You come home from the supermarket. Lots of stuff to put away.
The ice cream into the freezer. Milk and margarine to the fridge. Apple Jacks and Frosted Flakes to the cereal shelf. Pringles and cookies get dumped in the snack drawer. Flour and sugar get put with the baking stuff.
You do this every week and for a good reason: When you wanna bake a cake, all the dry ingredients are located in one place. Making school lunches for the kids? Snacks are easy to find.
And when it’s late at night and you’re supposed to be on a diet and you really shouldn’t nosh but you just want a spoonful of ice cream which you of course know will end up being the whole tub along with quite a lot of chocolate syrup and sprinkles, you know where to look.
Each item you buy has a place. Because they’re not all the same.
Know what? Neither are your donors.
You have monthly givers, annual supporters, event attendees, midsize and major givers, lapsed donors, those who give to specific programs and more. Lumping them altogether in the same basket is one of the reasons you’re not raising as much as you could and why retention isn’t higher.
And it’s not just gift size. Learn more about your supporters- their values, the reasons they donate to your nonprofit, what change they want to see in their community. You can then take the framework of a fundraising ask and tailor make the actual ask to match what you know about each donor.
The result? You’ll raise more, retain more, grow and thrive.
That’s segmentation.
Lemme share another example with you to illustrate the importance of segmentation.
Eli Weiss writes one of the best retention enewsletters out there. His focus is on the world of ecommerce but I can tell you I’ve learned a TON from him that I apply to the nonprofit sector. (I strongly advise subscribing and learning from him!)
Here’s a section from his June 25th enews edition:
(Read the entire enews to learn about his solutions to the problem)
I love his framing. Lots of people buying the product but the company segments them in a way that won’t boost sales or loyalty.
Your year-end campaign may be your biggest campaign of the year. You have a LOT riding on it! So if you want to be wildly successful, NOW is the time to get to work learning more about the people who make up your donor list.
Sending everyone the same ask will bring in funds but it won’t maximize the potential giving. And it’ll cause some donors to stop donating.
What does good segmentation look like? Here ya go.
Segmenting for success
I already mentioned above that a simple segment is moving donors into buckets, based on their giving. So yes, for monthly givers you might send an ask with potential giving amounts of $20, $40 and $60. Whereas for midsize donors you might suggest $150, $300 and $450.
You can build a framework of a story and problem you want donors to solve. That could stay the same for everyone. But the ask- and the impact of each dollar amount- should be different for each individual donor group.
But your segmentation can go deeper than that. Here are a few ideas:
1️⃣ Zipcode: Those who live in the immediate vicinity get a campaign letter focusing on bettering their local community. Those with a zipcode outside your city receive a campaign letter more tied to the mission and not necessarily changing a specific community.
💡 How to collect: Look at online credit card donations. Surveys (ask for zipcode so you can provide specific news and info that is targeted to their precise geographic area). Event signups. The info is there for the taking.
2️⃣ Who they are: Your list isn’t just a collection of people who give, gave or have potential to donate. Dive deeper!
💭 Example: Your organization is working to find a cure for a childhood disease. Your list will include
- topic professionals (researchers and doctors)
- parents and family of those with the disease
- people who lost a loved one because of the disease
- foundation and corporate partners who support research and/or your programs and services.
Your approach with a fundraising ask should differ based on who they are in relation to your mission.
3️⃣ Programs and services: You can survey/ask people which aspects of your organization they’re most interested in hearing about. For example, which program or service interests them the most? Knowing this means creating a fundraising ask that would impact that specific program.
💸 And think about it from the donors side: They’ll be way more interested in what you’re sending if it’s laser focused on what interests THEM! That equals more people giving in higher amounts and continuing to give in the future.
4️⃣ Origin story: Talk to your donors! Ask them the origin questions:
- How did you first hear about us?
- What impact are you looking to have in the community?
- Why do you donate to our organization?
- Which of our programs/services interests you most? (see above)
- How do you wanna make the world a better place?
The answers to all of these questions are fundraising and marketing gold! You now know what interests them most and that allows you to tailor make a fundraising ask.
I am well aware that for many of you it’s very hard to customize your ask in twenty different ways. But you CAN segment your list even just a bit so that parts of your audience receive a custom appeal.
And that work needs to be done NOW! You need to be going through your database, surveying email subscribers, talking to donors, reviewing lists and preparing your ask so that it hits the target as best as possible.
Only 126 days left until December 31. Segmentation is CRUCIAL to your organization’s ability to retain donors and grow. Don’t treat all your donors the same. Make them feel seen and heard.
