The importance of donor engagement is no mystery to nonprofit leaders. Engaged donors are loyal to your organization, meaning they’re more likely to support your nonprofit long-term. These supporters provide reliable revenue, attend events, and promote your cause to those around them.
For donors to form strong connections that inspire continued support, your nonprofit will need an effective donor retention program.
A structured donor retention program, backed by the right strategies and software, can keep your supporters coming back for years or even decades to come. In this guide, we’ll explore everything you need to know about standardizing your nonprofit’s donor retention practices:
Returning donors are fundamental for a nonprofit’s success. However, nonprofits are likely to approach creating a donor retention program in numerous ways. Let’s start our deep dive into how to retain more donors by going over the fundamentals.
What are donor retention programs?
Donor retention refers to the rate at which a nonprofit’s donors continue to give after their first gift. Retained donors continue to give repeatedly over time and often participate in other activities the nonprofit offers, such as volunteering, attending events, or buying branded merchandise.
A donor retention program is the standardized process your organization follows for implementing donor retention strategies. Taking a wholly unique approach to relationship cultivation with each donor is not practical or even possible for most nonprofits. Donor retention programs provide set guidelines your nonprofit can follow for nearly every donor to encourage them to continue giving.
In order to engage first-time donors, donor retention programs should take into account their entire support journey. This timeline includes:
- Before the donation. During initial contact, nonprofits should aim to inspire interest and an emotional connection to their cause. To pivot potential first-time donors to recurring supporters smoothly, nonprofits should consider emphasizing the importance of continued support in their outreach.
- During the donation process. Many donors will decide whether they will offer recurring support while making a donation. Ensure the process is streamlined, and make becoming a recurring donor as easy as checking a box or pressing a button.
- Donation confirmation. Confirm to donors that you successfully processed their gift. Follow up your initial confirmation and donation receipt delivery with a thank-you message within 48 hours of when the gift was made.
- Follow-up. Stay in touch with new donors to stoke their interest in your nonprofit and encourage them to pursue other engagement opportunities. For example, you might invite them to subscribe to your newsletter, explore your website’s content, attend an event, or volunteer.
- The next donation request. For supporters who did not opt into recurring donations, plan to ask for a follow-up donation after a reasonable amount of time has passed since their last donation. For supporters who choose to become recurring donors, continue engaging them and thanking them for each gift.
Additionally, a donor retention program also takes lapsed donors into account. These donors used to give regularly but have recently stopped. The recapture rate for lapsed donors is only 4%, which means it’s often more effective for nonprofits to proactively focus on identifying donors at risk of lapsing and re-engaging them rather than waiting until they’ve stopped giving to take action.
What are the benefits of a donor retention program?
It’s easy to get caught up in the drive to attract new donors. After all, nonprofits need to continually grow their donor bases to scale their programs and better serve their beneficiaries. Acquiring new donors is also often a long and resource-intensive process, with it taking about eight touchpoints on average to earn a conversion.
With such high costs, nonprofits can maximize their resources by earning recurring support from as many donors as possible. For example, if you attract five new donors who only give once, you have to pay the costs for attracting them five times. However, if you attract one new donor who gives five times, you only spend the resources to earn those five donations once.
Along with being cost-effective, a donor retention program also systemizes your supporter engagement strategy. With processes in place for how to thank, communicate with, and re-engage donors, you can act more quickly, remove indecision paralysis, and grow your donor base.
How to calculate donor retention rate
You can calculate your donor retention rate by dividing the number of donors who gave in a previous year by the number of donors who gave in the present year. Then, multiply the quotient by 100 to get a percentage.
For example, let’s say 500 donors gave to your nonprofit last year and 275 of them gave again this year. 275 returning donors divided by 500 previous donors, multiplied by 100, would give you a 55% donor retention rate. This statistic means that more than half of last year’s donors stayed involved, beating the nonprofit sector average of 42.6%!
After calculating your retention rate, determine what that rate means for your organization and what rate you’d like to achieve. For example, you might make the following determinations about different retention rates:
- 0%-25%: Your nonprofit may have a lower rate in its early stages when cause and brand awareness are low. In this stage, share compelling calls to action that encourage active supporters to continue engaging with your nonprofit and focus on building relationships, such as by creating an email welcome series introducing them to your nonprofit. If you’re seeing rates like these, and your organization is not newly established, this should be a wake-up call that it’s time to make changes and reassess your donor outreach strategy.
- 25%-50%: If your donor retention rate falls in the 25-50% range, you’re likely about at or just below that nonprofit industry average. Pay close attention to your donors to spot signs that they may be at risk of lapsing and reach out before that can happen.
- 50%-75%: This range of retention is on the higher end, and your nonprofit should feel proud of its ability to forge strong connections with supporters. Keep hosting your engagement activities, showing your appreciation, and building a positive community that keeps supporters invested in your cause.
Keep in mind that donors give for all sorts of reasons, and attaining a 100% retention rate is virtually impossible. For instance, if you run a peer-to-peer campaign, your nonprofit will likely get a burst of support from new donors who give to your cause because of a personal connection to one of your fundraisers. Most of these new supporters will be one-time donors, but their support for that specific campaign is still valuable.
You wouldn’t start cooking before making sure you have all the ingredients, and the same is true about starting a donor retention program. Consider what tools you’ll need to reach out to and build connections with donors. We recommend exploring the following software solutions.
Auto-submission
What’s better than receiving regular gifts from a donor? Receiving regular gifts that are then doubled without your supporters having to spend a penny more!
Matching gifts are contributions corporations make to nonprofits that supplement their employees’ gifts, usually at a dollar-per-dollar ratio. For instance, if a donor regularly gives just $25 monthly but qualifies for a matching gift program, their employer will give an additional $25, totaling $50 each month. Over the course of a year, that donor and their employer will donate $600 to your nonprofit, all while barely impacting the donor’s budget.
However, the matching gift request process does require donors to take extra steps after making their initial contribution, which can result in them deciding that pursuing a match isn’t worth the effort, especially if they have to do it every time they give.
Fortunately, with Double the Donation’s matching gift auto-submission tool, your donors will have drastically less work to request a match. Auto-submission technology lets supporters jump from step two in the matching gift process all the way to step seven:
The normal process goes something like this:
- Donor makes a gift.
- Donor determines their matching gift eligibility.
- Donor searches for the necessary forms and guidelines.
- Donor fills out a matching gift request.
- Donor submits the request.
- The company assesses the donor’s match request.
- The company approves the donor’s matching gift application.
- Your nonprofit receives the matching gift funds.
With auto-submission, donors are done as soon as they determine their matching gift eligibility and agree to use auto-submission. From there, the tool completes the form for them and sends it off to their employer. Interested in learning a bit more about just how auto-submission technology accomplishes this? Here’s a breakdown of our revolutionary new tool:
To get started with matching gift auto-submission, your nonprofit will need matching gift software. Currently, Double the Donation is proud to be the only matching gift vendor that offers this cutting-edge feature. Qualifying supporters will also need to work for a company that uses CSR software that integrates with Double the Donation. This means not all of your recurring donors can take advantage of auto-submission, but those who can will have the easiest matching experience of their lives.
eCards
Picture this: you make two donations, one to nonprofit A and one to nonprofit B.
Nonprofit B sends you a confirmation email, but you don’t hear from them again until they send another donation request a month later.
Nonprofit A sends a personalized thank-you message shortly after your confirmation email. Then, they get in touch to give you an update on the program you donated to support. The following week, they let you know about an upcoming event in your area where you can meet other supporters in your community. Finally, they send a request for another donation.
Which nonprofit’s follow-up donation request are you more likely to answer? Most would say nonprofit A because they showed appreciation, helped the donor understand their impact, and made an effort to get them involved in their community rather than just jumping straight to asking for more money.
To be like nonprofit A, you need to follow the first essential step of showing your appreciation. There are numerous ways to recognize your donors, and one technology-driven strategy combines timeliness with memorability: eCards.
eCards are digital greeting cards that allow you to send eye-catching messages to donors through email, text, and even social media. Here’s a breakdown of how to use eCards in your retention strategy:
- Create branded eCards. Most eCard platforms will have basic templates you can use to start designing your cards, including image assets and fun fonts. To make your cards memorable, upload your brand images and any other graphic design elements you might want to include. Then, create a series of eCards you can send off to donors to thank them for their support, celebrate special occasions, invite them to events, or engage them in any other way you want.
- Determine when they’ll get sent out. You can set your eCards to get sent off automatically in response to a trigger, like a supporter donating, or you can choose to send out an entire batch of eCards at once. For instance, you might send all of your donors an eCard around the holiday season to remind them to get their gifts in before the end of the year.
- Continue sending cards. Don’t just send one eCard after a donor’s first gift! Continue designing and sending eCards throughout the year to keep your nonprofit fresh in your donors’ minds. You can even set up your donation process so supporters can send eCards to their friends and family after making a gift, spreading awareness of your nonprofit even further.
So just what does an eCard look like? eCards are fully customizable, which means they can look like just about anything! However, they’ll usually be a decorative postcard-like image next to a short but meaningful message. For example, consider this eCard created by the Maryland Food Bank:
Donor database
Most donor engagement strategies depend heavily on communication. Use the donor data you’ve gathered from your supporters’ past involvement with your organization to send personalized messages that make supporters feel remembered, recognized, and valued.
To target your outreach, you’ll need organized donor data. Invest in a donor database to track important donor information, such as:
- Contact information
- Preferred method of communication
- Giving and involvement history
- Participation in other organizations
- Employer information
- Payment method preference
Properly managed data is the key to collecting and using this information. If you’re missing data, consider conducting a data append to find missing or updated information, such as birthdays and mailing addresses. As you update information, look out for duplicate entries or irrelevant details that are cluttering your database.
Even if you only have a few details about your donors, you can encourage them to continue giving in specific ways. For example, with only a donor’s contact information and giving history, you might notice they only give at in-person events. Send an email inviting that donor to your next in-person fundraiser for a higher chance of retaining them.
Donor retention program strategies
Once you’ve set a target retention goal and acquired the tools you need, it’s time to develop your program’s strategies. The right approach depends on your unique community of supporters, but some time-tested strategies include:
Identify at-risk donors.
The best way to combat donor lapse is to catch them before they’re gone. To do that, you need to understand why donors stop giving. Gather data about your lapsed donors to analyze patterns in their behavior before they stopped giving by:
- Surveying lapsed donors. Most of your lapsed donors are gone, but a few of them might still be willing to answer a few questions about their decision. Ask straightforward questions, and be prepared for tough responses, such as not feeling appreciated, forgetting about your organization, or assuming your nonprofit doesn’t need their gifts anymore.
- Analyzing engagement data. For most of your lapsed donors, the signs were likely there. For instance, many lapsed donors will stop opening your emails or engaging with your content weeks or even months in advance before they finally cancel their donations.
- Considering external factors. Sometimes donors stop giving not because they no longer support your cause but because of outside factors. These can be as easily fixed as a recurring donor’s on-file credit card expiring or more troubling like supporters needing to tighten their budgets in times of economic downturn.
With this data, craft an at-risk donor strategy. For instance, if donors tend to drop during times of economic hardship, keep them engaged during the rough patch with non-giving related opportunities. Or, if a donor stops opening your emails, send them ones with subject lines that are likely to catch their attention by acknowledging the situation, like “It’s been a while since we’ve heard from you, [donor name]!”
Personalize communication.
Donors engage with nonprofits that offer activities that interest them. Of course, it’s unlikely that a single donor will want to engage with every activity your nonprofit has to offer. Personalize your outreach to share the opportunities that are the most relevant to each donor.
For instance, when promoting your planned giving program, younger donors and supporters new to your profit are unlikely to show much interest. Show your donors that you understand their individual preferences by tailoring the content you send to their interests.
You can better personalize your communication by dividing your donors into segments. Donor segments are groups of supporters who share relevant characteristics, and nonprofit CRMs often come equipped with segmentation features to simplify this process. For instance, you might divide your donors based on:
- Location
- Age
- Gift size
- Length of time giving to your organization
After determining your segments, create messaging strategies for each group. You can use email templates to help you get started, then use the information stored in your donor database to personalize each message even further by referencing donors’ names, past donation amounts, and engagement history.
Make opting into recurring donations easy.
The easiest way to retain supporters is to make giving automatic with a recurring donation program. Recurring donations are gifts donors make automatically, usually on a monthly basis. Since these gifts are deducted from donors’ bank accounts without needing any additional input from the supporter, they’re a simple set-it-and-forget-it method of donor retention.
Make joining your recurring donation program as easy as possible. You can do this by including a check box to make the gift recurring on your donation form. Or, offer suggested recurring donation amounts alongside higher suggested giving amounts for one-time donors to subtly push them toward becoming recurring supporters.
Recurring donations are lower than one-time donation amounts but add up over time. When donors see the low financial commitment of a recurring gift in comparison to higher one-time amounts, they may decide a recurring gift is the way to go.
Keep in mind that research shows that when offered a range of giving options, donors are most likely to choose the second lowest option. Additionally, always let donors enter a custom amount to give in case they want to give more or less than your suggested options.
Show your gratitude.
We’ve already discussed how you can use eCards to express your gratitude, but there’s even more you can do to show donors you care. For example, you could:
- Send letters in the mail. eCards are an amazing piece of technology, but traditional mail still has its place in many nonprofits’ donor appreciation strategies. Write personalized donor thank-you letters your supporters will want to hold onto and send out fundraising appeals at strategic times of the year, such as the week before Giving Tuesday to remind supporters to send in their gifts.
- Call donors. For donations above a certain amount, get on the phone, and give your donors a brief call. Write a script that volunteers can easily follow to knock out these calls, or go the extra mile and get your board members involved to make donors feel extra important.
- Send gifts. Celebrate the donors who have been with you for years by sending physical gifts in the mail. For example, on a donor’s birthday, you might mail them a t-shirt branded to your organization, or you might put together a welcome package to new donors who gave over a certain amount to persuade them to stick around.
These ideas are just the beginning, but if you need more inspiration for how to thank your donors, there’s an easy solution: ask them. Send out a survey asking donors how they want to be recognized so you can be sure you’re showing your thanks in a way they’ll appreciate.
Promote non-giving engagement opportunities.
As discussed in our earlier example of nonprofits A and B, if your only communication with supporters is strictly about donations, donations are likely to go down. Give your supporters more opportunities to get involved with your cause that don’t require spending, like:
- Volunteering. Invite your donors to take a more hands-on approach to supporting your mission by promoting volunteer opportunities. If your donors’ employers have a volunteer grant program, often called dollars-for-doers, they can fill out an application with their company and get their employer to donate to your nonprofit depending on how much they volunteered.
- Attending events. If a donor makes friends with other supporters in your community, they’re more likely to continue engaging with your nonprofit. The easiest way to introduce donors to the rest of your community is to invite them to events, whether they’re in-person or online, formal or casual, or meant for appreciation, fundraising, or spreading awareness.
- Exploring your content. Written a new blog post? Hosted a webinar or lecture about topics relevant to your cause? Or maybe you recorded a new video of your volunteers in action? Whatever your latest content is, let your supporters know about it. Giving them regular updates on your mission and inviting them to visit your website shows your community that your nonprofit is an active, dynamic organization that’s putting its donations to good use.
Not every donor will become a dedicated member of your community who wants to participate in extra opportunities. However, even for donors who are content to give quietly, seeing that your nonprofit does care about them beyond just cashing in their monthly gift is likely to make them think more highly of your nonprofit.
Conclusion and Additional Resources
After creating your retention program, keep testing and revising it as needed based on your donors’ changing needs. Track your donor retention rate to measure your progress, and get feedback from supporters to see how you can improve your program. Remember, donor retention is always ongoing, and the strategies that work today will need to adapt to keep up with your donor base five years from now.
For more information about revamping your strategy or expanding your audience, check out these additional resources:
Nonprofit Basics: Amazon Smile
/in Nonprofit Basics /by Adam WeingerBoth online shopping and online fundraising have grown in popularity in recent years. More than 268 million people in the United States shopped online in 2022 alone, and 54% of donors worldwide prefer to donate online.
With online shopping and online giving soaring in popularity, it makes sense that nonprofit organizations would attempt to find a solution to bring online shopping into the online fundraising world in an effort to earn more donations. That’s why many nonprofits have combined those two trends to bring in revenue through programs like Amazon Smile.
What is Amazon Smile?
Until its discontinuation in early 2023, Amazon Smile was a program that allowed shoppers to give back to their favorite charities while making everyday online purchases through Amazon. Shoppers could give to nonprofits through purchases that they were going to make anyway, regardless of whether they were able to make an additional donation. It was also an easy way for nonprofits to earn donations from their loyal supporters, many of whom are happy to make additional donations through fundraising programs like this if given the opportunity.
Once an organization registered with Amazon Smile, supporters would start shopping for their cause, and a portion of their total sales went back to the nonprofit of their choice.
Benefits of online shopping fundraiser programs like Amazon Smile
Although Amazon Smile has come to an end, it isn’t the only program of its kind that nonprofits can participate in. Here are some reasons your nonprofit may consider signing up for an online shopping fundraiser program:
Whether your nonprofit is new to the online shopping fundraiser space or participated in Amazon Smile and is wondering what next steps to take, be aware that there are other similar fundraising programs available with connections to different networks of retailers. Your nonprofit should do research and carefully consider which shopping donation option is right for your organization.
Other Resources to Explore
Nonprofit Basics – Learn more nonprofit management essentials by exploring other expert resources.
Passive Fundraising: How to Earn Extra Revenue [+5 Ideas] – Explore strategies to make passive fundraisers, including online shopping fundraiser programs, more successful.
Shop for a Cause: How to Give Back While Shopping Online – Discover more ways for your nonprofit’s supporters to further your mission through their everyday online purchases.
What to Know About Double the Donation’s Standard Matching Gift Form
/in Learning Center, Company Updates, About Double the Donation, Learning Center /by Adam WeingerCorporate matching gifts can offer a significant revenue source for charitable organizations. In order to leverage the programs, a nonprofit’s donors typically must submit a matching gift form to their employers. The form essentially allows an individual to provide details about their own qualifying donation and request an associated corporate match.
Unfortunately, this has long been a critical drop-off point for organizations looking to make the most of available matching opportunities. Many donors lack an understanding of the request process that is required of them. That’s why, for more than a decade, Double the Donation has created software aimed to simplify the process by providing company-specific details, next steps, and more.
Now, we’re taking it a step further with our easier-than-ever-before standard matching gift form. And in this guide, we’ll tell you all about it as we walk through the basics:
Unclaimed matches hinder the impact potential of charitable organizations, their donors, and the businesses partaking in workplace giving programs alike. By streamlining and automating the request process altogether, we can take an additional step toward maximal usage.
Let’s see how Double the Donation’s intuitive standard matching gift request form can help.
What is Double the Donation’s standard matching gift form?
There is a range of ways that a donor can submit a matching gift request to their employing company, and a lot of that depends on the company the individual works for. For example, one old-fashioned company might still accept paper forms that require employees to complete and scan or mail back to process. At the same time, a different business may have moved to a completely online system using a digital submission portal.
Regardless of the method with which documentation is completed, a matching gift form generally encapsulates the same information. Most often, these include three types of data points:
As you might guess, a lot of the above information can be a bit redundant for the donor. Now, Double the Donation’s standard matching gift form pulls the necessary data points directly from the transaction, as well as information collected from nonprofits, to automatically fill in the document. Once completed, a PDF is immediately sent to the matching gift coordinator via email designated by the company.
It’s an easier process for donors and ultimately results in a greater matching gift program impact.
How does the standard matching gift request form work?
Perhaps you’re thinking, “sounds great—but how does it actually work?” In that case, let’s see the process in action for participating companies, step by step.
1. An individual makes a donation to their favorite nonprofit cause, entering their employer’s name in Double the Donation’s company search tool.
If their employing company has enabled matching gift e-submission through our standard request form, the donor will be prompted to authorize Double the Donation to submit a match on their behalf. (Typically, all the individual is required to do is enter their corporate email address and check a box!)
2. Double the Donation automatically fills in the blanks on our standard matching gift form to provide the employing company with the information they need.
Generally, donor and transaction information is pulled from the donation record itself, while nonprofit details are made available through pre-filled organization profiles within Double the Donation.
3. The auto-filled match request form is emailed in a PDF document to the matching gift coordinator identified by the company.
From there, the employer reviews the match request, as usual, to ensure the initial donation meets the company’s predetermined match eligibility criteria. Assuming it does, the match is approved, and funding is provided to the nonprofit cause!
Key benefits of our standard form for donors, nonprofits, and companies
The more you can simplify the matching gift process, the better your overall results will be. This is true whether you’re on the corporate or the nonprofit side of things. And luckily, Double the Donation’s standard match request form is designed to do just that for both parties—plus your common denominator, employee donors.
Let’s dive into a few key advantages for each perspective.
For Donors
Donors love participating in matching gift programs (in fact, 84% of individuals report being more likely to give if they know a match is being offered). But when the process involved gets too complicated or time-consuming, even dedicated and eligible donors sometimes fail to complete the task.
When all that’s asked of them is to enter their corporate email address, on the other hand, individuals will be much more likely to follow through. And in doing so, participating donors receive the benefit of knowing their support is going twice as far for a cause they care about.
For Nonprofits
According to matching gift research, only 8% of eligible donors know their employers offer a matching gift program and know how to go about submitting a match request. This significant knowledge gap plays a huge role in more than $4 to $7 billion in available match funding going unclaimed each year.
By simplifying the request process and providing an easy way for donors to submit requests to their companies, Double the Donation’s standard match form results in increased funding for nonprofit organizations.
For Companies
Companies that accept the standard matching gift form receive all the benefits of offering a matching gift program in the first place—in larger quantities. After all, the more a business donates to charitable causes, the better its overall CSR. Optimal CSR leads to elevated employee engagement (productivity, longevity, recruitment, etc.), improved image (increased sales and brand loyalty), and more.
Leveraging Double the Donation’s standard match form simplifies employee participation, thus maximizing program use levels.
Getting started with our matching gift request form
We’ve designed our standard matching gift form to be as simple as possible—while still accomplishing the intended task. And that includes the ease with which organizations and businesses can get set up.
Interested in taking the next steps? Here’s how you can quickly begin leveraging the benefits of the common match request form for your team.
For Nonprofits
If your nonprofit employs Double the Donation’s matching gift automation solution, there’s good news! Your donors are already set to partake in streamlined e-submission through our standard request form. When a qualifying individual makes a donation using your online giving form and selects their employer during the donation experience, they’ll be prompted to submit their match request automatically from your gift confirmation screen.
To ensure the match form is completed with accurate information, be sure to fill out your Organization Profile in Double the Donation. This also increases the likelihood that matches are approved by participating companies. And it simplifies the process for you, your donors, and their employers.
If your organization has yet to get started with Double the Donation, you can schedule a demo here to see our tools in action—and learn more about the impact of the standard match form.
For Companies
Double the Donation’s matching gift form can certainly simplify the matching gift request process for employees. Still, we recommend that companies leverage a complete corporate giving platform to manage their philanthropic efforts. But if you’re looking for a temporary solution to streamline matching gifts from the donor’s perspective or would like to accept our standard matching gift form in addition to your more built-out process, getting started is quick and easy.
Here’s how:
If your company has developed an employee matching program for the first time, click here to add your initiative to our comprehensive database. As you provide information about your company’s submission process, be sure to select that you’d like to use Double the Donation’s standard form.
On the other hand, if your company’s existing program is already listed in Double the Donation’s database, click here to suggest updates to your program guidelines. Then, indicate that you’d like to accept the standard match form. You’ll be prompted to enter the name, phone number, and email of the person who manages the company’s giving initiatives.
And that’s it! From there, the specified contact person will receive completed match request forms each time an employee makes a donation to a qualifying nonprofit and selects the automated e-submission choice.
Final Thoughts
The future of matching gifts is here, and it’s increasingly reliant on innovative technology to streamline and simplify the process. Double the Donation’s standard matching gift form is one example of this. As corporate philanthropy continues to become a higher priority by companies across the globe, the demand for matching gifts—and standardized processes with them—will continue to grow.
Ready to learn more about corporate matching gift programs and the tools that power them? Check out our other recommended resources:
New and Improved Functionality: Matching Gift Form E-Sign
/in Company Updates, Learning Center, About Double the Donation, Learning Center /by Adam WeingerMatching gift programs have been revolutionized in the last several years, with companies of all shapes and sizes getting involved. And with this transformation is also that of matching gift forms. Ideally, employers want to offer a request process that is quick and easy for team members to participate and reduces administrative workload behind the scenes. So where does matching gift form e-sign come in?
Dive in to explore key trends and current happenings regarding employee match fundraising, particularly in terms of matching gift e-sign. We’ll walk through:
Double the Donation has long been at the forefront of corporate giving innovation. That’s why we’re here to provide your team with the context you need to understand matching gift technology, functionality, and more.
The historical significance of matching gifts form e-sign functionality
Historically, many companies required donors to submit matching gift request forms on paper. After all, General Electric launched the very first matching gift program in 1954, when electronic mail was still the stuff of science fiction. Over the next few decades, many matching gift programs used the paper form model for their original program launches as they were created.
Now, let’s fast forward to 2011 when Double the Donation was established. Some forward-thinking companies have already begun offering online submissions to simplify the matching gift process for their employees. As a result, Double the Donation was perfectly positioned to help these donors submit their matching gift requests by linking directly to those online portals. However, some companies were dragging their feet and still requiring paper-matching gift forms.
How could Double the Donation support donors whose companies required paper forms? Our solution was to develop cutting-edge matching gift form e-sign functionality. With Double the Donation e-sign, donors could simply complete a pre-filled online PDF and send it to their company’s matching gift program managers that way.
And it worked! We saw an immediate increase in the percentage of these paper-only donors who submitted matching gift requests. But at the same time, the transition to electronic-only submission in the industry was already accelerating.
The move away from paper-matching gift forms
As online submissions are increasing, the inverse is true for historic paper forms—in the past few years, we’ve seen paper forms becoming significantly less popular.
For context, when Double the Donation got its start, about 70% of match-eligible employees had a paper or PDF option for submitting their matching gift requests. But by 2017, the percentage of match-eligible employees eligible to submit a paper form dropped all the way to 7.1%. And the number who actually chose to use the forms was even lower.
That’s because online portal submission is easier, faster, more secure, and all-around better for donors, the companies they work for, and the organizations they support. It’s been proven time and time again: When both an electronic submission option and a paper one are offered to the same employee group, more matching gift submissions are completed through the online process.
In fact, some of the most well-known philanthropic companies have adapted to an online-only submission process over the past few years. Check out these quotes from the following employers:
And that was just the tip of the iceberg!
Discontinuation of Double the Donation’s prior matching gift form e-sign feature
So what did this mean for us?
With these process changes occurring, the percentage of donors submitting paper match requests continued to fall. By the end of 2018, only an estimated 4% of donors used the historical paper-only approach—and that figure has decreased steadily since then.
All these factors led us to the easy decision to shift our focus away from the e-signing of paper forms and toward the future of matching gifts.
Now, you might ask—But haven’t you heard the statistic that 50% of companies use paper-matching gift forms?
We certainly have! But it’s important to remember that in a changing industry, statistics and assumptions have to be continually re-assessed. Double the Donation commits to always looking into the data to recognize when we need to re-evaluate. This is one of those situations.
It may have been true years ago that 50% (or so) of companies required paper-matching gift form submission. However, more recent analysis has shown that this statistic is not just outdated—it doesn’t tell the full story.
Think about the different companies that have matching gift programs. Businesses of all shapes and sizes come to mind, from Home Depot with half a million employees to the local pizzeria that employs five individuals. Home Depot requires electronic form submission, while the local pizza joint requires paper forms. You can see that Home Depot’s program affects significantly more donors than the pizzeria.
In other words, ask yourself this:
What is more useful for your organization to know in this scenario: that 50%—or at this point, likely less—of companies require paper forms or that a tiny percentage of match-eligible donors use paper forms? Which statistic should you base your fundraising decisions on?
Our answer to the previous question is exactly why we’ve started weighing our analysis by employee count. And the resulting statistics tell a compelling story. The biggest matching gift programs affecting the largest percentages of donors have already moved away from paper matching gift forms. And we’re seeing smaller programs following suit, as well!
Therefore, at Double the Donation, we’re doing the same with our own development priorities.
The future of matching gift fundraising
The move to online matching isn’t the only trend we’re seeing in corporate social responsibility. In the past decade, we’ve also kept our fingers on the pulse of another trend: the increasing consolidation of workplace-giving solutions.
More and more often, companies are turning to workplace-giving platforms like Benevity, CyberGrants, YourCause, and more to help facilitate their matching gift programs. And it’s not just the Fortune 500 companies that are doing so! In fact, many breakthrough solutions—such as Millie, Selflessly, Givinga, and POINT—have been designed specifically to aid small and mid-sized businesses in offering powerful matching gift programs.
Leveraging this type of software empowers charitable companies to do more with their philanthropic initiatives while minimizing the administrative workload. Meanwhile, we’ve also noticed that companies that outsource the facilitation of their giving process can offer more streamlined and optimized processes for employees wanting to get involved. This tends to result in elevated program usage, highly engaged team members, and more dollars funneling into nonprofit causes overall.
Breakthrough auto-submission with CSR partners
In the spirit of continuous improvement when it comes to matching gift technology and the match request process, Double the Donation has recently released a new game-changing feature—auto-submission.
This innovative functionality, made possible through strategic integrations with forward-thinking corporate giving platforms, enables employees to request matches directly from an organization’s gift confirmation screen. This allows them to bypass the request process almost entirely. All they typically have to do is provide their email address and authorize Double the Donation to submit their match.
We’ve certainly come a long way since paper forms; now, some donors don’t have to complete a form at all! And this benefits every party involved. Employee donors can request their matches in less time and with fewer roadblocks. Nonprofit organizations receive increased match funding and more highly engaged supporters. Companies see elevated program usage, satisfied employees, and better public images.
E-submission with our standard matching gift form
And that’s not all! The Double the Donation team has also developed a standard online matching gift form that employers can use to authorize automated electronic submissions themselves.
We recommend that all companies participating in workplace giving enlist the aid of a dedicated CSR platform. But for companies that may not be ready to take that next step but are interested in simplifying the matching gift request process, it’s now quick and easy to get started with our new standard submission form.
This basic form collects all the data an employer would need to review and approve a match request. This includes:
And it’s all automated so that donors can submit their matches quickly and easily, ultimately removing common roadblocks and driving more matching gifts to completion.
Top tip! Nonprofits looking to make the most of matching gift auto-submission and Double the Donation’s standard matching gift form should be sure to fill out their Organization Profile in Double the Donation. This allows the right information to be incorporated into the automated submission form, making it more likely that the match is ultimately approved and paid out.
Final thoughts
Matching gift submission processes are becoming increasingly standardized, centralized, and digitized. So how can we support nonprofits, schools, and other fundraising organizations in this shifting environment? The answer lies in guiding donors through the electronic portal submission process.
At Double the Donation, we focus on giving donors confidence, speed, and accuracy when submitting their matching gift requests. That means prioritizing personalized automation flows and database accuracy.
We’re heading into the future, and we hope you’ll join us!
Interested in learning more about Double the Donation’s innovative matching gift tips and tools? Check out these other educational resources:
8 Ways to Encourage Donors to Submit Employee Matching Gift Requests
/in Fundraising Ideas, Marketing Strategies, Learning Center /by Adam WeingerAs a fundraising leader, you may have put a lot of thought into how to market matching gifts before and during the donation process. For example, you might host a matching donation challenge and mention matching gifts as a way to increase the impact of donations. That’s great—doing so lays a solid foundation and begins increasing awareness about the opportunity. Not to mention, it allows your team to collect much-needed data points regarding your donors’ employing companies.
But for the donor, clicking submit or mailing a check often feels like the final step. And for this reason alone, many eligible matches go unclaimed—thus, resulting in available funds being left on the table.
The solution? Strategic follow-ups post-donation.
Getting in touch with donors after they complete their gifts allows you to remind individuals of matching gift programs at hand and encourage them to take the next steps to submit their matching donation requests. Plus, it provides a unique opportunity to retain your organization and its purpose at the forefront of supporters’ minds, reiterate your mission and vision and highlight key opportunities for furthering engagement.
And in this guide, we’ll share eight of the best ways to do so. These include the following:
Don’t let your organization’s matching gift opportunities fall through the cracks! Incorporating these follow-up methods enables your team to drive more corporate matches to completion, ultimately ensuring you get the biggest bang for your fundraising buck.
1. Educate your staff.
One of the first things you can do to easily raise your match submission rates among donors involves looking inward. In other words, make sure that, when it comes to matching gifts, your organization is cultivating a knowledgeable staff.
At the very least, every employee should understand:
We recommend hosting dedicated internal training sessions to cover all of the above information, providing in-depth resources for learning more, and incorporating matching gift information in team-wide onboarding going forward.
2. Share guidelines on the confirmation page.
Immediately following the donation process, many donors’ engagement levels remain high. That said, a nonprofit’s confirmation page or thank-you screen can be a valuable resource for promoting actionable next steps. In this case, it’s one of the best opportunities to begin actively encouraging individuals to submit their matching gifts.
When communicated effectively, match information on the confirmation screen can be positioned as a logical extension of the giving experience. And when you’ve collected employment information within the donation form, you can use the opportunity to provide company-specific eligibility criteria.
When available, this should include minimum and maximum match thresholds, corporate donation ratios, qualifying employees and nonprofits, submission deadlines, and more.
When available, this should include:
3. Link to request forms and next steps.
Each company that offers a matching gift program is able to establish its own submission process. These typically range from paper forms to online request portals. However, not all employers take a proactive approach to communicating the process to their employees. And many donors can be overwhelmed by a lack of direction—even if the experience itself is quick and easy.
Thus, you don’t want your donors to have to do a ton of research on their own to determine how to submit their matching gift. If that’s the case, they’re significantly more likely to abandon their potential match altogether.
In order to streamline the experience for your donors, providing direct links to the forms they need can go a long way. And if that information is unavailable, sharing contact information for a person or team at the company to reach out to can be helpful as well.
5. Send a follow-up email.
Looking to re-engage your donors after they leave your donation page? Send a quick email that specifically asks them to follow up and submit their matching gift requests.
Make sure to incorporate an explanation of matching gifts and the benefits they can bring to your organization. Plus, demonstrate the simplicity with which a donor can complete their request by walking them through the process.
Here’s a sample:
“Dear Jody, thank you for your generous donation to the Cat Rescue Club. Did you know that your employer, Home Depot, will match your gift of $100 to our organization?
Matching gifts enable us to support twice as many furry friends. And it’s quick and easy for you to complete your match. Click here to log into your company’s matching gift request portal and submit your request.”
Even better, use Double the Donation’s platform to trigger personalized outreach to donors. When individuals contribute to your cause, they are automatically triaged by match eligibility. Thus, they’re sent a targeted email that incorporates employer-specific program information. This typically includes the company’s minimum and maximum donation amounts, match ratios, and direct links to online forms.
Not to mention, emails can be sent from your organization’s domain and branded to match your colors, fonts, and overall styles. And when you leverage automation, you can ensure each donor receives timely and actionable follow-ups. No more worries about prospective matches slipping through the cracks, and it’s less legwork for your team to handle!
6. Pick up the phone.
To make your efforts really stand out, consider sorting through recent donations and identifying your top contributors. Then, call these donors to thank them for their gifts and encourage them to submit their matching gift requests.
Many donors would be happy to support your organization in this way, and taking the time to make a phone call demonstrates the importance of donation matches to your team.
Lack of donor awareness is one of the biggest hurdles to increasing matching gift revenue. If you’re able to briefly walk a donor through the process and provide them with the information they need, they’ll be more likely to complete their end of the matching gift request.
Feel free to use this sample phone script as a jumping-off point for your efforts: “Hi Jeff! It’s Anita from the Cat Rescue Club. We just wanted to call and let you know that we are so appreciative of your generous support for our mission. Because of you, we’re able to feed and care for more than 100 furry friends while they wait for their forever homes.
Did you know that tens of thousands of companies offer corporate matching gift programs where they agree to match employee donations to their favorite charitable causes? Our records indicate that your recent donation of $1,000 is likely eligible for a match from your employer, Apple! All it takes is to fill out a brief online form, which we can send directly to your email address on file for easy access.
Would you be willing to double your impact on our cause by submitting a matching donation request to your employer? Thanks again!”
7. Utilize snail mail.
Good old-fashioned postage is still a great way to touch base with your donors! Physical mailers can work as impactful calls to action that encourage donors to submit their matching gift requests.
This might include:
Many companies have very generous matching gift request submission deadlines. In fact, this window is often open between three months and over a year. This gives donors plenty of time to get their donations doubled—even when leveraging so-called snail mail to promote the opportunity.
And by sending tangible follow-ups to your supporters’ mailboxes (likely in tangent with alternative outreach as well), it can help your team break through the ever-increasing digital clutter. In order to keep your costs down, consider reserving direct mail marketing for your highest-value matching gift opportunities.
8. Incorporate SMS outreach.
Mobile outreach is becoming an increasingly popular method of communication for nonprofit fundraising. Consider incorporating this channel into your organization’s strategy as well. It’s a great way to reach your donors exactly where they are—wherever they are.
In fact, recent studies indicate that text message marketing boasts open rates of up to 98%, compared to only 20% open rates for emails. People tend to always have their cell phones on them, making SMS an effective outreach method, particularly for the on-the-go donor.
For the best results, matching gift text messaging should be short, sweet, and to the point—as compared to a follow-up email that may incorporate longer blocks of text. Inform or remind donors about matching gift opportunities and provide direct links to additional resources and next steps.
Interested in streamlining and elevating your text messaging efforts? Currently, automated matching gift text streams are available for Double the Donation Enterprise clients to make use of!
Next Steps
The most effective way to encourage donors to submit their matching gift requests is to mention matching gifts as often as possible. Include corporate matching information in your acknowledgment letters, emails, text messages, and more. You can even integrate a more generalized approach by leveraging your website, social media posts, and regular newsletters, too.
The bottom line is that the more your donors hear about matching gift opportunities (and the widespread benefits that are involved), the more likely they are to take part when the time comes. And the more personalized your outreach, the better!
Ready to learn more? Dive into our other educational resources on matching gift tips and best practices:
Why Companies Have Matching Gift Programs: A Complete Guide
/in Learning Center, Matching Gift Companies /by Adam WeingerMore and more companies are offering corporate matching gift programs in order to prioritize corporate social responsibility or CSR. Through these initiatives, businesses agree to match employee donations to a wide range of nonprofits. And with the matches, companies and their teams are able to double, or sometimes even triple, the initial donation impact.
As a company, it’s important to consider the impact that implementing a CSR program can have on your image, your employees, and your contributions to society. If you haven’t already established such a program, hopefully these reasons can drive you in that direction.
And as a nonprofit, understanding the purpose and benefits behind these programs should allow your team to better utilize the offerings and set your organization up for ultimate corporate fundraising success.
There are many reasons for companies to offer a matching gift program. These include (but are not limited to) the following:
In this article, we’ll address each of these key motivators for companies matching employee donations. Plus, we’ll share countless resources for employers looking to implement the matching programs today.
Keep in mind that as a nonprofit professional, it’s your job to get the word out about these programs to your donors to maximize usage. If you’re looking for a way to increase your matching gift revenue, consider investing in matching gift software! We’ll cover more about how to make the most of corporate matching gift programs—and how Double the Donation can help—below.
Reason #1: Matching Gifts Creates a Positive Company Brand
What is the biggest misconception people have about branding? Brands are logos, and logos are brands. However, the way people perceive a company and its products goes much deeper than a simple graphic.
Instead, your brand is influenced by previous interactions, advertising, and what people have read, know, and assume about the company. And a business’s philanthropic efforts can play a significant role!
For example, many consumers’ buying decisions are heavily influenced by how a company brands itself as a leader in philanthropy. In fact, research reports that over 77% of consumers are particularly motivated to purchase from companies that aim to make the world a better place. In other words, people feel good doing business with charitable-focused businesses, which makes them want to continue supporting the companies’ efforts. That’s why businesses offer matching gifts and engage in other CSR initiatives like corporate matching grants and volunteer programs.
We often mention companies like Google for their robust spirit of philanthropy. Consumers trust Google because it has a reputation for doing good, including its generous matching gift and volunteer grant programs. In the business world, trust means everything.
Reason #2: Matching Gifts Encourages Employees to Give
Charitable employees are drawn to businesses that offer these programs (71% of employees state that it’s very important to work at a company that partakes in philanthropy), creating a well-rounded and generous work environment. Even if employees don’t already donate time and money to nonprofits, they’ll become much more aware of these opportunities.
In addition, a giving program that increases employees’ potential impact may also be the push an individual needs to donate or volunteer. Doubling, and even sometimes tripling, their employees’ contributions makes it much more appealing to donate and volunteer with local nonprofits. In fact, 84% of donors say they’re more likely to donate if a match is offered.
Generous employees also look good for overall company branding. Microsoft, for instance, can boast that its employees have raised over $1 billion dollars for charity since the inception of its giving program. While that can certainly be attributed to the employees involved, it also has a lot to do with the culture of generosity that the company has fostered.
Reason #3: Matching Gifts Reduces Employee Turnover
If your company offers employees the ability to make an even bigger difference through matching gifts and other forms of corporate philanthropy, they will be more likely to engage with your company and remain loyal. In fact, one study found that a company engaging in socially valuable efforts can reduce staff turnover by approximately 50%.
This means your employee turnover rate will decrease, helping you retain awesome employees who continue to bring value to your company.
Reason #4: Matching Gifts Democratizes the Giving Process
You may be wondering why companies don’t just donate their entire giving budget to a few select charities. And some do—but this often limits the overall benefits offered by strategic corporate giving participation.
For one, matching employee donations can forgo difficult screening processes for charities. Companies don’t want to donate money to charities that are inefficient or otherwise have a bad name. Matching employee donations puts the research responsibilities on the employee rather than the company.
It also avoids debates about which nonprofits should receive funds by democratizing the process. In other words, the employees have a say in how their company spends its giving budget.
In short, matching gifts is a simpler way of enacting corporate donations, allowing corporate giving revenue to be more evenly distributed to a wider range of nonprofit recipients. When an employee shows their employer which causes they care about, companies know how to allocate their giving budget.
Reason #5: Matching Gifts Increases Employee Engagement
For example, matching gift programs show employees that the company not only encourages charitable giving but is committed to making the donations go further, as well. In addition, companies that offer paid time off for employees to volunteer or participate in fundraising events also boost engagement. Employees get to experience an enjoyable and rewarding team-building event, and the company enhances its reputation in the public eye.
Reason #6: Matching Gifts Attracts Talent
To demonstrate this idea, previously cited corporate giving research indicates that 77% of employees reported a sense of purpose as part of the reason they selected their current employer, while nearly 2/3 of Gen Z and Millenial employees won’t take a job at a company with poor CSR practices.
Offering CSR programs—especially those with a global reach—gives companies the ability to attract this group of talented employees and keep them as part of their company for the long term.
Reason #7: Matching Gifts Provides Tax Benefits
According to the IRS, corporations are typically eligible to request up to 10% of their annual revenue in tax deductions from charitable giving. However, one of the major exceptions to the 10% rule is matching gifts. Companies matching employee donations that go above and beyond 10% of their yearly income can continue to deduct matches from their overall taxable dollars.
As the company reduces its taxable income, they decrease the amount of money it’ll pay in taxes for the year—thus providing additional funds that can be reinvested into its business, social impact efforts, and more.
Bonus: Resources for Creating Matching Gift Programs
If your company—or a corporate partner—is looking to implement a new matching gift program or grow an existing philanthropic effort, check out these resources below to help jumpstart planning!
For Companies Launching New Matching Gift Programs
Looking to create a brand new matching gift program? Start educating your team with the below resources:
For Companies Creating Volunteer Grant Programs
Volunteer grant programs can offer many of the same benefits for companies that matching employee donations do. Want to encourage volunteerism within your company? Here are some great resources to jumpstart your efforts:
For Companies Implementing or Elevating Employee Giving Programs
Looking for some examples of how you can implement, promote, and organize your employee giving programs? Check out these resources:
For Companies Looking to Be Inspired by Standout Programs
Want to research some of the best examples of employee giving programs? We’ve spotlighted these top companies with outstanding employee giving programs and an overview of their matching gifts policies.
Each employer has a unique component to its match programs that causes them to stand out among its peers. Get inspired by standout programs—maybe one day, your business will be among them!
How Matching Gift Databases Help Nonprofits
Nonprofits benefit from matching gifts because they receive an additional donation for the work of soliciting one, allowing them to elevate their revenue potential with ease. However, many organizations continue to underutilize this fundraising opportunity.
That’s because, unfortunately, nonprofits often lack the time, resources, and staff needed to identify and follow up with matching gift opportunities on a manual basis. Luckily, that’s where a comprehensive matching gift database and automation solution like Double the Donation comes in handy.
Double the Donation offers the world’s leading matching gift database, holding data on more than 20,000 companies representing more than 26 million match-eligible individuals. Pulling from Double the Donation’s database, the automation platform, Double the Donation, identifies match-eligible donors and reminds them to complete the match process through automated emails.
Here’s how it works:
Because the platform automatically identifies and encourages donors to pursue eligible opportunities, your organization will drive more matches to completion. This leaves your team more time to focus on top matching gift opportunities and serving your mission.
It’s important to understand the matching gift process and its impact, whether you work for a nonprofit or a corporation. As a company, you can boost your corporate image while supporting your communities and the greater good. As a nonprofit, you can bring in the extra funding you need to serve your mission with little to no added effort.
Looking for even more information about matching gifts? Check out the additional resources below:
Double the Donation and 4aGoodCause Expand Integration to Improve Matching Gift Experience
/in About Double the Donation /by Adam WeingerDouble the Donation and 4aGoodCause have enhanced their integration to further help nonprofits harness the power of corporate matching gifts. These partners continue to simplify the matching gift process for fundraising teams and their donors. 4aGoodCause now integrates with Double the Donation, Double the Donation’s most advanced matching gift tool.
With the new Double the Donation integration, 4aGoodCause users can seamlessly promote matching gifts during the donation process itself. Double the Donation’s streamlined search field can now embed directly into 4aGoodCause forms to capture donor employment data. Once donors successfully submit their contribution, they will receive personalized, tailored, and actionable matching gifts next steps. This enhancement creates a more empowering, frictionless donor experience while also helping nonprofits drive more matching gifts to completion.
In addition to helping nonprofits identify more match eligible donors, this enhanced integration will automate matching gift outreach to donors post-contribution and capture data insights and analytics for nonprofits. By leveraging this Double the Donationand 4aGoodCause integration, nonprofits will be able to track donor engagement with matching gift tools and improve the entire matching gift experience. As nonprofits benefit from time savings and increased matching gift success, they can focus on other important aspects of donor engagement.
“Although matching gifts can provide an invaluable fundraising lift, manually determining donor eligibility and following up with eligible donors can be a major investment of time,” says Adam Weinger, President of Double the Donation. “Our enhanced 4aGoodCause integration solves those challenges to help nonprofits raise more from this funding source and use that extra revenue to benefit their mission.”
Double the Donation works seamlessly with 4aGoodCause, allowing fundraisers to benefit from the power of matching gift automation. Backed by this automation, nonprofits can be confident in their matching gift strategy.
Activate in Seconds and Start Raising More from Matching Gifts!
Setting up the Double the Donationand 4aGoodCause integration is simple and straightforward for your team. Quickly connect Double the Donationand 4aGoodCause using the process in our integration guide. Then, the Double the Donation search tool will appear across all of your 4aGoodCause forms.
Once you activate the integration, all of your forms will be ready to go! Donors can now determine their eligibility during the donation process and then access their matching gift’s next steps directly on the confirmation page.
Using this integration will help you raise more with less effort!
Looking to learn more? Check out our in-depth integration guide to get started.
Drive More Matching Gifts to Completion with Double the Donation!
Double the Donation ensures your matching gift opportunities don’t fall through the cracks.
Take advantage of this solution to:
Ready to drive matching gifts for your next fundraising effort? Schedule a personalized demo to learn how matching gifts can fund your mission.
About 4aGoodCause: 4aGoodCause is an easy-to-use, effective, and affordable fundraising CRM for small nonprofits. Nonprofits can use 4aGoodCause to launch unlimited fundraising campaigns for donations, event registration, crowdfunding, and peer-to-peer giving. Donors love the easy-to-use giving pages. Nonprofits love the simple CRM and low fees. 4aGoodCause delivers personal, friendly customer service backed by 24+ years of experience with nonprofits. To learn more, visit https://4agoodcause.com/request-a-demo/
About Double the Donation: Automate your matching gift fundraising with the industry-leading solution from Double the Donation. The Double the Donation platform provides nonprofits with tools to identify match-eligible donors, drive matches to completion, and gain actionable insights. Double the donation integrates directly into donation forms, CRMs, social fundraising software, and other nonprofit technology solutions to capture employment information and follow up appropriately with donors about matching gifts. To learn more, visit https://doublethedonation.com/get-a-demo/
How to Start A Donor Retention Program for Your Nonprofit
/in Learning Center, Fundraising Ideas, Marketing Strategies /by Adam WeingerThe importance of donor engagement is no mystery to nonprofit leaders. Engaged donors are loyal to your organization, meaning they’re more likely to support your nonprofit long-term. These supporters provide reliable revenue, attend events, and promote your cause to those around them.
For donors to form strong connections that inspire continued support, your nonprofit will need an effective donor retention program.
A structured donor retention program, backed by the right strategies and software, can keep your supporters coming back for years or even decades to come. In this guide, we’ll explore everything you need to know about standardizing your nonprofit’s donor retention practices:
Returning donors are fundamental for a nonprofit’s success. However, nonprofits are likely to approach creating a donor retention program in numerous ways. Let’s start our deep dive into how to retain more donors by going over the fundamentals.
What are donor retention programs?
Donor retention refers to the rate at which a nonprofit’s donors continue to give after their first gift. Retained donors continue to give repeatedly over time and often participate in other activities the nonprofit offers, such as volunteering, attending events, or buying branded merchandise.
A donor retention program is the standardized process your organization follows for implementing donor retention strategies. Taking a wholly unique approach to relationship cultivation with each donor is not practical or even possible for most nonprofits. Donor retention programs provide set guidelines your nonprofit can follow for nearly every donor to encourage them to continue giving.
In order to engage first-time donors, donor retention programs should take into account their entire support journey. This timeline includes:
Additionally, a donor retention program also takes lapsed donors into account. These donors used to give regularly but have recently stopped. The recapture rate for lapsed donors is only 4%, which means it’s often more effective for nonprofits to proactively focus on identifying donors at risk of lapsing and re-engaging them rather than waiting until they’ve stopped giving to take action.
What are the benefits of a donor retention program?
It’s easy to get caught up in the drive to attract new donors. After all, nonprofits need to continually grow their donor bases to scale their programs and better serve their beneficiaries. Acquiring new donors is also often a long and resource-intensive process, with it taking about eight touchpoints on average to earn a conversion.
With such high costs, nonprofits can maximize their resources by earning recurring support from as many donors as possible. For example, if you attract five new donors who only give once, you have to pay the costs for attracting them five times. However, if you attract one new donor who gives five times, you only spend the resources to earn those five donations once.
Along with being cost-effective, a donor retention program also systemizes your supporter engagement strategy. With processes in place for how to thank, communicate with, and re-engage donors, you can act more quickly, remove indecision paralysis, and grow your donor base.
How to calculate donor retention rate
You can calculate your donor retention rate by dividing the number of donors who gave in a previous year by the number of donors who gave in the present year. Then, multiply the quotient by 100 to get a percentage.
For example, let’s say 500 donors gave to your nonprofit last year and 275 of them gave again this year. 275 returning donors divided by 500 previous donors, multiplied by 100, would give you a 55% donor retention rate. This statistic means that more than half of last year’s donors stayed involved, beating the nonprofit sector average of 42.6%!
After calculating your retention rate, determine what that rate means for your organization and what rate you’d like to achieve. For example, you might make the following determinations about different retention rates:
Keep in mind that donors give for all sorts of reasons, and attaining a 100% retention rate is virtually impossible. For instance, if you run a peer-to-peer campaign, your nonprofit will likely get a burst of support from new donors who give to your cause because of a personal connection to one of your fundraisers. Most of these new supporters will be one-time donors, but their support for that specific campaign is still valuable.
Tools to help retain donors
You wouldn’t start cooking before making sure you have all the ingredients, and the same is true about starting a donor retention program. Consider what tools you’ll need to reach out to and build connections with donors. We recommend exploring the following software solutions.
Auto-submission
What’s better than receiving regular gifts from a donor? Receiving regular gifts that are then doubled without your supporters having to spend a penny more!
Matching gifts are contributions corporations make to nonprofits that supplement their employees’ gifts, usually at a dollar-per-dollar ratio. For instance, if a donor regularly gives just $25 monthly but qualifies for a matching gift program, their employer will give an additional $25, totaling $50 each month. Over the course of a year, that donor and their employer will donate $600 to your nonprofit, all while barely impacting the donor’s budget.
However, the matching gift request process does require donors to take extra steps after making their initial contribution, which can result in them deciding that pursuing a match isn’t worth the effort, especially if they have to do it every time they give.
Fortunately, with Double the Donation’s matching gift auto-submission tool, your donors will have drastically less work to request a match. Auto-submission technology lets supporters jump from step two in the matching gift process all the way to step seven:
The normal process goes something like this:
With auto-submission, donors are done as soon as they determine their matching gift eligibility and agree to use auto-submission. From there, the tool completes the form for them and sends it off to their employer. Interested in learning a bit more about just how auto-submission technology accomplishes this? Here’s a breakdown of our revolutionary new tool:
To get started with matching gift auto-submission, your nonprofit will need matching gift software. Currently, Double the Donation is proud to be the only matching gift vendor that offers this cutting-edge feature. Qualifying supporters will also need to work for a company that uses CSR software that integrates with Double the Donation. This means not all of your recurring donors can take advantage of auto-submission, but those who can will have the easiest matching experience of their lives.
eCards
Picture this: you make two donations, one to nonprofit A and one to nonprofit B.
Nonprofit B sends you a confirmation email, but you don’t hear from them again until they send another donation request a month later.
Nonprofit A sends a personalized thank-you message shortly after your confirmation email. Then, they get in touch to give you an update on the program you donated to support. The following week, they let you know about an upcoming event in your area where you can meet other supporters in your community. Finally, they send a request for another donation.
Which nonprofit’s follow-up donation request are you more likely to answer? Most would say nonprofit A because they showed appreciation, helped the donor understand their impact, and made an effort to get them involved in their community rather than just jumping straight to asking for more money.
To be like nonprofit A, you need to follow the first essential step of showing your appreciation. There are numerous ways to recognize your donors, and one technology-driven strategy combines timeliness with memorability: eCards.
eCards are digital greeting cards that allow you to send eye-catching messages to donors through email, text, and even social media. Here’s a breakdown of how to use eCards in your retention strategy:
So just what does an eCard look like? eCards are fully customizable, which means they can look like just about anything! However, they’ll usually be a decorative postcard-like image next to a short but meaningful message. For example, consider this eCard created by the Maryland Food Bank:
Donor database
Most donor engagement strategies depend heavily on communication. Use the donor data you’ve gathered from your supporters’ past involvement with your organization to send personalized messages that make supporters feel remembered, recognized, and valued.
To target your outreach, you’ll need organized donor data. Invest in a donor database to track important donor information, such as:
Properly managed data is the key to collecting and using this information. If you’re missing data, consider conducting a data append to find missing or updated information, such as birthdays and mailing addresses. As you update information, look out for duplicate entries or irrelevant details that are cluttering your database.
Even if you only have a few details about your donors, you can encourage them to continue giving in specific ways. For example, with only a donor’s contact information and giving history, you might notice they only give at in-person events. Send an email inviting that donor to your next in-person fundraiser for a higher chance of retaining them.
Donor retention program strategies
Once you’ve set a target retention goal and acquired the tools you need, it’s time to develop your program’s strategies. The right approach depends on your unique community of supporters, but some time-tested strategies include:
Identify at-risk donors.
The best way to combat donor lapse is to catch them before they’re gone. To do that, you need to understand why donors stop giving. Gather data about your lapsed donors to analyze patterns in their behavior before they stopped giving by:
With this data, craft an at-risk donor strategy. For instance, if donors tend to drop during times of economic hardship, keep them engaged during the rough patch with non-giving related opportunities. Or, if a donor stops opening your emails, send them ones with subject lines that are likely to catch their attention by acknowledging the situation, like “It’s been a while since we’ve heard from you, [donor name]!”
Personalize communication.
Donors engage with nonprofits that offer activities that interest them. Of course, it’s unlikely that a single donor will want to engage with every activity your nonprofit has to offer. Personalize your outreach to share the opportunities that are the most relevant to each donor.
For instance, when promoting your planned giving program, younger donors and supporters new to your profit are unlikely to show much interest. Show your donors that you understand their individual preferences by tailoring the content you send to their interests.
You can better personalize your communication by dividing your donors into segments. Donor segments are groups of supporters who share relevant characteristics, and nonprofit CRMs often come equipped with segmentation features to simplify this process. For instance, you might divide your donors based on:
After determining your segments, create messaging strategies for each group. You can use email templates to help you get started, then use the information stored in your donor database to personalize each message even further by referencing donors’ names, past donation amounts, and engagement history.
Make opting into recurring donations easy.
The easiest way to retain supporters is to make giving automatic with a recurring donation program. Recurring donations are gifts donors make automatically, usually on a monthly basis. Since these gifts are deducted from donors’ bank accounts without needing any additional input from the supporter, they’re a simple set-it-and-forget-it method of donor retention.
Make joining your recurring donation program as easy as possible. You can do this by including a check box to make the gift recurring on your donation form. Or, offer suggested recurring donation amounts alongside higher suggested giving amounts for one-time donors to subtly push them toward becoming recurring supporters.
Recurring donations are lower than one-time donation amounts but add up over time. When donors see the low financial commitment of a recurring gift in comparison to higher one-time amounts, they may decide a recurring gift is the way to go.
Keep in mind that research shows that when offered a range of giving options, donors are most likely to choose the second lowest option. Additionally, always let donors enter a custom amount to give in case they want to give more or less than your suggested options.
Show your gratitude.
We’ve already discussed how you can use eCards to express your gratitude, but there’s even more you can do to show donors you care. For example, you could:
These ideas are just the beginning, but if you need more inspiration for how to thank your donors, there’s an easy solution: ask them. Send out a survey asking donors how they want to be recognized so you can be sure you’re showing your thanks in a way they’ll appreciate.
Promote non-giving engagement opportunities.
As discussed in our earlier example of nonprofits A and B, if your only communication with supporters is strictly about donations, donations are likely to go down. Give your supporters more opportunities to get involved with your cause that don’t require spending, like:
Not every donor will become a dedicated member of your community who wants to participate in extra opportunities. However, even for donors who are content to give quietly, seeing that your nonprofit does care about them beyond just cashing in their monthly gift is likely to make them think more highly of your nonprofit.
Conclusion and Additional Resources
After creating your retention program, keep testing and revising it as needed based on your donors’ changing needs. Track your donor retention rate to measure your progress, and get feedback from supporters to see how you can improve your program. Remember, donor retention is always ongoing, and the strategies that work today will need to adapt to keep up with your donor base five years from now.
For more information about revamping your strategy or expanding your audience, check out these additional resources:
Nonprofit Basics: Google Ad Grants for Nonprofits
/in Nonprofit Basics /by Adam WeingerAs one of the most influential companies in the world, Google empowers charitable organizations to increase their visibility within Google Search for free through its dedicated corporate giving program called Google Ad Grants. We’ll cover everything you need to know about this program.
Since Google has over 92% of the global search engine market share, you’d be remiss to turn down the free advertising money. The program can help you connect with prospects around the world without negatively impacting your marketing budget.
What Are Google Ad Grants?
The Google Ad Grants program awards organizations $10,000 worth of Google Ads credits each month. Eligible organizations use these credits to bid on keywords and promote their web content. With free access to Google’s keyword research tools, nonprofits can place compelling ads in prominent locations on Google Search results pages, connecting them with likely supporters for their cause.
Google’s program enables nonprofits to go beyond driving more meaningful website traffic. Depending on the pages you promote with the Google Grant, here’s how the Google Ad Grant can support your initiatives in more creative capacities:
Participants can fully leverage the program by crafting powerful ad copy combined with effective keyword research, strategic bidding strategies, and carefully-chosen landing pages.
How To Get Started With Google Ad Grants
The good news is that Google makes it straightforward to join the program. Applying for the Google Grant is a simple, multi-step process. Here’s what you’ll need to do:
Keep an eye on your email for your invitation within the next few business days. Once you’re approved, you’ll automatically receive $329 per day to spend on your Google Ad campaigns.
Best of all, the grant will automatically renew each month. You just need to keep your account in good standing by adhering to the ongoing compliance requirements.
Make the Most of Your Google Ad Grant Budget
As with any marketing effort, you need a carefully-crafted plan to drive real results for your nonprofit. Let’s walk through some tried-and-true tips.
1. Optimize your website.
Your Google Ads will drive traffic to your website. With this in mind, you should prioritize the user experience to drive more donations, boost volunteer registrations, or achieve any other goal. Ultimately, you want users to click through your site to find a professional design that drives them to engage with your organization.
Here are a few elements of your website to consider:
Tie all of these elements together with powerful graphic design. This will create a cohesive site that inspires users to explore your site and convert into supporters.
2. Create robust ads with compelling copy, landing pages, and ad extensions.
Optimize your ads by paying special attention to these core building blocks for your ads:
These will result in more compelling ads and ultimately drive more clicks and meaningful traffic to your nonprofit’s website.
3. Maintain compliance.
Nonprofits interested in the Google Ad Grant need to keep a few requirements in mind when selecting their keywords and monitoring their campaigns. Specifically, they need to:
Maintaining compliance improves your ads and ensures you continue getting Google Ad Grant funding. Of course, meeting all of these requirements can be difficult, especially when you’re just getting started. That’s why many nonprofits turn to consultants for help. Working with a Google partner makes this process much easier since these agencies are the first to here about programmatic updates.
4. Consider professional Google Ad Grants management.
A lot goes into managing a Google Ad Grant account between developing compelling ads and meeting ongoing requirements. The last thing you want is your account to be deactivated after not meeting the compliance requirements.
That’s where a professional Google Grants manager can step in to save the day. Turn to a professional to ease your marketing team’s workload through services like:
We recommend working with one of Google’s certified partners. These consultants have been vetted by the Google Ads team and demonstrated a clear understanding of the program. Plus, this will give you a direct line to the latest updates to the program, so you can create the best ads possible and comply with regulations.
Whichever agency you choose, professionals know what it takes to stand out on Google Search. They know the ins and outs of the program, so you can sit back and relax knowing that you’re inspiring as many prospects as possible.
Other Resources to Explore
Nonprofit Basics – Learn more nonprofit management essentials by exploring other expert resources.
Hiring a Google Grants Agency: A Guide and 5 Expert Agencies – Explore the role a professional Google Grants manager can play further. Plus, get our top agency recommendations.
What Is A Google Ad Grant? The Ultimate Guide for Nonprofits – Continue researching the basics of the Google Ad Grant with this complete guide from the experts at Getting Attention.
Double the Donation & Neon CRM Enhance Integration to Further Fuel Matching Gift Success with Donation Form Integration
/in About Double the Donation /by Adam WeingerNeon CRM and Double the Donation are excited to announce their recent integration enhancement. These partners have collaborated to help drive greater matching gift success for organizations that utilize their integration.
Double the Donation and Neon CRM’s integration helps nonprofits initiate the matching gift conversation with donors. That powerful CRM integration continues to automate personalized, tailored, and effective matching gift outreach to donors following their contribution. With this enhancement and expanded functionality, Double the Donation can now also integrate directly into Neon CRM donation forms. By integrating Double hte Donation into those forms, organizations can identify eligible donors earlier on in the donor journey and provide personalized matching gift next steps in a timely, efficient manner.
This integration captures employment data during the giving process, helping organizations more easily discover their donors’ match eligibility. Once donors enter their employment information on Neon CRM’s giving forms, Double the Donation prepares to present eligible donors their matching gift next steps on the confirmation page. Because the integration delivers those matching gift next steps close to the actual point of donation, the chances a donor completes those steps and organizations receive that revenue increases multifold.
“Donors often lack awareness of their matching gift eligibility and matching gift next steps. As a result, nonprofits often miss out on valuable matching gift opportunities,” says Adam Weinger, President of Double the Donation. “This enhanced integration with Neon CRM will close that matching gift revenue gap by allowing organizations to engage donors in the matching gift process earlier.”
Double the Donation and Neon CRM donation forms integrate seamlessly to elevate fundraising success. By leveraging this enhanced integration, organizations will drive more matching gifts to completion with less effort and manual steps required.
Activate in Seconds and Start Raising More from Matching Gifts!
Activating Double the Donation on Neon CRM donation forms is a quick process. Once organizations navigate to the integration section within the Neon CRM global settings tab, they just need to retrieve their public and private API keys from their Double the Donation account and plug them into the Double the Donation Integration section. From there, organizations can drag and drop the search field onto their existing forms to begin leveraging the integration!
Once the integration is active on organizations’ donation forms, their donors will be able to determine their eligibility and receive their matching gift next steps on the confirmation page.
Organizations that use this integration can expect to streamline the matching gift process and earn more from this funding source.
Want to learn more? Check out our in-depth integration guide to get started.
Drive More Matching Gifts to Completion with Double the Donation!
Double the Donation ensures your matching gift opportunities don’t fall through the cracks.
Take advantage of this solution to:
Ready to drive matching gifts for your next fundraising effort? Schedule a personalized demo to learn how matching gifts can fund your mission.
About NeonOne: Neon provides technology with a purpose to further your mission. Their nonprofit tech solutions help grow communities, inspire audiences, and scale impact. To learn more, visit: https://neonone.com/get-started/
About Double the Donation: Automate your matching gift fundraising with the industry-leading solution from Double the Donation. The Double the Donation platform provides nonprofits with tools to identify match-eligible donors, drive matches to completion, and gain actionable insights. Double the Donation integrates directly into donation forms, CRMs, social fundraising software, and other nonprofit technology solutions to capture employment information and follow up appropriately with donors about matching gifts. To learn more visit https://doublethedonation.com/get-a-demo/
Nonprofit Basics: Employee Engagement Ideas
/in Nonprofit Basics /by Adam WeingerAs a mission-driven organization, it’s important for your nonprofit to have employees that are invested in and passionate about their work. In other words, it’s critical to the nature of nonprofit work to have engaged employees who want to drive your mission forward and deliver results for your beneficiaries.
While that might seem obvious, it is a little easier said than done. According to Gallup, only 36% of U.S. employees are engaged at work. Nonprofits face unique challenges when it comes to employee engagement, not the least of which is that they have to compete with the for-profit sector for talent and often have limited resources to work with when honing the employee experience. Actively pursuing ways to engage your employees can help with this issue.
What is nonprofit employee engagement?
Employee engagement refers to how your employees feel about their jobs and how invested they are in your organization’s larger goals. Engaged employees are passionate about their work, enjoy their jobs, and feel satisfied with how they are valued and compensated for their efforts. They’re also very loyal to the organizations they work for and are more likely to stay retained in their roles.
Fostering employee engagement and overall satisfaction is an important part of nonprofit HR, which manages all aspects of the employee lifecycle. From recruiting to exit interviews, keeping the entire employee experience in mind can help you strategize to come up with employee engagement ideas that boost employee retention and help you meet employee needs.
6 Ideas for Engaging Your Nonprofit Employees
Nonprofit employee engagement is essential for building up a strong internal team that can drive your mission forward. These ideas can help you fine-tune your own organization’s strategy:
Give Them Meaningful and Challenging Work.
Menial, repetitive tasks aren’t fun for anyone. Employees should be doing meaningful work that challenges them and helps them tap into their strengths and build new skills. Employees won’t be innovative and excited about their work if they feel their skills are undervalued or that they aren’t really contributing to a larger purpose.
Make sure you give them meaningful work that puts their skills to use. They’ll feel much more fulfilled this way!
Provide Opportunities For Continued Learning And Career Development.
Employees don’t want a stagnant experience at your organization. To encourage continued growth, provide them with opportunities to do things like:
There should also be a clear-cut path for career development and growth so that employees know how they can advance in their roles. For example, employees should have access to knowledge about how they could pursue becoming a manager or director and feel able to discuss those opportunities with their manager.
Start An Employee Recognition Program.
An employee recognition program sets up a formal framework for acknowledging staff members for their work and accomplishments. Implementing these programs shows your employees that you see the hard work they’re doing on your nonprofit’s behalf. Some common examples of these programs include:
Regularly recognizing employees’ accomplishments and progress lets them know you’re paying attention and value their hard work. Plus, don’t forget to appreciate your remote employees as well. Since these staff members work virtually, it’s easy for them to feel disconnected from the workplace. Implementing a recognition program for them can make them feel more engaged in their jobs and help them form connections with other employees.
Celebrate Milestones and Special Days With eCards.
Recognizing milestones and reaching out on special occasions communicates that you care about employees beyond their day-to-day work at your company. From celebrating anniversaries to spreading cheer during the holidays, online greeting cards have so many great uses, which is why they make the perfect addition to your employee engagement program.
Not to mention, they’re incredibly low-cost, so this initiative won’t take much to fund. Here are some special occasions that you might celebrate for your employees:
Create work eCard designs for different occasions like these. Then, personalize the message you send with each one. Employees will feel appreciated and engaged in no time!
Hone Your Organization’s Internal Culture.
Liven up your work atmosphere and make sure employees have fun. Encourage employees to get to know their coworkers by hosting parties and events. Surprise your employees with fun perks to make them feel appreciated.
Cultivate an atmosphere of positivity and openness so that concerns don’t fester and employees are comfortable in their work environment.
Be Transparent With Your Employees.
Being honest about the good and the not-so-good will show your employees that you see them as valuable team members that should be included in organizational happenings. Show your employees that you care about them by addressing issues honestly and focusing on solutions for moving forward.
If employees feel like they can bring up issues with management, then you’re more likely to catch potential problems before they’ve fully evolved. Not to mention, employees who feel cared for are more likely to care about their work.
Other Resources to Explore
Nonprofit Basics – Learn more about nonprofit management essentials by exploring other expert resources.
Working With a Nonprofit Human Resources Consultant – An HR consultant can provide a third-party perspective on how your nonprofit handles employee relationships and help you to improve. Learn more in this guide.
Compensation Consulting: The Ultimate Guide (+ Top Firms!) – Compensation affects employee satisfaction. Working with a compensation consultant is a great option for nonprofits looking to hone their approach. Start exploring these recommendations!