Some organizations seek external guidance as public media adapts to an ever-evolving multichannel world. This is especially true for fundraising programs looking to rework historical strategies while adding new donors.
Visual Content
Patty Wente emphasizes that digital marketing provides nonprofits with many tools to engage their target audiences, with the key being selecting and employing those that best match the subject matter of each campaign. Social media platforms like Instagram provide the ideal setting for images and short videos that tell compelling narratives. At the same time, studies have revealed that posts featuring photos get more likes, comments, and click-throughs than text-based or link posts.
Peer-to-peer fundraising uses your supporters' passion and energy to increase donor base growth. It is one of the most efficient means of reaching new prospects while growing donor bases.
Creating a professional-looking website is vital as part of your digital fundraising strategy. To ensure viewers remain on your site and donate easily, you need to understand viewers' search intent before sending them to landing pages that fulfill that intention.
Suppose a searcher enters "nonprofit volunteer opportunities" into Google. In that case, direct them directly to your volunteer landing page and offer an incentive like a free T-shirt or mug to keep them engaged and increase donor retention - especially among first-time donors. Such incentives have proven their worth in increasing donor retention.
Social Media
Patty Wente asserts that adopting the appropriate social media strategy is key for nonprofit fundraising online, particularly for nonprofit radio and TV stations. While in the past, they relied solely on their websites for event hosting and fundraising purposes, public radio stations and TV channels are expanding to platforms like TikTok, Facebook Live, and Instagram Stories to reach beyond their core audience and viewership base.
Digital advertising allows nonprofits to increase their visibility by targeting specific audiences through digital ads. When potential donors search online about specific topics, your digital ads can lead them directly to landing pages that address those needs - this strategy has yielded up to 80% more click-throughs than traditional display ads!
As part of pledge drives and event sponsorships, one effective strategy for attracting new donors can be to offer incentives such as pledge drives or event sponsorships with local coffee shops offering to provide meals during fundraising events, which you can promote to your core audience members to build loyalty among them while raising awareness of your fundraising efforts.
Patty Wente points out that successful fundraising requires collaboration across an entire organization. Setting SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based) goals will guide your team as you develop new digital solutions. Training sessions for staff using your new online solutions should also occur to ensure they can perform their duties efficiently and accurately.
Email Campaigns
Email can be an effective tool for fundraising. After all, email is one of the fastest ways of sending targeted messages between nonprofits and their supporters. Still, it is important to remember that a successful digital fundraising campaign requires research and strategy before implementing any plans.
Before beginning an email campaign, nonprofits must have an engaged donor base and tailor emails accordingly to engage each segment of their audiences - this means ensuring relevant subject lines and content in every email campaign sent out.
Visual cues such as your nonprofit's logo, color scheme, or graphic elements should also be integrated into every email for increased nonprofit credibility and better brand recognition by audiences.
Patricia Wente highlights that finalizing your email should also contain an effective call to action, such as a link to your peer-to-peer campaign, event registration page, or another platform relevant to your message. Doing this can increase click-through rates and further your fundraising efforts, encouraging donors to donate to receive a gift.
Online Donations
Utilizing digital tools to ensure online giving is as seamless and accessible as possible is paramount. From creating mobile-friendly donation experiences to sending thank you emails expressing our thanks, every effort matters, and every tool can help facilitate it.
As COVID-19 spread, some stations temporarily suspended individual giving efforts in favor of community engagement. But that shouldn't stop you from continuing efforts to convert one-time donors to sustainers; data shows that keeping current sustainers satisfied is more crucial than adding new ones.
Increased donations through multiple giving options can have an immense impact. From an extra plate of pasta or skip-the-line privileges at your coffee shop to offering donations with multiple donation choices - having options that allow more generous giving can have a transformative effect on giving rates.
Patty Wente clarifies that stations are finding success by running campaigns to reach out to current annual donors and renew their recurring gifts or asking existing sustainers to increase the amount they contribute on an ongoing basis. Another effective strategy is encouraging existing recurring donors through email to give back during the holidays. This approach helps stations easily meet short-term fundraising goals and long-term sustainability challenges. For such strategies to work successfully, however, you need to understand your audience thoroughly - using any available data to develop distinct donor personas to develop content specific and targeted towards these groups - just remember, this strategy will work if executed successfully!
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