4 Fundraising Tips that Successful Nonprofits Use

Many nonprofits take fundraising for granted. They just start fundraising because it is what nonprofits do. Just checking the boxes shouldn’t be the strategy. Nonprofits must hone their strategy and consistently work toward developing their craft. Nonprofits cannot get complacent when it comes to fundraising. The success of your fundraising campaigns dictates the programming you can offer. Furthermore, your fundraising determines what resources you can devote to your mission. Working on your mission is what it is all about, so implement these four tips to help develop your fundraising strategy.

Start Early 

A successful nonprofit creates successful strategies by doing their homework and showing up prepared. Successful nonprofit fundraising strategies don’t just appear and come together easily. Quality plans are built on attention to detail and daily efforts. There is so much more to a successful fundraising campaign than simply starting it. It takes preparation, maintenance, and oversight. Key areas to keep in mind when developing and maintaining a successful fundraising strategy are…

• Implementing new tools and strategies that enhance the campaign

• Maintaining communication with donors to gather feedback and express gratitude 

• Assessing donor data to develop recurring gift strategies 

• Marketing campaigns broadly through multiple channels to reach audiences where they are

• Customizing marketing associated with different strategies 

• Offering donor support to facilitate giving 

These are just some of the many tasks that are required to maintain a fundraising campaign over time. Consider how much time you currently spend supporting and developing your campaigns. Schedule time to incorporate work on all of the details outlined above. That will lead to more thorough campaigns, better donor retainment, and ideally, recurring giving to support your organization with consistent revenue. 

Diversify Campaigns

Your audience is not one-dimensional. They exist on multiple platforms, geographical locations, and possess different skill sets and preferences.  Just among social media platforms, each platform attracts different age groups and different interests. When it comes to the medium for giving, opening up your organization to accept dollars in all kinds of ways. Broad fundraising channels will allow your organization to take advantage of all the interest in giving. For example, younger donors are more able and willing to use mobile payment systems including Venmo, Zelle, or Apple Pay. Your best opportunity to increase fundraising is to expand your donor network by tapping into new audiences and giving them the ability to give easily. Combining the ability to connect across many platforms and facilitating the preferred giving methods of those connections is key for developing a comprehensive and successful fundraising strategy

Knowing What Resources are Available and Using Them

There are so many fantastic resources out there that help nonprofits support fundraising campaigns. The even better news? Many of them are free and most others are highly discounted. We have included many great resources below, so be sure to check them out. Furthermore, there are many quality blogs and webinars out there that inform nonprofits 

Hubspot - Hubspot is a solutions platform that offers services for increasing leads, accelerating sales (fundraising), organize systems and processes, or build out your website. They are an all-in-one marketing platform that nonprofits can access for free. Check out their process here and add this incredible tool to your nonprofit’s repertoire. 

GiveLively - GiveLively is a free fundraising platform for nonprofits. The platform is philanthropist-funded and socially focused. Their goal? To give cutting-edge technology solutions to nonprofits, for free. Learn more about their story and work here, and apply today!

Canva - Canva is a free online graphic design platform that nonprofits can use to create infographics, presentations, posters, digital advertising, and more. Nonprofits can register to receive free access to Canva’s premium features including 420,000 templates, 75 million images, 3,000 fonts, and more. This may not directly help with fundraising, but marketing your organization and campaigns is key for success. Visit this link to apply for free premium access for nonprofits. 

Action Network - The Action Network is a free online tool that partners with progressive causes to support its mission. Their online tool can be used to organize people to take action, communicate via mass email, engage activists digitally, raise funds, and more. Check their site out today here.

Vertical Response - VerticalResponse is a digital email marketing platform that appreciates the work of nonprofits. They offer nonprofits up to 10,000 emails a month free.  If your nonprofit needs more than that, they also offer a 15% discount on any of their monthly plans. Check out what they can do to make your donors’ dollars go further here.

Kindest - Kindest is an online fundraising campaign software service that brings all of the different digital fundraising strategies to one convenient platform. The free service includes fundraising pages, SMS marketing, donor engagement through the reply feature, integrated analytics, and donor CRM. Learn more here.

Givebutter.com - While there are paid Pro and Premium plans, the base package is free and provides payment collection, fundraising campaigns, ticketed events, donor management, and Livestream fundraising. Givebutter streamlines the fundraising process digitally, allowing your organization to access a wider donor pool at their convenience. Try out their services today at givebutter.com.

Google Ad Grants - We go into what these are and how to apply for them here. All organizations need to know is that Google will give them $10,000 is Google Ads a month. That is a fantastic way to drive traffic to your website and your digital campaigns. Interested? Check out the link above.  

Focusing on Recurring Giving 

The term recurring donors has already been mentioned in this blog, but it deserves its own point. What is a recurring donor? A recurring donor is a donor elects to make a regular, ongoing donation to your organization instead of a one-time gift. Connecting with a donor once makes for a one time benefit. Not too bad. But turn that donor into a recurring giver, and your organization gains a consistent flow of revenue that provides stability and predictability. This also cuts down on the cost of acquiring new donors for each gift. Additionally, nonprofits can take advantage of the willingness of people to join subscription programs. Netflix, Spotify, food prep kits, wine tastings, and more all come on regular intervals with subscriptions today. Audiences are willing to pay monthly for a consistent stream, of benefits. Why shouldn’t they set up their charitable giving in the same manner? Donorbox highlights recurring giving as their number five strategy for best fundraising practices in 2022. Make the effort to track donors and build your campaigns with the goal of developing recurring gifts. 

These are just a few of the possible strategies your nonprofit can employ to improve fundraising campaign success. Refining your fundraising strategy takes effort and commitment but the result is better funding for programming. Better funding means that your organization can better pursue its mission. Donors appreciate seeing more programing, and the result? Donors will give when they can see the ROI. Forming the right connections is challenging but all the more appreciated by donors and nonprofits alike when done correctly. Try out these strategies to better connect with donors and drive your mission forward.

NMBL Strategies has worked with nonprofits for years, helping in some of the greatest nonprofit developments of the previous 20+ years. In that time, we’ve raised more than $100 million, developed millions of dollars more in earned income, and most importantly, developed the strategies and insights behind these efforts. Let us bring that experience to your nonprofit today and ensure your financial future is in good hands.