Most ministries have a list of donors who consistently provide funding for programs and facilities. Dedicated donors that give both large sums and small are highly-important to your ministry’s success. Without them the future is uncertain. Although you already depend on these people, there is still room to grow the relationship and increase the donation amounts provided. Here’s how to continue and expand relationships with people who are committed to providing for your church:
Keep them close
The more you interact with your donors, the bigger the impact you’ll have on their lives. Make sure the people who consistently donate are invited to ministry events and gatherings. If possible, try to include them in some of the church’s decisions. They are, after all, a big influence on what can and cannot be achieved. Make sure to provide value to their lives by serving their needs and providing them with guidance as they need it. Just because they are helping your ministry doesn’t mean they don’t need help themselves. If the ministry is there for dedicated donors in their time of need, you can bet that they will come to the church’s aid when it requires assistance.
“A donor management software solution can help manage all donor information and help you keep tabs on their data.”
Learn about them
Don’t just let your donors come and go without learning about them. Find out about their families and learn about why they joined your ministry. By learning what motivates them, you can easily discover how to better appeal to them, which will encourage them to donate more.
A donor management software solution can help manage all donor information and help you keep tabs on their data. The more information you have about your donors, the easier it will be for you to appeal to them in the future.
Don’t engage everyone in the same way
According to Hubspot, each donor is different and the way in which he or she gives his or her money and attention will reflect this. While you can increase donations by engaging with people more, you don’t want to take things too far. Some people only want limited interaction with the ministry. Always encourage them to participate, but don’t push too hard because they may start to feel smothered.
By understanding your dedicated donors, you can better utilize the data in your donor management software in your upcoming fundraising campaigns. If you know that you have a fundraising event coming up that a specific donor was a part of in the past, you can reach out to him or her before the event to encourage them to attend.
Illustrate your ministry’s need
Your donors need to know how badly the ministry needs donations, so communicating your need is a major concern. According to The Fundraising Authority, utilizing emails, newsletters, social media, your website and phone are all successful ways to communicate with donors.
“Make sure you show donors how they’re helping.”
Show them how they help
In addition to showing how important your donors are to the ministry, make sure you show them how they’re helping. Include articles and pictures in emails and newsletters of the programs and achievements they made possible. When a dedicated donor sees that his or her money is being put towards worthy programs, he or she is more likely to continue giving in the future.
Another good way to let them know that their donations are being put to good use is to actually call them. Have a ministry staff member or someone deeply involved in the programs the donations are used for call and personally thank the donor. The intimacy of a one-on-one phone call will truly drive home the impact that his or her donation had.