Taking a Holistic View of Volunteers and Donors: 4 Tips
[Guest Post] By Jason Spencer, Customer Service/Account Manager at Donately
Nonprofits tend to view their donors and volunteers as separate entities. They’ll put donors in one box and volunteers in another, and they’ll create different communication channels and engagement strategies for each group.
While this segmentation is useful in some situations (such as when you’d like to gather data from a specific group), the reality is that the lines between these groups are blurry and often nonexistent. In fact, supporters who volunteer are 2x more likely to donate. This shows that volunteers are donors, and donors are volunteers in many cases.
People are simply more likely to donate to organizations where they also volunteer, and donors are more likely to volunteer with a nonprofit they’re already in contact with. Treating these groups as separate entities can quickly become inefficient because ultimately, they all fall under the same umbrella.
Therefore, to boost both your nonprofit’s volunteer engagement and fundraising efforts, you should take a holistic approach when communicating with all supporters. These are our top strategies for boosting your stewardship efforts to account for these similarities:
Thank volunteers and donors equally.
Tailor opportunities to supporter preferences.
Promote volunteer grants.
Engage supporters in peer-to-peer fundraising.
Your nonprofit can successfully exceed its online fundraising campaign goals by leaning on the strength of its volunteer base to assist in fundraising activities.
Often, nonprofits elevate donor management above volunteer concerns because on the surface, it may not seem like volunteers can directly support critical fundraising campaigns. But the most successful fundraising organizations recognize that volunteers are vital contributors to all campaigns because volunteers are donors and fundraisers. These supporters already have a strong affinity for your cause, and many are eager to become effective fundraisers on your behalf. With that in mind, let’s dive in!
1. Thank volunteers and donors equally.
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, many in-person events were put on pause, but volunteers were still as active as ever. Statistics from the COVID-era show that volunteers were eager to help—weekly volunteer shift volume during the first few months of the pandemic was higher than at any point in 2019:
Nonprofits also saw a slight donation decrease during this time due to financial hardships, and many began to take a more comprehensive look at their volunteers and donors. Organizations began offering virtual engagement events that opened up new revenue streams, turning volunteers into financial supporters as well.
The moral of the story is that supporters have made incredible contributions in times of adversity and change. They’ve contributed their time, money, and energy to your cause. These loyal advocates deserve recognition for their efforts, no matter their level of involvement.
Proper supporter recognition involves thanking all supporters equally, whether they’ve donated their money or their time. When you express gratitude to supporters, you help ensure they’ll stick around for the long haul because they will have a positive experience and a stronger connection with your organization. These relationships can lead to immediate benefits, such as increases in volunteering and donations, or even set your nonprofit up for long-term success through a planned giving program.
Be sure to craft your thank-you messages with:
Supporters’ preferred names. Identify supporters’ preferred names, and label communications accordingly. This goes a long way toward generating goodwill and intensifying relationships with supporters.
Specific references to their contributions. Whether someone donated $1,000 to your organization or three hours of their time to a volunteer project, be sure to include specific details that reference their contributions. Supporters can easily see through generic thank-you messages that are written to address hundreds or thousands of people at once.
Examples of their impact. Volunteers and donors alike want and deserve to know the impact of their contributions. Be sure to provide updates in your thank-you messages about what their contributions accomplished, whether it was funding a new program or running a successful virtual event.
Strengthening relationships through recognition helps boost supporter retention, leading to continued support for your volunteer programs and fundraising pursuits. By thanking all supporters equally, you acknowledge that in various circumstances, anyone has the potential to be either a volunteer or a donor. A positive thank-you note can influence a volunteer to become a donor or vice versa.
You can even go above and beyond and host a virtual appreciation event to recognize all supporters at once with an online concert, party, or other fun activity. Get creative and offer your supporters something they haven’t experienced before. In turn, you’ll be able to provide them with something meaningful to match the value they bring to your organization.
2. Tailor opportunities to supporter preferences.
Supporter relationships are a two-way street. Donors and volunteers don’t just want to hear from you in your appreciation letters — they also want to have their voices heard through feedback opportunities.
When supporters know your organization values their views, they’ll be more willing to continue working with you and might even deepen their involvement. Through this process, supporters become active contributors to your mission rather than passive observers, giving them a personal stake in your nonprofit’s success.
Supporter surveys can also reveal trends in their preferences. For example, you can discover supporters’ opinions on:
Virtual vs. in-person events. While many nonprofits have moved back to in-person events, others are still figuring out what balance of virtual and in-person events will work best for their supporters. You can gather feedback from your supporters on what would make them most comfortable in this transition.
Communication platforms. Nowadays, there are plenty of ways for nonprofits to connect with supporters, from social media and email to mobile fundraisers. Your surveys can reveal supporters’ preferred communication outlets. They can also reveal any generational divides. For example, younger supporters might prefer mobile or social media updates, while older demographics tend to favor email or direct mail communications.
Event types. Your organization has likely experimented with a range of virtual events, including educational webinars, virtual volunteer opportunities, and even your year-end fundraisers. Use your surveys to solicit feedback from supporters on which event types they enjoy the most and what they’d like to see more of in the future.
Providing opportunities for volunteers and donors to voice opinions through surveys or social media conversations can go a long way in retaining their support. You can use their responses to adjust your engagement strategy moving forward and offer programs that supporters are actually interested in.
3. Promote volunteer grants.
Volunteer grants blur the boundaries between volunteers and donors even further. In these programs, volunteers generate donations for your organization through the act of volunteering itself.
Here’s how it works: Volunteers give a certain amount of their time to help your organization. In exchange, their employers donate a specific amount to your nonprofit based on the number of hours they serve. For example, the healthcare company Aetna offers a $300 donation for every 20 hours volunteered.
Crowd101’s guide to volunteer grants explain that they are essentially “free money” that nonprofits often overlook due to a lack of awareness about these programs. Through your communication and marketing efforts, however, you have the power to boost awareness of volunteer grants to make them a more effective fundraising source for your organization.
Spread the word about volunteer grant opportunities on your website, social media, and email newsletters. Encourage supporters to investigate if these programs are available at their own companies. If so, ask them to log their hours and request the grants from their employers. By taking advantage of volunteer grants, you can harness the power of your volunteer base to drive greater fundraising revenue.
4. Engage supporters in peer-to-peer fundraising.
Another effective way to deepen volunteer and donor engagement is through peer-to-peer fundraising. With peer-to-peer fundraising, you empower your most dedicated supporters to proactively fundraise on behalf of your cause.
Here’s how it works:
Your organization decides on a fundraising goal and chooses a peer-to-peer fundraising platform.
You create your main fundraising page, which serves as an example for your supporters to use when designing their pages.
You identify your most energetic, eager supporters, and encourage them to create personal fundraising pages.
Participants share their individual fundraising pages with their friends and families, encouraging them to donate.
Check out this example of what a supporter’s mobile-responsive peer-to-peer fundraising page might look like across different screens with the right campaign tools:
With these pages, fundraisers can keep supporters engaged with a running tally of the donation amount and number of donors. Additionally, they can present a compelling story and share the page across online platforms like social media and email to get more people involved.
Donately’s peer-to-peer fundraising guide covers a few top benefits of this style of fundraising that give it an edge over traditional campaigns, including:
Higher engagement. People are more likely to engage with your fundraiser if it’s shared by someone they know and trust. Encourage your fundraising supporters to add a few personal touches to their campaign pages to lean into this familiarity.
Wider reach. Peer-to-peer fundraising extends your organization’s message to an exponentially larger audience than a fundraiser that you only promote to your current supporters. Participants share their campaign pages with their networks, exposing your mission to more prospects than you could achieve on your own.
Stronger bonds with your supporters. Supporters who choose to be peer-to-peer fundraisers gain a stronger connection with your organization because they’ve taken the time to understand your mission and fundraising needs. This can lead to their continued support in the future because they’re invested in your success.
To make the most of this engagement opportunity, motivate your volunteer fundraisers throughout the peer-to-peer fundraising process. Promote your campaign on your marketing platforms, and post updates on your progress. You can also set individual goals for participants to give them a benchmark to work toward. Don’t forget to acknowledge their success by implementing recognition efforts along the way.
As you can see, the boundaries between volunteers and donors are often arbitrary. By considering your supporters as one holistic group, you can offer opportunities that appeal to both groups’ interests and encourage them to get more involved in all of your organization’s efforts.
While you contemplate your nonprofit’s return to in-person activities, keep in mind all the different ways you can continue to engage your supporters and make them active collaborators in your mission. Good luck!
About the author: Jacob Spencer, Customer Success / Account Manager of Donately strives to make every step of Donately’s customer journey as enjoyable as possible. When he’s not working you can find him spending time with his wife, 2 boys, and his Border Collie, Abbie. Family>Everything.