Why Volunteers Make Your Best Donor Prospects
Volunteers are already some of the best donor prospects on your list. Research from the Do Good Institute found they’re 14.5% more likely to give the following year than people who don’t volunteer, and it makes sense: their connection to your mission is already proven through their time. That’s exactly why the messaging that gets them to give should look different from a generic acquisition appeal. Start by segmenting on giving history first, then layer volunteer identity on top. Lead with email, watch how they engage, and ease into the ask rather than opening with one. Here’s how to build that into your communications without over-soliciting a group that’s already showing up for you.
The Research Behind the Connection
The connection between volunteering and giving isn’t a coincidence. Blackbaud’s Giving Fund found the relationship between volunteering and donating is deeply symbiotic: the more connected someone feels to your mission, the more likely they are to support it financially. That means volunteers already on your list, whether or not they’ve given yet, deserve to be treated like donors from day one. They’re already investing something valuable: their time. (Sources: Blackbaud Giving Fund; Do Good Institute)
Should You Segment Volunteers Separately From Other Donors?
Not exactly. If most of your volunteers have already made a gift, classify them by giving history first, then layer volunteer identity on top through messaging. A donor who also volunteers deserves to have both parts of that relationship acknowledged. Something as simple as “As a volunteer, you’ve already seen the impact of your time firsthand…” recognizes the insider connection without treating them as a separate donor tier.
That said, keep them tagged as a distinct segment even if they receive the same content as everyone else. Tracking their open rates, click throughs, opt outs, and giving behavior separately tells you early if this group is responding differently, good or bad, before you expand them into broader campaigns. That same instinct, watching behavior before you scale a segment, is behind our post, 4 Crucial Tactics for a Successful Donor Journey.
Should You Start With Email or Direct Mail?
Email. Starting there lets you watch behavior before committing budget to print. Give it at least one or two full campaign cycles before adding volunteers to a mail file. Let their actual engagement and giving behavior make that call instead of assumption.
How to Ease Into the Ask Without Overselling
If someone signed up for volunteer communications, a fundraising ask can feel like a bait and switch if it shows up too fast. A short “welcome to our donor community” touchpoint before the ask smooths that transition. Bloomerang calls the result of doing this well “super supporters”: people who give both time and money because they feel connected, not because they were pitched.
The better lever here is stewardship, not solicitation. Share stories that connect a volunteer’s time to the outcomes it created. When someone sees their contribution, hours or dollars, actually move something forward, they stay longer and give again. We cover more ways to do this in 3 Ways to Follow-up with New Donors.
FAQ
Yes. Research from the Do Good Institute found volunteers are 14.5% more likely to give the following year than people who don’t volunteer, and that connection compounds the more engaged someone feels with the mission.
After you’ve built the relationship first. A brief welcome touchpoint that acknowledges their volunteer identity, followed by at least one or two email cycles of relationship-building content, gives the ask context instead of catching them off guard.
Track them as a distinct segment, but don’t assume they need entirely separate content. Segment by giving history first, then layer in volunteer-specific messaging so both parts of the relationship get acknowledged.
