5 Secrets to Raising More Money from Your First-Time Donors
Figuring out how to engage with first-time donors to your nonprofit can be confusing. This is especially true for new nonprofit founders who may not have experience managing donor relationships.
The reason for the confusion is usually because you don’t have a plan for how to engage with new donors. Without a plan, you can feel lost at sea.
Worse you can feel like any engagement is imposing on someone who’s already been generous to your organization!
But communicating with first-time donors is essential to ensuring that donors continue to you give to your organization.
I recently participated in a webinar by Steven Shattuck of Bloomerang about the secrets of the 2nd gift and how to retain first-time donors[1]. It was jampacked with great advice for new nonprofit founders, and I wanted to share some key takeaways.
Why Should You Care about First-Time Donors?
According the Fundraising Effectiveness Project’s research, only about 20% of first-time donors give again. On the other hand, 61% of repeat donors continue to give.
So, making sure that your first-time donors make a second donation drastically increases the odds of their continued support!
Why Do Donors Give Again?
The key drivers of donor commitment, according to DonorVoice’s research, are:
The donor perceives that your organization produces good outcomes. This includes receiving information from you about who organization is helping.
The donor knows what to expect from you with each interaction.
The donor receives a timely thank you. Donors want to feel like they’re a part of an important cause. And they want to feel like their involvement is appreciated.
The donor receives opportunities to share his or her views with you.
How Can You Use This Research to Keep Your First-Time Donors?
Shattuck lays out five key action items to help you retain your first-time donors.
First, Treat Your First-Time Donors Differently Than Other Donors.
This means that your thank you response for first time donors should be different than for other donors.
Your initial response should welcome them into the family. It should share more about your organization, its outcomes and the impact of the donation.
This is particularly true of donors who give in a peer-to-peer campaign. They may have simply given to support a friend’s campaign on your behalf. So, they may not even know much about your organization!
Second, Humanize Your Automated Responses for Digital Donors.
This includes both your confirmation page and your email thank you.
These are your first impressions with a first-time donor. So, you should be sure to personalize them and use them to engage your new donors.
This can include:
Telling a story about your organization.
Including statements about the impact your organization is having.
Giving the donor a survey to complete. A survey might ask about why they gave, and their commitment to the cause.
Including a video about your organization.
Offering the donor something to do, such as following you on social media.
Offering the donor more to do, such as volunteering or taking a tour of your organization.
Thanking the donor in personalized thank you video.
Following up with a phone call.
Including a welcome kit.
Third, Tell Good Stories.
All of your communications to your first-time donors (and all donors really) should be written in a way that is donor-centric. Remember, the key is to get them engaged and keep them engaged.
Shattuck suggests that you donate to yourself online. This way you can assess whether your automated response feels robotic or personal.
The speed of your gift acknowledgement may also impact whether they give again.
Shattuck says that new donors who get a personal thank you within 48 hours are 4 times more likely to donate again.
According to Penelope Burk, a call from a board member within 48 hours may lead to an increase in the amount of the next gift.
Another idea is to send a personalized one-time video thank you. These can be very effective, and pretty easy to do.
Fourth, Be Curious About Your Donors.
Remember that you may not know much about your first-time donors. So, it’s important to be curious about them.
You’ll want to know why they give and what brought them to your organization. This is why surveys can be so beneficial.
Finally, Make Your Request for a Second Gift within 90 days of the First Gift.
Seems aggressive, right?
According to Shattuck, this is the prime time for asking for a second donation.
But… only if you’ve engaged in stewarding the donor.
If you have followed the steps outlined above, then you now have more information about your donor. This means you have context and can personalize the ask for a second gift.
You can even ask for recurring monthly donations!
So, what does this mean for a new founder?
It means that you should take a moment to lay out your communications plan with new donors. This way, you’ll have a system for engaging them.
Lori Jacobwith of Ignited Fundraising provides a First Year Sample Donor Retention Communications Plan that may be helpful.
Most of a new nonprofit’s donors are first-time donors. This means that each donor is an opportunity taken or an opportunity lost. It’s important to engage with donors in a way that will increase the odds that they’ll continue giving.
Here at Nonprofit Springboard, we also wanted to share another opportunity with you. We’re is creating a new private community of nonprofit founders, where you can learn from each other and make a greater impact. If you’re a new or aspiring nonprofit founder and you’d like to be considered for a free charter membership in our network, please contact us here.
[1] The webinar was part of Causevox’s Digital Fundraising Summit.