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8 Ways Your Nonprofit Can Increase Fundraising Impact

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Allen Bauman
8 Ways Your Nonprofit Can Increase Fundraising Impact

Your nonprofit’s fundraising impact is one of the most important metrics for measuring your organization’s success. It tells you how much money your organization raises, on average, for every dollar spent on fundraising. This number helps to show that your organization is a great investment which is why it is often featured in your Case For Support.

But what does this number mean and how can you improve it?

1. Identify Your Organization's Goals

Before you start strategizing about how to get donors on board, take some time to define what success looks like for your organization. What does success look like for your organization? How much money do you want to raise? How many donors do you need? These are just a few of the questions you should answer before getting started with any fundraising campaign. Make sure everyone involved in fundraising at your organization knows what these goals are so that everyone is working toward the same goal.

2. Make Sure Your Mission Reflects Your Goals

It's important to make sure that your fundraising strategy is integrated with your mission statement. If you're a nonprofit trying to raise money for clean water in Africa, and your mission statement says that you want to help people in need, then the two don't match up.

This is why it's important to make sure that your fundraising goal is realistic and achievable. You don't want to set yourself up for failure by aiming too high or too low.

Instead, try setting a goal that will actually be challenging enough for you to work hard toward achieving — but not so much that you'll give up before you even start raising money.

3. Use a Project-Based Approach

When you're first starting out, it can be difficult to find donors who are interested in giving larger amounts of money. One way to get around this issue is by using a project-based approach. This means that rather than asking for one large donation, you ask for smaller monthly donations over time. For example, if your organization needs $1,000 for a new piece of equipment, instead of asking for one large donation from one donor, ask each donor to pledge $100 per month over the next year (or whatever amount works best). By doing this, you'll be able to receive more donations from people who might not otherwise donate because they don't have enough money available at one time or they just don't feel comfortable pledging such a large amount of money at once.

4. Include a Budget and Timeline

When you're asking for donations, it's important to include a budget and timeline with your request. This way, donors will know exactly how much money they're contributing and where it's going. If you don't provide this information, then people may feel that their donation is being wasted or used in an unethical way. You can also use the budget and timeline to show donors how their money will be used, which will help them feel more confident about donating.

5. Involve Stakeholders in the Planning Process

Stakeholders may not always agree with your ideas or suggestions, but that doesn't mean they aren't valuable — especially if they're coming from someone who has been around for a while and has experience with your organization's operations. Listen carefully when someone disagrees with your plans and take their feedback into consideration when making changes or adjustments to your plan before moving forward with implementation.

6. Create an Effective Communications Plan

You have a story to tell, and you need to share it with your audience. You can do this through a variety of channels—from web pages and social media posts to e-blasts and direct mailings to events and even the media. However, if you don't plan out how these channels work together, your message may not reach everyone who needs it most.

Your communications plan should include:

  • A list of target audiences (potential donors) based on demographics, interests, and behaviors.
  • The most effective ways to reach each audience (e.g., social media vs print media).
  • How often you will contact each audience member with updates about your organization's work or news about upcoming fundraising events or campaigns?

7. Set Up a Trackable Method for Donor Engagement

With so many different ways for people to communicate these days (Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Snapchat) it can be tough to keep track of who's interested in the work you do and how they want to get involved. Set up a method by which you can track engagement from individual donors and provide them with opportunities to get involved through social media or email campaigns where appropriate.

8. Measure Results and Adjust Accordingly

A fundraising campaign is a process, not an event, and as such should be measured throughout the year to determine whether any adjustments need to be made. This is especially true if you have multiple fundraising events, or if you have volunteers involved in your efforts.

For example, you might want to measure the number of donors per month compared to the previous year, or the average donation amount. You can also look at the overall number of people who have contributed compared to those who have not. These are just some examples of metrics that can be useful when evaluating your results.

Takeaway

By utilizing these eight fundraising strategies, your nonprofit can boost the money it's raising from donors. Your organization will be able to do more good with a wealth of new funding opportunities. So take some time to consider the possibilities discussed here and brainstorm ways you can use them in your nonprofit.


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