Fundraising messages and appeals work best when they reflect donors’ individual interests, respect their communications preferences, and feel personal. To achieve that with limited time and resources, savvy nonprofits organize supporters into segments based on shared traits or behavior and then tailor messages to each group.
Getting this right takes good donor data, a smart strategy, and time. But the most important thing is to try, experts say.
The biggest mistake fundraisers make when it comes to donor segmentation is not doing anything at all, often because they think they don’t have time, says Naimah Bilal, chief development officer at the Children’s Literacy Initiative, an educational and social-justice nonprofit in Philadelphia.
“That is an option, and it’s an option that will leave the fields of your fundraising shop and efforts fallow,” Bilal says. “Segmenting your donors is understanding what nutrients are needed for specific crops that are going to yield an abundant harvest — not today, not tomorrow, but maybe next year.”
If you don’t know how to approach this work, hire an expert or seek a consultant who can help you on a contract basis, she suggests. If you want to start or improve, here are a few key steps.
Create a Plan. Too often, fundraisers fail to create a strategy for donor segmentation, says Floyd Jones, director of community and partnerships at Givebutter, an online fundraising platform. To make the most of these efforts, build a yearlong strategy, he suggests, or at least look at a quarterly or six-month timeline.
“If you’re just doing a one-off thing, it’s not going to work,” he says. “Remember, you’re not just building another donor, you’re building a believer in your cause — and this is how you do it. You’re making a real relationship with somebody.”
That means thinking holistically about how you would want to be spoken to as a donor and creating a plan to do that consistently over time, he says. (For help, see Givebutter’s “moves management” template, which outlines how to deepen relationships with donors.)
The Chronicle gathered more tips and examples from a variety of experts that can help you group your donors, create customized communications and appeals, and raise more in the long term.
Define your goal. To figure out how to group your donors, first determine what you hope to achieve, Jones says. For example, if you want to build community, not just expand your pool, you may want to segment supporters based on engagement, looking at data such as event attendance, survey participation, volunteering, or referrals to other donors.
Invest in helpful tools. You need a strong donor database, says Regina Alhassan, CEO of ResearchPro, a prospect-research consultancy for nonprofits. Even small organizations should make this a priority, she says, and have low-cost or free options available to them, including scaled-down offerings from Salesforce and Bloomerang.
Alhassan also suggests getting a prospect-research platform such as iWave, DonorSearch, Windfall, or WealthEngine to gain useful insights on existing donors as well as potential new ones.
Identify key segments. The Children’s Literacy Initiative uses Blackbaud Analytics, which combines the organization’s donor data with wealth data from outside sources to create supporter profiles and organize them into tiered groups. For example, a group Blackbaud calls “Upwardly Mobile” comprises donors who are high earners and new to charitable giving, Bilal says. “They tend to be individuals that you want to pay attention to when they enter your organization because they have high potential to give at a major-gift level,” she says.
The nonprofit also uses a second approach to segmentation based on each donor’s understanding of, and alignment with, the mission, Bilal says. Her team determines where each person falls through conversations about related issues.
They think of this work as “risk management,” too, she says, because understanding what donors know — or don’t — about their mission helps them make sure their communications address any gaps and keep supporters engaged and giving.
If you’re just getting started with segmentation, here are some ways to consider grouping your donors:
- Giving history. Supporters who have been giving the longest, regardless of how much, may have the potential to give more or leave a bequest, Alhassan says. Pause to recognize this group for their ongoing support — and take the opportunity to ask if they’ve thought about what they want their legacy to be, she suggests.
- Total lifetime giving. Run this report periodically to see who’s new to it, Alhassan says, because you might find surprises.
- “LYBUNT” (last year but unfortunately not this year) or “SYBUNT” (some year but unfortunately not this year) donors. Consider the giving capacity of those on this list, she says. If anyone seems like they could possibly give at a higher level, it’s time to create a strategy to bring them back, she adds.
- Demographics. For example, if you identify a group of donors with a similar income level and occupation, that could help you figure out which kinds of activities they are likely to participate in, Bilal says.
- Giving method. This indicates the best way to communicate with your donors, Bilal says. If you know certain donors prefer to give online, for example, you should probably contact that group via email, social media, or other online channels.
- First-time gift amount. If a new contributor gives a significant sum, Bilal says, that may mean they have the potential to give more.
- Engagement. Look at email and social-media data, event attendance, and other ways people interact with your organization to identify those who are most involved, Jones suggests.
If you’re a small nonprofit, he says, pick just one or two segments to focus on at first, then add more groups over time. “Don’t try to do a ‘bajillion’ things lackluster,” he says. “Do one thing correct and go deep.”
Gather data on identities. It’s becoming more and more important to capture this information, Alhassan says, but it can be tricky to start if you haven’t been doing it all along. Be prepared to explain why you want to know how people identify, so they will feel more comfortable sharing. “Ideally, hopefully, the answer will be because we want to be as inclusive as possible, because we want to know your full self, she says. You may consider saying, “It’s an opportunity to build a relationship with your entire, authentic self,” she says.
Never make assumptions about donors’ identities, she adds. Instead, ask them to self-identify in surveys or conversations.
Tailor messages and tactics to each audience. For instance, if you’ve sorted your donors by giving capacity, make sure your messages and appeals match that, Alhassan says. “If you know I have a $100,000 capacity, don’t send me the annual appeal asking for $25.”
Here are some examples of how to customize your outreach. You might decide to develop a simple automated email campaign for small donors, Alhassan says. Those who contribute $50,000 or more might also get the campaign, but their version could include an invitation to an exclusive event where they can meet program or organizational leaders.
You also could offer another type of event for supporters who give $100 a year or less but you want to retain, Alhassan says. “Maybe the outreach and call to action is ‘Repeat your annual gift — we love that — but would you like to be a social-media ambassador?’” she says, or some other request that is still within reach for these donors and is valuable for your nonprofit.
Test — and apply what you learn. If you have the data and capacity to do A/B testing, do so, Alhassan says. While there are many variations, it comes down to trying the same approach in different ways to see which works best.
Alhassan has seen organizations send a direct-mail appeal that includes different inserts — such as a one-pager on a program’s impact, a branded bookmark or small gift — for different groups of donors. Alternatively, one segment might get a mailing without an insert.
You can also test timing, she says. You could try sending an email to one group on a Monday morning, for example, and to another segment on a Saturday afternoon. When you figure out which method gets better results, keep doing more of that.
Use donor surveys. “From a messaging standpoint, I cannot overemphasize the importance of self-reported surveys,” Bilal says. The Children’s Literacy Initiative sends a semiannual donor survey that includes questions about which aspects of the organization’s work each donor values the most. For example, one multiple-choice question in a recent survey asked, “Of the selections below, which of these most resonate with you and help explain why you give to CLI?” Bilal says.
The group also uses these surveys to test themes and language for outreach materials and campaigns. The insights help fundraisers affirm or adjust their communication style with each donor, Bilal says.
This year, the nonprofit plans to host its first donor “listening tours” as another way to survey supporters and test messages.
Automate what you can. “Automation is the game-changer,” Alhassan says, especially for small teams that otherwise wouldn’t have the bandwidth to do segmentation.
Most donor databases include email-marketing features, she says, so use them. For instance, many let you build campaigns and schedule tailored mailings for specific audiences based on planned communications or triggers such as gift amounts.
Artificial intelligence tools can be time-savers, too, Alhassan says. She is seeing groups use AI to help write appeals, acknowledgement letters, proposals, and other fundraising communications.
Bilal’s team uses a gift-processing platform called Fundraise Up to streamline its acknowledgement process. The tool enables them to send immediate, automated thank-you messages that are personalized to reflect how much a donor gives and for what purpose. If someone gives to a literacy project in Philadelphia, for example, the message might say, “Thank you for contributing to the X, Y, Z fund in Philadelphia,” Bilal says. “And we’ll do a little blurb about the work that’s happening there, and then we’ll invite them to attend a site visit as a follow up.”
That frees up frontline fundraisers from this work and ensures donors get a thank-you that is not only prompt but customized specifically for them, she says.
Credit:Source link
