Nonprofit Expert Podcast Episode 17 – Unlocking Donor Engagement

DonorPerfect Ad 00:03

Welcome to Nonprofit Expert presented by DonorPerfect.

Julia Gackenbach Host 00:14

Hi, Read More

DonorPerfect Ad 00:03

Welcome to Nonprofit Expert presented by DonorPerfect.

Julia Gackenbach Host 00:14

Hi, welcome to Nonprofit Expert presented by DonorPerfect. My name is Julia and I’m so excited to be joined by a fellow Julia. We’re just going to have some Julia and Julia time today. Yes, perfect, I know we’re already going to bounce off each other well, because we get each other by our names. Well, I’m so glad that you’re here. Thank you so much for joining us, and we’re going to dig into some donor engagement today. Talk about some practical tips on how to keep your donors invested in your organization. I’m really excited. I think our listeners are going to be able to walk away with some practical tips, so looking forward to it. Before we jump in, julia, why don’t you share a little bit about what you do in the nonprofit sector?

Julia Campbell Guest 00:57

Thanks, julia, I’m Julia. I’m Julia Campbell. I was a development and fundraising and marketing director for years and years. I started my business about 13 years ago and right now I do speaking, consulting, training all around how nonprofits can best use storytelling and digital tools to further their missions and raise more money.

Julia Gackenbach Host 01:22

I mean, that makes it sound so simple. Let’s, yes, let’s do that.

Julia Campbell Guest 01:26

Yeah, it’s a lot of mindset work and then a lot of tactical and practical tips as well.

Julia Gackenbach Host 01:32

Great Well, I’m excited to dive into both of those things throughout our conversation today. So let’s jump right in. From your perspective and with your experience in mind, why is donor engagement so important for nonprofits and how does it contribute to their overall success and mission fulfillment?

Julia Campbell Guest 01:49

Well, unfortunately, the data on donor retention is incredibly low. So for every 100 donors new donors that you get, about 80 of them will leave statistically. About 80 of them will leave statistically. And in my work, I work with a lot of clients that are focused on social media and digital marketing, and while I definitely believe that donor acquisition is valuable, I think you have to focus first on retaining the donors that you do have and cultivating an experience with them.

02:23

So donor engagement is a huge piece of that meeting donors where they are giving them the information that they want and need, and then becoming that trusted resource and becoming that organization where a donor would say this really speaks to who I am as a person. This really represents my values, my ethics, what I stand for. Donor engagement, I think is not really discussed, because we do talk about getting more new donors and acquiring more new donors, or we talk about sort of up-leveling donors or getting major gifts from donors. But what about just engaging your everyday donor that’s been giving to you, or your first-time donors and making them feel, or your first time donors and making them feel like they’re at home and making them feel like they’re part of a bigger community? And I just feel like that piece of engagement is for some reason really lacking in the sector and I think we can do a better job at it.

Julia Gackenbach Host 03:19

Why do you think that is? Why do you think it’s lacking? Do you think it’s lack of time?

Julia Campbell Guest 03:24

It’s time consuming and it’s hard, and I don’t I mean we have fires to put out. A lot of organizations are incredibly small. I believe that the latest statistic I read is that 97% of 501c3s in the US have budgets of 5 million or less. So we’re small, we’re bootstrapping, we’re focused on a lot of different things and we’re doing our work while we’re small, we’re bootstrapping, we’re focused on a lot of different things and we’re doing our work while we’re trying to bring in funds and write grants and go to conferences and run events and do all of the things.

03:54

But donor engagement is just. I think we also think about it as something that’s so huge and large and expensive, but it really can be incredibly simple and it also can be automated in a lot of ways. It can be set up via your email platform, it can be set up on social media, so there are a lot of sort of low-touch and low-cost ways that people can do it. But I just I feel for the nonprofit sector right now, with so much coming at us, we also have this myth that we’re going to annoy our donors, so we don’t want to harass them. Quote, unquote. And I agree, you don’t want to harass them with terrible content, but that doesn’t mean never speaking to them again after they make a gift?

Julia Gackenbach Host 04:38

Yeah, definitely, and you just touched on so many things that I think are daunting to fundraisers. You touched on the technology pieces that could be helpful. You touched on the time and prioritizing what’s important, and you touched on why donor engagement matters in the long term. So I want to break down some of those things. What do you think are some practical avenues or strategies for people to be able to tackle those things that may seem daunting or the reasons that they’re holding back from donor engagement?

Julia Campbell Guest 05:10

I think the very first thing that even a small nonprofit can do is just have a very thought out email engagement strategy. So before focusing on social media or ads or video or reels or any chat, gpt or anything that is like shiny and new, look at your email list. How often are you communicating with donors? Where are your touch points for donors, whether they’re a phone call? Maybe they’re a phone call, maybe it’s a handwritten note, maybe you do have a printed out newsletter that you send? I know an organization where I live, beverly Bootstraps. They send an annual newsletter and it’s really nice and it’s printed and there are some advantages to that. I always have it out and when people come over on the holidays they see it and they say, oh, I didn’t even know about this organization.

05:59

But if you don’t have the budget or the time to print something, just look at your email engagement and also look at the number of times per year that you are actually communicating with your donors.

06:12

Now I’m not saying asking them for money although I’m really willing to bet that all of us can ask more than we think we can but we definitely can communicate more than we think we can, even if it’s a short email that says hey everyone, I just wanted to share this fabulous success story or this great thing that happened. You’ve been supporting us. You make this work happen. I just wanted to let you know. It’s almost like if you don’t talk to your friends all year and then you send them your Christmas list, or you send them your holiday gift list at the end of the year, and then you send them your Christmas list, you know, or you send them your holiday gift list at the end of the year. They might be thinking we haven’t spoken to you all year, like you haven’t cultivated that relationship or built that relationship. So I think the very first piece is look at your donors, look at how often you communicate with them and see where there are any other touch points and where you can ramp up that communication.

Julia Gackenbach Host 07:04

That’s a great point, and you mentioned a couple of things there, a couple of different ways to communicate so social media, email, printed newsletters, things like that. But you also said it’s important for every single thing not to be an ask. So what can they do instead? What can they fill those emails or newsletters with for people to feel connected to their mission?

Julia Campbell Guest 07:28

Yeah, Well, I always recommend having dedicated times during the year where you are sending out your asks and putting them on your schedule so you know when they are. So for a lot of us it might be Giving Tuesday, it might be year end, maybe there’s an ask in the spring or around Mother’s Day or Father’s Day or Grandparents Day. There might be a cause and awareness day, like Earth Day, something like that, where you are doing a dedicated ask. So put those on the calendar and when you’re not asking, think about what are the things that your donors want to know. So you almost have to get into their mindset and get into their heads. What are the frequently asked questions that people are always thinking? What is the information that they do not have that you have Now?

08:16

We always assume that either one our donors don’t know anything about what we do, or that they know everything about what we do, but it’s usually somewhere in the middle. So how can you educate them on whatever cause it is you’re working on, like food insecurity? Show them this is a huge problem in the community. Here are some statistics around food insecurity. Here’s what we are doing to solve this problem. Here are some struggles that we’ve had. Here are some challenges. Here are some partners we work with.

08:45

I think we don’t often take an introspective look at the work that we are doing because we’re so in the weeds all the time and we might think our work is not interesting or it’s too wonky, it’s too technical. People are not going to understand that. But if someone is giving you money to further your mission, they want to know what you’re doing, no matter how small. They want to hear about the cause and the problem and your unique solution that you’re providing. So I would do several touch points throughout the year when you are not asking for money. So I always think more email is better. So look at some of the nonprofits I follow. They send a weekly email to donors just like a hey, hi, here’s a great thing that happened. Here’s something from the desk of the executive director If you don’t feel comfortable sending weekly emails, at least send two a month to stay top of mind, to keep the donor apprised on the great work that you’re doing, and even if you’re struggling with challenges.

09:52

I remember during COVID a lot of nonprofits just sort of turned their like. They just went silent. It was like went radio silent and that was not the approach because people were home, they were on their phones, they were on their email and they really wanted to hear more about how they could help. So never assume that your donors don’t want to hear from you. And really understand that if you’re sharing information with them that they find valuable, and talk to them. Ask them what they want to hear, ask them what kinds of communications they want to hear. Do they want print? Do they want to hear from you via text message? Do they want emails? What they want to hear? Ask them what kinds of communications they want to hear. Do they want print? Do they want to hear from you via text message? Do they want emails? Do they want more video? I mean, really talk to your donors and really start understanding their preferences and how they want to be communicated with.

Julia Gackenbach Host 10:38

That’s great. I’m very intrigued by the idea of letting them speak into how they want their engagement.

Julia Campbell Guest 10:47

They love to be heard. They’re people. They want to be seen and heard.

Julia Gackenbach Host 10:50

Yes, I love that, and you gave some very practical tips like giving statistics or explaining the problem or providing what the solution might be. I think that for me, as a donor and a former fundraiser, I used to love communicating impact stories and using storytelling to help people see the practicality of what our organization was doing. Do you see that playing a big role in donor engagement?

Julia Campbell Guest 11:18

Absolutely, because if you think about storytelling, it’s really the way that humans convey information. So think about a friend that you haven’t seen in a while and you’re going to go meet them for coffee and the first thing you do is tell a story. The first thing you do is talk about, you know, your parent-teacher conference that you just had, or something that happened at work or something that’s going on with them, because this is how we relay information and it’s also how we relay information and it’s also how we process information. So for a lot of us we’re dealing with very complex and complicated issues that are sort of intangible to the lay person that has never worked in our particular cause or issue area. So stories really contextualize the work and humanize the work.

12:03

If you think about everything that is, you know every person that has ever experienced homeless and you’re talking about that and you’re talking about the numbers and how daunting it is. That is going to that’s probably going to overwhelm a donor. You definitely don’t want to sugarcoat the problem, but you want to contextualize it. So I can understand. I am a mother of two, right. I can really understand a mother who is struggling to put food on the table. I can understand if I’m thinking about a person and what they’re going through. It helps create empathy and it really helps us process all of the information that’s coming at us.

12:46

Also, storytelling just kind of grabs attention. People immediately their ears perk up when they hear, oh, I’ve got a story to share. Or they hear a first person accounting of something that’s happening. They just immediately are going to pay attention to it. It’s just the way that we are wired.

13:01

So I think sharing, even if you cannot share stories of clients, sharing stories of your staff members and how they’re dealing with this work every day, talking about volunteers, talking about your donors I’ve seen donor spotlights are really helpful your board members, your community partners there’s just such a wide array of stakeholders that we can pull stories from and I do feel like nonprofits. A lot of my clients get hung up because either they don’t serve clients, so there might be like an academic think tank, or they might be a foundation, so they don’t physically like serve people, or they have confidentiality restrictions that prevent them from sharing client names and faces. So we have to kind of go beyond the client story if that is a challenge that you have and see who are the humans that make your organization work and tell their stories.

Julia Gackenbach Host 13:58

I love the humanizing of the mission. That’s a really great point and something that I, as a fundraiser, sometimes had a hard time because we weren’t building things and so people who were giving couldn’t drive by the home that they just gave to help build. I had to figure out how to show the impact by making it human, by using stories. I couldn’t say, you know, you laid this brick, but I could say this person was impacted by your gift Right and donors they need to understand some of the limitations that we do have around their engagement.

Julia Campbell Guest 14:37

And I think an example that I want to give is when I worked at a domestic violence shelter, we had an adopt a family program where donors would buy gift cards or buy presents for a family living in our shelter.

14:51

And I was a director of development and a lot of times a donor would call and say I want to meet the family, I want to, you know, I want to see them open their gifts. You know, I’m sure if, if you’re a director of development right now, you’re nodding, you’re like oh, I know, I know the people, but not in a bad way, just in a way where they didn’t really understand the limitations. So we had to figure out a way to do effective storytelling that made them feel appreciated and acknowledged but that also respected, you know, the integrity and confidentiality of the family, of course. So there are ways to do it and we just have to get a little bit more creative and we just have to tell these stories that that are. You know, we just have to tell stories that are not necessarily the cookie cutter story that people are always used to hearing.

Julia Gackenbach Host 15:38

Well, and I think you gave great examples of thinking outside of the box. You know, sharing a story from the volunteers perspective. Or I’ve seen organizations who are animal shelters share a story from this perspective of an adopted animal. Or you know things that even I’ve seen food pantries share stories from the perspective of a table. This family joined around me and was able to share a meal, and that’s all because of you. And so having these really unique ways to tell stories, I think is a cool, different perspective that brings your donor in a new way, which is really great.

Julia Campbell Guest 16:20

Wow, I really love that idea. Now I think about it. There’s a foster care. There’s a foster home that I’ve worked with. They’re called Plumber Youth Promise foster care. There’s a foster home that I’ve worked with. They’re called Plumber Youth Promise. So they are not able to share names or details of anyone that is in their care because they’re minors and just because of confidentiality and legal reasons. But they have this tree outside that everyone knows. They’re in Salem Mass and they just have this amazing campus and this tree and the things the tree has seen. And always on Instagram they’re always posting like if this tree could talk, they would say, oh, we saw a child get adopted by their forever family, or we saw a child celebrate graduation. I love that idea and I think that I just wish I would see more creativity like that and more nonprofits take chances in their storytelling.

Julia Gackenbach Host 17:19

And Julia, you and I know this it’s hard to have that time for creativity for all of those nonprofit employees. Listening, I’m sure they’re thinking, yeah, I would love to be creative. So we are empathetic to each of you. Listening, that is thinking, yeah, that would be a great idea. But some of these things in this podcast are quick, practical things you can implement today, like what other objects are around your mission that could speak on your behalf, so they don’t only hear from your executive director every week, you know. So love that idea. I also want to ask you a little bit because this was something that was difficult for me as a fundraiser. When I got a new donor, I had a hard time figuring out the on-ramp into my donor engagement for that new donor. So you just gave for the first time because of Giving Tuesday. Now what? How do I put them in some kind of donation or some kind of engagement? Funnel.

Julia Campbell Guest 18:22

This is the most important time for a donor, because you know, when you buy something or you sign up for something and you’re all excited and then it’s a terrible experience after that, then you have buyer’s remorse. You might want to return your tickets to whatever you purchased. So the same goes for donors. So the very first thing you need to do is well, if they’re donating online, you should have a thank you page pop up right when they make their donation. First of all, that’s going to show them the donation went through. I’ve made donations online and then gotten like a 404 error page, and so I have to check my bank account and be like did it go through? I don’t even know if it was processed. I never received an email receipt. So the very first thing you need to do is let them know they made the right decision, they’re in the right place, they’re in a community of like-minded people and they just really did something awesome. So get them excited. Do a thank you page on your website where they’re redirected. Have a video on the thank you page and say you know, thank you so much. You don’t want to say your donation has saved a hundred lives because they just donated. So that kind of language is saved for later. You just want to get them really excited and pumped up and let them know they’re in the right place, with the right number, with the right community. So, then, the very first thing that needs to happen after that once again, I’m assuming this donor’s online, if you get a check, you could probably still do this Sending a thank you note, sending a thank you email same thing. You just did something very significant. You just joined a group of people that are committed to LGBTQ rights, or you just, you know, did something that was so important to help alleviate climate change, whatever it might be. Just assure them they did the right thing, they’re in the right place, and then maybe share a little bit of a story about people that they are committed to help. So you want that email to go out immediately, or that letter to go out immediately.

20:31

Studies show that a donor that is thanked within 48 hours is much more likely to become a recurring donor or much more likely to become a second, you know, make a second gift. So you definitely want to make sure you’re focused on that very first. Highly energetic, highly enthusiastic, super, you know, pepped up. Thank you, and then some organizations will put you in an automated email series. All of this is very easy to set up if you do have the proper software where you get a couple of emails that say thank you, because you have to assume a new donor doesn’t know the ins and outs, you don’t know where they came from. Sure you can ask them I mean, I always think that’s great Maybe the second email you send them asking them what they’re interested in, asking them how they came to find you, having them hit reply and tell you, because we know that the more that a person interacts with an email, the more likely that email servers are not going to mark you as spam.

21:35

So if I get the thank you email and I click on it right away to watch a video, or I hit reply to reply to you and tell you why I gave, gmail sees that and says, oh, the next time this nonprofit sends her an email, she’s going to like it because she’s already opened it, she’s already engaged with it and clicked on it. So we just have to get them engaged right away, get them to take another action. Some people do. Some people push givers into recurring gifts. That’s a strategy that you can see if it works for you. Some organizations say watch this video. Some organizations just say stay tuned for news and events and stories as we go. So you really have to test things out and see what’s right for you, but get these new people engaged immediately.

Julia Gackenbach Host 22:25

Great idea, very practical. Another just tip based on what you just said about your 404 error pages. For those who are listening, please like test your giving process.

Julia Campbell Guest 22:36

Test it Not from your computer, test it from your phone. Give your mom $10. Tell her to test it. Yes, because you really want to see the process from other people’s eyes. And yeah, you want to see it from your own eyes as well.

Julia Gackenbach Host 22:49

For sure, and we’ve talked a little bit about some of these online things that you can do, like setting up an automated email series once somebody gives. What are some other practical tools that people can use, whether online or otherwise, that will help them with donor engagement?

Julia Campbell Guest 23:06

Well, what I used to do as a director of development, just because we were a small nonprofit 10 million and below but we I would always send a thank you note. And it doesn’t, I would sometimes take a week to send it, but I would get a printout every week of all of the brand new donors and I would always send them just a little thank you note. I would bring the list home and I would just write them out at home when I’m watching TV, handwritten thank you notes. I mean we really cannot underestimate. We can’t underestimate the value of a handwritten thank you note. Another great touch point is to have board members call people if you have their phone number. So personally I do not like phone calls, but if it’s an organization that I gave to that called me and it went to voicemail and I got a voicemail, that would really blow my mind. I mean that would really impress me, because that never, ever happens. So just think about ways that you can sort of surprise and delight your donors. Just think about ways that you can sort of surprise and delight your donors and if it takes a while, it takes a while, you know. Maybe just if you have thousands and thousands of thank you notes to process, just writing a little personal note on all of them, bringing them to a board meeting, having board members write a personal note that always works really well. So we can’t.

24:26

You know, I talk a lot about digital touch points, but there’s also a lot of analog touch points that work really well. And then another thing I used to do was take a handful of donors just randomly and I would email them and I would say oh, I’m so thrilled that you decided to make us your charity of choice this year. Can I ask you like what really interested you? And just sent them three questions. And donors love to be heard and they really, you know they. That doesn’t seem annoying to them and it’s not really a big ask. It’s just saying I see you, I hear you, I want to be respectful of you and what you want to hear from us, and also I want to learn more about you so that I can craft better communications for you.

Julia Gackenbach Host 25:14

This is great because this is a whole new concept that you’re opening me up to right now. You are talking about two-way engagement. We talk a lot about donor engagement how to engage your donors, I’m but you’re saying this is more of a conversation than a spray and hope that people respond. I want to know my donors.

Julia Campbell Guest 25:39

You can’t do it with every donor Don’t think you have to do this with every donor but you can do it with a handful.

Julia Gackenbach Host 25:44

That’s a great great idea, I think, and something that you can start. You could start with your board. That’s a very specific group of people who are interested in what you’re doing. Find out why I love that.

Julia Campbell Guest 25:57

Yeah, and another tip I’m going to steal from Steven Shattuck, who is a friend of mine, and he wrote he wrote Robots Make Bad Fundraisers I believe that’s the title of the book. And he said look for the hidden gems in your database. So for him he’s from I believe he’s from Nantucket, massachusetts, and he moved to Indiana but he still donated to this Nantucket Preservation Society, like year after year after year. And he said if I was the development director and I saw someone from Indiana donating to the Nantucket Preservation Society for 10 years in a row, I want to know who that person is and why are they giving us a donation every year? And maybe that’s like a planned gift, planned giving prospect.

26:47

So look for those hidden gems. Who’s been giving to you every year for 20 years? Give them a call on the phone. You know who’s been sending you a check, who has been maybe upping their donation every year for 20 years. Give them a call on the phone. You know who’s been sending you a check, who has been maybe upping their donation every year, who just recently donated and then became a recurring donor. So we want to look for all of these little signs and yes, of course it does take time and you’re never going to hit every hidden gem in your database, but if you have a goal to do personal engagement with three to five donors a week, you’re really going to see your retention numbers skyrocket.

Julia Gackenbach Host 27:19

I love that. That’s great, and it’s again that two-way conversation of you are not. If it’s an engagement, it’s back and forth, it’s not. These are all the things I’m sending out. Hopefully somebody reads them.

Julia Campbell Guest 27:34

I’m sending out. Hopefully somebody reads them. Yeah, and it’s never something to check off the to-do list. It’s like fundraising. You don’t just say okay, fundraising, and then check it off. There’s always, it’s always going.

Julia Gackenbach Host 27:41

And you mentioned this a little bit in the beginning. I think this is something I’d love to touch on. Sometimes fundraisers are worried that they’re going to annoy their constituents. So by sending too many emails or by calling them you just mentioned, hey, these people are taking some actions that mean they love your organization. Maybe give them a call. But what about the other groups of people that aren’t as involved or that maybe feel a little more removed? Is there such thing as overwhelming them with stories or communication or whatever?

Julia Campbell Guest 28:17

We are not overwhelming our donors. I will 100% stick by that. We are under communicating. So there’s another fundraiser who I love. His name’s John Lep of Agents for Good. He has a TikTok account and he his mother’s name is Dale and they’re in Toronto and Dale receives probably 10 to 15 solicitations a week in the mail. So I think what they do in Canada is very different. My mom is not receiving that much here in the US. So Dale gives to 50 different nonprofits per year. So John always uses her as an example because he looks at her mail, he looks at her communication. She gives to 50 nonprofits per year.

29:02

She might receive one thank you note, one piece of communication that is not asking her for money per year. So when we think we’re overwhelming and annoying our donors, it’s because we are not thanking them, it’s because we are not thanking them, it’s because we’re not showing them the impact. She received a thank you note. I remember I saw this on his TikTok account a thank you note from one of these organizations she’d given to and she called John. She was so excited and she said I got a thank you note and he said, oh my gosh. He said that should be just par for the course, that’s table stakes to exist, that you get a thank you note, let alone get 20 more solicitations after that.

29:40

So the key here is giving donors relevant and useful and valuable information that they want and in a way that they want it. So I really think I just think that we have this image of you know all of these emails. I get an email from Target every day, Like think about the email list you subscribe to, and you get emails pretty frequently from a lot of these brands and we don’t need to be emailing every day, but if you’re emailing, if you’re sending out a communication, if you’re sending a letter, when you have something really great to share, the donor is going to respond to that because you will be cutting through the clutter. That’s how you cut through the clutter Because sadly, a lot of nonprofits are not even sending out thank you notes.

Julia Gackenbach Host 30:28

Yeah, I definitely think we all are connected to many organizations, including Target, which is my case. I have so many Target emails and I get them every day and I open them if I want to and delete them if I don’t. At my organization, my executive director used to say if they don’t want to hear from us, they will unsubscribe. And the amount of unsubscribes versus the amount of people that wanted to hear from us, it was amount of people that wanted to hear from us. It was obvious that more people wanted to hear from us, so being sure to be there and share what we were doing was really important.

Julia Campbell Guest 31:04

Yeah, and if you’re going to communicate with people, you’re going to get unsubscribed or you’re going to get bounce backs or you’re going to get a returned letter because someone moved. It’s just the way of the world. So the fear of putting yourself out there because you might get an unsubscribe well, no one ever did anything important if they were scared of a pushback or someone saying, no, this isn’t for me, and I always look at an unsubscribe as this might just not be for me right now. I might just be really overwhelmed right now and maybe I’ll pick it back up in a few months. I’ve unsubscribed from lists and then resubscribed, so we do get hung up on that. But it’s like you said if your entire list is unsubscribing which I’ve never seen happen ever in the history of communications that I’ve been doing then you might want to worry about it. But if it is five, six unsubscribes, I really wouldn’t worry about it. Like we take this stuff so personally and we can’t.

Julia Gackenbach Host 32:03

Well, yeah, we as fundraisers care so much about what we’re communicating about, and it makes sense. But other people do care and they want to hear from us and they want to be engaged, which is great. One other tool that you’ve touched on a little bit that I’d like to dig deeper on is the social media tool for engagement. That feels, in my mind, very one-to-many, as opposed to an email, which feels a little more personalized. So how can someone use this one-to-many platform of social media to engage people on a personal level?

Julia Campbell Guest 32:42

Social media right now really needs to be very eye-catching. There needs to be a hook to it so that people will stop the scroll. Because what we don’t understand is we’re competing every time we’re in the social media feed with, you know, celebrities, with Britney Spears, with Khloe Kardashian, with whoever else people are following. I mean, those are probably just two people I follow, but every brand, every network, every celebrity is on there. So we are competing. And also we’re competing with the news cycle and posts from friends and family. So we do have to get outside of our comfort zone a little bit and create more eye-catching visuals, more eye-catching videos. But then we also need to create the kind of content that people want to see from us, that they want to hear from us, and it shouldn’t just be our agenda. When I do social media audits, always I’m seeing on Facebook pages it’s just a list of the events that the nonprofit has going on or things that they want to promote, and it’s not a billboard, it’s not your personal advertising page. I mean, that’s not how you build a community on social media. You build a community around a cause and a movement and a mission. So, talking more about your mission, why is it important? Why is it timely and relevant? Why is it urgent? Why do I need to pay attention right now? And then creating you know sharing more videos or graphics. You can create them for free in Canva. Let’s just all give a shout out for Canva Canva for nonprofits completely free. You can create graphics or animated GIFs or videos or reels anything in Canva. It can be eye-catching to your donor.

34:33

We really need to stop thinking about social media as like a billboard and we used to think that we had a right to contact all of our fans and followers on social media. We know that’s not true. We know that it takes a lot of effort and time and creativity to reach people. I also recommend really auditing the channels that you’re on, because some of them might not be working for you anymore. You don’t need to post to five different channels if you are a one-person development director, also managing programs, also managing volunteers, whatever else you’re doing. Less is always more, so focus on the channels where your donors are, where they’re engaging, and focus on the channels that you actually really like. Like if you, if you hate Twitter, slash X if it makes you like ill. I’ve heard this from some people like it makes them upset when they go on the platform. Maybe just take a pause, take a break, focus on LinkedIn. Maybe that’s a more positive place for you.

Julia Gackenbach Host 35:36

So we need to be much more strategic in where we focus our time and maybe pick just one or two platforms to engage on that is incredibly wise, especially as we talk about all the things that these non-profit employees are up to and how they have so many hands and so many buckets when they’re doing their planning. So being wise about which platforms you use is great. Well, this has been so enlightening. I feel like there are incredible amounts of practical things that our listeners and I personally can put into practice when it comes to donor engagement. Any final thoughts or any last minute tips that our listeners could benefit from?

Julia Campbell Guest 36:22

I think if you do one thing today just write a thank you note to a donor, just one thing today, that’s going to make you feel so great and so proud and then you’ll totally see. You’ll absolutely see the fruits of your labor. The benefits of the fruits of your labor, because I know we talk a lot about tools and automation and digital engagement and those are very valuable strategies, but if you’re feeling overwhelmed and studies have shown that showing gratitude just makes you feel better anyway, so write that thank you note, write as many as you can, and not only will you feel better, more of your donors will get more engaged as well.

Julia Gackenbach Host 37:02

I love that. Yeah, filling your tank by filling someone else’s tank, that’s great. I love it. Well, thank you so much, julia. It’s been a pleasure to chat with you and I’m hopeful that our listeners will just have so many benefits from this episode. So, thank you so much, thanks.

DonorPerfect Ad 37:19

Julia for having me. Thank you for listening to Nonprofit Expert presented by DonorPerfect. For more information and a special offer, visit DonorPerfect.com/podcast.