The 5 Must-Dos Before Finding New Donors

I get it. You want new donors. But are you really ready to receive them?


So much of what I see in fundraising is what I call walking backwards. You are walking - busy and using up energy, but you basically are always in the same spot not really ever moving forward. 


Why?


It’s because your foundation is cracked. 


Let me give you a few examples:


  1. You’re a start-up nonprofit and you need money to get your program off the ground. You know you need to find new donors because you can’t just be asking your family and friends for support. You’ve raised a handful of donations from donors, but not so many that you can’t keep track of them all in your head. People have PayPal or Venmo’d you donations - it’s all very casual. What would you do if you suddenly had 100 new donors trying to give you money all at once? How would you process them? How would you track them and how would you thank them?

  2. You’re an off-the ground nonprofit raising less than $1M per year. You’ve got a loyal donor base, but you are looking to expand. You need new donors. Problem is because you are always in the acquisition phase - your retention rates are super low. This means you are always on the hamster wheel. What would it look like if you put a proper stewardship place in place so that your one-time donors became repeat donors and you didn’t have to work so hard each year?

  3. You’re an established nonprofit raising multi-million dollars per year. You’ve finally got a team in place and have hired various relationship managers to do all the things. Problem is - this is all new and you have zero processes in place to move your donors along the line. What would it look like if you started with a weekly moves management meeting where you talked about all of your donors each and every week?


The big takeaway: if you don’t take some time to get yourself set up to be able to receive new donors - you are going to be the definition of working harder not smarter and in fundraising - that means doing more work than you need to be doing. 


Here are 5 of my must-dos before going out to find new donors: 


  • Get your mind right: Attitude is EVERYTHING in fundraising. The cardinal rule of fundraising is that people give money to people - not organizations. If you are the person representing your organization and you have a negative or fear based attitude then don’t be surprised when you attract those types of donors. 

  • Know your numbers: I’ve spent the past few weeks talking about your numbers. You can check that out here and here, but in all seriousness - finding new donors should not be you throwing spaghetti at the wall. You need to be strategic. That starts with knowing for example, how many donors and at what amount(s) you need. 

  • Do you have a way to easily capture and process donations? This might sound obvious, but it’s alarming how I hard it is to sometimes make an online donation to nonprofit organizations. Rule of thumb, I should be able to find your donation page in less than 2 clicks (and honestly, it should only take one). I know I shouldn’t compare, but when the norm is Amazon, you want to make sure you are using a tech tool that can take my money in just a few easy steps + send me a donation receipt automatically. 

  • Can you thank generously? I made over a dozen gifts between November 30th and December 31st 2021. Want to know how many of those organizations have generously thanked me? One. ONE. And by “generous” I mean one organization sent me an additional thank you besides my donation receipt. I know gratitude is the EASIEST thing to let slide, but when we know - from lots and lots of data that it is the #1 indicator of a repeat gift I have to ask - why do let it?

  • Do you have multiple post-donation touchpoints in place? Whenever I ask nonprofit’s this question I see stars in their eyes. I know that as the calendar goes on folks will come up with something, but it’s on the fly verses being strategic. The most thoughtful organizations are able to do the loop back which might look like:

    • Reminding folks how their donation is being put to work

    • Updating your donors on a story you told them during the campaign

    • Creating an opportunity for your community to come together and see/touch/see/smell your work up close or better yet - ask questions


So, before you get ready to sprint towards finding your new donors - take a minute to get these items in place. Not only will you be ready to receive more new donors, but you will have everything in place to be able to retain them too. 


Talk about working smarter, not harder.     

I’m hosting a free workshop on February 8th at 10am PST/1pm EST where I’m going to walk you through - workshop style - the 5 must-dos before going out and finding new donors. No matter what stage your nonprofit is at. Hope to see you there!

data, donors, new donorsJessica Campbellnew donorsComment