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Q&A from our "How to Run Goal-Based Fundraising Campaigns" webinar

Caitlin_M
Administrator

Giving Tuesday is coming up in a few months (yes, really!). Finding the right messaging to get donors to take action and make a donation is always a challenge. Join this session as we explore how one nonprofit used the tools from Constant Contact and DonorPerfect to raise over $280K over a few months using goal-based communication.

 

In this webinar, you’ll learn:

  • The psychology of giving and how to entice people to give
  • Tips for establishing your goals and creating emails that drive donations
  • Steps for creating your own fundraising campaign

 

 

What is DonorPerfect and how does it work with Constant Contact?

DonorPerfect partners with nonprofits in helping them raise money, save time, and grow their community of supporters using smart fundraising solutions and data-driven best practices. When you integrate DonorPefect with Constant Contact, you can easily segment your lists to send targeted and engaging messages to your donors.

 

Are my donors automatically synced to my ConstantContact account?

Yes, those contacts are synced every day once your Apps & Integrations is set up

 

Can we customize our donor forms to receive donor information for political fundraising where it is required by law to collect information before accepting any donation?

DonorPerfect forms are customizable to add custom fields to the forms that would likely fulfill the requirement.

 

What would be a good frequency for sending emails promoting a campaign fundraiser? Say if the campaign is six weeks long, do we send one email a week or less?

Start by sending a weekly email (or bi-weekly if it’s a longer campaign) until the last week when you will increase the frequency to create energy. You can also use a dynamic list to remove people who have given already but make sure to send them a thank you email when the campaign is over.

 

How do you handle interacting with newly added donors? I've found a lot of people find it invasive adding them to our list for emails right after donating. Do you have suggestions to make this a softer sort of transition?

Start off with a “thank you” email before putting them into the full list. In the thank you email, thank them for their donation, and let them know they are subscribed to your content and they will be receiving a certain number of emails in the future with an option to opt out if desired (unsubscribe options are available through every email sent out through us).

 

How do you craft your message to compel donors to give big without alienating others who might not be able to give a large gift, and often not give anything feeling their donation won't make a difference?

Many organizations will equate a dollar amount where the donor can easily see how their donation, large or small, creates an impact. For example, $100 can provide training and $10 provides food for a week.

 

Our constituents have long histories with our organization including strong donor engagement and loyalty. We are a small nonprofit with few fundraising staff. Our concern is that since we are relying upon our data/segmentation so much, we may miss the mark with our donors and make an ask that is either too high or too low. Our compromise is to send out the same letter/email/annual gift letter/social to all types of donors. 

You can start simple and create segments with a higher or lower ask amount while also creating a control group that asks for the standard donation you usually include in the email. If you find the average donation and number of donations for the test group were more successful than the control group, you can use this information to make decisions on where to go.

 

My challenge is where do I find people with disposable income to give to a grassroots community-based operation. We have a challenge every year and raise only a few hundred dollars.

Sponsorships are a great way to boost fundraising and get your sponsors to promote your fundraising as well.

 

Can we create a real-time giving meter with DonorPerfect?

You can create a giving meter directly through DonorPerfect

 

How would you manage a campaign with a thermometer tool if the donations are not coming in or you expect a lot to come in at the last minute?

While some conditions and donors may inherently wait, the best thing to do would be to be frequent with the emails and include the time remaining in the email to create urgency.

 

I'm curious how you are confident your donor list can handle the goal you're aiming for. If you aim too high and don't reach the goal, how do you communicate that to donors?

It is important to provide transparency and share the results with donors. In the case of not hitting the goal, let the donors know that they still can make donations to help support the cause even after the campaign has ended. 

 

This is also where communicating a specific need becomes important after the campaign has ended. It may mean that the program cannot get off the ground and fundraising will be extended. For example, a capital campaign that does not raise all the money by build time would potentially reschedule the build and in some cases, it could be scaling back the program to fit with what is raised.

 

Do you integrate with any other CRMs besides DonorPerfect?

Yes, we integrate with hundreds of other tools. From your account, click on the "Integrations" tab at the top of your account and search for any other tools you are using. Note that any assistance with using the integrations must be done directly through the owner of the CRM as we cannot assist with programs outside of our own.

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