How to Raise More Money
Every nonprofit organization – regardless of its mission, budget, or staff size – needs to raise more money. No matter how efficient and effective you are, there is always more need for your services: more families in your city living with food insecurity, more communities suffering from the effects of polluted air and water, and more people affected by devastating diseases.
At the core of it, there are only three ways to raise more money:
- Increase the total number of active donors
- Increase the number of gifts that each donor makes
- Increase the average gift given by each donor.
Allegiance Group + Pursuant can help you raise more money for your cause. In fact, we’ve been doing just that for our clients for over 30 years.
Our team of analysts and strategists will help you get a handle on 7 Key Metrics as the first step in your quest to raise more money:
- Year-to-Year Revenue Comparison
- Donor File Growth
- Donor Retention
- Gift Frequency
- Average Gift
- Donor Value
- Cost to Acquire
With this data in hand, the picture of your fundraising program should start to come into focus — and you’ll know where to put in extra effort as you plan for the year ahead. Allegiance’s team of fundraising professionals will help you develop a strategic plan for long-term, sustainable growth.
For example, if you’re not acquiring enough new donors each year to grow your program, we’ll help you get back on the path to success with strategic investment in new donor acquisition efforts. This can be done using both direct mail and digital activities, including acquisition list optimization, direct-to-donor advertising, website conversion optimization, lead generation, SEO, and more. Check out this webinar for Everything you need to know about the acquisition before planning FY22.
If donor retention is declining and you are losing more donors every year, then doubling down on cultivation and renewal strategies should be your highest priority. Fixing that leaky bucket will help you increase your active donor file with high-value, multi-year donors — meaning you’ll raise more money while spending your budget more efficiently!
Other strategies to consider include the development and growth of your recurring giving program, an evaluation of your second-gift strategy, a new roadmap for donor stewardship, and looking at donor loyalty and incentives.
Be aware that gift frequency and average gift often have an inverse relationship. As one metric rises, the other tends to decline. The trick is to strike the perfect balance. You’ll want to have clear goals in mind and build a testing plan that supports your over-arching goals.