What are the secret ingredients to mobilizing a base of supporters and donors?
1. Be where your people are and engage them on their terms.
2. Always remember that your supporters and donors are real people (not ATM machines). They have different preferences in how they like organizations to communicate with them. Some prefer email over snail mail. Others prefer mobile. Some prefer social networks and others just want to surf your website. This is why it’s critical that your nonprofit do multi-channel outreach.
I know that using different mediums to reach supporters and tracking the results is time consuming and can 
be challenging for nonprofits to balance, but I promise it will pay off. Check out this data. Out of 14 nonprofits that M&R studied using a multichannel approach, first year donor retention rates increased by 61% vs 32% for offline donors and 24% for online donors. Multichannel donors also gave higher donations than single channel donors.
Response rates will increase if you engage your supporters and donors across different channels too. “Target data shows that among offline-only donors who have valid email addresses, sending email boosts their annual revenue by approximately 30% – for those who never donate a dollar online – and increases their retention as well,” said Jeff Regen of M+R.
Leveraging mobile and email has also increased donations for some nonprofits. Last year Frogloop profiled the Humane Society of the United States who did some testing around a fundraising drive. The results? HSUS experienced an increased response rate of 77% during during a fundraising campaign by texting an appeal to their donors with mobile numbers 24 hours before an appeal hit their email boxes.
Like we always say at Frogloop, your donors and supporters are everywhere. If you don’t connect with them, another organization will. Don’t miss these opportunities.
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