Raise More with These Three Tips to Engage Each Donor Segment

Fundraising is all about connecting with your audience with personal and relevant messages. And one of the most powerful ways to achieve this is by using donor segmentation to communicate more directly with your supporters.

A message that resonates with long-term, repeat donors will fall flat with a lapsed donor. So, understanding who belongs in each segment and crafting tailored communications for each group is critical for effective segmentation. However, the criteria you use for donor segmentation will differ from other organizations, reflecting your unique mission and donor base. 

As you know, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to fundraising!

So, you’ll need to determine which data points are most valuable to your organization before you get started. Here’s what you need to know: 

1. Where are your donors located? 

Demographics like a donor’s age, education level, and occupation are the clearest places to start with donor segmentation. However, using a donor’s geographic location in your segmentation strategy can open exciting new possibilities.

For instance, a large nonprofit focused on preserving arts and culture might segment its audience by location and focus its stories on the most well-known museums or cultural landmarks in a donor’s state. 

This approach helps your donors feel a stronger connection to your cause by highlighting something they’re familiar with. 

But geographic donor segmentation isn’t just for large organizations. The same approach can be applied on a smaller scale. If your work is focused on a single state or region, consider segmenting your audience by county or city and tailoring your message to focus on local cultural events in their immediate area.

2. Speak to the sense of self when communicating with donor segments. 

How donors perceive themselves in relation to your mission will shape the way you tell your stories and segment your donors. Remember, your nonprofit is the vehicle donors use to make an impact on a cause that’s important to them. 

Often their personality, values, opinions, interests, and attitudes draw them to your organization in the first place. Understanding these attributes can guide you in creating messages that resonate with different donor groups. 

Segmenting your audience of donors based on psychographic traits, like values and motivations, requires a deep understanding of how your donors see themselves. 

This approach is often one of the most effective ways to tailor your message but requires some effort to get started.

One simple way to begin is by sending your donors a short, one-question survey. 

Ask, “What is the primary reason you give to our organization?” and offer three specific options for answers. You can segment your audience and craft your next appeal to speak to each group’s motivations based on their responses. 

Following the arts and culture nonprofit example, if one segment values cultural music their appeal could emphasize the impact of their donations on digitizing old recordings or promoting local artists. Another donor segment might be motivated by cultural history, so your message to them could highlight the importance of preserving it in a museum. 

You’ll create a deeper connection and show your donors you genuinely care about their feedback by aligning your message with a donor’s sense of self and their reasons for supporting your cause.This approach strengthens your relationship with your supporters and makes your appeals more powerful by speaking directly to the donor’s existing relationship with your nonprofit.

3. What is your donor’s giving history? 

Using giving history to steer donor segmentation is another effective approach. As mentioned earlier, placing lapsed or at-risk donors in a different segment from those who continue to give regularly is important. 

But that’s just the beginning of how nonprofits can segment audiences based on past giving behavior.

Consider segmenting donors by the frequency of their gifts or their average gift size. For example, you could create a segment for donors who give more than once a year. Your messages to this group can focus on your monthly giving program. So, emphasize how recurring gifts provide sustained support for your initiatives. 

This will help nurture and grow a strong base of recurring donors, giving your organization a consistent stream of donations coming in year-round. 

You can also segment your donors based on their giving levels. Using their past gift sizes as a guide allows you to make more personalized and relevant asks. For instance, donors who consistently give larger gifts might receive tailored communications highlighting special projects or offering exclusive opportunities to engage with your organization. 

This makes your appeals more relevant and gives you the chance to show your high-level donors some extra appreciation and foster long-term loyalty.

In addition, consider creating segments for donors who have supported your nonprofit for five years, ten years, or longer! You can vary content to speak directly to these long-term donors to underline their impact over the years. By acknowledging their ongoing support, you make it clear that their contributions have been essential to your success, which can deepen their commitment to your cause.

Effective donor segmentation is a must! 

It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day demands of running a nonprofit. With so much going on, even the smallest organizations lack the time or resources to craft individualized messages for every donor. 

But you can’t let your donors feel like just another name on your mailing list.

Sending the same generic messages to your entire donor base won’t make your supporters feel special or valued. If you want donors to continue supporting your mission, you need to make them feel like they’re an important part of it.

Donor segmentation allows you to break up your audience and place supporters into donor groups based on their similarities. This makes it easier to craft and variate content that reaches each donor with a more relevant and personal message.

So, if you’re not already using donor segmentation to stand out from the crowd, what are you waiting for?

About the author

Amplifi’s marketing manager Mike Montalto loves alliteration and specializes in digital and content marketing. In his 6 plus years at amplifi, he has written countless articles, as well as several pieces of longform content, designed to help nonprofits rise above the noise with their communications and fundraising outreach. Mike graduated from the Ramapo College of New Jersey with a BA in communications and enjoys playing the bass guitar in his free time. 

About the amplifi

We equip nonprofits with the tools they need to rise above the noise and change the world. We’re on a mission to increase the value and effectiveness of fundraising and related communications for nonprofit organizations. We believe that the nonprofit industry is about more than charity. It’s about rallying the world around causes greater than ourselves. Visit us at amplifiNP.com to learn more!