subject: Non-profit Marketing Strategies & Tips [print this page] This article will discuss numerous topics regarding non-profit marketing tactics such as engaging donors and increasing the average donation of donors. Non-profit organizations must successfully segment donors in order to properly engage them and increase their average donation.
Engaging Donors
Engaging donors is the most effective way to ensure that your donors will continue to support your non-profit financially. The most effective way to figure out how to engage donors is ask current donors why they donate. You may be surprised at the reasons your donors have for donating. Once you determine why your donors are engaged in your non-profit you will have a stronger understanding of what motivates them and how you can use this information to motivate other potential donors.
The next step is determining how to properly engage this target audience to drill deeper into the group of able and willing donors. If you can engage this group properly then you can put together a list of characteristics that can then be used to develop strategic marketing methods to connect with new prospects that exhibit these same characteristics.
If non-profit marketers are able to redirect some energy to accomplish their goals by following these steps they will waste less time and effort and their return on investment should increase significantly. Ultimately, getting more for less in the long run. In tough economic times this is exactly what a non-profit needs to achieve success, they must increase funding while keeping a lid on spending.
Start thinking about how you can use marketing materials to engage individuals and keep them actively involved in your non-profit. Employ social media, mailing campaigns and E-mail blasts to keep potential donors aware of your organizations and its activities. Think of ways you can allow individuals the opportunity to invest in your organization while instilling them with a sense of meaning and achievement. The best way to engage donors is to keep them aware of your organizations latest news and allowing them to be active in you non-profit.
Increasing the Average Donation
Non-profit organizations are feeling the effects of the current tough economic times. Donors are decreasing their average gift size or limiting the number of organizations they donate to. Non-profits need to focus on increasing the average donation from low-dollar donors and maintaining the donation size of high-end donors. The best way to achieve this goal is to improve the experience of being a donor and by staying relevant to the donor.
One way to ensure that your non-profit remains high on the donor's priority list is keep donors engaged in a way that works for them. It is important to extend more than a simple "thank you" to your donators. Your non-profit must stay connected with the donor and continue to build their confidence in your organization. Notify them of what their donation is achieving. A great way to achieve this is by staying in touch with you donors in ways and with content that is meaningful to them. This means avoiding the mistake of speaking to all donors with a broad overview. Appeal to different donor segments and their top concerns.
Engaging your donors in order to increase their average donation is essential to the success of non-profit organizations. Non-profit marketing materials should have messages that are targeted to specific donors and should be should be delivered using numerous marketing channels. Once you create and deliver a message that resonates with a donor it is much more likely that they will increase the amount of their donation.
