enter your API keys within your VolunteerLocal account to activate the integration, and then add the 360MatchPro search field to your event or application forms.

This process allows your volunteers to enter their employer information as they sign up for a volunteer shift. The search tool provides suggestions as the user types, ensuring the volunteer enters their correct employer. This tool even takes spelling errors, parent companies, and subsidiary companies into account. 360MatchPro then automatically checks to see if this volunteer could be eligible for a volunteer grant through their employer’s corporate philanthropy program. This means your supporters can identify themselves as volunteer grant-eligible simply by entering employment information during their natural sign up process.

VolunteerLocal sign up form

Your organization can then sync this information into 360MatchPro to kickoff automated outreach streams. These messages are completely customizable, and they allow your supporters to learn more about their volunteer grant programs alongside actionable instructions to submit a volunteer grant request. Using 360MatchPro and VolunteerLocal, you can learn valuable volunteer insights and encourage your supporters to submit volunteer grant requests, leading to greater revenue for your organization without any unnecessary effort!

Drive More Volunteer Grant Submissions to Completion with 360MatchPro!

Drive More Volunteer Grant Submissions to Completion with 360MatchPro!

360MatchPro and VolunteerLocal use their innovative solution to fuel support for your organization.

With these features, you can:

  • Identify more volunteer grant revenue opportunities: 360MatchPro enables you to automatically collect volunteer grant eligibility from supporters using email domains, within donation forms, on confirmation screens, or by email. The more volunteer grant opportunities 360MatchPro discovers and shares with donors, the more volunteer grant requests your donors will successfully submit.
  • Drive more grant requests to completion, from form submission to corporate payment: Direct supporters to their volunteer grant submission process after their volunteer shift is complete. Then, provide the right information to the right supporters at the right time with custom emails based on eligibility. Target follow-ups drive more completed submissions than ever before, bringing exponentially more volunteer grant checks from companies through your door.
  • Reallocate your time from routine follow-up to your top opportunities: Your time is valuable, so why spend it chasing volunteer grants? Let 360MatchPro automate your volunteer grant outreach while flagging your highest-value opportunities, allowing your team to personalize follow-ups to the most valuable volunteer grant-eligible supporters. Rest easy knowing that 360MatchPro can handle the rest.

Ready to learn more or get started? Schedule a personalized demo to see how 360MatchPro can fit your organization’s needs and drive donations through company gift matching.

About VolunteerLocal: VolunteerLocal is a user-friendly volunteer management platform used by nonprofits, event planners and volunteer coordinators of all types. This powerful software is designed to help your organization schedule volunteers, recruit groups, collect supporter data and more to ensure your volunteer management system is both efficient and effective. Interested in learning more? Check out their website.

About Double the Donation: Automate your matching gift and volunteer grant fundraising with the industry-leading solution from Double the Donation. The 360MatchPro platform provides nonprofits with tools to identify match-eligible donors, drive matches to completion, and gain actionable insights. 360MatchPro integrates directly into donation forms, CRMs, social fundraising software, and other nonprofit technology solutions to capture employment information and follow up appropriately with donors about matching gifts.

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4 Ways to Effectively Use Your Nonprofit CRM

Guest Blogger

Your organization’s constituent relationship management software (CRM) is the backbone of your fundraising and outreach efforts. Without it, you’d lack crucial data that will help drive your mission forward and make the most considerable impact possible on your community. After all, your CRM is the nonprofit database that stores all essential contact information, engagement data, and fundraising analytics. 

Once you’ve chosen your CRM software, you’ll want to make the most of the tools it provides. At Lumaverse, we’ve seen how a nonprofit’s donor database is used to efficiently engage members, volunteers, and donors to inspire action. Based on our direct experience with mission-based organizations, we’ve put together a guide to help nonprofit professionals make the most of their resources. Don’t strategize your efforts based on assumption; instead, use the data you already have.

Here’s how you can accomplish this with a few easy considerations:

  • Make sense of your data.
  • Contact your supporter base effectively.
  • Optimize your pre-existing software. 
  • Develop stronger donor relationships.

With these essential items in mind, you’ll get the most out of your CRM software investment. Let’s jump in!

Make sense of your data.

If your database contains a sizable amount of supporter data to sift through, consider a CRM that offers machine learning capabilities so you can make the most sense of your data. This way, you’re able to pull insights and put them into action for various growth strategies. 

You can make the most of your fundraising CRM information by walking through the donor’s journey and using the data to help identify major donor prospects. Let’s take a closer look at each of those.

Look into your donor’s journey.

When thinking through your average donor’s giving journey, your data tells a story. First, your donor will initiate contact with your organization online. This can be through your website, social media, or even an email. In terms of physical outreach, be sure you’re keeping track of which direct mail recipients are seeking out your online presence.

After they interact with your site or social media profiles, they’ll choose whether or not they’ll donate. You’ll be able to use your data to see where they navigate when deciding their next move. Use this information to consider which touchpoints are crucial during this process for your donors.

Finally, analyze how they are giving. Are potential donors using your online payment tool or choosing to mail in their donation envelope after finding out more information from your site?

Understanding where your donors stand at each step of the journey is crucial. At the very least, you’ll be able to track their time spent and navigation from when they first interact with your organization to when they donate or not.

Identify potential major donors.

A crucial aspect of your CRM is making inferences based on your donors’ giving history data. Your team can take into account all of the contributions made to your cause by donor profiles. This way, you’re able to ask for different donation amounts based on what they’re most likely to give. In terms of fundraising, this helps you:

  • Avoid missing out on funds by making a larger ask.
  • Not overwhelm donors with big asks when they’re more likely to contribute smaller amounts.
  • Increase your donor conversion rates overall.

Your outreach strategies will take on more personalized approaches by acknowledging the critical differences in your donor network. Not only will you get the most out of your asks, but you’re also likely to discover prospective major donors you didn’t realize existed, which can make a significant impact on your fundraising! After all, around 88% of all nonprofit funds come from about 12% of donors, those being your major donors.

By taking the time to understand the data you’ve worked hard to capture, your outreach and fundraising efforts will be smarter than ever before.  

Contact your supporter base effectively.

As we mentioned above, your data gives your team insight into your network’s outreach preferences. The information you retain in your CRM gives you details that can be leveraged when refining your communication strategy. If you feel like you can’t draw enough conclusions from your data, be sure to ask the right questions on your donation and volunteer forms or surveys in the future, such as:

  • How they prefer to be contacted.
  • Which outreach efforts have led to their contributions.
  • How they like to give: by donating, volunteering, etc.

Imagine your team needs to ask supporters to spend their time helping out at your next walkathon. You’ll want to sift through your CRM to find contacts who have previously worked with your organization at your past events. Whether they participated or volunteered, it’s your best bet for finding the right people to help. 

Then, you’ll take this segment of people and determine which prefer direct mail appeals over digital outreach. This practice can help increase your outreach ROI and help you contact the right people at the right time.

Optimize your pre-existing software. 

Consider how your nonprofit database software works with the rest of your tech stack for optimal results. When you initially choose your software, it should seamlessly integrate with the other tools your nonprofit already uses. Consider whether your team already uses the following software, and check to make sure they work well with your CRM to optimize your efforts all around:

  • Fundraising software- Because one of your main goals is to optimize your fundraising, you want a CRM that captures data from your fundraising software. Be sure the one you choose tactfully organizes your data and is easily accessible.
  • Volunteer management- Be sure to capture your volunteers’ information and sync it with your CRM so you can make inferences such as those mentioned above. Use these contacts for your future fundraising efforts.
  • Event registration tools- Those who attend your events, in the physical or digital setting, have exposure to your efforts and already care enough to learn about your mission. Be sure your CRM captures the information of those who register to participate in any type of event you host.
  • Outreach technology- Your communications are a massive part of your success as an organization. Ensure that your CRM works well with the programs you’re using to reach supporters. This can include direct mail, social media, email blasts, newsletters, and more. Again, if these two tools integrate seamlessly, your team can eventually automate your communications based on recipient engagement data.

When you’ve connected your existing software with your CRM, you can easily collect data and make inferences accordingly. To accomplish this, all you have to do is assess your existing software and find the right CRM for your organization.

Develop stronger donor relationships.

Finally, your nonprofit CRM can strengthen your donor relationships, which are the most crucial connections your organization has. While your supporters are already backing your cause, you can use your donor data to take your relationships to the next level. This is especially crucial during times when your organization can’t engage with them face-to-face.

It may seem overwhelming at first to leverage data when reaching out to each of your supporters. Still, there are a few best practices to consider when using your CRM data to strengthen your donor relationships. Here are a few tips to get started:

  • Offer support during trying times. We’ve seen giving fluctuate during COVID-19 as the economy stabilizes throughout the changes. Because we experience trying times so often, be sure to show donors that you care about their well-being. This outreach is crucial to deepening your relationships with them and conveying genuine gratitude. To illustrate further appreciation for your donors and what they may be going through, check out Lumaverse’s effective volunteer appreciation ideas. 
  • Provide them with opportunities to get involved. Getting your supporters engaged with your efforts of all kinds develops healthy and multifaceted relationships. Encourage them to interact with your organization further by inviting them to events, providing volunteer opportunities, and hosting webinars where you talk about your work.

Giving your supporters more ways to get involved just furthers your relationship with them. The more they contribute their time and money, the more they resonate with your mission and want to see it succeed.

  • Initiate conversation with your donors. Don’t be afraid to reach out to your donors via text, email, or phone call. Merely opening the door to having a conversation with your supporters helps them feel connected and heard. In this outreach, you can ask about their experiences with your organization, talk about events, or ask how they’re doing. Be sure to use information from your CRM for talking points.
  • Ask them for their input. Donors can give your team a fresh perspective on how you’re doing as an organization. After all, they support your cause because they care about your work. Be sure to ask for your supporters’ opinions to improve your events, outreach, and everything in between. This is effective for strengthening your relationships with donors because they’re able to have a say.
  • Thank your donors. Most importantly, thank your supporters. They’re the reason why your organization can achieve its goals and drive your mission forward. For ideas about how to show your appreciation, explore this comprehensive guide, which dives into several suggestions that’ll help you overcome the distance. Just make sure the approach you take aligns with your donors’ preferences by double-checking their data in your CRM.

However, you engage donors, be sure to use information from your CRM to personalize your communications. Then, follow up and update their donor profile with how they interact with your outreach of any kind. You’ll be able to build out donor profiles with information about input, engagements, and interests. Being intentional about your data organization will ultimately guide your organization toward more meaningful relationships that will last. 

There are a multitude of ways your CRM can benefit your organization. When used effectively, the information that your database houses can lead to a more substantial support base, and above all, it can guide your outreach and fundraising efforts so that you are strategizing based on hard data versus assumptions. 

Now that you know how to leverage your CRM for good, put your data to use and optimize your nonprofit’s strategies. Good luck!

About the Author: Mike Barros

Mike Barros is the President and CEO of Lumaverse Technologies. Before joining the Lumaverse, Mike was the President of Education Brands at Community Brands, the CEO of Diamond Mind, and the Chief Revenue Officer at JackBe. He resides in the DC-Metro area. 

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How to Create Effective Virtual Volunteer Training Courses

Guest Blogger

 When you think of volunteer training, you may think of printed handouts, PowerPoint slides, and a litany of procedures and regulations. While the exact nature of each volunteer onboarding program depends on the work of the nonprofit and the tasks at hand, this kind of training can get a bad rap for being tedious. 

This is true even when the information shared is critical for effective, organized, and safe volunteer labor. Plus, on top of the responsibility-related details, you also want new volunteers to understand the mission of your organization and how the work they’re doing makes a tangible difference. This is a tall order for “normal” times, let alone in the circumstances of 2021. How can your nonprofit accomplish all of these goals in an engaging way even when the volunteer landscape has been transformed by the COVID-19 pandemic?

Many organizations have had to close their doors to volunteers completely or drastically cut down on the number of individuals who are able to serve. For volunteers who are over the age of 65 or have underlying medical conditions, even socially-distanced involvement opportunities are not safe or feasible.

When possible, many nonprofits have implemented new virtual volunteer programs so that supporters can contribute from the comfort of their own homes. But with a new type of volunteering comes a new need for virtual training materials that help supporters understand and retain essential information. 

At Skyepack, we design engaging digital course materials for organizations and educators who want to create the best experience possible for their learners. To help you optimize your virtual volunteer training program, we’ve compiled a few key strategies: 

  1. Consider the goals of your volunteer training program.
  2. Analyze differences between in-person and virtual training.
  3. Choose an engaging course delivery platform.
  4. Iterate and improve the course over time.

Your volunteers are essential to the progress and productivity of your organization. Make sure they have the tools and knowledge they need to succeed—even virtually—by offering a training program catered to their needs. 

Consider the goals of your volunteer training program.

Broadly, the goal of your training program is to empower new volunteers to contribute effectively to your organization. On the most basic level, you want each individual to be equipped to fulfill their responsibilities without feeling overwhelmed or confused. However, you should also consider how your training program can support the long-term sustainability of your organization.

Volunteer onboarding is the first step in what will hopefully be a long relationship with each volunteer. In order to build that foundation, you need to start off with a good first impression. After all, if you invest in engagement from the start, you’ll have more commitment from volunteers and ultimately, higher retention rates.

To design a volunteer training program that will drive long-term support, you need to carefully tailor the course to the needs of your volunteers and your organization. As you analyze the overall goals of your volunteer training program, keep the following questions in mind:

  • Is it one-time or ongoing? Consider whether the training program is exclusively part of the onboarding process or whether it is a resource volunteers will continue to find valuable over time.
  • What information do you need to include? Be sure to cover a brief history of your organization and mission as well as the details of the volunteer responsibilities.
  • How long should the course take? The length of the course will vary depending on the skill of the volunteer work—individuals training to quality test audiobooks will need more training than people in a nursing home pen pal program.
  • Will all volunteers complete the course in its entirety? Assess whether there are skills, procedures, or concepts that will only be applicable to a certain group.

This list is not exhaustive and won’t cover the specifics of every organization, but it should jump-start your thinking about which needs you must address.

Finally, don’t limit yourself to a one-size-fits-all approach. You may consider having separate sections of the course for new and returning volunteers. For longtime volunteers, be sure to include any updates that are virtual-specific as well as general information about hours tracking, sign-ups, and corporate volunteer grant programs.

Analyze differences between in-person and virtual training.

The foundation of your virtual volunteer training course will be similar to what you covered in person. After all, the core of your mission and your organization hasn’t changed! 

However, you must also consider how to reframe your volunteer experience for the virtual world. This applies both to the volunteer activities themselves and to the training program. 

For the volunteer tasks, take into account the changes you’ve made since you pivoted to the virtual sphere. Be sure to update any training documents that are only relevant to in-person volunteering. 

A course design specialist can help you update existing material, curate new high-quality resources from external sources, and create new documentation where needed. For instance, if you’re adopting a new tech platform to handle remote volunteer activities, you may need a walk-through of the specific processes each individual will need to know.

From an educational perspective, you’ll also need to consider how volunteers will be able to address questions that arise. While an online course is a powerful tool for instruction, it can be more challenging to detect misunderstandings and confusion when volunteers aren’t in the room together. You’ll want to create a way for volunteers to connect with each other virtually in order to foster a sense of community and provide a space for questions. A private Facebook group can work well to meet this need.

Choose an engaging course delivery platform.

As you determine which training course platform to add to your nonprofit’s tech stack, be sure to look for a service that is tuned in to the rapidly-evolving nature of digital course materials. 

With the increased prevalence of online learning, there are many hot topics in the world of instructional design trends. Course designers and instructors are finding new ways to use technology to facilitate effective learning experiences even outside of a traditional classroom.

While not every trend will make sense in  the context of volunteer training, you should consider implementing innovations such as:

  • Mobile learning. More and more web traffic originates from smartphones, so your training course should be mobile-friendly. Then, volunteers will have convenient access to key information while on the go.
  • Interactive learning. Make sure your course offers interactive elements like quizzes, drag and drop activities, and comprehension questions.
  • Social learning. Collaboration and discussion can enhance the learning experience and allow volunteers to immerse themselves more deeply in the content.
  • Video. Today’s online courses use a variety of multimedia content, but in our streaming-focused society, video is one of the biggest players to consider.

These features will ensure volunteers can engage and interact with your content rather than simply skimming through the material. Your volunteers likely process information in different ways—such as through sight, sound, practice, or interaction. Offering a variety of content delivery and engagement options will increase the efficacy of the training. 

Iterate and improve the course over time.

To engage and retain volunteers, they need to feel recognized, listened to, and empowered to make a difference. As a volunteer coordinator, you know these elements are key indicators for whether a volunteer will return time and time again. To keep volunteers coming back, Lumaverse’s guide to volunteer appreciation recommends stewarding your volunteers with just as much effort and intention as you would your donors. Part of this gratitude and appreciation should involve asking your volunteers for honest feedback about their experiences volunteering with your organization. 

Among other volunteer management areas to gather input on, be sure to include your training program in any survey you send out. Collect qualitative feedback on which parts of your course are most effective (and which could use some work), as well as which elements volunteers found the most engaging and entertaining. You should consider both the format and content of the course to get a comprehensive picture.  

You also may be able to gather quantitative data from your course delivery platform to see which topics were the most challenging, or which activities seemed most effective. Taken together, these data sets will help you make improvements for the next cohort of volunteers going through training.

With this in mind, it’s best to follow a course development process that isn’t a one-and-done approach. By following a cyclical framework like Skyepack’s Agile instructional design model, you can prioritize the needs of your volunteers at every stage of the process, even after the course is launched. 

Soon, we’ll be able to resume in-person volunteer activities like sorting donations, serving food, and building homes. In the meantime, virtual volunteering can still enable your supporters to give back and engage with your organization. 

To make these virtual opportunities as effective as possible, be sure to equip volunteers with an interactive and informative training program. A positive onboarding experience will pave the way towards a long and mutually beneficial volunteer engagement.

About the Author: Brady Kalb, CEO

Brady is a “reformed engineer turned entrepreneur”. After engineering gigs at two Fortune 100 companies, Brady left the corporate world to pursue a business degree and seek out new challenges. Brady’s passion for education stems from his desire to “always be learning” and find innovative solutions to difficult problems. Brady enjoys family outings to the park, explaining the answers of “Life, the Universe, and Everything” to his daughters, and reading just about anything (favorites are classics, popular fiction, and biographies).

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4 Important Donor Data Practices to Bring into 2021

Guest Blogger

This past year has shaken up the efforts of even the most experienced fundraisers. No one could have expected a global pandemic and the resulting mass social distancing guidelines, let alone their effect on how nonprofits connect with supporters and solicit donations. 

With most face-to-face interactions paused, nonprofit leaders had to modernize their fundraising efforts and communicate with supporters in creative digital ways. Virtual events have now become the norm, and there’s been a major shift of organizations moving to remote work. 

Because of digital advancements like these, nonprofits also saw an increased dependence on management tools and communication tech, as well as the data they produce and collect. As we prepare for 2021, it’s important to remember this: Taking a data-based approach is invaluable and is the best way for nonprofits to reach their supporters in meaningful ways and further their fundraising goals.

Using data to back up your nonprofit strategies and donor engagements has been a reliable method of growing organizations for a while now. Since most of your nonprofit engagements are currently limited to digital communications and other virtual tools, you likely have more data available to you than ever before. 

This guide will walk you through some of the most important donor data practices you should follow, especially as you head into this new year. You’ll be exploring the following tips:

  1. Ensure your donation forms collect key information.
  2. Use your donor data to create targeted marketing content.
  3. Regularly analyze your donor data.
  4. Take necessary steps to protect your donor data.

Donor data is valuable when the methods to obtain it are organized and accurate. This will likely rely on the tools you use, so investing in a dependable online donation tool and nonprofit payment processor is key. Ready to learn more? Let’s begin.

1. Ensure your donation forms collect key information.

To build an arsenal of rich and valuable donor data, you will need a donation form that asks for that information. This seems like a basic tip, but ensuring your donation forms are optimized and collecting the right information is the first step to getting your donor data in tip-top shape. 

The donor data that your organization considers relevant will depend on your unique mission, goals, and engagements. For instance, if your organization often hosts ticketed events, a relevant field that you’ll want to include is ticket amount and ticket type. In general, the key information you want your donation form to collect will include:

  • Name
  • Address
  • Email address/Phone number
  • Donation amount
  • Payment information

Pulled from iATS Payments guide to donation form best practices, here’s an example form that asks for the essentials:

Make sure your online donation form is integrated with your donor database. This way, all of your critical supporter information is directed to centralized and comprehensive donor profiles. Having an integrated nonprofit tech solution is crucial for many reasons, especially to ensure that your data is accurate and can be used for any engagement, like in your marketing efforts.

2. Use your donor data to create targeted marketing.

Now that your donation form is collecting the right donor data, let’s discuss how you can use it. A best practice that you should definitely continue in 2021 is using donor data to create targeted marketing campaigns and content. 

According to AccuData’s data marketing guide, “the main benefit of data marketing is the specificity the strategy offers, improving your ROI and the overall success of campaigns.” In simple terms, using data to inform your marketing strategy allows you to focus on high potential supporters as well as create content that is most likely to increase engagement. But how do you do so?

First, look at your donor and fundraising database. Take note of any key spikes in engagement and if a particular marketing campaign caused it. This gives you a clear idea of successful past strategies and what might work again. 

You can also use your donor data to learn more about your nonprofit audience. For instance, see if there are any common metrics that your donors share. This could be something like age, location, past engagement type, and more. Then, segment your supporters by these common metrics and create personas for them. This gives you a concrete “target” for any marketing strategies and content that you create. 

Let’s use an example: Segment your major donors in your nonprofit database. You might define these supporters as those that donate over $10,000 each year. These individuals respond most positively to personal phone calls and hand-written letters. Using this persona information, draft targeted messages and main points to cover during phone conversations,

This targeted information along with a fundraising appeal will inspire the supporter to give again more so than a generalized email asking for a gift. This way, the recipient is reminded of how much their previous contribution was valued, enticing them to be a part of this high-impact group and give again.

3. Regularly analyze your donor data.

A huge benefit of collecting donor data is its ability to help you improve future processes and optimize nonprofit strategies. That’s why it’s essential that you regularly analyze your donor data. 

Using your donor database, compile key reports on relevant metrics and fundraising data in order to track a campaign’s process. This might depend on the type of database you use, but many of them will compile these types of reports for you. For instance, after your organization hosts an event, you should compile reports and analyze key data points from it. Include metrics like many attendees there are, how many of those attendees made an additional gift, and so on. 

A good practice to keep is compiling a nonprofit annual report. Not only should you compile data for your team to analyze, but pulling key information into an annual report allows you to distribute insights to your supporters as well. This will summarize your organization’s progress for the year and present it in a visually pleasing and digestible format for supporters and other stakeholders of your mission. This shows them your progress, as well as the goals that you will tackle in the new year.

4. Take necessary steps to protect your donor data.

As your nonprofit expands and takes on additional software solutions, you are able to collect more information through online interactions with supporters. However, this increased transfer of information could also increase your vulnerability to hackers and fraud if you’re not careful.

When someone gives to your organization, they’re submitting sensitive information and financial details all in the name of supporting your cause. They’re putting a lot of trust in your organization. Show that you value this trust and work to keep it by taking the necessary steps to protect donor data. 

The top area of concern is likely your online payment tool. It’s critical that you invest in a payment processor that:

  • Is PCI compliant
  • Has data portability
  • Offers 24/7 security assistance
  • Has experience with nonprofits

Along with the above, your payment provider should incorporate additional fraud protection tools. Taking some insight from this article on online fraud protection for nonprofits, some common fraud protection tools are an address verification system (AVS), bank identification number (BIN) blocking, and a card verification code requirement (CVV2).

Wrapping Up

Donor data is a valuable resource that all nonprofits and fundraisers should be taking advantage of. Not only does it make your tools and internal processes more efficient and streamlined, but it can also definitely aid your fundraising efforts and donor engagement strategies. As you compile additional donor data, make sure you’re keeping it safe so that you maintain the trust of your supporters and can continue growing, especially as we head into a new year. Good luck!

About the Author: Matt Dunne

Driven by his desire to support numerous charitable causes in his home country of Ireland, Matt joined the iATS Payments Team in March 2016 to leverage his entrepreneurial experience in support of the non-profit industry. He empowers partner organizations to provide impartial, accurate and valuable payments information and knowledge to the Nonprofit community.

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3 Strategies for Nonprofit Volunteer Retention in a Virtual World

Steven Shattuck

Donor retention gets a lot of attention, and with good reason. Generally, the average nonprofit retention rate has hovered around 40% for years. However, when you increase that rate by simply 10% (or hopefully more), you can raise tens of thousands of dollars more at your organization. 

Similarly, when you engage and retain volunteers, you’ll save money on recruitment and training activities for the future, helping you focus more intently on your mission. 

The first step to increasing your volunteer retention rate is showing your appreciation appropriately to those who engage with your organization and contribute to your success. 

This will help you develop effective and beneficial relationships between your organization and your valuable supporters. Luckily, there is a lot of overlap between the strategies that help retain donors and the strategies that help retain volunteers. At the end of the day, supporters of every kind want to be recognized, appreciated and engaged.

Here at Bloomerang, we designed our nonprofit software solution with retention in mind. We help thousands of nonprofits improve their retention rates by developing strong relationships with supporters every day. From our ample experience, we’ve developed a list of appreciation strategies that your organization can employ to cultivate your relationship among volunteers. 

Without further ado, let’s dive into some volunteer appreciation and stewardship ideas that can help you develop relationships and improve your retention rates. 

1. Provide Non-Traditional Volunteer Activities

Social distancing may have limited your ability to host in-person volunteers. But beyond the pandemic, you may have supporters who love you but don’t live near your office or service area, or who are unable to help in-person due to a disability. In any case, it’s a good idea to have virtual volunteer opportunities so that all of that passion doesn’t go under-leveraged.

There are many ways for volunteers to help out from the comfort and safety of their own home. Consider, for instance, the following merchandise ideas: 

  • Peer-to-Peer Fundraising. Encouraging supporters to leverage their networks to create new donor opportunities is a high-value activity with a low cost of donor acquisition. For example, if you have birthday data on your volunteers, suggest they host a Facebook birthday fundraiser that benefits your nonprofit.
  • Letter Writing. Volunteers are great people to say thank you to donors; even more so that staff members. Thank you phone calls to donors are also a great use of volunteer time and energy. It doesn’t just have to be donor-facing. Consider asking volunteers to write letters of advocacy to local politicians, or sign petitions for change that benefits your organization. 
  • Social Media. Sharing is caring! If you have a campaign that is being promoted on social media, don’t be afraid to ask volunteers to go out and engage with those posts. It will help drive engagement and show the network algorithms that it’s content worth promoting to a higher percentage of the newsfeed.

When you make volunteerism more accessible and the opportunities more diverse, you can go beyond just pulling weeds or painting walls and really begin to engage your volunteers in unique ways that pay dividends!

2. Foster Community Among Supporters

Now more than ever, society craves the comforts of a tight-knit community. We’re more physically separated from one another than we have ever been. When you’re able to foster community among your supporters, you can satisfy this need for social interaction and connection, even while everyone remains socially distant. 

Using some of the remote opportunities and technologies that have become available this year, nonprofits like yours are able to create virtual opportunities for community gatherings amongst their supporters. While it does present a bit of a challenge, your nonprofit can still engage your supporters remotely; all it takes is some additional planning and prep work. 

The first step to create community among your remote supporters is to start with excellent virtual event opportunity ideas. As you begin, we recommend analyzing past successful virtual fundraising ideas. Make sure to rework them so that the event can be free for donors and volunteers to attend—after all, this event is to show appreciation rather than ask for funding. 

For instance, consider some of the ideas listed on Bloomerang’s virtual fundraising ideas guide: 

  • Online cooking night. Do you know a local chef in the community? Is there one on your team? Ask them to lead your supporters through a mouth-watering home-cooked meal. Send out the list of ingredients ahead of time. Then, you can video tape (or live stream!) the instructional video so that your supporters can follow along. 
  • TED Talk events. Offer TED Talk or other educational event opportunities so that your organization can present valuable information about your cause to your supporters. Create an engaging and informative presentation during which you can present new trends and research information about your mission. 
  • Virtual happy hour. Spark discussion by encouraging all of your valued supporters to gather together via virtual conferencing platform and enjoy their favorite beverages. Plan out discussion questions ahead of time to make sure everyone gets involved in the conversation.
  • Virtual book discussions. Book clubs are a great way to encourage people to come together for an engaging discussion. Look for a book that highlights the importance of your mission, then offer virtual book club opportunities so that your supporters can “gather” together regularly. 
  • Send physical gifts. Never underestimate the power of a small token of gratitude and the immense impact it can have on relationships with your supporters. Try branding these items to your organization so that you can spread awareness of your brand while showing your appreciation. Facemasks, stickers and t-shirts are low-cost and functional ways to let volunteers show off their pride for you, while getting your name and brand out in the community. Include a section in your budgeted expenses for volunteer appreciation gifts and try not to exceed that limit. 

When you design your organization’s strategic plan for the year, be sure to factor in both your fundraising events and your stewardship/appreciation events. There should be a good mix of both in your prospective calendar, creating a balance so that you can present involvement opportunities and show appreciation opportunities to supporters. 

This balance is what creates the best communities. Your supporters should neither feel like you’re pestering them for funding nor like they’re not helping the cause. 

3. Recognize and Encourage

There was a study conducted at Harvard discussing how praise and positive feedback results in increased “self-activation.” The study states,

“People whose best-self concepts were activated felt better and were more resilient to stress, more resistant to disease and burnout, better at creative problem solving and performance under pressure, and formed stronger long-term relationships with their employer.”

In terms of your volunteers, this means that recognizing and encouraging their work not only means that they feel appreciated, but that their quality of work will also likely increase in the future! 

Meanwhile, when donors give, the brain releases “feel-good” chemicals like serotonin, dopamine, and oxytocin. These are the same types of chemicals that are released when we receive recognition and positive feedback. Increasing these feel-good chemicals for your donors makes it more likely that they’ll continue giving in the future. 

The first half of this strategy is to recognize your supporters for the work that they’re doing with your organization. There are several ways that you can do this: 

  • Feature volunteers in your monthly email newsletter. This is a great place to dedicate content in your email newsletter, taking some of the burden off of you for what needs to be created every month to populate the newsletter. Plus, you can brag about volunteers to a large group of recipients.You can also do the same in your annual report! Be sure to acknowledge the impact that some of your volunteers have had on your mission. 
  • Spotlight volunteers on social media. Try creating a Volunteer of the Month program where you give a social media shout out to different volunteers each month. Share a little bit about them and explain how they’ve been helping your organization. Volunteers will look forward to seeing who is featured and will love seeing their own name appear! 
  • Give shout-outs during get-togethers and meetings. If one of your volunteers does something especially caring or goes out of their way to help your organization in unexpected ways, tell the team about it! Giving bravos to your team about the wonderful work individuals are doing shows that you care about their hard work and encourages others to also go the extra mile. 

The second important part of this strategy is that your nonprofit should encourage volunteers to continue doing good work in the future. Don’t simply recognize, but be sure to also give a next action item for supporters. For example, if you spotlight Janine on social media, you might end the post by saying, “Keep it up, Janine!” This takes a recognition opportunity to the next level and encourages future action. 

When you use the recognize and encourage strategy to show your appreciation, make sure to include these four key elements in your shout-out to supporters: who they are, what they did, how it helped, and what they can continue doing. This gives people both the specifics of the support as well as the big picture impact. 

Showing appreciation for your valuable supporters is an important part of nonprofit stewardship strategies. Be sure to create your own stewardship program in order to show your supporters that you care and to encourage them to continue engaging with your organization. 

Look back over this guide and see if there are opportunities where you can combine multiple ideas into one strategy. For instance, start a Volunteer of the Month program and send a goodie bag of branded merchandise to the winner! Or, start a happy hour book club with your supporters so that they can enjoy a beverage while discussing their most recent read! 

There are infinite ways that you could show your supporters that you care about their contributions to your mission. Get creative! 

About the Author: Steven Shattuck

Steven Shattuck is Chief Engagement Officer at Bloomerang and Executive Director of Launch Cause. A prolific writer and speaker, Steven is a contributor to “Fundraising Principles and Practice: Second Edition” and volunteers his time on the Project Work Group of the Fundraising Effectiveness Project and is an AFP Center for Fundraising Innovation (CFI) committee member.

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