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Whether you’re updating plans for your nonprofit’s annual fundraisers or starting a campaign plan from scratch, you need a thorough strategy to guide your team to success. This strategy should answer questions like: How will you approach donors? Why should they support your campaign? How can you effectively communicate the impact of your work?
Fortunately, you can answer all of these questions and more with your organization’s data. Donorly’s fundraising strategy guide explains that there are five core elements of a successful nonprofit fundraising strategy. In this article, we’ll explore how data plays into each one.
1. Goal Setting
Setting fundraising goals strategically means grounding each goal in data. The SMART goals framework dictates that every goal should be specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and time-bound. To understand what’s realistic for your organization, you must analyze your past fundraising data.
How to Set Realistic Goals with Data
Before you determine any goals or key performance indicators (KPIs) for your campaign, look to your organization’s most recent fundraising campaigns and analyze their results. Compare your revenue goals for these fundraisers with the total funds raised, then consider data points like the number of donors who participated, average gift sizes, and the percentage of revenue that came from major gifts.
Use this data to set a topline revenue goal that’s ambitious but reasonable based on your past fundraisers. Factor in any committed revenue sources you already have, like pledged donations or corporate sponsorships, along with estimated project expenses (and building costs if you’re planning a capital campaign).
Once you have a topline revenue goal, create a gift range chart to better understand how many donors you need at each giving level to make this goal a reality. For instance, you may need 100 donations of $200, 50 donations of $1,000, and 5 donations of $10,000 to reach your $120,000 fundraising goal. These numbers help you set incremental campaign goals, such as how many major donor prospects to cultivate or how many new donors you hope to acquire.
2. Major Gift Fundraising
Every thorough fundraising plan should include strategies for identifying, cultivating, and securing major gifts. Throughout the major gift fundraising process, you’ll rely on various data sources, with data playing a particularly crucial role during the identification stage. To identify likely major donor prospects, your major gift fundraising team (or an outsourced professional) must conduct prospect research to scour your database and external sources.
How to Get Started with Prospect Research
Start by analyzing the donor data in your CRM, looking for prospects with existing connections to your organization (whether they’re donors, attended a fundraising event, or worked with one of your board members). Then, use external sources such as wealth screening tools and publicly available data to verify and supplement your data.
Throughout this process, look for the following markers that indicate a good major donor prospect:
Capacity (wealth): Stock ownership, high-income careers, real estate ownership, and business affiliations can indicate that someone has enough financial capacity to make a large donation.
Affinity (warmth): Past involvement with your nonprofit, personal connections to your organization, and relevant political donations signal a passion for your cause that could translate into major gifts.
Propensity (habit): Past donations, giving to other nonprofits, and serving on a nonprofit board of directors all demonstrate a habit of charitable giving.
Ideal prospects will have multiple indicators in all three categories, proving they have the ability, willingness, and dedication needed to make a major gift to your organization.
3. Marketing
When developing your campaign’s marketing materials and strategies to reach supporters, your data will prove essential. Information about your target audience, engagement data from past communications, and other marketing metrics will help you discover the most effective tactics for inspiring donations. Monitoring this data throughout your campaign also makes it easier to pivot your strategy when needed.
How to Identify the Best Marketing Strategies Using Data
First, consider the channels and types of content you currently use to promote your fundraisers. Getting Attention recommends mixing up your marketing tactics to collect data about which marketing strategies your audience responds to best. For instance, you might test out posting videos on social media or developing a new email segmentation strategy.
As you try different strategies, be sure to track marketing metrics like:
Conversion rates: The percentage of people who take a desired action (such as donating or signing up for an event) out of everyone who receives the appeal
Click-through rates: The percentage of online users who click on a link in a specific marketing communication
Traffic sources: Where users came from when arriving on key pages like your donation page, such as an email, social media post, direct mail QR code, or Google search
Social media engagement: Likes, comments, and shares on social media posts promoting your fundraiser
Analyzing these metrics can point you toward specific channels donors prefer, such as email over social media. Additionally, this data often provides more detailed insights that you can explore further. For example, a high conversion rate for a specific email appeal might mean that you used effective personalization, told a compelling story, or included an especially inspiring call to action.
Compare different elements of your marketing materials when considering this data, and try A/B testing if you want to zero in on a specific aspect. You might send the same email content with two different subject lines, for instance, to determine which is more click-worthy.
4. Community Outreach
Along with marketing your campaign to existing supporters, you should also factor wider community outreach into your fundraising strategy. By spreading the word and hosting events in the community that aren’t explicitly focused on fundraising, you’ll boost awareness of your nonprofit and acquire brand-new donors who may become long-term supporters down the line.
How to Infuse Data into Your Outreach Strategy
To connect with your community, get to know your existing supporters’ engagement preferences and the wider community’s needs. You might do this by:
Analyzing past event attendance data
Surveying supporters about the events they’re most interested in
Looking for trends in your event engagement data
Assessing the types of events currently available in your community
Speaking with community leaders about the needs they’ve identified
Asking long-time supporters what new involvement activities they might enjoy
With this information, brainstorm ideas for nonprofit events that will draw new audiences in and provide space for positive community building.
For example, say that you identified a large number of new parents among your supporters, and survey data indicates your most popular events are outdoor activities where supporters can meet new people. You might plan a series of free “play dates at the park” events where community members can bring their children and mingle with other local families.
Even though these events don’t directly raise money, they still introduce your nonprofit to new audiences and expand your pool of potential donors.
5. Donor Stewardship
Finally, every successful fundraising strategy includes proactive plans for donor stewardship and retention. Once you acquire new donors or solicit larger donations from current supporters, how will you keep them engaged and inspire them to support your cause again in the future? Your data is an excellent asset for identifying winning retention strategies.
How to Use Your Data to Boost Retention
Make your thank-you messages more genuine by infusing them with relevant donor data. Include each donor’s preferred name, exact donation amount, and details about the campaign or project they supported to show that you appreciate their specific contributions.
Additionally, follow communication preferences about how supporters like to be recognized. For example, one donor may love a public shout-out on social media, while another might prefer to receive thank-you phone calls from a staff member or volunteer.
Remember that stewardship goes beyond donor appreciation and recognition, especially when it comes to major donors. Use the data you compiled from prospect research and cultivation meetings with major donors to identify the best ways to engage them beyond donation requests. You might send them periodic updates about the programs they’re most interested in, share personalized reports on their donation’s impact, or even invite them to serve on your board.
To ensure you’re working with accurate data when developing your fundraising strategy, remember to follow nonprofit data management best practices. Keep your database clean by regularly updating contact information, deleting duplicate data, and standardizing data formats. With clean data, you can improve every aspect of your organization’s fundraising strategy.
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