GUEST POST // Looking Forward: 4 Fundraising Tips for 2022
By Jay Love of Bloomerang
2022 is upon us! Everyone is working toward their New Year’s resolutions to make this year brighter and better than ever before. During this time, your team is also working hard to use the data you have on hand to create a strategic plan for a more successful year for your nonprofit.
It’s important to understand both where nonprofit professionals have been the last couple of years as well as how the nonprofit sector will evolve in order to be sure you’re making the most of the new opportunities the year can bring.
This year, you can expect to see both new and continuing fundraising trends from the last several years. By acknowledging these trends, your organization can raise more money and make the most of its fundraising efforts.
With that in mind, we recommend incorporating the following fundraising tips into your nonprofit’s fundraising strategy:
Plan hybrid fundraising events.
Develop new partnerships with for-profit businesses.
Leverage new connections through your board.
Focus on your mid-level donors.
Ready to learn more about the tips we’ve listed above and see how they’ll help your organization? Let’s get started.
1. Plan hybrid fundraising events.
Although the COVID-19 vaccine heralded a return to public life for many, that doesn't mean the pandemic is over. In fact, cases are on the rise again and new variants seem to be cropping up every couple of months, showing us how much further we have to go before this crisis will come to an end.
During the initial stages of the pandemic, nonprofits realized how important virtual fundraising events are, helping them maintain engagement during a time when we couldn’t gather in person. At this stage in the pandemic, people have different comfort levels about potentially exposing themselves to the virus and being out in public. However, because some people are now comfortable attending events in person, it’s time to plan events that offer those supporters the opportunity to engage with your nonprofit in that way.
That kind of opportunity—where you include an in-person and a virtual component—is called a hybrid event. According to Bloomerang’s hybrid events guide, these are the steps necessary to launch this type of event:
Set a goal for the event. You’ll likely have several goals for your event, such as raising money, engaging with current supporters, acquiring new donors, strengthening relationships with your volunteers, and more. List out your goals and figure out what you need to do before, during, and after the event to achieve them.
Choose your event idea. Consider the event ideas that are most likely to engage your nonprofit’s audience as well as accomplish the goals that you’ve set. Some examples include hybrid auctions, galas, picnics, raffles, races, and tournaments.
Pick in-person and virtual event activities. Make sure your event is engaging for both your in-person and virtual audiences. Think about it this way: If you host an auction, you don’t want to only provide live streaming options for your virtual audience. This could potentially limit the money you could raise from the people who attended your event in person. Instead, consider the gamification, fundraising, and communication options that you can incorporate to engage both of your audiences.
Get the word out about the event. Once you’ve determined the type of hybrid event you’ll host, start promoting it to your supporters. Because your event is both in person and online, use both virtual and in-person marketing strategies like email, social media, direct mail, flyers, and communicating on other platforms to reach your audience.
Host your event. Now that you’ve established your goals, planned the activities, and promoted the opportunity, it’s time to host the event itself. Ask your team members to monitor both in-person and online activities to ensure the event runs smoothly on both fronts.
Follow up with participants. After your event ends, follow up with all of your participants and with everyone who made the event possible. Thank donors, participants, volunteers, and sponsors for the success of the event. Ask them for feedback so that you can make sure your next one will be just as (or more) successful.
Another reason that hybrid events are effective fundraising opportunities is that they allow you to expand your event participation past your geographic area. People may not be able or willing to travel too far to attend your event in person, but it’s easy to log onto their computer and join virtually.
2. Develop new partnerships with for-profit businesses.
One of the smartest ways to increase revenue for your organization is to develop partnerships with for-profit businesses. Look for businesses in the community that have values that match those of your nonprofit organization. Then, work out a mutually-beneficial partnership with them. For example, they might sponsor your next event, and you can co-brand all of your marketing efforts to assist in promoting their brand.
For-profit partners can bring a number of benefits to nonprofit organizations, both in fundraising and in operations. They may provide:
Volunteer days. Businesses may set up volunteer days, encouraging their staff members to get involved with your mission. This acts as a potential source of future supporters for your cause and jumpstarts their engagement.
Volunteer grants. Businesses may even set up a volunteer grant opportunity, encouraging their staff members to volunteer with your organization. With this program, the company would donate a certain amount of money to your organization after their employees have volunteered with you for a certain number of hours.
Matching gift programs. Matching gifts are another form of corporate philanthropy in which companies encourage their employees to donate to nonprofit organizations by offering to match their gifts, doubling the contribution. Gifts are generally matched at a 1:1 ratio up to a certain maximum, but they can be matched at a 2:1 or even 3:1 ratio.
Sponsorships. Sponsorships are key for obtaining the revenue your organization needs for events and specific campaigns. Ask your corporate partners if they would be willing to provide sponsorships for various initiatives and if they’d be willing to commit to regularly supporting your nonprofit on an annual basis.
Many for-profit organizations are interested in adopting these philanthropic initiatives because they can get their brand in front of your organization's audience when you co-brand marketing materials. It also helps them build a better reputation in the community when others know they’re doing something for a good cause.
Comb through your nonprofit CRM to look for donors and supporters who may have the resources or connections to develop these partnerships. You may have donors who are small business owners themselves or who are leaders in their companies and can speak on your behalf.
3. Leverage new connections through your board.
Your board members help govern your organization. They also have a lot of potential to help your organization's fundraising efforts. Ask about their interests to see how they can take their service with your organization to the next level.
According to Boardable, some of the fundraising responsibilities your board members can take on include the following:
Write a case for support. As dedicated advocates for your cause, your board members can work together with your staff to write a case for support for various initiatives.
Thank donors. Research shows that personal thank yous from board members to donors can have a higher impact than from staff members.
Educate the community. Your board members likely hold a lot of authority and are recognized as influencers for your mission. Ask them to hold educational events or to simply post new information about your cause on social media to educate others.
Plan and understand development strategies. If your board members are interested in helping plan fundraising initiatives, let them do so! Host collaboration meetings between board members and your development team.
Make personal donations. One way to strengthen their commitment to your mission is for board members themselves to make a donation. Often, nonprofits hesitate to ask for donations because board members already give so much, but you could be missing out on vital revenue when you don’t ask!
Introduce staff to prospects. Your board members also likely have connections in the community that your organization can use. Ask them if they’d be willing to make those introductions or speak on your nonprofit's behalf.
Ask your board members if and how they’d be interested in getting more involved during your next board meeting. After they agree to help, use future meetings to check in on their progress.
4. Focus on your mid-level donors.
Too many organizations focus almost exclusively on acquiring new supporters and raising donations from major donors. This leaves out a whole mid-tier group of supporters who may not be getting the attention they deserve, which means they’re not supporting your organization in ways that would make a bigger difference on the impact you want to make. It also means these mid-level supporters are much more likely to lapse in the future; if that’s the case, your fundraising could easily plateau.
Cover all of your bases and steward each supporter. This will help you build deeper relations and hopefully result in a higher retention rate.
To determine which supporters are your mid-level supporters, separate out the donors making smaller donations, the ones making major donations, and the ones who fall in between. It’s that group of donors who fall somewhere in the middle who make up the mid-level supporters.
By stewarding your mid-level supporters, you can obtain more revenue than is available from your small donors. Plus, these supporters are most likely to feed into your major gift program in the future, so you should focus on retaining them and growing their relationship with your cause.
Steward these supporters with initiatives like:
Communicating more frequently. Send emails, post to social media, and leverage other platforms to share impact stories and updates on your latest initiatives with mid-level donors. Don’t forget that these messages don’t always need to have the agenda of requesting donations. They should also serve to educate these donors on what you’re trying to do and thank them for their support in helping you work toward your goals.
Calling them to say thank you. Call them after they make a donation to thank them for their generosity. This will show how much you appreciate them and the fact that you consider their support integral to the success of your nonprofit.
Providing additional fundraising opportunities. There are plenty of unique online fundraising opportunities available today. Get creative with your campaigns, providing new engagement opportunities for your supporters.
Asking for peer-to-peer campaign volunteers. Ask if they’ll participate in peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns by launching their own pages and raising money on behalf of your cause.
Offering additional support opportunities. Volunteering, participating in advocacy campaigns, and sharing educational resources online are just a few of the opportunities you can offer your mid-level supporters if they’re looking to get more involved in your mission.
These strategies are opportunities to show your supporters that you care about them and appreciate their efforts. This strengthens their relationship with and commitment to your cause, encouraging them to continue getting involved in the future.
A new year is an opportunity for a fresh start, allowing you to develop strategies and goals to make this year even better than the last. Make sure your fundraising efforts are constantly evolving and taking into account the newest trends in the industry. Happy fundraising!
This guest post was written by Jay Love.
Co-Founder and current Chief Relationship Officer at Bloomerang
He has served this sector for 33 years and is considered the most well-known senior statesman whose advice is sought constantly.
Prior to Bloomerang, he was the CEO and Co-Founder of eTapestry for 11 years, which at the time was the leading SaaS technology company serving the charity sector. Jay and his team grew the company to more than 10,000 nonprofit clients, charting a decade of record growth.
He is a graduate of Butler University with a B.S. in Business Administration. Over the years, he has given more than 2,500 speeches around the world for the charity sector and is often the voice of new technology for fundraisers.
