3 Ways to Prime Your Audience for the Giving Season
By: Emily Ottaggio
Giving season is approaching quickly and now is a perfect time to set yourself up for fundraising success. How do you do that? A little stewardship goes a long way. Have you ever opened an email, or clicked on a suggested post on social media, and suddenly you are seeing that company or social account everywhere? Use those algorithms to your advantage!
Engage your audience now by offering them opportunities to connect with your organization without asking for anything in return. You want to remind your donors and followers who you are and the importance of the work your organization does before those end-of-year appeals start rolling out. Here are three small, but effective ways to steward your audience now to prime them for giving season:
Email Newsletters
It may seem obvious, but an email newsletter is a great way to engage your audience in your mission and keep them up to date on the services your hard-working team is providing. An email newsletter can highlight your organization’s big wins, small wins, and future projects.
Hot tip: sprinkle in different types of content into your email newsletters to see which types of stories your donors click on the most and keep that in your back pocket when choosing what to feature in your fundraising appeals.
Polls and Surveys
Give your donors an exclusive chance to feel like part of the team by letting them vote on their favorite eCard design for donation acknowledgments. Let your social followers participate in curating their feed by offering a poll on the most popular banner image option. However you choose to invite feedback, your end goal with this option is getting your audience to participate. People love to have their voices heard – even in something as low stakes as an eCard design or banner image.
Send a Thank You Note
Everyone likes to feel appreciated. Outside of sending gift acknowledgments, send out a separate thank you to everyone for engaging with your mission. Whether someone donated, started a fundraiser, or signed up for email, your audience has indicated that they care about the work you do. A short, heartfelt note of appreciation from the CEO sends the message that donors are worth more than their dollars to your organization.
The most important thing to remember when it comes to adding in stewardship touches is that there’s no reason to reinvent the wheel. Highlight content you’ve already put together or use the content you would have put together anyway. Get creative with your approach and try a combination to see what works for your audience.
Work with Doing Good Digital
Do you need help putting an annual stewardship plan together? Strategize with us and receive support in segmentation, content creation, and automation campaigns. We’ve helped nonprofits throughout the USA and Canada optimize their digital fundraising strategy. Fill out this form to get started!
