May 6, 2022

Missed Connections: How To Avoid Losing Potential Donors

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Finding and connecting with new donors and supporters for your nonprofit can feel a lot like looking for love. You have surely felt the frustration of hindsight when you’ve come so close to securing a new donor, then swiping left when you meant to swipe right. What connections with potential donors are you missing and how can you ensure you connect with them in the future? Let’s take a look at who these donors might be and strategies for bringing them into the fold:

Younger Donors

  • Present on TikTok and Instagram Stories but your nonprofit has only used Facebook and LinkedIn.
  • About to donate to your nonprofit but their wallet was in the other room and Apple Pay wasn’t an option. So they abandoned the transaction.

The Takeaway:
Meet your donors where they are. Be sure to have some presence on the major social media platforms and enlist any existing younger supporters to keep you apprised of the latest trends and preferences. Provide a variety of online payment options, including text-to-donate to make giving as easy and seamless as possible. 

Older Donors

  • Feeling cautious about venturing out to large, in-person events, yet still interested in supporting your mission and cause. They’d be likely to participate in your fundraising event if it had a virtual option. 

The Takeaway: 
Vulnerable populations and some older donors may still be interested in participating in your events virtually, even as mask mandates and social distancing measures are relaxed. Live stream your in-person event on your Event Page to create a hybrid fundraising event and make it easily accessible to donors of any age who would rather watch from home.

Event Sponsors

  • A local coffee shop or restaurant owner is interested in becoming an event sponsor, but your nonprofit representative didn’t have any sponsorship fliers left. You sent an email, but it must have gone to spam because you never heard back. 

The Takeaway: 
A text keyword linked to a sponsorship form would make it quick and easy to pull up your sponsorship opportunities to discuss in person and on the spot. Educate your staff, event support, volunteers, and others about your text keyword for your sponsorship or ticketing form. Even better would be a text keyword going directly to your overall Event Page that links to your various forms, showcases your progress, and houses your event livestream or recording. 

Friends And Family Of Current Supporters

  • May have been to your in-person events in the past and made a small contribution or participated in an auction. They have the potential to become regular donors or event attendees but need to be reconnected with your organization. 

The Takeaway: 
Regularly (once or twice a year) run a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign and engage your biggest supporters. Provide these advocates with all the tools and templates they need to promote their individual fundraising efforts. Their efforts are likely to bring in more new donors and expand the reach of your organization. Following your fundraising campaigns, reach out to these new donors right away to thank them for their support and educate them further on your work within your community. 

Avoid future missed connections with potential donors by reviewing your social media strategy, continuing hybrid fundraising events into the second half of 2021 and beyond, and making donating as easy as possible.

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