For nonprofits on the front lines, COVID response donors have substantially eclipsed 2020 donor acquisition targets. While public health officials continue to encourage social distancing, distance from your new COVID-19 donors is not an option! Organizations need retention strategies in place to partner with these individuals and leverage the long-term potential of the audience.
Pursuant GivingDNA enables organizations to understand what motivated donors to give and build hyperpersonalized engagement strategies for these supporters. We recommend:
- Get to know your donors. Recent Pursuant client analysis explored the profile of COVID donors. [Link to Blog 1] How does your donor profile compare? Explore attributes of these new donors and compare to those already on your file. Use the Pursuant GivingDNA platform to get started.
- Prioritize donors. Disaster-response donors are typically transactional. Yet COVID is like no other – and the disaster continues. Use donor insight to sort through new donors, identify those who are the most charitable and who have previously given to causes within your nonprofit vertical.
- Segment donors. Beyond demographic and psychographic attributes, behavioral data about that first gift will allow you to group donors by gift size, channel responsiveness and acquisition source. Subsequent strategies can abide by these behaviors.
- Build relationships! While the shock of crisis fades there is no end in sight and the need persists for many. Communicate with your donors. Start with a ‘thank you”. Showcase your impact. Share how your serving as a steward of resources.
- Invite donors to give through mission. Cross the bridge and connect donors to other mission areas of support. For instance, while a donor may have given to support animal foster care during COVID – the need persists throughout the year. Invite donors to upgrade to become monthly donors for ongoing animal foster care.
How close is your organization to your COVID donors?
Pursuant GivingDNA enables nonprofits to understand the profile of their supporters in near-real-time. We gather hundreds of attributes including demographics, behavior, psychographics, affiliation, engagement channel preference, and timing. Our technology decodes each supporter, from major gifts to casual supporters, revealing elements of who they are and what motivates them to action.