How to Get Your Donors to Take Action

Ready. Set. Stop.

I’ve seen this happen with nonprofits. They prepare themselves for a big fundraising campaign, set up a fundraising site, and launch it.

They do all the right things. They launch big, get their support base involved, and send out messages on all their channels.

After a few donations, things putter to a stop. Their support base doesn’t respond.

Here are five steps get your donors to take action:

1. Create structure

Assign one person in your organization a designated contact person per donor. Then carry out a donor engagement plan that involves setting goals and plans for how you will be keeping your donors engaged and involved throughout the year, not just when you need their money.

2. Evaluate your donor base

Donors come from a variety of professions and present with a variety of skills and competencies. Survey your donors, and find out how they think. You can also use an Empathy Map to help with this.

3. Present options for involvement

Give your donors choices on how they can help. Don’t just have a financial option. If they take a pass, don’t push it. However, if they are willing and able – put them to work in a defined and tangible project.

4. Allow for donor feedback

Keep your donors regularly informed of your organization’s initiatives and successes and/or failures – perhaps through a email newsletter. Always invite your community into a conversation to keep a pulse on what they are thinking and feeling.

5. Recognition

If you are going to be using your donors, make sure they get acknowledged for all that they have done. Here are 10 ways you can thank them.