From storytelling to data analytics, successful fundraising is both art and science. A lot of hard work and commitment are required to be successful! Fundraising is a challenging process, so it’s easy to make mistakes along the way. Here are the top 10 most common fundraising mistakes to avoid and what you should do to avoid them.
Virtually every nonprofit depends on donors to achieve its mission. However, getting people to donate money to your cause isn’t always easy. It requires connecting with your donors and making sure they understand the impact of their donations, among other things.
It’s easy to make mistakes on your fundraising journey, whether you’re new to the game or a seasoned pro. Don’t worry – we have you covered with a list of the 10 most common fundraising mistakes and how to avoid them.
Fundraising is first and foremost about building relationships. Like all relationships, donor relationships require care and regular contact – often called stewardship in the nonprofit world – to grow.
To make this process as efficient and as smooth as possible, schedule some donor “thank you” phone calls on your team’s calendar every week or organize a thank-a-thon, an office “donor calling” event when you can spend the whole day calling donors to thank them. Furthermore, use social media to build authentic connections with your donors by sharing stories and inviting people to be part of them.
The biggest mistake you can make? Not having a donor management system in place to collect and store your donor data. Donorbox donor management makes it easy to immediately collect donor information like name, email address, mailing address, and more so you can build long-term relationships with one-time donors – and get them to give again.
Plus, use your Donorbox donor database to better segment your outreach and store important communication records so you never reach out too often. The Moments feature will alert you of the perfect time to connect with donors, whether they’ve just changed their recurring donation plan or it’s the anniversary of their first donation.
Learn more about how Donorbox helps you manage and grow your donor relationships in this short video!
There are many reasons why nonprofits should invest in measuring impact: gathering data and stories to be used in marketing and communications, getting quantitative and qualitative inputs and feedback for programs and activities, and sharing information with other nonprofits and donors.
Above all, measuring impact is essential to attracting and retaining donors. New donors want to see whether they will be donating to a reputable and effective organization. Long-term donors want to keep giving to a transparent organization that’s accountable to its donors.
Share your social impact measurements in your annual report, on social media, and on your website, the way Muso did. Their Global Impact page demonstrates the real difference they make and exactly how they do so.
You might have an excellent website and a communications plan that attracts thousands to your website, but if your online donation system doesn’t work or is outdated – you might be unwillingly and unnecessarily alienating donors and missing out on large donations.
Invest in an all-in-one online fundraising solution that can help you capture more donations in person and online while keeping all of your donor and donation data in one place.
Donorbox offers a comprehensive suite of fundraising tools that have helped over 80,000 organizations raise more than $2 billion. With a world-class donation form and a 4x faster checkout to industry-leading products like the Donorbox Live™ Kiosk app, Donorbox’s innovative tools are designed for nonprofits of all sizes to succeed.
Other features Donorbox offers include:
And much more. Check out our pricing and sign up today!
Pro tip: Did you know that a brand-aligned donation form receives up to 38% larger donations? Donorbox offers a variety of customization options. Check out how Level Ground made their form pop on their Donorbox-hosted donation page.
One of the most common mistakes nonprofits make is soliciting donations without answering the “why?” question. Seek to always clearly state the purpose of the ask. What will the donation help with? Where does the money go? How is it going to make a difference? Be as specific as possible.
Before launching a fundraising campaign, know exactly how that money is going to be spent. Take these two sample fundraising appeals:
“Please donate $10 to help prevent violence against women in Africa.”
“Your donation of $10 will equip a healthcare worker to respond to domestic or sexual violence calls in Kenya for one day. Empowerment counseling interventions help prevent or reduce violence against women.”
Although both appeals ask for the same amount of money to create the same result, the second one has a much clearer pull to it. The second one clearly states a plan of action with a resulting outcome – the impact is visible.
The more your donors know about the impact of their donation, the more likely they are to become (and stay) donors. Check the below fundraising page and suggested donation amounts on the donation form. They are concise yet sufficient to let potential donors know how a particular amount can be helpful.
Fundraising is indeed about raising money but it is much more than that. Your nonprofit cannot succeed unless you involve your best supporters in the process. This increases engagement and gives supporters a chance to participate in the crucial act of fundraising.
Peer-to-peer fundraising allows you to invite your most loyal donors, best volunteers, friends, family, and board members to create their own fundraising pages online. With Donorbox Peer-to-Peer, you can choose to invite supporters via email or allow anyone to sign up right from your donation page. They’ll then receive an email that walks them through setting up a donation page with custom text, images, and videos. Then they share their page and any donations they collect flow directly to your Donorbox account.
Learn more about Donorbox Peer-to-Peer in this short video!
Especially when it comes to in-person meetings, not doing your homework is one of the biggest fundraising mistakes you can make. This includes asking for too little, asking for too much, asking your prospect in the company of others, and asking for a donation too casually or too indirectly. You need to understand each prospect you solicit so you know exactly what to ask for.
Deciding on how much to ask for is a challenging task. it requires in-depth research. You should segment your donor records stored in your donor management system to find out the giving abilities of your donors. Once you’ve segmented them into various groups, personalize your approach toward them. This can be done through donation appeal emails or letters, or even personal phone calls. Remember if you have found a potential major donor, your ask for a donation should be even more detailed, careful, and personalized. A case statement can be especially useful in situations like this.
Do your homework, make sure you research your prospect, and then listen. Listen carefully and actively. Perhaps you wanted to make an ask of $25,000 but throughout the conversation, the prospect gave you hints that you could ask for $100,000. Who would want to miss out on that?
One-time donors matter. Whether they make a big or a small donation, every dollar counts. However, when it comes to nonprofit fundraising, recurring giving reigns supreme. It helps you maintain a steady stream of income throughout the year and turn your donors into long-term stakeholders of your mission.
Recurring giving programs have a much higher return on investment compared to one-time giving programs. Monthly/quarterly/yearly donors have a higher retention rate than other types of donors. Furthermore, these programs are not only relatively simple to manage for nonprofits but they also make giving easy for donors.
When developing a great recurring giving program, make sure to first develop a donor-centric plan that includes your goals, target audience, and plan to evaluate your efforts.
Finally, invest in a good recurring donation system. It will automate most of your tasks and let you easily accept recurring donations with just a donation form. Donorbox up to four recurring donation intervals to your donation form that can be easily embedded on your website or be used on a Donorbox-hosted donation page.
Check out how this organization encourages donors to make their gifts recurring through four different interval options. One-time is the default interval, but they’ve shown their donors that monthly is their preferred interval by marking it with a heart.
Build Your Recurring Donation Form
There’s nothing worse than spending time crafting the perfect donation form…only to make it difficult to find on your website. Donors should always be one click away from making a donation. As they read the compelling content on your website, they’ll feel compelled to give – but will only complete their donation if your form is easy to find.
That’s where Donorbox comes in with a Sticky Donate Button! This button will stick to the side of your donors’ screens while they browse your site. Once they click on it, they’ll be taken to your pop-up donation form to easily make their donation.
Plus, if you enable Giving Reminder, your donors will receive a friendly prompt to complete their donation if they don’t finish the transaction. This helps you recover donations you would otherwise miss.
Here’s an example with both Sticky Donate Button and Giving Reminder enabled. This powerful combo can help you raise more and create a better giving experience for your donors.
Crowdfunding is the best way to raise money for short-term projects/campaigns, especially those with urgent needs. Any urgent campaign ranging from a natural disaster to a capital campaign is the perfect fit for a crowdfunding campaign.
This is especially helpful for smaller or medium-sized nonprofits that depend on small donation amounts. Imagine you receive $50 from 100 donors during a period of 15 days. You have already raised $5,000 toward your goal! Plus, crowdfunding campaigns have great potential for social media shareability. You can post regular updates, appreciate donors, and encourage them to spread the word for increased reach.
Check out how Black Girls Code used their Donorbox Crowdfunding page to raise over $488,000 for their campaign.
Launch Your Crowdfunding Campaign
Does your organization host events? If so, do you raise as much as possible at each event?
Many organizations miss out on the potential contributed income events can bring in. From ticket sales to auctions and sponsorships, there are many ways nonprofits can raise more with events.
First, sell more tickets with a robust, nonprofit-oriented ticketing solution like Donorbox Events. Create unlimited ticket tiers, set ticket deadlines, use promo codes to boost sales, and seamlessly check your guests in during your event.
This event page offers many ticket types and showcases how many of each ticket type is available, creating a sense of urgency.
During your event, including activities like an auction or raffle is a great way to raise more. You can also use your donation kiosk to collect cashless, in-person donations and payments during your event.
Learn how to raise more at your next event in this blog.
There is no magic potion for successful fundraising. From charity challenges to crowdfunding, to social media, it seems there is always something that nonprofits think is “the thing” that will finally solve their problems and make them financially sustainable. Fortunately or unfortunately, the reality is that reaching your fundraising goals is hard work. There is no easy fix.
Making mistakes in fundraising is normal. Everything is a process of growth and learning for your organization. With the right fundraising strategy in place, small hiccups will never get in your way.
Donorbox has tools, resources, and support to help you reach and surpass your loftiest fundraising goals. Sign up and start fundraising in fifteen minutes!
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Ilma Ibrisevic is a content creator and nonprofit writer. She’s passionate about meaningful work, sustainability, and social movements. If she’s not working, she’s obsessing over coffee or cooking. You can connect with her on Linkedin.
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Ilma Ibrisevic