Studies have shown that over 70% of nonprofit gifts come from individual donors. Though corporate and foundation gifts are incredibly important, make sure that a heavy emphasis on individual donors is a mainstay in your fundraising model.
The 'donor funnel' refers to the systematic phases your organization will walk prospective donors through during their relationship with your organization. A standard donor funnel consists of four phases: prospecting, cultivation, asking, and stewardship. Of course, at Maier Anderson, The System acts as our tried and true form of a donor funnel.
For each phase of your donor funnel, implement only 2, 3, or 4 strategies for success. Once you've mastered your initial set of strategies, then you may begin to workshop newer ideas.
Honor your organization's workflow capacity and financial bandwidth. One of the keys to raising funds is to do less, not more - but do what you're doing well.
Develop and record a system of acquiring new donors, year over year. Don't freestyle! Be intentional about donor targeting, specifically with different political and economic catalysts coming to the forefront at different times of the year. A lack of definition in donor acquisition will lead to struggles with inconsistency, loss, or plateauing.
While many other avenues for online fundraising are developing, e-mailing remains the most effective, tried and true method for capturing a prospective donor's attention.
Board members do not need to be fundraisers for your organization, they need to be ambassadors! Tasking your board with serving as ambassadors by making referrals and gentle introductions for your team will help your board members become more active in fundraising without asking them to do things that they are uncomfortable doing.