Why Your Nonprofit Needs a Diversified Membership Funnel

Historically, and really meaning 5-7 years ago, donations were not made online. Less than 25% were made online at this point in time. Now, as we have seen the popularity of online shopping continuously increase, we see donors following suit and making gifts online. Today, one-third to even half of donations are made online for many organizations, and we continue to see that number rise. Reaching broader audiences is becoming more and more important in today’s philanthropic environment, and the easiest, fastest and cheapest way to reach the most people is through digital media. That isn’t to say you should ignore other methods. One area where social lags behind in impact compared to other methods is in membership or annual gift (digital is smaller although there are definitely exceptions).

What we’ve tried to show with the funnel above is that every path has value and while there are different returns from each there are benefits to each as well. This simple funnel drawing sums up a fundamental system that nonprofits should be using in their fundraising strategy. We break it down for you below.

In-person

In-person fundraising contacts are typically reserved for your higher dollar targets. First, to execute in-person work effectively, time and effort must be spent to reach out, set appointments, and then actually convert them. You can see how this is a step beyond the simplicity of typing up a message and hitting send. Nevertheless, these in-person efforts are worth it because these donors tend to give 10-50 times the amount that your donors are giving by mail or digital media. These meetings can be hard to get, require lots of planning, effort, and customization, so keep in mind that these require hard work and precision in order to reap those benefits.

Mail/Appeal Letters

This is probably the most common approach to large-scale member/annual giving appeals. Most often these recipients are drawn from a list that is a mixture of self-subscribed supporters who are interested in your organization. Some organizations will also utilize purchased/traded lists. These purchased and traded lists often offer a lower return, but at $0.50-$1.00 per mailing still have a potential for a good return on investment. Most mail houses will tell you that your target is break-even for your first year and then it’s up to you to renew to bring in the value. The truth is that the response to this ranges pretty dramatically. If you operate a zoo or animal shelter and can mail something that has beautiful photos that can engage the heart you have a good chance at a good response, but if you have something harder to quantify or engage the heart you may not see the response, something like Civic Pride.

Digital Media

This is by far the cheapest means of reaching larger audiences. That $1 per single mailer can reach 100-150 people on Facebook or 25-35 on LinkedIn. Logically, your response rate will likely be smaller, but still targeting close to 1% to click through to your membership/annual giving page is a good goal. From there, your conversion rates should hold similar to your generalized conversion of members on your page. Meaning, if in general 2% of the time someone comes to your membership page they become members, that percentage should continue when you ramp up your traffic through social. The beauty of social media is you can use small batches to test messaging and reception of your message. Use those small batches to continuously improve your response rate. If done right, you will see improvement and increases consistently.

Hopefully, you’re using all three of these fundraising strategies consistently. If not, take a look at implementing a more consistent approach to all three.

Need help developing your nonprofit’s strategy? We have developed all types of strategies and plans for nonprofits in 20+ countries, and we pass our experience-based insights on to our clients every single day. Let us help you advance your nonprofit today.