4 Tips for Creating More Effective Fundraising Appeals

Put yourself in a donor’s shoes. You receive dozens of messages daily, all vying for your attention. What type of appeal would catch your eye, stop you in your tracks and convince you to donate?

Of course, the message must be well-designed and professionally formatted. However, the key to an effective fundraising appeal doesn’t just lie in the aesthetics; it relies on your ability to reach donors on a personal level, build genuine relationships with them and speak to their motivations.

Revamping your current fundraising strategy empowers you to craft more engaging, relevant appeals that resonate with donors and help you surpass your fundraising goals. Let’s explore tips for developing effective fundraising appeals to take your efforts up a notch.

1. Understand your donors’ giving motivations.

By understanding what motivates your donors, you can create messages that appeal to their interests and excite them about the giving process. Survey donors to find out why they support your nonprofit and record their responses in your database. Common giving motivations include:

• • Personal connections to your cause. Let’s say your organization researches a rare disease in hopes of finding a cure. If one of your donors had a family member who battled that disease, they may support your cause in honor of their loved one.

  • Passion for a specific program. Share your strategic plan with donors so they know your current organization-wide priorities. Certain donors may feel strongly about different programs and areas of your mission, allowing you to tailor your appeals to their interests.

  • Desire to make a difference. Other donors may just want to create positive change in general and therefore may be receptive to language that draws upon their power to make a difference in the world via donating.

After gathering donors’ responses, use your constituent relationship management platform (CRM) to segment donors by giving motivations and develop different fundraising appeal templates that cater to these interests. For instance, you may create a segment for donors passionate about your foster pet program and discuss how their contributions could help you find temporary homes for animals in your shelter.

2. Share a compelling story.

Stories help donors forge an emotional bond with your mission, persuading them to give and develop lasting relationships with your nonprofit. Through storytelling, you can show your work in action and how it actually impacts your beneficiaries’ lives to demonstrate the outcomes donors’ funds will support.

An effective nonprofit story should include:

• • A central character. Perhaps your organization runs a mentorship program for at-risk high school students. You may focus on a student in the program and how your nonprofit’s work helped them graduate.

  • A driving conflict. The central conflict of your story is the issue or problem that your main character faces. For example, perhaps a student lost their older brother and needed someone to fill that missing mentorship role in their life.

  • A proposed solution. Offer a solution for the problem: your work, powered by donors’ contributions. For instance, you may explain that with donors’ generous support, your organization can expand its mentor program to help more students connect with a role model and achieve their goals, just like your central character did.

While your story will add an emotional charge to your appeal, you should also back it up with data to add credibility to your argument and foster trust with supporters. Include statistics, such as how many students you’ve helped with your program, the increase in students’ test scores after participation or your program’s college acceptance rate. You may also attach specific impacts to different donation amounts, such as how many students a donor can help with each increasing increment, to help donors connect the story to their own actions.

3. Use data to make the right ask.

Asking donors for a specific donation amount can encourage them to contribute and potentially give more than they had initially intended. But how can you ensure you ask each donor for a reasonable amount?

The answer is with donor data. Evaluate the following factors for each prospect to determine the right ask amount:

• • Wealth indicators. Analyze data such as your prospective donors’ stock holdings, real estate ownership, job titles and other publicly available financial information to assess prospects’ giving capacity. 

  • Existing donors’ past contributions. Review existing donors’ giving history to ensure your ask aligns with their previous contributions. Make sure you request an amount that isn’t so high that you turn them away but not so low that you leave money on the table. 

  • Affinity markers. Investigate whether a prospective donor has contributed to similar organizations in the past or shown support for your mission in other ways to determine their affinity for your cause.

Gathering and assessing this data can be a complex process. Consider working with a nonprofit consultant to help parse through this information and lend their expertise.

Aly Sterling Philanthropy’s fundraising consultant guide recommends researching different providers’ founding philosophies, testimonials, references, past projects and location to ensure your values align and your consultant has the skills you need to propel your fundraising asks to the next level.

4. Offer additional ways to get involved.

Some donors may not be able to give monetarily at this time, but they can still support your mission in other ways. By providing additional engagement opportunities, you allow supporters to work with your mission in a hands-on capacity, deepening their connection to your organization.

Invite supporters to get involved with your organization’s:

• • In-kind donation efforts. Donors don’t have to reach into their wallets to offer meaningful donation support. They can also provide nonmonetary or in-kind contributions that cost nothing to them but mean everything to your nonprofit. For example, YPTC’s in-kind donation guide explains that donors may contribute items they already have, like clothing or canned goods, or donate their time in the form of pro-bono professional services to help your organization save on web design, accounting, legal or other costs.

  • Volunteer program. Volunteering allows supporters to see how your mission works first-hand and engage with your staff and beneficiaries. Boost your recruitment efforts by transforming donors into volunteers and highlighting any upcoming outings they can participate in.

  • Advocacy opportunities. Similarly, participating in advocacy gives supporters a deeper understanding of the societal issues your organization works to solve. Donors may write to legislators, share petitions or canvass your community on behalf of your cause.

Offering additional engagement opportunities shows that you appreciate any efforts donors make to support your mission. Donors without the means to donate at this time may jump at the chance to get involved in other ways, allowing you to retain their support and reach out again with another ask when the time is right.

To continue developing strong donor relationships, follow up after your fundraising appeal with a thank-you message. Even if prospects decide not to give, thank them for their time and consideration. That way, you can show your gratitude, keep your organization top of mind and encourage these individuals to give in the future.

This blog is an original work of the attributed author. It is shared with permission via Foundant Technologies' website for informative purposes only as part of our educational content in the social good sector. This text's views, thoughts, and opinions belong solely to the author and do not necessarily reflect Foundant's stance on this topic.