WHAT THE FUNDRAISING
140: Unlocking Donor Engagement: Strategies for Building Stronger Relationships
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“It’s not just about a campaign. It’s about the messaging and leading with your values.”
– Sara Hoshooley
Episode #140
Overview
In this episode of What the Fundraising Podcast…
My special guest’s Catherine Ashton, Sara Hoshooley, Natalie Monroe, Jordana Merkin, and Katelyn Baughan join us to talk about ways to build stronger relationships through different marketing strategies with donors. We delve into the world of donor engagement and relationship building and discover the strategies and challenges faced by fundraisers in creating meaningful connections with donors.
Have you heard these three myths about donor engagement and relationship building? Myth 1: Donors only care about the bottom line. Myth 2: Building relationships with donors takes too much time and effort. Myth 3: Donor engagement is only important during fundraising campaigns. In this episode, our guest speakers, Catherine Ashton, Sara Hoshooley, Natalie Monroe, Jordana Merkin, and Katelyn Baughan, will debunk these myths and reveal the truth behind the importance of donor engagement and relationship building for fundraisers and nonprofit professionals.
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
- Building Campaigns for Engagement and Relationship Building
- Making a Personal Connection with Donors
- Messaging and Value
- Tactics for Deeper Engagement
- Avoiding Burned Bridges
- Fundraising Strategies for Nonprofits
- Conscious Choice in Fundraising
- Opting Out of Nonprofit Communications
- Personalizing Communications for Donors
- Tracking Engagement and Retention
- Starting Small and Incremental Progress
- Elevating Campaign Donors
- Personalizing Communications
- Understanding Donor Perspectives
- Donor Fatigue and Effective Communication
- The Importance of Building Individual Relationships
- Long-Term Engagement and Pipeline
- Creating a Community for Donors
- Starting Small and Repurposing Content
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Catherine Ashton
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Katelyn Baughan
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Jordana Merkin
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Sara Hoshooley
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Natalie Monroe
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
- Many thanks to our sponsor, Bloomerang for making this episode possible. Bloomerang offers donor management and online fundraising software that helps small to medium nonprofits, like First Tee of Greater Akron, a nonprofit that empowers kids and teens through the game of golf. After just one year with Bloomerang they doubled their unique donors, improved donor stewardship, and raised more funds. Head to bloomerang.com/whatthefundraising to learn more about Bloomerang.
- If you haven’t already, please visit our new What the Fundraising community forum. Check it out and join the conversation at this link.
- If you’re looking to raise more from the right funders, then you’ll want to check out my Power Partners Formula, a step-by-step approach to identifying the optimal partners for your organization. This free masterclass offers a great starting point
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TIPS AND TOOLS TO IMPLEMENT TODAY
- With the increasing decline in giving in the nonprofit sector, it's crucial to build campaigns that aim not only at collecting donations but also at fostering meaningful relationships with donors.
- When your donors see that their values resonate with your cause and the specific initiatives they support, it significantly improves their commitment and engagement.
- Cultivating personal connections with donors is a powerful strategy for enhancing donor engagement and loyalty and connections can be fostered by demonstrating your understanding of donors as individuals; acknowledging their interests, appreciating their generosity, and making them feel as integral parts of your organization's mission.
- Using the right language, tone, and medium to communicate with donors, while maintaining consistency across all channels, can significantly enhance donor interaction and engagement.
- Demonstrating appreciation for donations, however big or small, helps in making donors feel valued, fostering stronger connections.
- Tracking donor engagement and retention is key to understanding how well your engagement tactics work.
- Paying attention to and analyzing key metrics such as click-through rates, replies to emails, unsubscribe rates, or spam marks can provide valuable insights into donor interest and satisfaction.
FAVORITE QUOTES
- It's not just about a campaign. It's about the messaging and leading with your values. - Sara Hoshooley
- I always tell people, put yourself in the shoes of your donor. What do you want to see after you make a donation? You want a thank you, whether that be a personal thank you from a person, which would be amazing if you could do that for every person, but not everyone could do that and then really bring them on a journey, introduce them to your organization. What do you do? What's your mission? - Sara Hoshooley
- I got a couple of emails from for-profit businesses prior to Mother's Day this year that were, 'We understand Mother's Day can be a difficult day for some people. If you don't want to receive emails specifically about this, not opting out in general, then click here to let us know.' And I thought that was such a beautiful way to really say all the time, when you're talking about communication, show me right. That is the key to all communication and just understanding what your audience is looking for. - Jordana Merkin
- If we're looking to engage them as a person and we're doing relationship building over time, I think we need to talk to the person more about their identity and who they see themselves as when they are supporting the organization. - Catherine Ashton
- I just want to encourage people to just start somewhere small, whether that be one personalized email or a postcard you send home, or an invite to an in-person event. - Katelyn Baughan
RELATED CONTENT
Get to know Catherine Ashton:
Catherine Ashton is on a mission to change the way nonprofits raise money. As the founder of Giant Squid Group, Catherine works with start-up and small nonprofits in Austin, TX and Chicago, IL to land donors, win grants, and fund their works. With her coaching and support, her clients raise millions of dollars each year and have an incredible impact on their communities. When Catherine is not working with her team, she’s hiking with her husband, three-year-old daughter and their two rescue dogs.
Get to know Katelyn Baughan:
Katelyn is a nonprofit email consultant who is passionate about helping good causes harness email to inspire generosity. After working with a variety of leading nonprofits and managing multi-million dollar digital fundraising campaigns, Katelyn fell in love with email marketing and its power to raise funds and increase ROI. Katelyn’s launched her marketing consultancy KB digital in 2018, to spend more time with her family. In her five years of business ownership, she’s worked with a variety of well-known nonprofit clients like National Geographic, The Trevor Project, UNHCR, The Cancer Research Institute, and The National Breast Cancer Foundation. Katelyn has a B.A. in Communication from The University of Maryland, a Digital Marketing Certificate from Georgetown University, and is certified in advanced Google Analytics, AdWords, and inbound marketing from HubSpot Academy. You can learn more about Katelyn at katelynbaughan.com.
Get to know Jordana Merkin:
After a decade as an in-house nonprofit marketer, Jordana Merkin founded Voice for Good to bring her insider knowledge and outsider perspective to help growing nonprofits clarify their messaging to connect to those who matter most to achieving their mission. Her work as a mission-driven marketer includes messaging guides, communication plans, and copywriting—all so leaders of small nonprofits can raise awareness and funds for their organizations.
Get to know Sara Hoshooley:
Sara is a fundraising consultant and coach who LOVES working with small nonprofit organizations. As a former small charity Executive Director she understands the challenges and opportunities facing small but mighty nonprofits. Her unique approach uses each organization’s strengths to grow fundraising in an authentic and achievable way.
Get to know Natalie Monroe:
After a career in the wine industry learning the intricacies of Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc, Natalie landed in nonprofit with the military-to-ag movement. There she told the stories of veterans turned farmers feeding our country, and began to embrace the power of video messaging. Now she gets to share the magic of the MemoryFox story collection tool that would have been a game changer in her last role. Natalie is an avid book collector, loves music that makes her want to dance, and believes walk-up songs shouldn’t be reserved for baseball players.
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I teach nonprofit fundraisers to bring in more gifts from the RIGHT donors… so they can stop hounding people for money. Fundraising doesn’t have to be uncomfortable.
- CEO & Creator of the Power Partners Formula™
- Disruptor in the funding sector, changing lives everyday
- Relentlessly committed to the movement of money into the nonprofit sector
- Focused on win-win partnerships that allow fundraisers to be authentic and empowered in their work
- Over 15 years working in nonprofits (managing director and ED of multiple fast-growth organizations)
MALLORY ERICKSON
