5 Ways to Retain Your #GivingTuesday Donors
While you’ve put plenty of hard work into the planning and execution of your #GivingTuesday campaign, your job isn’t over until you’ve followed up with your supporters. Follow-up is critical in ensuring the success of future campaigns, retaining donors and volunteers, and cultivating an effective community that supports your organization’s mission.
Donors tend to be loyal to a few select charities. A great way to become your donors’ favorite nonprofit is with effective follow-ups, which keep them engaged and fold them into your network. Since so many great nonprofits compete for the same donor funds, regular communication reminds donors that your nonprofit is active and doing important work—and that they make it possible!
There are many ways for you to follow up, including thanking your supporters, sharing the impact of contributions, and asking for feedback. You can use the following 5 ideas to cultivate strong relationships from day one and retain your new #GivingTuesday donors:
1. Give Thanks
There are many ways to say thank you! At a minimum, your supporters should receive a thank you email. Hopefully, you’re using a platform that automates this for you! Take some time to create a custom thank-you message every time you run a new fundraising campaign.
Want to take it further? Personalized thank-yous, like phone calls or handwritten notes, are better when possible and keep the connection with your supporters strong. But even if you don’t have the resources to send personalized notes to all your donors, you can craft segmented emails with a touch of personalization to send relevant groups of donors, volunteers, and event-goers.
If you have VIP donors, you can go the extra mile and follow up with a special gift (like an exclusive party, workshop, or webinar) or a personal phone call from the board. Show your appreciation creatively.
Lastly, always thank your supporters on your website, social media, and email outreach campaigns to publicly show your appreciation and acknowledge their contributions.
2. Request Feedback using free online tools
Feedback from your supporters and staff is incredibly helpful because it gives you critical information about what made your campaign successful and how to improve your future campaigns. You can ask for feedback through donor surveys at the end of events or online via email outreach campaigns.
You can use free online tools to build surveys and collect feedback. Our shortlist of favorites includes:
Keep your surveys short (3-5 questions) to respect your donors’ time and encourage responses.
You can also meet with your staff after major events to process and analyze their thoughts and experiences. In addition to giving you valuable information about your campaigns, asking for and receiving feedback helps your community stay involved with your cause and allows supporters to feel they have a stake in the success of your organization.
3. Add new donors to your mailing list
Make sure your #GivingTuesday donors make it onto your mailing list! Your new #GivingTuesday donors can be cultivated for repeat giving through regular, timely communications. When emailing your list, always follow CAN-SPAM guidelines, like including an unsubscribe link in every message.
Tip: It’s a best practice to let donors know ahead of time that you will be sending them updates. Add this information to your thank-you letter and the auto-responder message that donors receive.
4. Show Donor Impact
Following up with details about how funds are getting used and the impact of supporter contributions is important in cultivating donor retention. Donors need to know that their funds are being well-utilized in order to motivate them to donate again—they want to feel that their contributions are effective, and don’t go by the wayside.
Let donors know what their impact is by posting updates on your social networks, website, e-newsletter, and blog. Show photos of impacted communities and videos that demonstrate real strides toward your mission. Never made a video before? You can get far with your iPhone and some pro-tips for nonprofit videos on a budget.
Even before distinct donor impact results are known, you can still follow up after a successful event with an email with event highlights, the amount of money raised, and the potential impact on your mission. This will keep the flow of communication open with your supporters and will also allow them to feel good about having been a part of your event.
5. Share volunteer opportunities
When you’re in need of volunteers for an event or new program, reach out to your #GivingTuesday donors! It will help you raise more money and retain them as donors.
Fidelity Charitable looked at the role of volunteering in philanthropy and found that 58% of donors who also volunteer said they donated BEFORE becoming a volunteer.
Volunteers also tend to donate more generously to the nonprofits they work with.
If you want to retain your #GivingTuesday donors in the long run, you should start thinking about opportunities to engage them as volunteers. Send out a call-to-action email (or reach out personally) to local donors when you’re hosting your next event or launching a program that needs volunteer support.
In short, following up is an absolutely essential step in building lasting relationships with your donors and keeping your community strong. What does your organization do to follow up with supporters? Let us know!
