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5 Ways To Use The Text-to-Donate Feature To Reach Your Donors

Posted on by Posted in Fund Development

Text-to-Donate, also sometimes called Text-to-Give or text fundraising, is a tool that allows your nonprofit to receive donations by contacting individuals in your organization’s donor list via text message. It’s a convenient way to reach a vast number of donors, and so long as your organization’s donation form is mobile-friendly, this option simplifies mobile fundraising. 

Here are five ways you can use the Text-to-Donate feature to enhance your fundraising success. As you read this post, consider how your organization could further expand upon the functions and features available to you through Text-to-Donate tools.

1. Supporting a fundraising campaign

By using Text-to-Donate in your fundraising campaign, you’re offering your supporters an easy way to donate. When they land on your mobile-optimized form, they’ll know exactly what to do in order to make their donation, which increases the likelihood that they’ll complete the donation process.

2. Soliciting donations from event attendees

Whether you’re hosting a live event or one conducted via live stream, using Text-to-Donate can encourage attendees to make a donation in the moment. By showing that they’re attending your event, your supporters are signaling that they’re passionate about your cause. Give these supporters a way to donate during the event. This can help them feel like they’re making even more of an impact. 

3. Recognizing your supporters and their contributions

In addition to requesting and receiving donations via the Text-to-Donate feature, you can also use this tool to express your gratitude. Thanking donors for their help shows that you value their support and that their donation is being put to good use. 

4. Strengthening your donor relationships

We’ve discussed requesting funds, receiving donations, and giving thanks for donor contributions, but that’s not all that Text-to-Donate tools can do. To strengthen the relationship with your donors, you can send a text message that focuses on the donor instead of the donation. For example, you might want to send a happy birthday text or one wishing your donors a happy holiday. These simple gestures can make your supporters feel appreciated. 

5. Asking for support for a timely matter

If a disaster strikes or a major event affects the work you do, you might hesitate to ask for donations. That’s a natural impulse, but it’s one you should ignore. Give your donors the opportunity to support your cause during a difficult time. They’ll show up in ways that might surprise you. 

In addition to providing donors with a way to support your cause right after an event takes place, sending a text also removes the pressure to send staff members and volunteers into the community. Unless you’re confident that there’s no risk in them doing so, keep your employees at home or in the office and focus on digital fundraising methods. 

Don’t just think of this as an opportunity to ask for donations. This is also a great way to ask for volunteers or keep people updated on how your organization is responding to the event. 

In conclusion

Use tools like Text-to-Donate to cultivate relationships with the community you serve. By giving people an easy way to donate, you’re helping them support your cause, which will help your organization make an even bigger impact.  

Ready to get started with mobile fundraising tools? Contact us today and start driving more traffic to your fundraising page with our Text-to-Donate feature.

The post 5 Ways To Use The Text-to-Donate Feature To Reach Your Donors appeared first on Bloomerang.

This article originally appeared in Bloomerang. See the original article here.

4 Steps To Create A Giving Guide That Will Increase Your Fundraising Success

Posted on by Posted in Fund Development, Uncategorized

“Fundraising is the gentle art of teaching the joy of giving.” – Hank Rosso

Many times, as fundraisers, the role we’re really playing is that of an educator. 

Don’t worry: You don’t have to explain everything there is to know about how your nonprofit operates. For example, there are internal matters that, if shared, likely won’t do anything to win a donor’s support.

However, there are things your supporters must know. And because they don’t know what they don’t know, it’s up to us to educate them.

So, what do they need to know? One of the most important things they need to know is how they can support your nonprofit. That means they need to know the ways they can give to your organization.

This goes beyond putting a donation button or form on your website. Why? Because people will want to give in ways that go beyond making a donation with their credit card via your website.

One way to educate supporters on how to give is to create a giving guide that you can easily share with them. 

In this article, you’ll find step-by-step instructions on how to do that and what to include in your nonprofit’s giving guide. 

We’ve also included Morning Light’s giving guide below that you can reference as you create one for your organization. Morning Light is a grassroots organization out of Indianapolis that offers a free home to “terminally ill patients of low income.” 

If you think that your team doesn’t have the capacity to put something like this together, you should know that Morning Light’s development team only has two people. If they can do it, you can do it too!

Step 1: Identify the ways your supporters can give to your nonprofit.

The first step to take when creating a successful giving guide is to identify how, you guessed it, people can give to your nonprofit. When coming up with this list of giving opportunities, be sure to include those that go beyond the individual directly making a financial gift via a credit card or check.

For example, you might want to include a section on legacy giving or in-kind donations. This is also a great place to mention opportunities like creating a Facebook fundraiser.

Once you have your list of giving opportunities, look at it from the perspective of your supporters and ask yourself if you’re explaining things in a way that they will understand.

One way to educate supporters is by defining terms or giving opportunities they may not have heard of before. For example, your donors who give monthly via credit card may not know what a Mutual Fund Transfer or Bequest Acquisition is or why those things matter to your nonprofit. This is a good place to briefly explain that to them.

Another way to educate supporters is by including information that you think will make a giving option more attractive to them. For example, ask yourself questions like:

  • Are donors aware of the various tax breaks for different types of donations? 
  • Do donors know that giving food or supplies to your nonprofit is tax deductible?
  • Do donors know that they can leave property or real estate to our nonprofit as a gift? 
  • Do donors know that they can allocate money in their will to leave a legacy gift to your nonprofit? 

Step 2: Decide what to include in your giving guide.

If you’re overwhelmed by the many ways people can give to your organization and are unsure of what to include in the guide, that’s OK. Just remember that this is one resource.

You don’t have to share every single piece of information you have—or every giving option. You may just want to choose the top 5-7 options you want to focus on this year.

For example, if you need more in-kind donations but aren’t ready to receive donations via text yet, don’t stress about the latter. If it’s not a high priority for your organization, you can leave it out.

Looking for ideas on what to include in your giving guide? Here are a few: 

You can also include giving options that aren’t tied to financial donations like in-kind donations or services, board or committee participation, and other volunteer opportunities. 

Step 3: Draft your giving guide.

Once you know what you’re including in your giving guide, it’s time to create it.

Your guide should reflect your nonprofit’s brand and tone, and it can take any format you want. That said, here are a few things we recommend including:

  • Cover page: This tells people who aren’t familiar with your resource what it is. It also makes the giving guide look more professional and legitimate.
  • Table of contents: Give readers a way to easily skim your giving guide. Some donors may only be interested in contributing in one way. Including a table of contents lets them easily find information about that one specific avenue of giving. 
  • Giving options: Create a one-page description for each giving option. Yes, there’s so much more that you can include. Just remember that this giving guide is meant to quickly educate readers on how they can give to your nonprofit. They don’t need all of the information in this one resource. They just need to know what their options are and how they can give.
  • Website and contact information: Assume that this is the only information someone has about your nonprofit. What will they need to know in order to reach out and give via one of the options in your guide? Include links to your website and relevant pages, as well as contact information for the team member they can reach out to if they have questions.

For every giving option, you should include what the giving option is, why they should take advantage of that specific one, and how they can do so. 

When thinking about the “why,” think about the short stories you can tell about how previous donations were used to carry out your mission. This is also a great place to include a few testimonials or photos that help tell your nonprofit’s story. 

Step 4: Create and distribute your giving guide.

Once you know what to include in your giving guide, it’s time to turn it into something you can send to your supporters. For people who would prefer a digital copy, you can turn it into a PDF that you can put on your website, link to on social media, and share via email.

If you can, print a hard copy—physical copies—of your giving guide to distribute to your team and board members and supporters who will want that version of the guide. It’ll be much easier for them to make an ask if they have all of the information compiled in one place.

The bottom line

The more information you share with donors, the easier it is for them to make a donation to your organization. Compile the giving options you most want to promote into one resource and you’ll have an effective fundraising tool at your fingertips!   

Click here to see Morning Light’s Giving Guide. 

Find other free resources here.

Looking for nonprofit software to help grow your fundraising efforts? Schedule a Bloomerang demo.

The post 4 Steps To Create A Giving Guide That Will Increase Your Fundraising Success appeared first on Bloomerang.

This article originally appeared in Bloomerang. See the original article here.

Bloomerang Acquires InitLive to Help Nonprofits Strengthen their Volunteer Management Programs

Posted on by Posted in Fund Development

Bloomerang, the complete donor relationship management solution for thousands of small and medium-sized nonprofits, today announced that they acquired InitLive, a leading volunteer management platform for nonprofits. The addition of a robust volunteer management solution accelerates the company’s ability to deliver the nonprofit relationship management platform of the future. 

This strategic acquisition supports Bloomerang’s vision to build a world inspired by giving. By adding InitLive’s volunteer management solution to the Bloomerang platform, nonprofits have access to a richer, more intuitive set of capabilities to help them build a thriving community of donors and volunteers.

“Many nonprofits rely on the generosity of people–through donations or time, and unfortunately they are stuck with managing these resources manually or with tools that are not integrated,” says Dennis Fois, Bloomerang’s Chief Executive Officer. “We’re thrilled to welcome InitLive into the Bloomerang platform so we can more effectively address two essential pillars nonprofits need to deliver their missions–donors and volunteers. By adding robust volunteer management to Bloomerang, we will help accelerate nonprofits’ ability to foster stronger volunteer and donor engagement, increase retention, grow fundraising faster, and maximize the impact of their missions.”

Nonprofits today deploy a variety of funding models in order to deliver their missions. While many organizations lead with a donor-centric fundraising model, others lead with a volunteer-centric approach; and in the current economic climate, volunteer programs are especially vital. Regardless of the nonprofit operating model, volunteers and donors are closely linked. Through a single, unified platform, Bloomerang will bring intuitive volunteer management and industry-leading donor management together to help customers make stronger connections with donors and volunteers. The combined solution provides numerous benefits for nonprofit organizations:  

  • Maximize the potential of both their volunteer and donor communities while saving time and resources when those relationships are managed from one integrated platform. 
  • Grow the fundraising potential from the volunteer base. Volunteers who believe in an organization’s mission are 80% more likely to donate and are more likely to donate 10x more money to charities than those who do not volunteer. 
  • Increase donor retention and engagement through volunteer programs. Donors who participate in at least one volunteer activity increase their donor retention rate by 2.5x. 
  • Save nonprofit administration time through intuitive applications built by fundraisers and volunteer experts that help them easily manage their entire constituent community.
  • Access a single partner committed to provide its top-rated support and professional services, as well as continued commitment to make available world-class resources, best practices, and research-based education for the broader nonprofit community.

“We depend on the generosity of thousands of volunteers and donors each year to help us feed our hungry neighbors in need, whether they are giving their time, financial donations, or food donations,” says Tina Postel, Loaves & Fishes/Friendship Trays’ Chief Executive Officer. “It’s exciting to envision the ability to send out simple, segmented appeals that we can track all from one place, creating even greater long-term engagement and support from our donors.”  

“Our focus at InitLive has been on delivering great volunteer experiences, streamlining workforce interactions, and creating intuitive mission impact reporting–all while maximizing revenues through volunteer donations,” says InitLive Co-Founder, Melissa Pinard. “I believe this acquisition puts us in a great position to continue offering a world-class volunteer management solution, while also expanding our reach and the benefit we can provide to the nonprofit sector as a whole. The market needs an intuitive, efficient, and all-in-one software partner who supports the complete donor relationship lifecycle and we’re now in a unique position to provide that.”

Current customers will be invited to participate in a limited availability program through the first quarter of 2023 for the integrated volunteer and donor management platform, and will expand to general availability for all customers later this year. 

This acquisition builds on an exciting phase of growth for the company. In 2021 the company helped nonprofits raise more than $8 billion. And in 2022, Bloomerang was named a “Best Place to Work in Indiana,” launched a new brand identity to better articulate the value and services offered to the nonprofit community, and supports more than 15,000 nonprofit organizations. Bloomerang’s suite of online fundraising tools also strengthens nonprofits’ ability to cultivate deeper relationships with their donors and increase the impact of their fundraising campaigns.

Learn more about career opportunities at Bloomerang.

The post Bloomerang Acquires InitLive to Help Nonprofits Strengthen their Volunteer Management Programs appeared first on Bloomerang.

This article originally appeared in Bloomerang. See the original article here.