Your Guide to the Donor Engagement Cycle

Have you heard the phrase “donor engagement cycle” and wondered what it means? If so, you’re in the right place!

Simply put, the donor engagement cycle is how you build relationships with your supporters, strengthen their connection to your cause, and inspire them to give again in the future.

The donor engagement cycle will look different for you than it will for the nonprofit down the street. Your unique messaging, community, brand, and resources will all impact when and how you connect with your supporters.

Whatever shape your engagement cycle takes, though, you can use a simple formula to guide the process. There are four key steps—ask, thank, report, and repeat.

Why Focus on the Donor Engagement Cycle?

Keeping your donors engaged and active in supporting your work is an important part of building a sustainable fundraising program. And it’s hard work! Nonprofits have struggled with retaining their donors for a long time.

If you want to retain your donors, you’ll want to put some time and effort into keeping them engaged with you long term. 

The “ask, thank, report, repeat” formula—which is the brainchild of The Better Fundraising Co.—will help you build a donor engagement strategy, boost your retention, and improve your fundraising. 

Here’s a brief summary of the cycle, what each step does, and why it’s important. We’ll get into more of the details later on!

First, you ask. This is when you send someone an appeal for a donation or another form of support, like volunteering or raising money on your behalf. When you ask someone for a gift, you’ll want to do so in a way that references their commitment to your cause and the outcome they’ll make possible.

Once someone gives, you’ll thank them for that gift. Here, you’ll focus on making them feel good about the decision to give by sharing a heartfelt message and telling them a little about the real-world impact they’ll have.

Later, you’ll report back to the donor and share details about the outcomes that were possible because of their support. Your goal here is to show them that their support really did make a difference in an area they care about and reinforce the relationship between them, your nonprofit, and the people you serve.

Then, the cycle begins again. Your donor feels like a valued part of your community, is connected to your work, and understands that any additional support will have similar outcomes. When you ask again, they’ll be more likely to make another gift.

Let’s take a deeper look at each of these steps.

Ask for a Gift

Believe it or not, the way you ask for a gift—even if the person you’re asking has never given before—can affect your donor retention rate. And, since improved donor retention is the primary goal of the donor engagement cycle, it’s important to put some thought into how you ask for support in your fundraising appeals.

Here are some tips.

Speak to Donors’ Motivations

People won’t give to you because they’re passionate about helping you meet a fundraising goal or are concerned about the end of the fiscal year. They also won’t give to you because your organization is super cool or has been around for a long time.

People will give to you because they want to make a difference. They want to give through you to a cause that’s important to them.

Speak to those motivations when you ask for a gift. Don’t simply ask them for money. Connect with them emotionally, tell them why you need their support, share a bit about what that donation will achieve, and invite them to give.

Personalize the Ask

Your ask will be most effective if you’ve taken steps to make it feel as personal as possible. That doesn’t mean you have to write a new appeal for each and every donor. Instead, use technology to make your appeal letter feel like you wrote a new version for each new donor.

One simple way to do this is by using personalization tokens to insert someone’s name in your letter. You can do this in the salutation, of course (and we sincerely hope you do!), but you can also try doing so in the body of your appeal. If you’re sending an email appeal, you may even be able to use personalization tokens in the subject line or preview text!

You can make your appeal feel even more personal, too, by spending some time on the signature. Instead of simply using a sign-off phrase and a name, try adding a headshot or even the signature of the person who’s written the appeal. 

Recognize Past Support

When you ask existing donors to make another gift, take a moment to recognize them for their previous support. This doesn’t have to be formal or drawn out! Simply thanking them for their previous support before sharing a story can be all you need. If they’re a recurring donor, make sure you call that out, too.

You can achieve this by using segmentation tools. Write a single version of your appeal, then tweak it for different audiences. Here’s where you can learn more about donor segmentation and why it’s such a valuable tool!

Be Specific

When you ask someone to make a gift, be as specific as you can about what you want them to do. Ask them to donate to a specific campaign or program, include details that will help them understand what they’re supporting, reference a specific gift amount (if you can), and tell them why they should give now instead of later on.

Asking someone to donate to your organization is fine, but it might not be very compelling. Asking the same person to donate $35 to provide a week’s worth of lunches to a local student is much more effective.

Help Them Act

You could send the most heartwarming, compelling, specific appeal in the world, but it won’t do you any good if someone can’t easily act upon it.

Create a good donation experience for your supporters. They should be able to act upon their instinct to give quickly and easily. 

If you’re sending your appeal through email, include plenty of links to your donation form and make sure those links are easy to use on mobile and desktop devices alike. 

If you’re using direct mail, include a remit slip, return envelope (with stamp), and a QR code that points to your donation form. That way, recipients can give in a way that’s most convenient to them.

Thank Your Supporter

After someone decides to give, the next step in the donor engagement cycle is to make sure they feel good about that decision. The first way to make that happen is to thank them for their support.

This should happen in a couple of ways.

First, you’ll want to make sure that they’re excited about their gift in the moments immediately after they push the “donate” button. Spend some time updating the confirmation page they’ll see after they donate—add a thank-you message, a great picture, and tell them how much you appreciate their kindness and generosity.

Within a few moments of completing their gift, someone should also receive a receipt. Your online fundraising platform typically sends this automatically. Simply updating the system’s default language, adding some branding and design elements, and generally making it feel more like a celebration instead of a transaction can make a huge impression on the people who give to you.

A few days after that initial receipt, send your donor a proper donation thank-you letter. Use it as an opportunity to sincerely tell them how much their support means to you and the people you serve. Then, share a story that helps them understand that their donation has a real-life impact in an area they care about.

You may also want to go even further for some donors. Mid-level and major donors, monthly or recurring supporters, people who have given to you faithfully over a long time period, first-time donors, and other groups can all benefit from unique thank-you communications or recognition.

Looking for some ways to build great relationships with your supporters? Here’s a list of 34 donor appreciation ideas!

Report Donors’ Impact

Thanking donors for their gifts is an important step. But remember, people will donate to your organization because they’re invested in making a real-life difference in your community. To keep them engaged beyond their initial gift, you’ll need to share how they do so. 

There are a few ways you can report your donors’ impact.

Three Types of Updates

The first, of course, is a standalone update. This is most helpful when you’ve been raising money for a specific campaign. If someone donated to your summer literacy program, for example, you could send them an update about students’ progress during the summer and a celebratory update at the start of the new school year.

You can do something similar for people who donate to your annual fund, too. Choose a story or two to focus on, tell your supporter how their gift made an impact, and remind them that those outcomes wouldn’t have been possible without them.

Newsletters are another great option for keeping your donors up to date on how you’re serving your community. Use them to showcase donors’ impact through stories, educate supporters about your work and the problems you solve, and spotlight staff members, volunteers, donors, and board members. 

Your annual report can play an important role in the donor engagement cycle, too. Instead of simply running through your budget and statistics about your performance, combine those elements with individual stories from clients and others from your community. Statistics can be numbing or hard to grasp, but stories are compelling!

Sending Targeted Updates

Just as you may want to send tailored thank-you messages to different segments of donors, you may want to do the same with updates.

Recurring donors merit an update that’s different from the same letter you’d send a one-time donor. Someone who gives $2,000 to your capital campaign will need an update that’s different from the one received by someone who donated $20 to a different program. You get the idea!

This is another instance where segmentation will be an invaluable tactic. When you know the different groups that need to receive updates, it’ll be much easier for you to write messages that make people feel recognized, appreciated, and in the know.

Repeat the Donor Engagement Cycle

At this point in the donor engagement cycle, someone has received a heartfelt appeal for support that speaks to their desire to support a cause they love. They’ve made a gift and received genuine thank-you messaging that helps them understand how their donation will have a real-life impact. They’ve also received updates about how they and the rest of your community have made a difference.

After these interactions, that person understands that their donations are recognized, appreciated, and used wisely to effect positive change. Now, it’s time to ask them for their next gift. The donor engagement cycle begins again, and the relationship between your supporter, your organization, and the people you serve gets even stronger. 

Technology + The Donor Engagement Cycle

The donor engagement cycle is simple, but it’s not necessarily easy. This system’s end goal is to build deep connections between your organization and the people who support you. Building relationships takes time and energy.

Technology can’t do it for you, but it can help you along the way. 

A good nonprofit CRM will be invaluable as you build relationships with your donors. It will give you insight into your donors, provide segmentation tools you can use to communicate with the different groups in your donor base, and make it possible to evaluate and adjust your tactics using good data.

Neon CRM includes all the tools and features you need to make it happen. Don’t take our word for it—see for yourself! Join one of our regular group demos to get a feel for how you can use Neon CRM to find, engage, and retain donors.

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