Understanding donors’ motivations based on evidence is key to effective fundraising. On the surface, that’s a logical concept, but so many fundraising organizations overlook the importance of analyzing data and instead keep doing what they’ve always done – because it works every now and then.

Finding and retaining major donors can be challenging, especially in lean economic times. However, major donors who are committed to an organization’s mission and vision are likely to continue to support the organization – in good times and bad.

Marketing is the lifeline of any business. It’s the process of creating, communicating and delivering products and services to customers with the aim of satisfying them and achieving business goals. The success of any marketing campaign depends on the marketer's understanding of the audience.

Last March, as the impacts of the coronavirus lockdowns were just beginning to be seen, we wrote here imploring nonprofits to hunker down, stay true to the mission, and keep on fundraising. It’s been a wild ride since then, but as the world starts to open back up, now is a good time to revisit that sentiment — and to craft a strong plan to move forward. 

Recently, Mark Gaskill, our vice president of research and marketing solutions, had the chance to sit down and chat with WJR’s Vanessa Denha Garmo. They discussed marketing strategy for nonprofits: how to make the most of your organization’s unique story, and how you can make your donors long-term partners in your organization’s mission. Below are some highlights from Mark and Vanessa’s conversation. 

It’s not often you find someone that combines the knowledge and experience in providing measurable fundraising solutions and marketing expertise in a single individual. But we’ve found that in Austen Smith.

Our EVP of Marketing, Mark Gaskill, sat down with Sherri Welch from Crain’s Detroit Business for a Q&A on how nonprofits can strengthen relationships with donors to help recoup the loss of postponed or cancelled events because of the COVID-19 virus.  Mark’s recommendations:

COVID-19 and the quarantine are pushing us all to re-evaluate our fundraising efforts and find new ways to keep donors engaged. Trish Dewald, Executive Vice President Nonprofit Development for Phoenix Innovate and Jim Tedford, President and CEO of The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement discussed the issue via Zoom. Trish and Jim recommend that all fundraising organizations:

High-profile data breaches expose how vulnerable even organizations with sophisticated IT departments can be to attacks from outside. But you don’t have to be a large organization to be concerned about  data privacy.  Protecting data for nonprofits is just as important and can be especially risky when dealing with marketing vendors. 

There is no question that all of us who raise funds for animal welfare organizations are in unchartered waters with the coronavirus and the economic uncertainty it is causing. Organizations are juggling countless priorities to make sure their staffs and volunteers are safe and that the animals continue to receive optimal care. And, they are struggling to make decisions around business continuity, including fundraising plans. Events are being cancelled or postponed resulting in a significant loss of revenue.

There is no question that we, who work in the non-profit world, are in unchartered waters with the coronavirus and the economic uncertainty it is causing. We’ve heard over and over from clients that they are struggling to make decisions because the situation is changing minute by minute.