Going Where the Donors Are: Digital Acquisition

I was recently at a conference where the speaker told everyone to move to different areas of the room based on a few simple personality questions. Before too long I found myself in a corner with others who had similar characteristics. And I couldn’t help but think: Wouldn’t it be nice if our donors could do this for us? I’d love to be able to stand on a stage and yell, “Okay everyone who wants to support cause ‘A’ over here please.”

As fundraisers, the reality of finding your potential donors is much more complicated.

But there are still ways to identify the best potential donors and get a message in front of them wherever they happen to be.

This is one of my favorite things about working in digital. Advanced targeting options and artificial intelligence are allowing organizations to zero in on individuals who are most likely to become their donors.

Combine this with the fact that there are no postage or printing costs, and the overall cost to acquire a new donor is significantly smaller than what you might expect. For instance, organizations working with us digitally invest an average of $35.52 to get a new donor. The even better news is that the average gift on these campaigns is $124.31!

This means organizations are able to generate revenue AND find new donors at the same time!

As you prepare for the fall giving season, I encourage you to consider using digital advertising (both on social platforms and through search) as one of the channels for your donor acquisition program this year.

But hurry! We are almost to the fall—which is the best time of the year for most organizations to succeed in digital donor acquisition.