6 keys to getting and retaining donors. How many does your organization meet?
In this article, you will find 6 keys to getting and retaining donors for your organization. Whether consciously or unconsciously, the donor takes these 6 keys as a reference when donating or not donating to your organization. Check your website, your email marketing or fundraising campaigns, and check if you meet any of these keys.
6 keys to getting and retaining your organization's donors
The donor seeks clarity
What do you usually do when you receive an advertising or communication impact? How much attention do you pay? We all live very busily. Although you think that what you have to say is super important, the donor does not think the same. He will hardly pay attention to you. That is why it is very important to have a simple, clear, and direct message.
A key aspect for a fundraising campaign to work is to define a clear and convincing message and implement it consistently in all communications.
You can do a very simple exercise. Show your organization's website to a friend for 15 seconds. Then you ask three questions: What does your organization do? Who is the beneficiary of the aid? How can people collaborate?
Many organizations overcomplicate the message by wanting to embellish it with irrelevant content, and what they do is confuse the potential donor. This confusion often results in the donor not donating and therefore limits the organization's impact.
A clear message is the basis of all communication.
Donors want to make a difference
Let's be honest. One of the main motivations, at least initially, that leads a person to donate money to an organization is that they want to feel good about themselves. Clean consciences I call it. Doing something positive for other people is always rewarding, especially when you see the positive impact your donation has.
The most successful NGOs don't just ask people to donate, they make that donation personal and tangible and explain very clearly the difference your donation will make in the lives of the people or communities that benefit.
Some examples:
An NGO that provides scholarships
Option 1: “We educate children without resources»
Option 2: “With €30 a month we get Moses to go to school»
An NGO that rescues girls from the streets
Option 1: “Donate to rescue girls from the streets»
Option 2: “€50 is used to welcome a girl in our center and give her an education, food, and security»
Which option do you prefer? Can you make your message more personal and tangible?
Talk to your donors
Flight Madrid – Lima, 12-13 flight hours ahead. You sit in your seat, turn your head, and blah blah blah…. the man sitting next to you starts talking and talking and so on for the next 12-13 hours. This is the same thing that many organizations do, talk and talk. A continuous monologue. Have you stopped to think about your donors? Do you know what they think? It feels good when someone asks for your opinion, to feel useful, and even more so if what you say is useful for something. Ask your donors, and keep them in mind.
Turn your donor into a hero
Check all the communications that your organization makes: website, email marketing campaigns, publications on social networks, letters, … Are you talking about “us” or “you”? One of the most common mistakes made by NGOs and Foundations is to talk about themselves, to give themselves the medals, “look at everything we have done this year” when you should say “look at everything you have done this year”. Turn your donors into the protagonists of the story, and make them feel like authentic heroes. We all like to be the center of attention and feel important. Do it and you will get a community of faithful donors.
Your donors need to connect with you
One of the most important sales and marketing principles says that purchasing decisions are not always based on rational aspects but on emotional ones. We do not buy the best phone but the one that connects better with our emotions. Whenever we spend money on something there is a very important emotional component.
The same applies at the time of donation. Connecting emotionally is key to getting the donor up and running and keeping them a repeat donor.
Look for creative ways to make the donor make a personal connection not only with your organization but mainly with the work you do and the people they help through their donations.
Send the donor a personal letter from the beneficiary; send the donor a video of the project and its impact; a private area on your website where you can learn about the personal stories of the beneficiaries; invite the donor to visit you and see first-hand the work you do.
Find creative ways to connect emotionally with the donor and you will establish a bond for life.
The donor wants you to be honest and transparent
One of the most important handicaps facing any non-profit organization is gaining the trust and credibility of the donor. It is something that is achieved over the years and is lost in a second.
Society demands that companies be more transparent in their day-to-day activities, more sincere in their communication, and more involved in improving their processes. If when we buy a product we already have that level of demand, imagine what we will not ask an organization to which we give money in exchange for nothing (tangible).
This growing level of honesty and transparency makes people want to know exactly where their donations go, what they are invested in, if you are efficient in your processes, how you behave with the beneficiaries, if you go abroad how you relate in the country of destination, … and with all this information the donor decides whether or not to trust your organization.
The least innovative organizations are satisfied with making an annual report or memory in which they collect everything they have done and fill it with data and more data. But that no longer works. We must go further.
Publish impact reports in real-time through the web or from an app. Hold open sessions with donors to communicate progress and needs. Live sessions through social networks such as Facebook Live. Have donation traceability tools to know at all times the cost down to the last cent of the aid made.
Honesty and transparency must be part of the heart of any organization and be part of the organizational culture. Not long ago I was talking about transference in the third sector. Carry out internal analysis work to help you work on creative ways to provide external transparency. As you eliminate the donor's prejudices and increase their confidence in your organization, you will get their greater commitment and that will translate into more resources to carry out your project.
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