Finding new donors is of universal importance for nonprofits. Rarely are new technologies for effectively doing this created, but using existing channels in innovative ways can help ministries break new ground. The mediums that I am going to mention here are certainly not new, but you may not have used them like this before.
None of these approaches are universally successful either. Much depends on the message, the organization, and the strategy employed. The goal of this post is to put some new ideas in your toolbox for testing.
Text Messages
Texting is being widely adopted by organizations to communicate with their donors. But it can also be used to find new donors. Just like any other medium, a target audience can be identified, messages crafted, and then deployed as a prospecting tool. Using text messages as a donor acquisition tool enables you to reach people in a very personal way at just the right moment, often connected with current events. They can be cost-effective if you are able to target the audience well.
Search Ads
You are likely familiar with search ads; you may even be using them right now. But relatively few organizations use them effectively to find new donors. Prospecting with search ads may involve reaching out to competitively bid on keywords well beyond your organization’s name, something that cannot be done with a Google Grant. Search ads may also provide some valuable research data on the types of causes and issues people are actively searching for.
Sponsored Content
This may be the oldest tool on this list, and it is often used for generating awareness, but it is rarely used effectively for donor acquisition. The biggest things needed to make sponsored content work are the right audience and the right story. Running an ad or anything that feels like an ad will likely fall short. But a long, compelling story does something different. It enables you to emotionally engage the reader with a real and powerful story that exposes a heart-moving problem that then gives the reader the power to help resolve. This is one of the few times where shorter is not better.
Want some help testing these channels for digital donor acquisition? We would love to chat.
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- How to Craft a New Donor Experience - October 4, 2024
- How to Define Fundraising Success - July 26, 2024
- Search Ads vs. Google Grants for Fundraising - May 10, 2024
