Must-Know Strategies to Engage Your Donors Like Never Before

Are you having difficulty engaging donors for upcoming events? Christmas is fast approaching, and the new year celebration has begun. If you have planned to organize charitable events during this time, it’s critical to attract the attention of your existing and some new donors. To attract donors to these events, make sure you develop a goal for the event that will remind them of the mission, unique programs, and outreach taking place within your church. Through these events, you can build a strong relationship with existing and new donors, and make them feel that they are an integral part of the vision and mission at your church.

Here are a few vital strategies that you should follow to engage existing donors and attract new ones:

Determine your needs

The first step is to identify your urgent needs and the ones that you want to accomplish through your end-of-year appeal. Do you want to promote a new program that is in need of immediate funds? Are you looking for funds to expand the church or cover some special need that was not in the budget at the beginning of the year? Whatever your need, make sure that you define it clearly.

Categorize donors into groups

Once you determine your need, your next step is to categorize your donors into different groups. For this, you need to go through previous years’ donation patterns. You can form a group of donors who have provided huge donations in the end of the year.  Another group may be members with recurring donations who have increased their donation since the prior year.

Tailor your request to each donor group

It’s important to encourage each of these groups to increase their generosity. For example, you can help donors with recurring donations to consider increasing the amount of their donation if God has prospered them with a raise or promotion in the last year. Appeal to those who have donated three times or more last year to setup a donation schedule and give on a recurring basis. Your givers will donate over 50% more when they schedule their giving for the coming year.  Think of the impact from this one campaign to your givers that are not setup with a recurring donation schedule.

Develop your communication plan

Plan when and how you will communicate with your donors. Decide the total number of times and how you will send the message your donors. You can send emails, communicate through social networking sites, or even call them directly by telephone and communicate through traditional mail. For a year-end campaign, it is often best to send the first message near Christmas and then contact them at least three days prior to the new year.

Communicate wisely

Make sure that you interact with your donors in a way that recognizes the importance of their contribution and support to the ministry that takes place at your church. And, make sure you thank them when they do respond to your campaign. If one donor qualifies for three donor groups, make sure you should send one mail or make one phone call only. You want to engage and encourage donors without turning them away. Remember, you are giving them the opportunity to bless others and grow closer in their walk with God through the work of your church.

Make use of additional resources

Use extra resources such as images, logos, and graphics tailored to the campaign, in order to attract donors. The more you put into the campaign, the more your donors will know how important this campaign is to your church, and to their growth and maturity as a disciple of Christ.

2017-04-06T14:18:06-05:00

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