If you’re looking for your donors, they’re probably on the internet. In 2021, the average internet user spent 192 minutes per day online. 

With so much time on the world wide web, bombarded by advertisements, most people have become increasingly immune to and skeptical of even the most innocent donor outreach campaign. A simple email with a direct call to action will no longer cut it. 

Instead, your nonprofit needs to find ways to stand out from the crowd. In this guide, you’ll find seven tips for cutting through the noise and engaging these online users to donate to your nonprofit. Here’s what we’ll cover:

1. Take a multichannel, multipronged approach. 
2. Design a beautiful, streamlined website. 
3. Promote matching gift opportunities.
4. Keep track of your online donors. 
5. Ask supporters open-ended questions.
6. Incentivize donors to give more.
7. Show your appreciation with an interactive virtual event.

But engagement isn’t just about finding new donors. It’s also about keeping the donors you’ve already converted and helping them become more involved in your cause. We’ve designed the following tips to help you reach new donors while deepening your existing donor relationships.

1. Take a multichannel, multipronged approach. 

Question: When there are so many different social media platforms—not to mention the old standbys of email and texts—how do you reach your followers?

Answer: Diversify how, when, and why you interact with your donors and potential donors. 

Your supporters have their individual engagement preferences, and it generally takes numerous interactions across channels before a follower is ready to donate. As a result, your engagement channels should include multiple ways and opportunities for donors to receive communication, participate in activities, and contribute to your cause. Consider: 

• Hosting virtual events
• Posting on social media platforms
• Advertising on Google
• Sending email campaigns

Target the approaches and channels where your donors and potential donors are already active and receptive to your messaging. But don’t go overboard! If you try to take on too many channels, you can lose track of your engagement and dilute the impact you have on followers. 

Ultimately, however, online fundraising is about more than asking for money. Your donor engagement strategy needs to involve more than simply asking for donations. Use your outreach to send them updates, show your gratitude, and share opportunities. 

2. Design a beautiful, streamlined website.

Your website is the place your online donors will go to donate and find the most authoritative information on your nonprofit and the programs you offer. For best engagement, your website should include: 

• 
  An accessible, mobile-responsive design branded to your organization.
• Sharing functions for users to post articles and fundraisers on social media.
• An integrated, easy-to-use donation form that suggests specific giving amounts with clearly labeled buttons.
• Multiple active (e.g., volunteering, donating) and passive (receiving newsletters, following on social media) ways to get involved. 

But don’t stop there! Donately has compiled a comprehensive list of tools and software solutions to help your nonprofit raise more and streamline your fundraising. Consider adding tools that integrate with your website, including payment processing, virtual event hosting, donor management, and matching gift software.

3. Promote matching gift opportunities.

According to research from Double the Donation, 84% of donors say they’re more likely to donate if their employer offers a match. As part of their social responsibility programs, corporations will often match their employee’s donations to registered nonprofit organizations.

Thus, matching gifts can be an effortless way for you to double (or triple or quadruple) a donor’s impact while also increasing the likelihood of supporters giving in the first place. 

However, if your supporters don’t know that their gift can be matched, your matching gift program won’t make much of a splash. In addition to using matching gift software that alerts donors about their employer’s giving program, share your matching gift opportunities across your communication channels, including email, social media, and text messaging. In your outreach, describe the impact matching gifts will make on your programs plus relevant stats to illustrate the effects of applying for a match.

4. Keep track of your online donors. 

You may already be keeping track of your donors! But you’re likely limiting your engagement opportunities by not collecting enough donor data. You should track your donors’:

• Demographics such as age, gender, location, income, employment, education, and religion.
• Contact information such as email address, social media profiles, home address, and phone number.
• Giving habits such as lifetime value, method of giving, gift amount, and frequency of giving.
• Interactions such as event attendance, email open rates, website visits, direct mail response rate, social media engagement, and volunteer activity.

Organize all the data you collect in your constituent relationship management (CRM) system and enact data hygiene practices, removing or updating duplicate, out-of-date, and inaccurate information.

With more robust and accurate data collection, you can target and adapt your outreach efforts to your individual donors’ characteristics instead of just sending everyone the same generic letter or email.

5. Ask supporters open-ended questions.

Instead of trying to intuit what donors and potential donors want, just ask them! What’s the simplest way to do that? We have one word for you: Surveys!  Conducting surveys alongside interviews and focus groups not only offers you a chance to improve your engagement in the future, but also acts as a form of engagement in and of itself. 

Asking questions to your supporters gives them an added sense of being involved in your mission. However, not every question is made the same. Closed-ended questions cut off conversations and are generally less engaging. Instead, make sure your questions are open-ended and encourage thoughtful, engaged feedback. Additionally, follow these best practices in your question-asking:

• Create a regular schedule for surveys and interviews before, during, and after a donor engagement campaign.
• Ask follow-up questions to demonstrate your interest and engage supporters in conversation.
• Store and organize the responses you receive with the rest of your donor data in your CRM system.

But asking is only half of the equation. If you ask a question, you also need to listen to your supporters’ opinions and act on their answers. This shows donors that you’re serious about incorporating their feedback and making them equal partners in working toward your mission. 

6. Incentivize donors to give more.

Incentives are often thought of as tools for engaging new donors. That’s true! Incentives can be highly effective at bringing in donors who are unfamiliar with your cause but are interested in the incentive you’re offering—enough to learn more and make a donation. 

However, incentives can also effectively retain and engage your recurring donors. Offer incentives to encourage these donors to increase their regular giving. Just as you’d offer incentives to new donors who give above certain levels, make incentives available to existing donors who upgrade their donations. 

While these can be gifts like those targeted to new donors, you can also make these more specific to your nonprofit and cause. While a new donor may not be sold by a branded t-shirt, a loyal donor who wants to flaunt their long-term support might give more to get it. 

7. Show your appreciation with an interactive virtual event.

People have different love languages. While some donors will feel most appreciated with physical gifts, others prefer words of affirmation, and others, still, prefer quality time. An interactive, virtual event for donors can simultaneously address your donors’ varying needs.

When every other nonprofit is handing out rubber stress balls, you can show your appreciation to donors and volunteers with something unique to their commitment to your nonprofit. Younger generations, in particular, value experiences over physical gifts. Consider offering your donors experiences such as:

• Online concerts
• Virtual movie night
• Webinars
• Celebrity meet and greet

These shouldn’t replace your existing thank-yous, but supplement them. You should always—and we mean always—send a quick, personalized thank-you message to every donor. Luckily, these thank-yous can work double-time and also be a great place to invite donors to your next thank-you event.

These tips won’t help your nonprofit if you don’t have a clear goal and strategy before making final decisions. Your goals should be SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based. Moreover, they’ll help you determine the tips you use for your online donor engagement.

Select the tips that apply to your goals and strategy, and then forget the rest. The more you can create a plan that reflects your organization’s uniqueness, the more supporters, new and old, will be drawn to support your cause.

About the Author

Jacob Spencer

I strive to make every step of our customer journey as enjoyable as possible. My goal is to turn everyone that trusts Donately into a raving fan! Raising funds can be daunting, but we know that with the right tools, it can and should be easy. 

Throughout my career, I've been able to help sales and success teams tackle new markets, grow and expand. Leading with empathy, listening to actually solve problems, and remembering that we are all human are the key elements to growing any business in a meaningful way.

When I'm not working you can find me spending time with my wife, 2 boys and our Border Collie, Abbie. Family>Everything.