4 Donor Acquisition Strategies Your Nonprofit Can Try Right Now
Acquiring donors, growing as a nonprofit, and making real progress all rely on building connections. Luckily, in the digital age, there are more opportunities than ever for nonprofits to identify like-minded individuals and organizations and build lasting connections.
Ready to make more of the connections your nonprofit needs to thrive? These four donor acquisition strategies can help you start building meaningful connections right now:
1. Create and follow a donor cultivation plan
A donor cultivation plan is a roadmap for finding potential donors who match your ideal donor profile and priming them to accept your request for a donation.
LinkedIn can be a particularly valuable platform for implementing donor cultivation plans. Try inviting prospects to follow your nonprofit’s LinkedIn Page, then experiment with different kinds of posts and watch what your followers interact with to get a better understanding of what they care about. LinkedIn Sales Navigator also gives you the ability to keep track of your prospect’s specific activity, so you can determine the ideal time to reach out.
2. Use your organization’s existing connections to find warm introductions
Utilizing your team’s networks may help you find natural opportunities to get potential donors’ attention. If you identify a mutual connection, ask them to introduce you to the prospect, helping to establish interest and trust.
LinkedIn Sales Navigator allows you to map your entire organization’s network, making it easier to spot mutual connections and request introductions.
3. Personalize messaging using LinkedIn profile information
Elevate your donation requests by tailoring your outreach message to the prospect’s unique interests, experience, and values, based on information you find on their LinkedIn profile. For example, you can reference content they’ve interacted with, previous work or volunteering experiences, or causes they support. Doing this allows you to make a more compelling case for support, and shows your prospect that you took the same to get to know them, rather than sending a generic message.
Did you know that you can also run personalized ads on LinkedIn? LinkedIn Marketing Solutions for nonprofits allow you to quickly and easily create ads that feature the viewer’s name, profile picture, and more, making them more likely to stop scrolling and see what you have to say.
4. Impress potential donors with your transparency and impact
Insights from the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) reveal that nonprofits can be particularly successful at fundraising if they focus on transparency and impact.
You can demonstrate transparency and impact in your outreach messages by providing specific details to would-be donors about how their donations will be used — and how it will help move your mission forward. By showing potential donors the difference you can make together, they’ll be excited to help you along the way.
For more ideas on how to build genuine relationships with your donors, follow the LinkedIn for Nonprofits blog.
