Qgiv Fundraising Lab Recap: Surprising Best Practices to Keep Donors Giving

During the Qgiv Fundraising Lab on August 6, 2020, over 1200 nonprofit fundraisers joined from around the world for a virtual fundraising workshop to learn new trends and ideas to take their online fundraising campaigns to the next level.

Attendees heard from industry thought leader Lori. L Jacobwith on effective ways to keep donors giving, learned how to optimize their giving campaigns for each donor generation from Qgiv Nonprofit Education Manager, Abby Jarvis, and dove into virtual fundraising examples and actionable ideas to implement their next virtual event with Jennifer Mansfield, VP of Customer Experience at Qgiv. Attendees were also able to submit their personal questions and challenges for a live Q&A discussion with all workshop presenters at the end of the event.

Here’s a quick recap of each session for more details:

Surprising Best Practices to Keep Donors Giving

Presented by: Lori L. Jacobwith, Fundraising Culture Change Expert & Master Storyteller | Ignited Fundraising

The plain & simple truth to why your donors stop giving: they lose interest. They just don’t feel their gift matters enough to keep giving. So, how do you overcome that? During her session, Lori L. Jacobwith recommended making every touchpoint with supporters special. Whether you have a small, medium, or large donor list — making them ALL feel special is a tall order – but it can be done with the right technology.

She reminded us that even during a pandemic, your call, voicemail, or email can be a welcome deviation from time spent scrolling through social media articles or the challenges of working from home.

To learn more from Lori L. Jacobwith on how to make your regular communication stand out from the daily noise, check out her article on 4 Powerfully Simple Ways to Keep Donors Engaged – Even During a Pandemic.

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Mind the Generation Gap: Qgiv’s Generational Giving Study

Presented by: Abby Jarvis, Nonprofit Education Manager | Qgiv

What motivates your donors? How can you build communications that appeal to all your constituents from the Greatest Generation to Gen Z? Can a single campaign transcend the rift between Baby Boomers and Millennials? And what the heck does Generation X want? During this session Abby shared that by focusing on donor retention and catering your message to your audience’s preferences, you can mitigate financial risk, build a more sustainable future, and spend less money on donor acquisition.

Appealing to different generations of donors is important, but it doesn’t have to be hard! Learn more details from the full Generational Giving Report, here.

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Virtual Fundraising: Examples and Q&A

Panel: Jennifer Mansfield, Lori L. Jacobwith & Abby Jarvis

If you’re like many nonprofits around the country, you’ve canceled your annual events and are looking for new ways to raise money online while keeping your donors safe and engaged. Jennifer Mansfield, Qgiv’s Vice President of Customer Experience, shared tips and client examples on how to pivot your in-person event to a virtual event. She shared four main areas that nonprofits can transition to:

1. Tangible Gifts
   Virtual food pantries, peer-to-peer storefronts, Amazon Wish lists
2. Increasing Personal Connections
   Calls, video meetings, Facebook Live events, gift campaigns, other ways to help, Amazon SMILE program
3. Reinventing Volunteer Opportunities
   YouTube classes, tech volunteers, content, leading virtual activities
4. Reimagined Live Events
   Virtual Dunk Tanks, 5Ks, egg hunt, and more

Looking for more inspiration? Download 15+ Virtual Fundraising Ideas.

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Listen to the full workshop recording below and save the date for our next fundraising lab on October 15^th where we will be joined by social media gurus and industry thought leaders, Julia Campbell and Josh Hirsch.