Part 1: Creative strategies for a changing donor base
From James Read, Chief Creative Officer, BDI
You may have seen that BDI recently unveiled a landmark study on how the composition of Rescue Mission donors is changing dramatically.
The research has received a lot of industry attention. If you missed it, you can catch up on the original study here. Conducted by Mike Rogers, BDI President, the analysis revealed that the traditional donor pyramid has disappeared for most Rescue Missions as the broad base of mass donors shrinks. A rectangle is replacing the donor pyramid, with revenue from middle and major donors roughly equal to gifts from mass donors.
Looking ahead, BDI projects that the rectangle will morph into a trapezoid, with income from middle and major donors exceeding gifts from mass donors in the next decade.
This fundamental shift in Rescue Mission donor files leads to a critically important question: How should we then fundraise?
Over the next few months, watch this space as BDI’s senior leaders will answer this question from a variety of perspectives. We’ll provide actionable steps your organization can take now to “follow the money” and adapt your fundraising program to the changing shape of your donor file.
Nurture your investor donors
I want to kick off the discussion by talking about your “investor donors” and how to communicate effectively with this critical audience. Investor donors are those middle and major donors who most likely are contributing an outsized share of your organization’s total revenue. Nurturing, shepherding and expanding your audience of investor donors is essential for your organization’s health over the next decade and beyond.
But first, a caveat: despite their importance, your investor donors are still normal people. They brush their teeth and put on their clothes like regular donors. They care about many of the same things. What is different is that your investor donors have more disposable income and they’ve chosen to invest in your organization through larger gifts.
Tell a compelling brand story
We believe that for your organization to succeed with this critical group, you must move beyond transactional fundraising only. You need to complement your core fundraising strategies with a compelling brand story. Let me explain…
Transactional fundraising is offer-based fundraising: $XX to provide a meal, $YY for a night of shelter, or every $1 becomes $2 through a matching challenge. Offers like these are powerful tools… and offers alone are often enough to motivate a lower-dollar donor.
Your investor donors – being normal people – appreciate many of the same offers your lower-dollar donors respond to. (After all, who doesn’t want to ensure a hungry person has food?). But, because they’re investing significant sums into your organization, these higher-level donors need more to knit them closer to your organization and upgrade their giving.
That’s why a compelling brand story is so important. Your brand story pulls the pieces (the offers) together and helps them understand the big picture of how their contributions are leading to long-term impact in your community.
Here are some practical steps you can take now to tell a better brand story and ensure your investor donors are hearing it:
1. Show investor donors the big picture
First, you need to clearly communicate the ultimate purpose of your organization and how everything you do fits into that purpose. For example, Wheeler Mission in Indianapolis, Indiana, is focused on transforming lives. Yet Wheeler was concerned that many donors only associated the Rescue Mission with specific services like meals and shelter – and didn’t understand the bigger picture.
To help donors grasp the full scope of their ministry, Wheeler partnered with BDI to develop a content-rich landing page that demonstrates how each aspect of Wheeler’s ministry (help, hope and healing) is part of an individual’s transformation journey.
Through animated graphics, text and video, the landing page equips donors to understand that the sum of Wheeler’s ministry (transformation) is greater than the parts (meals, shelter and other specific services). This landing page is just one example of how you can consistently remind investor donors of the ultimate impact they are having through their significant support.
Of course, sharing the big picture is not a replacement for offer-driven fundraising, but rather a complement to it. Investor donors will likely still respond to a variety of offers, but they need the full scope of your organization woven into their communications to deepen their loyalty and inspire them to contribute even more.
2. Give them investment opportunities
As investor donors begin to understand the ultimate purpose for which your organization exists – and get excited about it – they will want opportunities to invest meaningfully in your cause.
This means you need to take opportunities at key points throughout the year to go deep with these special friends. Bring them into the inner circle of your vision for the future and how they can play a meaningful role through their support. This may include things like:
- Giving them a chance to invest in a learning center or job training program
- Inviting them to help fund a much-needed renovation
- Helping them understand how something mundane – like vans and transport – can fit into a bigger goal that they can help fund
Identifying and quantifying these special opportunities may take some extra effort. You’ll probably need to bring program and development staff together to capture these opportunities, especially if they need to be part of your general, undesignated funding bucket.
However, the rewards make the effort worthwhile as these investor donors respond generously and deepen their commitment to your organization’s mission.
3. Be consistent with your brand execution
Historically, brand has been the ignored step-sibling of fundraising. Because fundraising is so focused on offers and urgency, brand was often little more than the logo in the corner. This worked with an older generation of donors who often were not as savvy about brands and how they self-identify.
Today’s emerging donors are different. They’ve been steeped in branded experiences like Starbucks and Apple, and they expect branding consistency. For these donors, a cohesive brand experience creates recognition, affinity and loyalty – and gives them confidence that your organization is competent and trustworthy.
This certainly doesn’t mean that you throw effective fundraising out the window. But it does mean that you need brand standards that work well with fundraising and that you represent your brand consistently at every touchpoint with your donors: website, emails, appeals, newsletters, events, signage and everything else.
Embrace the change
Yes, based on BDI’s research, it’s highly likely the composition of your donor file has gone through a dramatic transformation over the past 10 years. What used to be a broad base of support from mass donors has likely morphed into a smaller base of income from mass donors with just as much (or even more) revenue coming from middle and major donors.
The key to success in this new era is to embrace the change and “follow the money” by adapting your fundraising strategies to this new reality. Think of these middle and major donors as investors in your cause and ensure you are sharing a compelling brand story with them that will deepen their loyalty and inspire their partnership for years to come.
If you have questions about how to implement this pivot for your organization, I’d love to hear from you.
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