Optimizing Donor Experience

If I had to rebuild nonprofit impact reporting from scratch today, I wouldn’t start with glossy annual reports. I’d start with: Timing. Because most nonprofits don’t lose donors due to lack of results. They lose them due to lack of memory. Here’s exactly how I’d rebuild donor reporting so it sticks: 1. Respect the 72-hour rule Cognitive science shows memory fades after 3 days. If you wait 3 months to share impact, donors forget the emotional spark that led them to give. Don’t let the moment slip. • Send an update within 72 hours. • Even if it’s raw or imperfect. • Tie it directly to the donor’s gift. Momentum beats polish. 2. Micro-updates, not mega-reports Stop saying: “Wait for our end-of-year report.” Start saying: “Here’s what your gift did this week.” Short videos, quick photos, a 3-line story. Your donors want to feel progress, not sift through 20 pages. 3. Make impact a habit, not an event The best donor journeys are built like fitness routines. Consistent, bite-sized reps, not sporadic marathons. Do this instead: • Weekly “impact snapshots” • Monthly behind-the-scenes notes • Quarterly deep dives (not the other way around) Build rhythm. Build trust. 4. Anchor updates to emotion, not just outcomes Data fades fast. Emotion lingers. • Instead of “We planted 5,000 trees”… Say: “Meet Lucia. She’s breathing cleaner air today because of you.” Stories keep the trigger alive. 5. Create recall moments If you want donors to give again, bring them back to their first spark. • Replay the video that moved them. • Send the photo that made them act. • Use the same language that triggered their gift. Remind them why they cared in the first place. Delayed reporting doesn’t just cost attention. It costs retention. In 2025, donor communication should feel less like PR. And more like a memory anchor. Not an annual report. A living reminder. Comment “retention” and I’ll send you our playbook on how to do all of this using LinkedIn. With purpose and impact, Mario

Your major donor just called and listed out all of their frustrations. You won't like what they had to say. It wasn't about money. It wasn't about competing priorities. It wasn't about the economy. It was about you. "They never told me what my gift accomplished," they said. "I gave $25,000 and got a form letter thank you. Then nothing for eight months." "When I finally called to ask about impact, they couldn't give me specifics. Just vague statements about 'helping the community.'" "I realized they didn't see me as a partner. They saw me as an ATM." ‼️ The organizations losing major donors aren't victims of donor fatigue. They're victims of donor neglect. ‼️ Your major donors don't leave because they can't afford to give. They leave because you can't afford to care. Pull up your major donor communications from the last year. For each donor over $10,000, ask: 👉 Did they receive specific impact reports tied to their gift? 👉 Did someone call them personally within 3-5 days? 👉 Did they get invited to see their impact firsthand? 👉 Did you ask for their input on organizational direction? If you answered "no" to any of these, you've got a problem. The most successful major donor programs I work with treat donors like investors, not transactions: 👉 They provide quarterly impact reports with specific outcomes. 👉 They invite donors to strategic planning conversations. 👉 They offer behind-the-scenes access to programs and leadership. 👉 They ask for advice, not just money. Your major donors aren't leaving because they don't care about your mission. They're leaving because you don't care about them. Fix your relationship problem before you blame donor capacity. Because in fundraising, how you treat donors after they give determines whether they'll give again.

Most donor journeys end too early. Not because the donor lost interest. But because the organization lost 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺. A first gift is easy. A second gift is earned. Here’s what smart nonprofits do differently: 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗺𝗮𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝟵𝟬 𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀—𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 Welcome series. Personal thank you. A clear next step. It’s not automation. It’s 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯-𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 Monthly donors get insider updates. Major donors get personal contact. Every segment feels seen. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗿𝗵𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗺, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗺𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 Don’t ghost your donors for six months, then blitz them at year-end. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗮𝘀𝗸 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻 Show impact. Tell stories. Make them feel like a 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘳, not a wallet. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽𝘀, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 Because donors don’t give to organizations. They give to 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 they trust. If you want lifelong donors, build a journey that feels worth staying on. What does your donor experience say after the first “thank you?”

Do you know what the most commonly missed step in your donor journey is? 🎁 The Gift Confirmation 🎁 Now, when I say "missed" I'm not saying you're not doing it. I'm confident your doing everything "right". Your donation page confirms the donors gift. You're automatically deploying a receipt email. You CRM is automatically updated with the gift record. But this can be SO MUCH BETTER! Giving is a fundamentally emotional activity. You've done the hard work to reach a donor. Engage him or her with stories and impact opportunities. You've presented giving paths. You've motivated action. The donor's visited your site, navigated to your donation page and MADE THE GIFT. And what do you leave them with? The cold taste of a transaction confirmation. But no, not you. You know that relationships matter. So you're ready to go the extra step and finish the donor journey strong. But how? 1️⃣ Setup a gift confirmation page redirect. AKA when someone gives, rather than leaving the cold "your gift has been processed" message on screen, automatically load a new page set with messaging of gratitude and stories of impact. Now the last thing your donor sees after giving is a reminder of the impact her or she is making! 2️⃣ Tell a story in your gift receipt. The transaction receipt is one of the most opened emails you'll send to your donors. Why? They want to make sure they save a copy for their records. Use this captive audience to continue to show donors the impact they're making! 3️⃣ Make it easier to go deeper. In all post-gift touchpoints give clear, easy, ways for a donor to engage deeper with your ministry or organization. If you're active on social media, invite them to follow you. If you have additional resources or content or share a direct link to access (do NOT gate that content!). Remember, the donor journey is about building relationships and the gift confirmation is your "goodbye." Make sure your donors to hear "see you soon!"

Think your donors are tired of hearing from you? Think again. Common belief in the nonprofit world: donors are overwhelmed by too many requests. But what if I told you that donor fatigue isn’t about the number of asks? Instead, it’s about the lack of true engagement and value. Here’s the truth: Donors aren’t worn out from hearing from you —they’re disengaged by generic, one-size-fits-all communications. When we fail to connect on a personal and emotional level, we lose the opportunity to build something meaningful together. So, how to break the mold and keep donors engaged? 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Tailor your messages to reflect each donor's interests, purpose and past interactions. Show them that they’re more than just a name on a list. (note: superficial personalization such as just scraping their name, alma mater, etc. from a database is actually worse than no personalization at all) 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗖𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲: Highlight the impact of their donations with compelling stories that immerse them in tangible outcomes. Make sure they see the difference they’re making. Better yet, make sure they feel it. 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗕𝗲𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝘀𝗸: Foster a sense of community by involving donors in events, updates, and volunteer opportunities. Show genuine appreciation and interest in their input. Create opportunities for multi-faceted dialogue. Fatigue doesn't happen when someone is truly invested. Donors aren't tired of outreach. They're tired of bad outreach. So go ahead and challenge the status quo and transform how you engage with your supporters. Because it’s not about asking less—it’s about connecting more. #fundraising #nonprofits #philanthropy

Let’s talk “Ways to Give” pages - and how to make sure they’re not just website filler 💉 If you’re at a nonprofit and not sure what that is, definitely keep reading 👀 There’s a whole lot of ways someone could give beyond a credit card - a dedicated page to lay out those options (DAFs, Stock, QCDs, Bequests, etc.) is table stakes for nonprofit websites these days 🍽️ You might be thinking “but Mitch, you’re always going on about how critical it is to have a DAF payment option in the actual donation form, why do you care about Ways to Give pages?” 🤔 DAF Strategy is like improv - it’s always yes, and! 🎭 Yes, you’ll catch the most new DAF donors by having DAFpay in your donation forms, AND existing supporters are more likely to be poking around your website. You want to meet donors wherever they are with the easiest pathways for giving 🚂 All that to say, I’ve gone through 100s of examples & have a few tips: 1️⃣ Have a Ways to Give Page There are so many good precedents readily available to be inspired by - I’ll link some below 🌟 In deciding what types of giving to include, start with the ways you’re already receiving support & some areas you’re focused on expanding into 🥇 2️⃣ Assess how it’s used to have strategic ordering A client recently asked their digital team to move DAFs to the top of their ways to give page & the response was “oh that makes sense, people click on that way more than anything else” 😮 Evaluate what is getting the most interaction & iterate. I’m confident that most orgs are getting more DAF gifts than anything else (it’s nearly 20% of philanthropy these days!) 🏆 3️⃣ Have standalone pages for those highly trafficked options When a donor searches “your org name” + “giving method” you want an SEO optimized place for them to land. With DAFs for example, your website/donor-advised-funds or /dafs is incredibly valuable real estate. Invest in it! 🏡 4️⃣ Include key information In addition to a DAFpay button, or link to your org’s verified page on the DAF Day giving site (where donors can also complete a DAF gift in 3 clicks & you’ll get notified immediately with their email), there’s some other key items: 👉🏼EIN 👉🏼Full legal name 👉🏼Official address  👉🏼Point of contact with email & phone number - this is the most controversial & yes you’ll get some spam, but you’ll also present as a real & available human being which will be key for some donors. If you do nothing else after reading this post, go check your website and see how long it takes you to find your EIN… this is the easiest way to lose a DAF donor if they’re not giving through DAFpay! 👻 They have to look you up in their portal & since so many organizations have similar names or legal names that differ from their marketing names, it’s hard to give confidently without confirming your EIN ✅ What do think is most critical for a Ways to Give Page? What’s worked best in your experience? #nonprofit #fundraising #philanthropy

Ever noticed how so many gift arrays on donation pages go from high to low? The idea is to encourage people to give more by showing higher amounts first. But is that really effective? The question often overlooked with this tactic is: How does re-ordering the gift array impact overall revenue (a combination of conversions and average gift size)? We decided to test this... 🧪 One of our clients featured a gift array that started with $50 on the left and ended with $250 on the right. For the treatment version, we switched the $50 and $250 options, so people would see the HIGHER option FIRST. The result? The high-to-low approach resulted in a 15.7% DECREASE in donations and an 11.3% DECREASE in average gift size, leading to a 𝐭𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝟐𝟓.𝟐% 𝐃𝐄𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄 𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞. Starting with higher amounts made many visitors LESS likely to donate. It also led to donors giving LESS on average. Two potential learnings: 1️⃣ A high-to-low gift array has the potential to "price out" donors who intend to give a smaller gift. The large options up front might communicate that a smaller gift is not wanted or valuable. 2️⃣ A low-to-high gift array has the potential to lift average gift by creating initial agreement and leading donors to upgrade to a larger option. Don’t lose donors over something as simple as gift array order. And as always, test this for yourself to see what impact it has on your donors. #NonProfit #Optimization #OnlineFundraising #NextAfter

Learning in public is something that has always been out of my comfort zone, so naturally one of my goals this year, while I’m in my growth mindset era, is to start sharing more. I particularly want to share things I am doing in my volunteer role while I continually optimise the website. One of my first projects is for the donation page, as it’s one of the most (if not the most) important pages on the whole site. I’ve been doing lots of research on the essential elements that turn a regular webpage into a donation goldmine: 1. A heading optimised for users and search. 2. Optimised photos that tell emotive and inspiring stories (with alt text). 3. Reiteration of the cause and why it matters. 4. Highlight how donations help to provide a why. The best way is through connecting donations amounts to impact. 5. Share the impact of donations and where the donation goes.  6. Include donation levels and recurring options, with encouragement for monthly or recurring donations. 7. Embed the form or have a pop up for donations so users don’t ever leave the site to donate. Also share data security notices so donors trust the process. 8. Include just one call to action on the donation page, to donate. 9. Continue the engagement once a donor has submitted their donation with a confirmation page.  10. Allow users to donate a gift in memory or celebration of someone, with an option to send an e-card.  11. Eliminate distractions such as pop up messages or auto playing videos. 12. Add option for those who are unable to provide monetary donations, for example sharing the page or donating supplies. 13. Think of all devices when designing the page, while 57% of nonprofit website traffic came from mobile devices, 75% of revenue came from desktop devices. 14. Ensure that your donation page is accessible to everyone. I have a few things I would like to do now based on this research, including creating a post submit thank you page, adding details for dedicating a donation as we now offer that option and setting up robust tracking. I also have an ever growing list of things I would like to A/B test (of course) and have one set up currently which is producing some interesting results. I’ll be trying to share everything over on Typeshare! > https://lnkd.in/e6Fr63dd

Fundraising through email marketing can be an effective way to engage supporters, raise awareness, and drive donations for your cause. Here are some strategies and best practices to help you succeed: 1. Build a Quality Email List - Opt-In Forms : Use sign-up forms on your website, social media, and events to collect email addresses. - Segmentation : Segment your list based on donor history, interests, and engagement levels to tailor your messages. 2. Craft Compelling Content - Personal Stories : Share impactful stories that illustrate the need for support and the difference donations can make. - Clear Call to Action (CTA): Make sure your emails have a clear and compelling CTA, such as "Donate Now" or "Join Our Campaign." - Visuals: Use images and videos to make your emails more engaging and to showcase your work. 3. Create a Sense of Urgency - Limited-Time Campaigns : Use deadlines to encourage immediate action, such as matching gift challenges or end-of-year giving. - Countdown Timers: Consider including countdown timers in your emails for specific campaigns or events. 4. Optimize for Mobile - Responsive Design : Ensure your emails are mobile-friendly, as many users check their emails on smartphones. - Short and Concise : Keep your messages brief and to the point, with easy-to-click buttons. 5. Personalization - Use Names: Address recipients by their first name to create a personal connection. - Tailored Content : Customize content based on past donations or engagement to make it more relevant. 6. Test and Analyze - Analytics : Use email marketing tools to track open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates to refine your strategy. 7. Follow Up - Thank You Emails : Send immediate thank-you emails to donors to acknowledge their contributions and reinforce their decision to give. - Updates : Keep your supporters informed about how their donations are being used and the impact they are making. 8. Leverage Storytelling - Impact Reports : Share stories of individuals or communities that have benefited from donations. - Testimonials : Include quotes or testimonials from beneficiaries or volunteers to build credibility. ##emailmarketing #fundraising #donorengagement #GivingTuesdaycampaign #DaanUtsav #JoyOfGivingWeek

A good donor experience (DX) is the result of a culmination of roles and activities. Donor Relations is your customer service. It's the experience donors get when they call you, or email you, have a problem, question, etc. It is the ease of making a donation, or changing an address. It is the front line. Data Entry and Validation is the "Don't F this up from the very beginning" department. You want to kill a relationship? Send me a solicitation to Kurt. There's always going to be bad data (and a bunch of times donors will give you bad data), but having a department that is skilled at fast, reliable entry can make or break a charity. Receipting is your first point of contact. Oh, and remember - the whole 1/3 of a page receipt that we all do - that's a product of a bygone age where things were done on pre-printed receipt paper in triplicate. You can make it pretty - it's ok. Also, you can send a separate thank you / call / etc outside of the receipt process. Do you want to send two pieces of mail on a $50 gift? Maybe not. On a $1,000 gift? Get the receipt out as soon as possible, and do a separate thank you. It's ok. They'll tell you if they don't want that. Stewardship is a centralized and strategic look at how you engage with your donors. It's about creating consistency for 95% of cases, and making sure the inconsistencies don't mess with each other (if you put a donor's logo up for well less than what any other donor has given, you might create precedence). It's knowing that every donor at a particular level / channel / whatever is receiving a minimum thanking experience. Impact reporting is about being able to show what donors do for the organization. If Stewardship is the *what*, this is the Why. It starts with good cases for support, which is a promise of what we intend to do, and ends with an acknowledgement that we did those things, and that something is better because of it. This isn't to diminish the roles of front-line fundraisers who talk to donors, marketing and communications who craft messages and are partners in all of these, finance departments whose transparency and good policy make it easy to report, etc., but to acknowledge that if you want a truly spectacular donor experience, you need people looking at these particular things. Many roles can be held by one person at a small org, but as you get bigger, these scale.