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5 Ways to Engage Donors 365 Days a Year

Finding new donors is hard, but keeping them is even more difficult! With Colorado Gives 365, this doesn’t need to be difficult. We hear it all the time – “Colorado Gives Day is one of the best ways for our nonprofit to find new donors!”  The data says it all – in 2022, Colorado Gives Day saw a 38% increase in new donors to the platform. That means more than 100,000 donors were engaged enough to go online, find the causes that matter most to them, and give. With all these new donors, the question now is, “How do we keep those donors engaged?” Here are five tips to keep your donors happy, engaged and giving 365 days a year.

1. Identify them. Know who they are! Take advantage of the built-in donor retention and recurring donation reports to understand your donor behavior.
2. Have a plan. Think of stewardship as your action plan. Define what your ideal donor relationship looks like and then go for it. Make sure your plan is personal, holistic and focused on community. Start by identifying your donor levels (i.e. loyal, major, recurring, etc.), then determine the activities you’ll implement to build your relationship. Some ideas may include:

• Building a monthly giving program.
• Launching a welcome email campaign.
• Identifying ways to frequently and personally say thank you.
• Build your impact storytelling and share it so they know their gifts are making a difference.
• Invite them to visit to see the results of their impact in person (or video!).
• Develop a loyalty program.

Finally, measure your efforts and track engagement so you know what’s working and what you might want to change. Remember, flexibility is good as you learn and pivot to keep them coming back!

3. Share impact. Oh, there are so many questions donors have and things they want to know before the give. Who are you serving? How many people are you reaching? What does success look like for your organization? What are your programs or services and are they working? Avoid the tendency to set it and forget it and make your storytelling a critical component of your stewardship plan. Identify the ways in which you will communicate and use the tools at your fingertips to make it happen. Tools may include email, social media, blogs, podcasts, annual reports, videos, physical letters, your website, or in-person events. Whatever you choose, just do it.
4. Make the ask. “Ugh…I hate making the ask!” is a sentiment too many of us have heard ourselves say. But when you know who you’re asking and what you’re asking them to do, it takes the weight of the ask away. Donor segmentation, a fancy way of saying understand your data – who they are and how they give – will help you better prepare to make the appropriate ask of the appropriate giver.
5. Trust & transparency matter. Giving is a deeply personal act. Think about it. People are digging into their pocketbooks to take their money and give it away to others. It’s an incredible and personal act of generosity and kindness intended to benefit someone else. That makes it personal and intimate. Treat it as such.

Authors: Cindy Matthews and Jordan Brown.

View the Colorado Gives Day Recap & Donor Retention Webinar

FAQs from the webinar:

• Matching Grants are powerful tools to drive donations for a campaign – learn how to leverage the matching grant feature here.
• How do you identify unique donors on ColoradoGives.org? By email address. Learn more about your reporting options here. 
• Adding a custom question to your donor checkout form for a phone number etc. Make sure to review this FAQ for Donor Engagement and Customizing your Page. 
• FREE Features Training Video + FAQ Article
• Advanced Features Training Video + FAQ Article
• Learn more about peer to peer fundraising on ColoradoGives.org here.
• Platform fees here.