Soapbox Engage Blog

As the clock struck midnight on New Year’s Eve, we ushered in not only a new year but a new tax code that reshapes our economy in fundamental ways. With the doubling of the standard deduction to $12,000 for individuals and $24,000 for married couples, estimates project that as few as 10% of taxpayers will continue to itemize. This marked decrease means that donating to your nonprofit just got more expensive for most of your supporters since doing so won’t carry a tax benefit. Experts predict this to cause a drop in charitable donations of around $14 billion in 2018, or 5 percent of the $282 billion that nonprofits raised in 2016.

Key to responding to this changing charitable landscape is recognizing a fundamental fact: fundraising is primarily about a relationship. That relationship isn’t with the Internal Revenue Service. The key relationship is between your donor and your organization and its mission. Understanding that relationship and how it changes over time as your supporter moves through their donor journey is more critical now than ever.

But how?

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1. Understand the Donor Journey

Your donor is on a journey. You’ve either got a map and a compass to help guide them, or they’re hacking through uncharted wilds on their own.

How can a donor journey map help you be a better fundraiser? The great minds at SOFII recently commissioned a report written by Stephen Pidgeon who notes:

The supporter journey is an opportunity for the charity to share stories, appreciation, and opportunities to become more or less involved. When done well, it can cement a lifetime of support and will yield financial rewards; however, if done badly, it can damage relationships before they are even established and result in low commitment and loyalty, which will impact on future levels of giving.

2. Document What You’re Doing

Catalog your current communications and tactics with donors. What are you already doing to connect with your supporters and how are you doing it? You’re also going to need to take a good look at your donor’s lifetime value. Calculating lifetime value moves your organization away from a transactional based ROI calculation on campaigns to a single powerful number to help you determine where to allocate your precious resources.

You will also need to think about the key principles of your journey planning. Most importantly, supporter journeys have to be relevant to the donor who is receiving them. At the heart of drafting a donor journey is the effort to make your organization more donor-centric. The best way to do this is to ask your donors what they want. I remember being fearful that if I asked a donor how they wanted me to communicate with them and about what, they would shut me down and tell me I couldn’t communicate with them at all. If you feel this way, I can tell you from experience that donors are incredibly appreciative of these questions. And, it helps you to not waste precious resources on communications or tactics that will fall flat.

3. Track and Act On Your Donor’s Preferences

Critical in keeping your donors on their journey is your ability to track and act on their preferences. If a donor tells you they only want to receive email, make darn sure that pretty snail mailing you’re sending doesn’t wind up in their mailbox. If you don’t act according to their stated preferences, you are disrespecting the relationship and their donor journey can come to an abrupt end. It’s really that simple. Make sure you have a clear understanding of where you’re keeping your donor preferences so it is updated and actionable for every question you ask of your donors.

4. Customize Donor Journeys by Giving Levels

You’re also going to want to segment your donor journey based on giving levels. This probably makes intuitive sense, right? Major donors get a different level of communication than the low-level donors. This becomes even more true with the stone-cold reality of the new tax law and the radically reduced number of donors who will be itemizing.

For example, holiday cards for major donors and holiday emails for low-level donors. Pidgeon also recommends that

A donor should be able to cross over into a different journey based on his or her behaviour, life stage and commitment. The supporter journey should be a cross-team responsibility with consistent quality levels.

Keep in mind: you can start small here. You aren’t expected to turn the entire ship around overnight with a donor journey map. It could take you most of 2018 to get this tool properly implemented, but I promise when you do you will reap the benefits for the long-term. And, besides, it’s a really great resolution if you haven’t got one already.

Ready for more? Watch our free webinar, The New Tax Law and Smart Nonprofit Fundraising in 2018. We dive deeper into how the new tax law is changing the nonprofit fundraising landscape in 2018, what strategies you can use to respond, and how you can leverage the power of Salesforce to aid in that effort.