For nonprofits, 2020 was a year when strategies that had long been in place needed to evolve due to effects of the pandemic. According to the 2021 Nonprofit Leadership Impact Study, from NonProfit PRO, 48% of charities moved in-person events to virtual, and many nonprofits were forced to scale back their engagements due to reductions in donations. However, many people continued to give, with 44% of nonprofits receiving more donation dollars in 2020 than the prior year, according to the NonProfit PRO study. 

The following three strategies show how nonprofits can continue embracing, optimizing and maximizing digital donor recruitment strategies to engage dispersed donor bases and increase fundraising potential. 

1. Effective Digital Donor Acquisition Lead Generation Campaigns Can Scale Recurring Nonprofit Donor Bases

According to NonProfit PRO, “41% of nonprofits believe their biggest challenge is acquiring donors, while 10% of nonprofits believe that their biggest challenge is retaining donors.” Effective digital donor acquisition lead generation campaigns can collect data from high-intent hand raisers, allowing nonprofits to regularly message prospective donors through a variety of channels, including email, push marketing, SMS and phone. Collected first-party consumer data can also be used for audience building efforts across advertising platforms, including Facebook and Google. And as campaigns mature, data related to media cost, conversion rates and lifetime value can be leveraged for campaign optimizations.

Digital Media Solutions^® (DMS) helps nonprofit brands across the country build consistent and sustainable fundraising revenue with performance-based digital donor acquisition campaigns supported by technology-enabled media distribution. Contact DMS today to learn how your nonprofit can thrive with DMS.

2. Social Media Campaigns Can Tell Stories That Drive Nonprofit Donor Excitement & Engagement

Social media, used by 93% of nonprofits to connect with their bases, can be effective at generating the interest of donors, especially younger donors — an audience many nonprofits court.

For example, CARE, a nonprofit with a mission to “save lives, defeat poverty and achieve social justice by putting women and girls in the center,” recently used its Instagram page to share shout-outs, from Presidents Biden, Obama and Bush, celebrating CARE’s 75th anniversary and the six million CARE packages delivered in the U.S. since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Quality content that resonates with donors can drive engagement and donor growth for nonprofits. 

Social media marketing is often managed by in-house teams, but nonprofits looking to scale their efforts often engage partners, like Digital Media Solutions^®(DMS), to expand their paid social efforts and de-risk advertising spend with click-based performance advertising campaigns. Contact DMS to learn how you can give your donor volume acquisition efforts a boost. 

3. Email Subscriber Acquisition Can Increase Nonprofit Donor Engagement & Donation Volume

Email remains one of the most integral parts of fundraising strategies for charitable organizations, with 91% of nonprofits citing email as an outreach tool. By building and maintaining email subscriber lists, nonprofits can connect with current and prospective donors, tell compelling stories and drive donations.

A recent International Rescue Committee (IRC) email campaign prompted their subscribers with a call to action (CTA) to send thank you cards to healthcare workers in Syria, who were working under extreme conditions on the ground offering healthcare and support during COVID-19. Once subscribers clicked through, they filled out forms with personalized notes to healthcare workers, which, after hitting send, took subscribers to a donation page. 

Email subscriber acquisition can be an extraordinarily scalable and cost effective way to grow email databases with new, high-intent subscribers who opt in to receive communications from a specific brand. Often implemented with performance-based pricing, email subscriber acquisition helps nonprofits continually grow email lists to maintain freshness. But the true benefit of a robust email database is the continued use of that data. From prospective donor engagement to donor retention, nonprofits that own and manage their own email databases benefit from the longevity of the relationships they create with their subscribers. 

Contact DMS to learn more about how email subscriber campaigns can help your nonprofit build a list of opted-in hand raisers wanting to hear from you. 

Are You Ready To Engage Prospective Recurring Donors And Scale Donations With Digital Donor Acquisition Campaigns?

DMS helps nonprofit brands across the country build consistent and sustainable fundraising revenue with performance-based digital donor acquisition campaigns supported by technology-enabled media distribution. Our team of nonprofit advertising experts have demonstrated success leveraging full-funnel digital marketing strategies that focus on retention and lifetime value in addition to donor acquisition.

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