Beginner’s Guide to Donor Acquisition: FAQ & Top Strategies

For smaller nonprofits, acquiring donors is often a top priority. You need a steady stream of fundraising revenue to get your work off the ground. And, more importantly, you need to establish positive relationships with potential donors to build a strong base of support that will carry you through phases of organizational growth.

But how exactly does donor acquisition work, and how do you design a fundraising strategy that attracts your ideal donors? In this guide, we’ll answer those questions and cover the following:

No matter your nonprofit’s size or how much fundraising experience you have, you can acquire donors with the potential to be high-impact, long-term supporters of your mission. Let’s explore how.

Donor Acquisition FAQs

First, we’ll address a few common questions you may have about the donor acquisition process and its place in your fundraising strategy.

What is donor acquisition?

Donor acquisition is the process of securing new donors for your organization through research, outreach, and cultivation. Part of acquisition is familiarizing yourself with prospects before making a fundraising ask. The rest of your acquisition strategy might include everything from the marketing materials you create to your relationship building tactics.

Is donor acquisition more important than donor retention?

The short answer is no—donor acquisition and retention are both important to a balanced fundraising strategy. 

However, nonprofits may prioritize one over the other at different times depending on their circumstances and goals. For instance, an organization launching a capital campaign may focus heavily on donor acquisition during the quiet and public phases of the campaign. After meeting its fundraising goal and completing the campaign, the nonprofit might move into a period of prioritizing service delivery improvements and retaining capital campaign donors long-term.

Consult your current goals and initiatives to see if you need to prioritize one or the other right now. Otherwise, find a balance between donor acquisition and retention to create a well-rounded fundraising strategy.

How do you measure donor acquisition?

You can measure donor acquisition in multiple ways, but a few common key performance indicators (KPIs) are:

  • Donor acquisition rate: Divide your total number of donors for a certain time period by the number of new donors to find your acquisition rate. This metric tells you how much of your donor base is currently made up of new donors vs. retained donors.

  • Cost to acquire: Divide the number of donors you acquired in a given time by the amount of money you spent on acquisition to find the average cost to acquire one donor.

  • Return on investment (ROI): Take your total donation revenue (minus what you spent on acquisition) and divide it by the amount you spent on the campaign. Use this number to determine whether your efforts are successful enough to be worth the investment you made.

Additionally, you may measure your donor acquisition success by the average gift size and mission investment of the donors you acquire. New donors who give large gifts or have an interest in supporting your nonprofit long-term are more valuable for your organization’s growth than a new donor who only donates a small amount one time.

How to Attract Donors With Potential

The best donor acquisition strategies don’t just look for any new donors. Instead, they target donors with the potential to be highly invested, loyal supporters. 

This doesn’t necessarily mean you should only search for major donors (although you should devote plenty of time and effort toward major donor fundraising!). Rather, it means that you should center your donor acquisition strategy on the type of prospects who will be aligned with your cause, interested in multiple types of involvement, and dedicated to giving larger donations over time to increase their impact.

To attract high-value donors who will help your nonprofit grow, follow these steps:

Understand your existing donors.

Successful donor acquisition is about finding and attracting prospects with a genuine interest in your mission. To know who your target donors are, you first need to understand your current ones—especially your major donors and other long-term supporters.

Investigate the donor profiles and trends in your CRM to discover donors’ motivations for giving and specific interests or traits they have in common. Get additional, firsthand insight into your donors’ motivations by asking them directly why they give to your nonprofit. Interview major donors in person, or send out a general survey that asks questions like:

  • What are your top reasons for giving to our nonprofit?

  • How did you first discover our organization?

  • What factors motivated you to give your first donation?

  • What would you say to others interested in supporting our nonprofit?

  • What aspects of our cause are you most passionate about?

  • What do you like most about our organization, mission, or programs?

The answers to these questions will give insight into how you acquired your existing donors and why they’ve stuck around. You can use this information to create better appeals and marketing materials which emphasize the aspects of your organization that resonate most with donors.

Determine what kind of donors you’re looking for.

Now that you better understand your existing donors, you can create a more accurate picture of your ideal prospects. Determine whether you’re looking for major donors, mid-level donors with potential, corporate donors, or another type of donor first. Then, create a few basic personas that break down what your target donors might look like and what their interests and concerns are. 

For example, say that you’re creating a persona of a potential mid-level donor. You would describe their charitable interests, relationship with your organization and other nonprofits, reasons for giving, and financial capacity. As you choose acquisition strategies and create your marketing materials, you can refer back to this persona and ask if your strategies would appeal to this imaginary donor.

Create marketing collateral.

Finally, you’ll create a library of marketing collateral geared toward attracting and acquiring new donors. Your materials might include:

  • Your nonprofit’s website, with home and About pages geared toward potential donors.

  • Social media posts on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and even TikTok.

  • Direct mail appeals that introduce prospects to your cause and invite them to learn more.

  • Search ads, which you can access for free by applying for Google Grants, that lead interested users to your website.

  • Project renderings and campaign brochures if you’re looking for donors for a capital campaign.

Even if you already have a variety of marketing materials at your disposal, comb through them and look for ways you can tailor them to your target donor prospects. You can tweak and build on these materials later once you know which marketing strategies work best to acquire new donors.

5 Donor Acquisition Strategies from the Experts

Now that you know the basics, explore a few expert donor acquisition strategies you can apply to your approach.

1. Leverage your existing connections.

The base of support you’ve already built can be your greatest asset when it comes to donor acquisition. We’ve already covered how your existing donors can help you understand donor motivations and target prospects more effectively, but don’t stop there. Tap into these connections further to discover new donor acquisition opportunities.

This process might look like:

  • Asking your existing major donors if they know anyone who may be interested in supporting your nonprofit.

  • Checking if new board members have any connections that present opportunities for acquiring high-impact donors.

  • Sending out a bulk email that encourages current donors and volunteers to invite their friends to an upcoming fundraising event.

In particular, your board members may have large networks of personal and professional connections that you can tap into. Periodically ask members to identify likely prospects within their networks and introduce them to your nonprofit. Even if they’re not ready to get involved, establishing this connection will open the door for future opportunities.

2. Perform prospect research.

Prospect research can help you discover the best prospects for major giving from inside and outside your existing donor pool. The process involves looking for individuals with three kinds of prospect research markers:

  • Capacity: Indicators of substantial financial means to give, such as a high-income career, real estate ownership, and stock holdings.

  • Affinity: Data that indicates a potential connection to your cause, including political donations, past donations and involvement, and personal connections to existing supporters.

  • Propensity: Information that demonstrates the prospect has a habit of giving, like donations to other organizations, board membership, and fundraising event attendance.

Individuals with all of these indicators are more likely to become major donors, planned giving donors, or other kinds of significant supporters.

You can perform DIY prospect research using publicly available data or work with a consultant who has access to better tools and resources. Experts in prospect research can guide you through the process, helping you translate data into actionable next steps to acquire high-value donors.

3. Create outreach that speaks to donors’ motivations.

Look back at the donor research and analysis you conducted and draft messages that will appeal directly to these motivations. If multiple donors’ survey responses emphasized how much a specific program matters to them, for instance, you might highlight that program and all of the results it has achieved so far.

You can also dive deeper into individual prospects’ motivations by gathering insights from your prospect research data. 

For example, say that one prospect is involved with a sustainability organization and gave a major gift to fund its biodiversity preservation research. To appeal to this prospect, you might set up an in-person meeting to discuss your nonprofit’s own sustainability initiatives. Share stories about the impact your work has had on local ecosystems, and invite them to tour your latest project site to see the effects of your efforts up close.

4. Use social proof.

Social proof is the idea that consumers (and donors!) are more likely to give their money to businesses and organizations that already have the approval of their peers. In fact, one study found that 82% of Americans say they ask their friends and family for recommendations before making a purchase.

The same concept applies to donor acquisition—you’ll be more likely to acquire new donors if your nonprofit comes highly recommended by their peers, friends, or family members.

But how can you put this idea into practice? Try using the following donor acquisition strategies that leverage the concept of social proof:

  • Gather testimonials from donors and volunteers about why they support your nonprofit. Add quotes from these testimonials to your website, share them on social media, or include them in personalized outreach materials.

  • Introduce major giving prospects to existing major donors. Invite prospects to a VIP event where they can meet major donors, or set up a one-on-one meeting where they can ask questions and learn more about those who support your organization.

  • Create and share testimonial videos. Record interviews with longtime donors and volunteers and ask them to share what your nonprofit means to them. Testimonial videos are powerful social proof tools that you can share widely to attract new donors.

  • Encourage donors to start peer-to-peer fundraisers. Provide interested volunteers with personalized fundraising pages that they can share with their friends and families. These fundraisers are highly compelling and introduce your organization to large groups of new prospective donors.

Take a look at this example of a peer-to-peer fundraiser for The Chick Mission, one of the nonprofits we’ve helped increase its fundraising capacity:

In this example, a volunteer started a fundraiser for her birthday and set her own fundraising goal. On her fundraising page, she describes the organization’s mission and why she supports their work, recommending the nonprofit to her peers and asking them to donate in her honor.

5. Get the right support.

Finally, remember that there are plenty of support services available for small nonprofits struggling to acquire the donors they need. 

Professional fundraising consultants like those at Donorly who specialize in working with small to mid-size nonprofits understand what it’s like to be in your shoes. They’ll get to know your organization’s unique mission, goals, and donor acquisition challenges and develop a plan to address them. Our consultants at Donorly can help you:

  • Learn donor acquisition best practices and other fundraising skills you need to succeed.

  • Identify the most likely prospective donors through prospect research.

  • Plan, launch, and acquire donors for a capital campaign.

  • Fill the role of a major gifts or development officer while you work through the hiring process.

The right consultant will help you boost your donor acquisition success and guide you through the cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship processes to help you retain your new donors long-term. If you want to learn more about how the Donorly team can help your organization thrive, contact us today.

Wrapping Up

With the right approach to donor acquisition, you won’t acquire just any donors—you’ll build a donor base full of dedicated supporters ready to help your nonprofit grow to new heights. Focus on those who will resonate most with your mission and have the potential to give long-term, and you can find valuable, lifelong donors.

For more insight into donor acquisition and all things fundraising, explore these additional resources:

Fundraising Tips, Nonprofit DevelopmentThe Donorly Team