The nonprofit podcast powered by donorbox. Successful fundraisers use a blend of strategies,
software and techniques to reach their fundraising goals, especially this time of year. Welcome back to the nonprofit podcast. I'm Kara fundraising coach at Donorbox and
I'm Jenna, the nonprofit advocate here at Donorbox. We're here each week with practical actions
you can use today to take your nonprofit to the next level. Tomorrow. Today, we're here to talk about those strategies,
software and techniqu
es, those essentials that make up your year end fundraising tool
kit. And we've got a fantastic lineup to talk through
today, Jenna. Could you kick us off with an overview of
some of the fantastic tools available for every organization to use during the giving
season? Yeah, absolutely. Kara. So as we enter the season of giving nonprofits,
definitely have a wealth of fundraising options at their fingertips to consider and it can
be hard to decide which ones to use when you're overwhelmed like tha
t. It can seem easier to just not do anything
at all. Right. Can you break it down a bit? So it's not so overwhelming. Yeah, absolutely. So today we're talking about those time tested
methods such as crowdfunding, peer to peer fundraising membership programs, text to give
campaigns. These are all really powerful tools that can
significantly impact your year end fundraising efforts. For sure. OK. So you just shared for fundraising methods
there and these are tools you can use for fundraising and
I'll say this, those work
particularly well, especially at year end, each of them do. So let's dive deeper into each of these methods. Let's start with crowdfunding. Can you share more about crowdfunding? Why someone should even spend some time looking
into it this season? For sure. So crowdfunding can be very effective for
nonprofits, whether they're established or just starting out to raise those big funds
quickly. And it's cost effective too. It's particularly well suited though for a
time bo
und campaigns like giving Tuesday or year end campaigns, which is why we're talking
about it now, right? And something that I want to note here, why
it's so good? It's because the average crowdfunding campaign
raises around $10,000 and an amount like that can be a major game changer for small nonprofits
for sure. So what does an actual crowdfunding campaign
look like? So you can create this page, you can post
campaign updates directly on that page and then send email updates to donors and subscr
ibers
where they can subscribe right there on that page. So all within the donorbox platform and on
top of this donorbox makes it really easy to share these crowdfunding campaigns with
social media, sharing links. So with just the click, folks can share on
their social media pages and it also has virtual donor walls, which really serve as great social
proof as people are trying to decide if they want to give to your cause. So it really motivates potential donors. So if I'm a nonprofit leader, fo
under or fundraiser,
how do I know if crowdfunding is a good fit for my fundraising? That's a really good question. So whether crowdfunding is the right fit depends
on what you're trying to accomplish the support that you already have in place for your organization. So for example, if your goal is to raise funds
for a particular project or initiative like giving Tuesday or your end or some sort of
capital campaign, crowdfunding could be a really excellent choice. However, if you're just seeking
ongoing support,
continuous support, it might not be the perfect option. So to decide you should consider just a few
questions here. So first ask yourself, what is the purpose
of your fundraising campaign? Right. So is it something that's time bound that
has a set start and end date or are you looking to fund a specific program or initiative? Again, this is a very specific goal and if
yes, crowdfunding could definitely be a good fit and then second, consider the power of
your message. So crowdfu
nding is all about storytelling,
right? So can you tell a compelling story about why
the funding is needed. A compelling narrative can majorly boost the
success of your crowdfunding campaign. And again, we're going back to these updates. You should be posting stories and compelling
narratives and you need to have that on hand for crowdfunding for sure. And then third, you need to think about your
existing audience. Do you already, you have an engaged community
that supports your organization's m
ission. If so, that's a really big advantage. As engaged supporters can help propel your
crowdfunding efforts and share that page with their networks as well. Those are really great and that is a good
way to gauge whether or not crowdfunding is a good fit. Sometimes all those really great ideas out
there aren't good fit. So thank you for sharing that checklist of
things to think about when you're setting that up. Let's shift our focus to the next tool, our
next fundraising method and that is pee
r to peer fundraising. Could you elaborate on what this strategy
entails and why it's a valuable addition to the fundraising tool kit? Yes, I am such a peer to peer cheerleader. So, peer to peer fundraising actively involves
your supporters and your organization's fundraising efforts. So instead of just donating to a campaign
like crowdfunding, right? individuals become active fundraise users
for your cause by creating personal fundraising pages dedicated to your organization, right? This is rea
lly cool. They create pages based on your campaign and
they get to tell their story, which is really neat. So the primary benefit of peer to peer is
just the big impact it can have on your organization's reach. And it increases that visibility and again,
expanding your reach outside of your immediate network because you have these people in your
network, but now they're reaching out to their friends, their family, their colleagues, and
those are people you may not have otherwise had access to, r
ight? But this means that you can raise more donations
and acquire new donors to nurture as well. So what should our listeners consider before
starting that Peer to Peer campaign? If you are trying to decide if peer to peer
fundraising is good for your organization, if it would be a good method. There are a few things to consider. So first take a look at your staffing capacity,
peer to peer fundraise typically requires less staffing than other fundraising methods. I know that a lot of our organi
zations may
be a fundraising team of just one or two people. So peer to peer creates fundraisers out of
your network, which makes it a really excellent choice for organizations with those limited
resources or those small teams. And then second, you want to assess your existing
community of supporters. Are they willing and able to share stories
about your organization's work and their connection to it. Peer to peer fundraising fully relies on these
shared narratives. So having an engaged network
is absolutely
essential here. And then lastly, you want to consider whether
you have time and resources available to get a peer to peer campaign up and running. It does take a little bit of work on the front
end. Peer to peer fundraisers may need training
and guidance, which requires a little bit more preparation. So once you've established training and tool
kits, the can really run itself, but it does take some time to curate. Yeah, that training and guidance is really
key. So giving your suppo
rters who are fundraising
on your behalf, some clear talking points and even some sample copy they can use in
their email and social media posts to their networks can really be helpful. We've had some clients who've had some success
with a video call to kick off a campaign. So those fundraising for them have a chance
to understand the campaign and it's some time to ask some questions. Thanks for sharing that to peer is fun. And I but I also know that crowd funding and
peer to peer fundraising ca
n be hard to differentiate sometimes. So we do have a donor box blog post with a
great visual image that helps explain this and we will be sure to link it for you in
the show notes. OK, Jenna, let's explore our third method
of fundraising, our third tool in our tool kit and that is membership programs. What can you tell us about these programs
and why should nonprofits consider them Yeah, you probably have lots of different ways to
get people to give money to your organization from direct mail a
ppeals to regular fundraising
campaigns through your online donation form. But there is another way. So what if instead of just asking people for
one time donations, you could ask them for something more stable, something that would
help you build the kind of structure infrastructure that allows your organization to be sustainable
over time. We all want this right? So membership programs are a fantastic way
to cultivate that focused support for your cause and generate that predictable revenue
th
at you all need. So your members play an active role in advocating
for your cause. So membership programs are built on the idea
that supporters will pay a certain amount on a recurring basis for an ongoing benefit
rather than just paying a lump sum upfront. So it's similar to how you might pay for your
gym membership or how you might buy a subscription. And this, this model has been around for decades,
but it's become really popular with nonprofits as well. And these types of programs really all
ow you
to nurture these donor relationships more effectively. And it gives you these tools you need to raise
the money for your organization in exchange for benefits or services such as an insider
newsletter or invitations to members only events. And what I especially love about membership
programs though is that they really help you involve your supporters more closely and develop
longer term donor relationships. It just really builds this really cool close
knit community around your cause. Yea
h, it sounds like membership programs can
be effective to build that dedicated community around your cause. But I'm kind of curious how does this differ
from monthly giving programs? It seems like there could be some overlap
there. Yeah, that is such a good question and when
I've seen from our nonprofit community a few times, for sure. So while both membership programs and monthly
giving programs involve recurring contributions, the key difference here is in the focus. So membership programs emp
hasize offering
benefits or services in exchange for that ongoing support, creating again that sense
of community and exclusivity, I guess, whereas monthly giving, on the other hand, typically
involves donors making regular contributions without the same level of structure benefits. So it's more about consistent financial support
as opposed to getting those extras, right? Both approaches here are really valuable and
donors like both of them, right? But they serve slightly different purposes
in e
ngaging your supporters. OK? I mean that makes sense. So thank you for clarifying that for me and
for our listeners. OK. So thinking about membership programs, what
should organizations consider before implementing one? Yeah, first ask yourself if you want to, to
build a community around your cause, right? Of course, you do. So membership programs are really great at
creating that sense of belonging and commitment among members. And then second, you want to consider whether
you need that reliabl
e source of recurring revenue membership programs again, can really
provide that stability needed for your organization's sustainability. And maybe you're only seeing one time donations
right now and you really want to amp up those recurring donations. And last, you want to ensure that you have
the right infrastructure in place. So, of course, you need to handle the billing
and the payment processing effectively. And if you've got a platform like donorbox,
you can have a membership form right th
ere on your website that makes it really easy. But you also want to make sure that you've
got benefits to offer your members as well. So what are you going to offer them that is
truly valuable and you also need to be able to have a plan for consistent communications. You're giving them a little bit more care. Of course, you should give all of your donors
lots of care and engagement and attention but consistent communication and the capacity
to do that along with offering those exciting benefits
is really, really essential to ensuring
that your membership programs successful. Yeah, they're stepping in to support you and
expect those regular communications. You absolutely cannot drop the ball or you'll
dissolve some of that trust that they've put in you. Absolutely. Yes. Well, thank you so much for breaking that
down. Let's go to our fourth and final tool in our
tool kit today. So let's discuss text to give. Can you provide more details about how this
mobile friendly fundraising method w
orks and why it's so important text to give is a fundraising
method that enables donors to give to organizations by using their smartphones, by simply using
their phones, texting applications. Supporters can make donations to their favorite
nonprofits anywhere any time, which is great, right? We live in a world of convenience. So that's really important and we know that
mobile giving has become increasingly popular and crucial because it provides donors with
that convenience to contribute any ti
me anywhere. And they're expecting that they're expecting
that convenience. Right? Yeah, we all have our phones on us pretty
much all the time. That's why text to give is really popular
and carry. You know, I love a good stat. So I so I dug up some stats to really back
this up. So last year, 28% of online donations came
from mobile devices. Ok. The average donation amount on a mobile device
is $42 which is pretty good. It's decent. The number of transactions completed through
mobile devices has
increased by 50%. So you got to keep up. And what's cool about text to give is that
it's really effective for marketing on the radio or even TV, or during in person events
and you can print it out, you can print out your text to give number at events for each
table in a cute little frame or on banners to hang at community events or festivals or
you can put it on a big screen during a service and adding a really clear call to action to
that to give text this number with short code, this just make
s it so easy, so easy. And I think text to give is also working well
on social media. So Jenna, what should organizations consider
before rolling out text to give right now? Well, the first thing you should do is ensure
that your organization has a mobile responsive fundraising page in this guarantees that the
donation process is really easy for people to complete on their phone screens. Do you want a form that fits in seamlessly
on, on, you know, on mobile? So there's no awkward scrolling and t
hat just
makes it a really good giving experience. And the next you want to look at your budget
and your resources, text to give is definitely an affordable option that requires minimal
set up time and no major costs. However, a lot of fundraising platforms do
tack it on as an add on which you know can cost anywhere between 20 bucks, 50 bucks. I think it's a cost that's well worth it. And it really pays back at importing those
stats, right? And then you want to think about whether or
not you're
seeking an alternative way to ask for donations. So again, thinking about events who are being
on site or advertising, text give can really complement those other fundraising methods,
even direct mail, it really just amplifies what you're doing and it just gives people
another way to donate, which is important. Now, lastly, if you want to encourage repeat
donations, easily, text to give is also an excellent option. It allows potential donors to contribute really
easily, right, by texting that co
de or entering a donation amount. And the simplicity can lead to more donations
from your supporters and again, who doesn't want recurring donations, right? And you know, I will also say that text to
give is a great tool for those last minute fundraising appeal. As the year end approaches, you can send out
text reminders to your donors, encouraging them to make a final contribution before the
year closes. Yep, I absolutely agree. They can do it from the New Year's Eve Party. Yes. Yes, that's a g
reat idea. And all of these, all four of these tools
and fundraising methods are really terrific for those year end campaigns. They build that general spirit of generosity
and those social connections that are part of the season of the year. And they offer that convenience to the supporters
are definitely looking for at this time of year because everybody's busy right now, right? You can offer that convenience. That is a good point to consider Jenna. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. And overall it helps d
onors feel like they're
part of something bigger, right? That means that you're getting more done in
less time, you're meeting your financial goals, but your donors are feeling fulfilled as well. That's really important. Yep. All before the clock strikes midnight on New
Year's Eve, Jenna, these are really handy tools to have ready now so that they are ready
to go when your supporters are ready to give. So thank you for taking the time to explain
these. I know you helped clarify each of them. For
me, it was my pleasure as always, Kara. And before we wrap up, here's a practical
action for our listeners. Perfect. Choose one of these fundraising types, whether
it's crowdfunding, peer to peer membership programs or text to give and start creating
a campaign for it. In donorbox, you can sign up really easily
give yourself the the time you need to get started. And if you encounter any challenges, remember
that the donorbox support team is here to assist you. Always, you can reach out to them
at support
at donorbox dot org. And do you want some extra support to help
guide you through giving season? Be sure to check out today's show notes for
some great ways to connect with donorbox to get the support you need when you need it
most. And as we wrap up this week's episode, we
want to see sincerely. Thank you for spending a little of your time
this busy season with the nonprofit podcast. I hope you've left with the confidence to
take a small step today that will make a big difference tom
orrow. Be sure to click the download button on your
podcast player, then leave the nonprofit podcast a review or give it a thumbs up. If you're listening to the nonprofit podcast
on youtube, your review really is a great way to help others find us. You're here to help others. We're here to help you. So until next time, stay inspired, that warm
feeling when you help someone, it's not just happiness, it's fulfillment. And we believe it should be available to everyone
from front line. Heroes to fir
st time fundraisers, our tools
empower you to help others. This is our mission. This is Donorbox, helping you help others.
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