You may be wondering, where on earth do I find new donors? and if you’re asking that question, you’re not alone! Finding new donors takes both sustained effort and commitment.
Lead acquisition is the process of acquiring qualified donors to grow your list. This strategy is used to connect with as many people as you can find, who align with your organization.
Here are some simple ways to find new leads for your nonprofit
1. Know where your donors hang out and show up there
Chances are, your core base of donors have a lot in common. Therefore, it stands to reason that if you can figure out where they enjoy spending time online and offline, and find ways to have a presence there, then you’ll also come across like-minded potential donors.
2. Embrace social media
If you think about where your donors are online, social media platforms should be included in your assessment. While social media can be a distraction, it’s also where the highest volume of people are congregated at one time. Why not use your profiles to get the word out about the good work you’re doing and connect with new leads that way?
3. Practice “relationship mapping”
Look at your current donors, your board members, and others committed to your organization. Who are they? Who is in their network? Do they know people who would be a good fit for your organization? Once you’ve identified a few solid leads, your development officer can work towards cultivating genuine relationships with them.
4. Prioritize your website
Many nonprofits look at their websites as an afterthought, but in this digital age it needs to be a priority. When you have a strong website optimized for lead generation, you will essentially attract potential donors to you. This can be a lengthy process, but when your website is firing on all cylinders, it’s a beautiful thing.
5. Conduct acquisition campaigns
One of the fastest ways to increase your lead acquisition and list growth is through conducting targeted acquisition campaigns. This focused effort allows you to seek new names to add to your database, either through digital or direct mail. These types of campaigns work best when you create a resource and make it available for free, in exchange for an address. Once you have the lead, your donor relations team can get to work.
Why focus on list growth?
If you’ve been at this awhile, then you know the value of continuing to add names to your database. There’s a natural churn to a donor list, as people’s priorities or finances change, or as they age, encounter illness and eventually pass away.
Developing a list growth strategy to continually deliver high-quality names for your donor team to nurture will serve your nonprofit well in the long term.
In many cases, when you connect with a new potential donor, they won’t have knowledge about your charity and won’t be prepared to donate immediately. Therefore, giving them a reason to stay connected and building trust and relationship is extremely important, with the ultimate goal being to convert them into a donor over time.
In order to nurture constituents who are not yet ready to become donors, it’s important to develop resources to help you stay in touch with them. This could be through writing and publishing articles, creating video stories and updates, posting regularly on social media, or sending mailings with information they’d be interested in receiving. If you have a store, you may also want to consider offering coupons to first-time shoppers to incentivize a purchase.
Anchor Marketing has unparalleled experience in nonprofit marketing, lead acquisition, and list growth. One of our recent campaigns generated 2,500 new names over a two-month campaign! If you’re ready to generate more leads then let us know, we’d love to partner with you.
