Interested in learning more? We have partnered with DonorPerfect to host a free webinar. Register now!
Fundraisers have always worked with some degree of uncertainty. Donor priorities change. Grants aren’t renewed. Costs increase. Staff capacity shifts. A campaign that performed well last year may not generate the same response this year.
You can’t eliminate that uncertainty, but you can build a fundraising program that’s better prepared to handle it.
A sustainable fundraising strategy is about creating the relationships, processes, and visibility your organization needs to keep moving forward when circumstances change.
Here are five practical places to start.
1. Protect the donor relationships you already have
When fundraising goals increase, it’s tempting to put most of your energy into finding new donors. Acquisition matters, but your existing supporters are one of your organization’s most valuable resources.
Start by looking closely at donor retention and engagement. Which donors give consistently? Who has increased their support? Who hasn’t given as recently as expected? Are recurring donors continuing their gifts?
Changes in donor behaviour can provide an early signal that a relationship needs attention.
That doesn’t mean every change requires another appeal. A personal thank-you, impact update, phone call, survey, or invitation to get involved can help reinforce the connection between a supporter and your mission.
The goal is to make donor stewardship an ongoing part of your fundraising strategy rather than something that happens only after a gift.
2. Look for opportunities to re-engage lapsed donors
Some of your best fundraising opportunities may already be in your database.
A lapsed donor already knows your organization. At some point, they chose to support your mission. Reconnecting with them can be more efficient than building a relationship with someone completely new.
Start by defining what lapsed means for your organization. Then segment those supporters based on factors such as giving history, recency, previous engagement, and relationship with your organization.
From there, tailor your outreach.
A long-time donor who recently stopped giving may warrant a personal call. Someone who made a single gift several years ago might receive an update showing what has changed since they last supported you.
Most importantly, make the communication about the relationship, not the missed donation. Recognize their previous support, demonstrate its impact, and give them a reason to reconnect.
3. Protect staff time for the work that matters most
Fundraising teams are balancing donor stewardship, campaigns, events, reporting, data management, gift processing, board requests, and countless other responsibilities.
When capacity gets tight, relationship-building can easily get pushed aside by urgent administrative work.
Take inventory of the recurring tasks your team handles. Which require a fundraiser’s personal involvement, and which could be simplified, standardized, or automated?
Major donor conversations and personal stewardship require human attention. Routine acknowledgements, reminders, data entry, and recurring reports may not.
Even small workflow improvements can return valuable time to your team. That creates more capacity for the activities that are hardest to automate: listening to donors, building relationships, planning campaigns, and connecting supporters with your mission.
4. Reduce friction between your fundraising tools
Technology is often added one need at a time. An organization adopts an online giving platform, an event tool, email marketing software, spreadsheets for reporting, and other systems to solve specific problems.
Individually, each tool may work well. Together, they can create extra work.
When donor information is spread across multiple systems, staff may spend time entering the same information more than once, reconciling reports, searching for communication history, or correcting inconsistent records.
Evaluate:
- How many places do we have to look to understand a donor’s relationship with us?
- Where are we entering or reconciling information manually?
- Which routine processes take more time than they should?
- Can everyone who needs fundraising information access the same reliable data?
Your technology should make your fundraising strategy easier to execute. If your systems are creating additional administrative work, simplifying or connecting them can give your team more time to focus on donors.
5. Use fundraising data to make decisions—not just reports
Fundraising teams collect a tremendous amount of information, but more data doesn’t automatically lead to better decisions.
Focus on the measures that help you understand what’s changing and what you should do next.
Depending on your organization, those might include donor retention, recurring giving participation, revenue trends, campaign performance, major gift activity, or donor engagement.
Then move beyond reporting what happened.
If retention declines, where is the change occurring? If campaign revenue increased, did more donors participate or did a smaller group give larger gifts? If engagement is dropping among a particular group, is there an opportunity for proactive stewardship?
Good fundraising reporting should help your team identify opportunities, recognize risks, prioritize resources, and have more useful conversations with leadership and your board.
Build resilience one improvement at a time
A resilient fundraising program doesn’t require your organization to predict every change ahead.
Instead, focus on what you can strengthen now: donor relationships, re-engagement, staff capacity, fundraising systems, and visibility into performance.
Start by asking your team:
- How confident are we in our donor retention strategy?
- Do we have a process for re-engaging lapsed supporters?
- Where is administrative work taking time away from donor relationships?
- Are disconnected systems making fundraising harder?
- Do our reports help us decide what to do next?
You may not need to tackle all five areas at once. Identifying one source of risk or friction—and making an improvement—is a strong place to begin.
For more practical strategies to strengthen donor relationships, increase fundraising capacity, improve operations, and make more informed decisions, download DonorPerfect’s How to Build a More Sustainable Fundraising Strategy e-book.
Kaitlyn Jones is Senior Product Marketing Manager at DonorPerfect. Drawing on her experience in both nonprofit leadership and product marketing, Kaitlyn focuses on connecting fundraising teams with practical solutions that help them work more effectively.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s alone and do not necessarily represent those of CharityVillage.com or any other individual or entity with whom the authors or website may be affiliated. CharityVillage.com is not liable for any content that may be considered offensive, inappropriate, defamatory, or inaccurate or in breach of third-party rights of privacy, copyright, or trademark.
