Generosity Experience Design 101

Do you hear that noise? It’s an alarm, and it’s been ringing for a while now. For years, even. It’s a warning for nonprofits everywhere—a warning that trust in the sector is weakening, and that significant declines in giving could be right over the horizon. 

This is about more than the fact that the number of individual supporters dropped yet again in 2023 (although that was obviously a bad sign). 

It’s about looking beyond the fact that overall giving is fairly stable right now to the signs of weakness that could easily manifest in significant declines long term. 

It’s about reckoning with how the sector is relying more and more on a small group of wealthy donors, meaning that the loss of one key supporter could put your nonprofit at risk of shutting down. 

It’s about the fact that people are still giving—they’re giving time, money, and talents to causes they support every day—but they aren’t giving to nonprofits. 

And it’s about how, when they do give to nonprofits, it’s too often a dead end. It’s about how the typical supporter of a nonprofit organization is giving once and then never giving again.

All of these things are threatening the long-term viability of the nonprofit sector—they’re the reason why this alarm is ringing. And if we want it to stop, we’re going to have to be prepared to make some big changes. Starting with our approach to technology. 

We Are in a Generosity Crisis

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. In fact, it was supposed to be the opposite. For years—decades—we’ve been fed a story about how technology was going to usher in a golden age of philanthropy. 

Imagine a leader at a small, local nonprofit who is juggling multiple responsibilities—fundraising, event marketing, volunteer coordination—who is able to manage it all thanks to her team of digital assistants.

With technology at her fingertips that automatically personalizes all thank-you messages, schedules follow-up calls with relevant notes, and creates tailored appeals—not to mention the 50 other meticulous, time-consuming tasks they take off her plate—our leader can then focus on strategic planning and building meaningful connections with their supporters.

That was the hope. Here’s the reality. 

Instead of a golden age, the nonprofit sector finds itself in the middle of a historic generosity crisis. And here’s the kicker: Our approach to technology has helped bring about this crisis by facilitating a focus on money instead of people.

Looking back to our vision of the sector’s “tech-enabled” future, we can see that the problems have been there all along. We were focused on taking the easy route, preferring hands-off digital solutions to the hard, sweaty work of building real, genuine connections with actual flesh-and-blood people. 

Now, instead of thriving communities of supporters, most organizations have what can better be described as piles of individual, isolated givers—profiles sitting in a nonprofit’s database—and nothing more. 

We got our tech-enabled future all right. We let tech become our enabler—and look where that got us. 

The Emotional Toll of the Crisis

While our approach to technology helped get us here, it wouldn’t be accurate to describe “technology” as the problem that sits at the heart of the generosity crisis.

The story goes a little something like this: The lack of connection that we’ve fostered with our “tech-enabled” approach has created a real lack of trust amongst supporters, and it is that lack of trust that has fueled the generosity crisis. 

Trust is a fragile thing in the best of times, and this isn’t the best of times. Institutional trust is at an all-time low across the board. So long as we continue treating our supporters like mere transactions instead of full-fledged partners in our mission, this erosion of trust will continue. 

And this isn’t just an operational issue. It’s a moral one. The very fabric of nonprofits’ missions is at risk as the lifeblood of these organizations—genuine, passionate supporters—drifts away, disillusioned with and disconnected from the causes and organizations they love.

Imagine the countless potential supporters who turn away because they feel unseen and unvalued. Picture the long-term supporters who become disheartened because their contributions seem to vanish, unacknowledged and unappreciated, into a void. 

Every missed opportunity to connect meaningfully with a supporter brings you a step closer to losing their trust forever. This crisis isn’t just about numbers; it’s about the deep emotional connections between donors and causes that are severed every day.

To pull this sector back from the brink of collapse and set us on a more sustainable path, we need to focus—first and foremost—on rebuilding this trust. We can rebuild that trust by focusing on what we call the generosity experience.

What Is the Generosity Experience? 

Simply put, the generosity experience is the emotional connection a supporter has with your nonprofit, one that is formed by every single interaction they have with your organization.

The generosity experience is more than the experience someone has while they’re actively making a donation. 

Any touchpoint a supporter has with your nonprofit—from glancing at your social media post, to opening your email, to attending your event, to visiting your online giving form—forms another branch in their overall generosity experience. 

Each interaction works to shape that emotional connection—a connection that can be weak, that can be strong; that can be healthy, that can be toxic; that can be simple, or that can be complicated.

On a more practical level, those interactions are the result of actions taken by your staff, by your tech tools, and by your supporters themselves. 

In order for a supporter to be moved by an email, for example, a staff member has to first write the copy then use software to create and send it—and then your supporter has to actually open the email, read it, and (maybe) follow its call to action. 

Here’s a way to visualize how your staff, your technology, and your supporters all work together to create a generosity experience.

A lot of what we’ll discuss in the rest of this article will be the necessary strategic thinking and tactical applications for creating better generosity experiences with stronger emotional connections—but don’t forget that the arena in which these strategies and tactics will play out is that simple space where staff, supporters, and technology meet. 

Creating “Magical” Generosity Experiences

In order to resolve the generosity crisis, nonprofits need to forge genuine connections with their supporters—the kind of connections that foster mutual trust and lay the groundwork for long-term support. 

And how can they build those connections? By remaining laser-focused on creating generosity experiences that are personal, memorable, and communal. 

We have a (slightly really corny) term for this kind of generosity experience: magical. And we call it magical for two reasons.

First, it really does describe the feeling you’re trying to create in your supporters—an emotion that’s equal parts cheer, wonder, belonging, and affirmation—in a way that’s mostly invisible and leaves them wondering “How did they do that?”

Second, we also like to use the term “magic” because we all know you don’t get magic from a simple formula. It’s a complicated alchemy—one that relies on people, strategy, and tech all working together to create something that’s greater than the sum of its parts—and it’s just a little bit uncanny. 

It’s those twin understandings of “magic” that inform something we like to call Generosity Experience Design. 

Introducing: Generosity Experience Design

What is Generosity Experience Design? It’s a method for creating magical experiences for your supporters—the kinds of experiences that foster genuine connections and rebuild trust—by putting technology in the service of a people-first approach.

“Wait,” you’re probably saying to yourself. “If technology is one of the main causes of the generosity crisis, how can it also be a part of the solution, too?”

The answer: It’s because digital technology is, first and foremost, an amplifier of existing behaviors. If we’re doing the right things, tech will help us do them better. Just like, when we’re doing the wrong ones, technology makes the outcomes worse—much, much worse. 

Given the size of the problem we’re currently tackling, we’re going to need the boost that only tech can provide in order to fix it. 

The way we’ve used technology in the past has broken people’s trust. Now, we need to use technology to rebuild that trust. This is what Generosity Experience Design is all about.

Generosity Experience Design is a Five-Part Framework

If we pulling back the lens even further, the ultimate goal of Generosity Experience Design goes beyond guiding individual organizations towards sustainability—it’s to create a vibrant Generosity Ecosystem where nonprofits across the sector are strengthened by the trust and connections realized by their fellow orgs. 

How does Generosity Experience Design create “magical” moments for your supporters? It starts by acknowledging that you know your supporters far better than we ever will. In fact, we don’t know them at all. 

But while we can’t tell you what your supporters might like or dislike, we can trace out five planning mindsets that allow nonprofits to address any strategic questions that may arise and outline a concrete framework to design magical generosity experiences. 

The central mindset—the soil from which the other four mindsets can sprout—is Build One Team which has you frame your staff, your technology, and your supporters as co-equal partners in your mission. 

The next mindset—Love Data—allows you to build a people-first tech strategy, while Connect the Dots helps you create a balanced strategy that fosters long-term supporter relationships.

The fourth mindset—Make Magic— guides you while you build the actual generosity experience itself atop that foundation. 

The final mindset—Guided Growth—helps you situate your organization within the greater nonprofit lifecycle, embracing renewal in order to avoid stagnation and achieve sustainability.

There’s a ton of awesome insights packed into each of the five mindsets that make up Generosity Experience Design—so let’s go tackle them one by one.

1. Build One Team

This is the foundation of Generosity Experience Design, the mindset that feeds into everything you do. 

“Build One Team” is about abandoning the old “us vs them” psychologies that can too often crop up between staffers and donors or staffers and their tech tools and embracing all three groups as team members, instead. 

Here’s what it looks like for all three to be one team. 

For your supporters, it means creating a sense of belonging by ensuring they feel valued and heard. Create opportunities for them to contribute meaningfully and recognize their efforts when they do.

For staffers, it means going way, way beyond the way nonprofit professionals are typically treated and empowering your staff with the tools and training they need to excel. Promote a collaborative environment where staff members are aligned with your mission and values and everyone works towards common goals.

If the nonprofit sector is one where talented, hard working people are able to make a sustainable living, everyone will benefit—especially the communities that these dedicated individuals have devoted their professional lives to helping.

When it comes to technology, you should always use it to support the goals of streamlining your operations, enhancing your communication, and improving your supporter experiences. Ensure that your tech solutions are user-friendly and integrate seamlessly with your organizational processes.

When you think about it, the role that tech plays on your “one team” isn’t all that different from the role played by staffers or supporters. Using volunteers to achieve scale on a river clean-up isn’t all that different from using a CRM to reach thousands to communicate that program’s success. Nor is it too dissimilar from hiring a new fundraiser to take on added workload. 

By treating your technology like an equal member of your team, you’ll be going well beyond what your staff or your supporters would ever be able to achieve on their own. By the same token, remove either your supporters or your staffers and everything falls apart. 

Your team is a three-legged stool, and it’s going to take all three legs to create a stable environment that allows change to happen. 

2. Love Data

Take a look at any profile sitting in your nonprofit’s CRM and you’ll see a whole bunch of data points—name, address, past donations, event registrations, survey responses—that come together to tell a story about your nonprofit’s relationship with this particular supporter.

What if that was how you thought about data? What if you perceived it simply as the black-and-white representation of real-world relationships? How would that change your strategic approach to engaging with your supporters?

In order to leverage your nonprofit’s tech stack to rebuild donor trust, viewing data in this way—as a way to understand and connect with real people, not simply to categorize them—is going to be crucial. But it’s only just the beginning.

Here’s how your data journey should unfold: 

• Step 1: Create a Data Culture. Start by fostering a robust data culture within your organization where data is valued, understood, and used effectively. Encourage your team to see data as a vital tool for decision making and supporter engagement.

• Step 2: Improve Your Data Literacy. In order for them to use your data to its full potential, your staff will need to be comfortable with data concepts and be able to interpret data accurately. In other words, they’ll need to be data literate. Provide training sessions and resources to boost their confidence and skills in data handling.

• Step 3: Achieve Data Maturity. As your staff gains data literacy, you’ll need to begin assessing your organization’s data maturity—how advanced your data practices are. Implement strategies to move from basic data collection (like names and addresses) to sophisticated data analysis and application (like understanding donor relationships and long-term patterns in their behaviors), ensuring you make the most of the information available.

• Step 4: Build Data Confidence. Finally, build confidence in using data through regular audits and validations. Ensure that your data is accurate, up to date, and reliable. Confidence in data leads to better decision-making and stronger supporter relationships.

Once your staff is confidently using supporter data in their everyday decision-making process, you can start bringing that data to bear on a more holistic approach to generosity and engagement. 

3. Connect The Dots

When we talk about not looking at donors as mere transactions, it all comes back to defining—or, in this case, redefining—our understanding of generosity.

Generosity is not just financial contributions; it’s the time, talent, and treasure that supporters invest in your cause. In order to build deeper connections and build long-term bonds with your supporters, you’re going to need to recognize and value all forms of generosity:

• Time: Acknowledge the time supporters spend volunteering, attending events, or participating in your activities. Make sure your technology tracks and acknowledges these contributions, showing supporters their time is valued.

• Talent: Utilize and celebrate the unique skills and talents that supporters bring to your organization. Whether it’s graphic design, event planning, or mentorship, recognize and leverage these contributions to enhance your mission.

• Treasure: Financial contributions are essential, but they should be seen as part of a broader spectrum of generosity. Use technology to personalize donor interactions, ensuring their financial support is appreciated and impactful.

By looking beyond a revenue strategy and creating a more holistic engagement strategy that accounts for all these forms of generosity, you’ll go a long way towards building community today and set yourself up for additional support down the road. 

After all, a couple in their mid-30’s with two young kids might only be able to make the occasional in-kind donation right now. But in five years they might be itching for family-friendly volunteer opportunities, and 10 years from now they might finally have the financial flexibility to pledge a transformative legacy gift to their favorite nonprofit. 

By embracing a strategy that favors lasting relationships over short-term financial extraction, you can make sure that that favorite nonprofit is yours.

4. Make Magic

With these three elements in place—your “one team” mindset, your thriving data culture, and your holistic engagement strategy—you’ll be ready to turn to the generosity experience itself.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach here. The one thing we can tell you for sure is that your nonprofit, your mission, and your supporters are all unique. The types of appeals and invitations that spur excitement from one org’s donors might inspire yawns from yours.

But what we can give you insights on is the general psychology of giving and the basic contours of the experience you should be crafting for them. When it comes to creating magical generosity experiences, here’s how you can actually go about making that magic.

• Start with Authentic Connection: Build genuine relationships with your supporters. Understand their motivations, listen to their stories, and show that you care about their passion for your cause. Authentic connections are the foundation of trust and loyalty.

• Create Sensory and Emotional Peaks: Design experiences that engage supporters’ senses and emotions. From impactful storytelling to immersive events, create moments that leave a lasting impression.

• Engage Continuously with Personal Touches: Maintain ongoing communication with supporters through personalized messages, updates, and thank-you notes. Show that you remember and appreciate them beyond their donations.

• End on a High Note: Ensure that every interaction, campaign, or event ends positively. Leave supporters feeling satisfied, valued, and eager to continue their involvement with your organization.

• Foster a Sense of Community: Create a sense of belonging among your supporters. Encourage them to connect with each other and with your organization. Foster a community where everyone feels they are part of something bigger. 

• Use Identity-Based Motivations: When someone associates a given cause with their personal identity, the urge to give is huge. Ensure that supporters see themselves in your mission. Use relatable stories and examples that resonate with their experiences and values, making them feel personally connected to your cause.

You’ll need every tool in your tool box to create a magical generosity experience. You’ll need a well-trained and motivated staff; you’ll need a lot of data on your supporters; you’ll need to make sure those two aspects are working together, not separately; and you’ll need a plan to take advantage of all the ways your supporters can give.

Just remember, a magical experience is going to be something well beyond the sum of its individual parts. Don’t be afraid to experiment with new tactics, don’t forget to test your results, and don’t get discouraged if something you try doesn’t work the way you thought it would.

5. Guided Growth

This final stage of Generosity Experience Design is a little different from the rest. It’s sort of a sequel, a prequel, a sidequel, a lore-stuffed Wiki, and an expanded universe quadrilogy all wrapped up in one. 

Guided growth is all about locating your nonprofit’s place along the typical nonprofit lifecycle so you can adjust your strategies accordingly. That way, you can ensure a renewable cycle of success instead of following the straight-ahead path into stagnation and decline. 

Here’s a basic overview of the nonprofit lifecycle: 

• Startup Stage: In the early stages, nonprofits should focus on building a strong foundation. Establish your mission, values, and initial supporter base. Be agile and open to experimentation as you find what works best for your organization.

• Adolescent Stage: As your nonprofit grows, refine your strategies and operations. Develop robust systems and processes, and start focusing on scaling your impact. Engage supporters deeply and cultivate long-term relationships.

• Mature Stage: In the mature stage, your nonprofit should have established credibility and a strong supporter base. Focus on sustaining your impact, optimizing operations, and continuously improving supporter experiences.

Along the journey toward the “Mature” stage, there are two paths that a nonprofit can follow:

• Path #1: Stagnation/Defunct. Beware of becoming too comfortable with the status quo! Regularly assess your strategies and be willing to innovate to avoid becoming obsolete. If your nonprofit faces challenges, address them proactively to prevent decline. 

• Path #2: Renewal. Embrace opportunities for renewal and reinvention. Stay relevant by adapting to changing circumstances and supporter needs. Innovate and refresh your strategies to keep your mission alive and thriving.

When we talk about the nonprofit life cycle, we too often think about the standard trajectory for a human being, where they grow from a baby to a child to adult to an elderly person and then, finally, they die. 

But the nonprofit lifecycle is different. Sure, it can sometimes be a straight line from birth to maturity to death, but oftentimes it’s not—it’s a lifecycle that’s actually a cycle! Nonprofits can double back, renew their strategic approach, and continue to grow.

In that sense, it’s more like the yearly cycle of a tree. Every year, there’s budding, blooming, fading, and hibernation, followed by budding, blooming, etc.—all while the tree itself grows from seed to sapling to fully mature, adding a new ring in its trunk with each passing cycle. 

For your nonprofit, adding a new ring every year means maintaining this continuous cycle of growth, adaptation, and renewal. Stay committed to your mission, be responsive to change, and always strive to improve the experiences you provide to your supporters. 

 This will make it possible for you to constantly evolve the generosity experiences you create for your community and establish a sustainable future for your organization.

Let’s Build a Thriving Generosity Ecosystem

Each nonprofit’s success will have an amplifying impact on the rest of the sector. If an individual nonprofit is a tree, the sector is a forest. By fostering a culture of generosity, trust, and connection within your own organization, you contribute to a healthier, more vibrant nonprofit ecosystem for all.

The health of one tree influences the health of the entire forest. When one nonprofit thrives, it sets an example and adds to an increasingly interconnected network that can uplift the entire sector. 

Embracing Generosity Experience Design is about more than just ensuring the success of your own organization. It’s about contributing to the collective resilience and growth of the nonprofit community as a whole and ushering in a thriving generosity sector that will support causes for generations to come.