Last week, we had the recently uncovered, original oak living room floor that had been hidden under carpeting for a decade or two refinished. I did some online shopping for a rug to put in the room once it was completed. What I found was a great lesson in Fundraising 101 — how to convert inquiries to donors.
At Fundraising Day in New York, Clint O'Brien, vice president of business development at Care2, laid out acquisition techniques in today's fundraising landscape in the session, "Acquisition in Tough Times: Finding New Donors Without Breaking the Bank."
It’s imperative that you take online fundraising seriously. Take a look at the 15 most effective donor-acquisition and online-fundraising techniques used by top nonprofits.
Where do you look for potential donors? Here are some shortcuts to help you identify the right donor prospects who can take your cause to the next level. 1. If you need funding, go to your current donors first. 2. Start with your most committed donors and move them into larger gifts. 3. Look for people who have both wealth and affinity for your cause. 4. Don’t expect cold calls to yield anything. 5. Focus on your top level donors. 6. Set priorities relentlessly. 7. Use your informal networks to identify prospects. 8. Pay attention to the ladies.
Does engagement at your organization begin with the "chicken," otherwise known in development parlance as the donor, or the "egg," the prospect? Frequently, when inquiring about engagement opportunities, clients give me a broad list of annual events. However, when I ask who is invited, the list sounds pretty safe: Existing donors, past attendees, friends of attendees and the like. How about taking a different path? Let’s put the egg first and invite some new prospects.
So far I’m not aware of a webinar being used as a donor-acquisition tool (perhaps some reader will inform me otherwise?), but since I believe it has the potential to combine some of the most powerful fundraising methods currently used into one neat package, I thought it worth exploring.
As brilliant fundraisers, we must get smarter about how we can overcome the acquisition quagmire — and reverse these trends. Here are some suggestions.
Here is a feature from the May 2009 issue, in which author Geoff Handy, then vice president of media and online communications at the Humane Society of the United States, shares "The Five Basic Steps to Acquiring Donors Online."
In times where acquisition is both expensive and difficult, how is it possible that we let Mr. and Mrs. Opportunity knock on our door and we don’t answer? Even when the numbers are not big, it should be possible to organize a tiny process to accommodate these friendly people who want to get in contact.
I bet you 100 euros that donors who are willing to take the trouble of letting you know they have moved are more loyal donors, therefore have a higher Lifetime Value …
KaBOOM! leveraged a relationship with Groupon Grassroots to grow its donor file and raise money to build playgrounds.
