Nonprofits struggling to retain donors often don’t realize they have an invaluable tool already in their pockets: their constituent relationship management (CRM) platforms! These solutions are tailor-made to help organizations better engage with their donors, foster genuine relationships, and promote long-lasting donor retention.
If you’re feeling stuck or think you could make better use of your CRM technology, this guide is for you. We’re going to explore the following strategies to maximize your CRM for boosting donor retention:
- Automate and personalize donor outreach.
- Segment donors for tailored communications.
- Use donor engagement metrics to prioritize donors.
- Leverage donor timelines.
- Report on fundraising outcomes.
You’ll know you’re making the most of your nonprofit software solution when you can effortlessly organize and access donor information for tailored outreach campaigns.
1. Automate and personalize donor outreach.
Modern fundraising technology has eliminated the need for manual data input. With your CRM platform, you can automate and personalize donor outreach using the information stored in your donor profiles.
Your nonprofit’s CRM will improve donor outreach and appreciation by allowing you to:
- Automate your thank-you messages. Create an automated thank-you email sent immediately after donors give, whether they make an online, in-person, or mail-in donation.
- Personalize gratitude notes with donor information. Your gratitude emails should automatically pull specific information from your CRM to customize each message to every recipient. Add their names, gift amounts, and references to other ways they’ve engaged with your organization, whether volunteering, advocacy, etc. This specification ensures that each donor will feel appreciated as a unique individual.
- Create a follow-up cadence for timely communication. Use your CRM to set a communication schedule to keep donors in the loop after giving. For example, you can create a 30-60-90 day cadence with recommendations for emails, phone calls, texts, and other touchpoints at every stage.
- Leverage letter and email templates. CRMs with built-in marketing tools are often equipped with communication templates that you can customize to your nonprofit’s needs. Leveraging templates offers multiple benefits: you can ensure you’re using communication best practices and speed up the drafting process, giving your staff more time to devote to other donor stewardship efforts like in-person meetings or phone calls.
These gratitude and personalization efforts will help your organization achieve a crucial second donation from supporters—what Bloomerang’s donor retention guide calls the “golden donation.” According to the most recent data from the Fundraising Effectiveness Project, two-time donors have a retention rate of 38%, a significant jump from the one-time donor retention rate of 18.6%.
With timely thank-you messages and relevant follow-up information, you can keep your organization on donors’ radars and increase the chances they’ll give again.
2. Segment donors for tailored communications.
Segmentation is the process of grouping donors based on shared characteristics to send each group information relevant to their needs, preferences, and interests.
By creating donor segments in your CRM, you can tailor your outreach to specific groups rather than specific individuals. As a result, you can maintain a personal touch in your messaging without spending too much time customizing every communication.
You have plenty of options for segmenting your donors, but RFM segmentation is one of the most popular strategies. RFM stands for:
- Recency: New vs. long-time donors
- Frequency: Monthly donors, annual donors, sporadic/occasional donors
- Monetary value: Major, mid-level, and small donors
In addition to these criteria, you could create groups for event donors, lapsed donors, donors who also volunteer, or communication preferences (whether text, email, phone calls, or in-person meetings). Using CRM filters, you can automatically segment donors based on the information in their donor profiles to sort them into the correct group.
The next step of the segmentation process is to create targeted marketing content for each group. For example, take a look at the types of emails you can send to donors with different giving frequencies:
- One-time donor: “Here’s how to make an even greater impact with your gift!”
- Send information about matching gifts, volunteer grants, recurring giving programs, and other initiatives that help one-time donors maximize their positive impact.
- Monthly donor: “Explore your annual giving report!”
- Send a yearly roundup of the unique impact donors have made with their recurring donations to demonstrate how much your organization values them.
- Lapsed donor: “We miss you!”
- Send an email with a survey for lapsed donors to collect feedback about why they stopped giving and what would influence them to give again.
Donors will appreciate messages that resonate with their current stage of the donor journey. When you meet them at their level, you can foster more genuine connections that spark loyalty over time.
3. Use donor engagement metrics to prioritize donors.
Some nonprofit CRMs offer donor engagement scoring directly in the system. This metric measures every donor’s relative level of involvement with your organization. It can help determine which donors are highly engaged and ready for a donation or upgrade request and which supporters need more time or attention before being prepared to give again.
Run frequent reports to identify donors at every stage of the engagement spectrum. Then, work with your team to craft targeted communication strategies for interacting with donors at every engagement level. Here are some examples of techniques you can use to engage with donors at all stages of their involvement:
- High-engagement donors: Invite them to a tour of your facilities, call them to gather feedback, and send a donation request at the height of their engagement.
- Mid-level engagement donors: Provide information about other opportunities to get involved (e.g., volunteering, events, or advocacy).
- Lapsed or low-engagement donors: Reach out with impact information and surveys asking what would inspire them to give again.
Set an automated email or communication reminder when a donor’s engagement score drops below a certain threshold. This reminder will allow you to reach out to donors in a timely manner to remind them of their connection to your cause.
Additionally, you can use engagement scores and wealth screening to determine which donors are major giving candidates. If a donor exhibits a high level of engagement and the capacity to give a larger gift, they should be considered a prospective major donor. To cultivate long-term engagement, your nonprofit should devote personalized attention to these supporters through phone calls and in-person visits.
4. Leverage donor timelines.
According to BWF’s donor research, the most significant determinants of donor resilience are whether the donor knows multiple people at the nonprofit and views giving to the organization as a part of their identity. By engaging donors in other ways that suit their interests besides just donating, you allow them to form connections with other supporters and staff members and make their involvement with your organization a more significant part of their self-image.
Donor timelines support your efforts to get to know donors and engage them more deeply in your nonprofit’s work. These features are present in most nonprofit CRMs, allowing you to track and store data about every interaction supporters have with your organization. For example, you can track donor activities such as:
- Donating
- Attending events
- Opening and engaging with your emails
- Answering your phone calls
- Engaging with or sharing your social media content
- Participating in peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns
- Volunteering
- Responding to a survey
Using this information, you can connect donors with opportunities that suit their interests and skills. For example, you can send upcoming volunteer opportunities to donors who also like to volunteer or call donors who prefer phone communications to say thank you.
You can also contact donors at key milestones, such as the anniversary of their first gift. This outreach will show supporters that you’re paying attention to them and value their continued engagement.
5. Report on fundraising outcomes.
When donors see the real impact of their gifts and understand that your nonprofit uses them wisely, they’ll be much more likely to continue supporting your organization. Reassure donors that you’re making the most of their involvement by reporting on fundraising outcomes with the help of your CRM.
Integrate your CRM with your online fundraising platform to track fundraising progress. This integration ensures that fundraising data will flow from your fundraising tool to your donor profiles. For example, you can store information about donors’ giving habits and contact information that you receive from your online donation page. You can also track the success of your fundraising campaigns and identify how donations helped further your mission.
Share results with donors to demonstrate their impact and inspire them to keep giving, including metrics such as:
- Total number of constituents helped
- Total amount raised to support research related to your mission
- Total meals provided to community members in need
- Total number of new communities you expanded into with the help of funding
- Total number of new donors who joined your monthly giving program in the last year
- Total number of volunteers who supported your initiatives over the previous year
To make this information more engaging and accessible to supporters, create engaging data visualizations, such as interactive charts, maps, or graphs. Weave these data points into a compelling, cohesive narrative that shows donors exactly what their gifts accomplished and the positive change they inspired.
Continually assess your fundraising efforts by tracking your donor retention rate and monitoring any fluctuations based on new strategies you try. Prioritize getting to know donors on a deeper level at every step of the process—this will help you develop tailored outreach strategies that meet their needs and exceed their expectations.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
About the Author
Jay Love is the Co-Founder and current Chief Relationship Officer at Bloomerang
Jay has served this sector for 33 years and is considered the most well-known senior statesman whose advice is sought constantly.
Before founding Bloomerang, he was the co-founder and CEO 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 over 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.