Boost Online Donor Retention

How do you boost online donor retention? It’s a big question. Currently, 40.5% of nonprofits surveyed said that less than 10% of their fundraising came from online donations.

So we know there’s quite a swath of exempt organizations out there who aren’t utilizing online donations.

But for those who are, how do you make sure you are following best practices? How do you retain those awesome, web-savvy donors?

Communication

When it comes to communicating with your online donors, you are pretty much tied to both email and social media.

Before you get to those steps, you should probably have a solid online presence. Start by creating a website and a blog! Your blog can range from personal stories about your nonprofit to tips and tricks. Anything goes, as long as you communicate organization updates too!

After that, you simply need to design an email campaign. Let this take form as newsletters, donation emails, or even deals.

Your social media presence is crucial now. With online donation movements like #GivingTuesday, there are just too many opportunities out there. Get social now! It’s low hanging fruit.

There are some special skills you can tap into for your nonprofit marketing, including using video to boost donations.

Every communication channel you open is there for you to retain a relationship with your donors. That should be your top goal.

Appreciation

The most important thing you can do for your retention is to thank your donors. By showing appreciation, your people will feel a swell of gratification that will ask them to keep on.

And don’t just issue blanket thank yous, personalize them to your givers! If you have a database of names and email addresses, this could be easily automated within an email service.

Use your communication channels to feature the philanthropic work people have done for and with your organization.

Connection

Donors aren’t ATMs, they’re people. Don’t bombard them with constant requests for money.

Your best strategy will be to get their voices involved, so that you can establish a connection.

So we suggest using your social media to really spark up discourse. Polls, open ended questions, and contests will involve your followers in a way that gives you insights about them.

And form an emotional connection! If your exempt organization cares deeply, show it. If there’s a funny and comical way to get your message across that matches your tone, do it!

With the exempt organization tax filing deadline soon approaching, it’s a good idea to get those donor records in order.

Head over to ExpressTaxExempt and start your free account today! With multi-user account access, bulk data uploading, and a simplified format, ETE is the premier choice for nonprofit 990 filing.

Have any questions? Give us a call at 704.839.2321.

What are you doing to boost online donor retention?

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How Can You Take Donations to the Next Level?

Let’s face it, fundraising isn’t easy. Simply getting your audience to the donate can be a struggle for many nonprofit and tax exempt organizations.

So how can you optimize your approach to fundraising? Well, come up with a plan to take your donations to the next level!

You Need Online Donations

First up, you need to start accepting donations online. Even if you feel better with the old school methods, you need to consider online donations. Why? Because the whole world is mobile—and the easier it is, the more people are eager to give. And nothing is easier than using your phone or laptop to donate.

So make sure you have a website, and use social media, email, and video production to bring your donors to your website! It all works together, really.

Communication for Donations

After you have your page designed, implement your email marketing strategy to direct donors to your site. We’ve told you about email before, and stand by those marketing basics.

Mixed together with social media, you’ll be able to direct increased traffic towards and hopefully donations to your site.

But don’t abandon all of your traditional methods—a direct mail campaign that advertises your web presence is a good mix of traditional and cutting edge. It’s best to use both to reach your audience!

Advanced Tip: Landing Pages

Your website might be awesome, but if you utilize a landing page, you can customize the experience even more for your donors. So what should you do? Customize a single page with a short donation form and passionate copy with a call to action. REMEMBER—Minimalism is best, so avoid heavy graphics, web videos, or any other distractions.

Let’s face it, some things will work and some won’t. Instead of doubling down on one strategy, you should implement A/B testing to make sure that your fundraising efforts aren’t wasted!

Test your landing page by creating two pages that are near identical, but with different calls to action. Monitor which CTA produces better conversion rates, and then you know that is the right direction. Take the foundations of the more successful page, and then create another page expanding that idea. Keep testing and watch your conversion rates increase!

Once you have your donations coming in, head over to ExpressTaxExempt and create a free account. While Form 990 might not be due for a few more months, it’s never too early to work on your recordkeeping, e-file last year’s 990, or even just keep track of donors.

If you have any questions, our dedicated customer support team is here and ready to help, by phone at 704.839.2321 and by email at Support@ExpressTaxExempt.com. We look forward to hearing from you!

What are your advanced marketing tips?

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