How can you develop a long-term donor engagement strategy?

1 Identify your donor segments

The first step is to understand who your donors are, what motivates them, and how they prefer to interact with your organization. You can use various criteria to segment your donors, such as giving level, frequency, channel, interests, location, demographics, and behavior. By segmenting your donors, you can tailor your communication, recognition, and involvement strategies to meet their needs and expectations, and increase their satisfaction and loyalty.

2 Define your donor journey

The second step is to map out the donor journey, which is the sequence of stages and touchpoints that a donor goes through from the initial contact to the ongoing support. The donor journey can vary depending on the segment, but it typically includes the following stages: awareness, interest, consideration, action, retention, and advocacy. By defining your donor journey, you can identify the opportunities and challenges to engage your donors at each stage, and plan the appropriate actions and messages to move them along the journey.

3 Set your engagement goals and metrics

The third step is to set your engagement goals and metrics, which are the specific and measurable outcomes that you want to achieve with your donor engagement strategy. Your goals and metrics should align with your overall organizational and program objectives, and reflect the value and impact of your donors' contributions. Some examples of engagement goals and metrics are: retention rate, upgrade rate, churn rate, referral rate, feedback rate, and net promoter score.

4 Choose your engagement channels and tools

The fourth step is to choose your engagement channels and tools, which are the means and methods that you use to communicate and interact with your donors. You should select the channels and tools that best suit your donor segments, your donor journey, and your engagement goals and metrics. Some examples of engagement channels and tools are: email, social media, website, blog, newsletter, phone, mail, events, surveys, reports, stories, testimonials, videos, and podcasts.

5 Implement your engagement plan

The fifth step is to implement your engagement plan, which is the detailed and scheduled action plan that outlines what, when, how, and by whom you will engage your donors. Your engagement plan should follow the best practices of donor communication and stewardship, such as: being clear, consistent, and relevant; expressing gratitude and recognition; showing impact and accountability; soliciting feedback and input; offering opportunities for involvement and learning; and asking for referrals and advocacy.

6 Monitor and evaluate your engagement results

The sixth and final step is to monitor and evaluate your engagement results, which is the ongoing process of tracking and measuring your engagement performance and impact. You should use the engagement goals and metrics that you set in the third step as the benchmarks and indicators of your success. You should also collect and analyze the qualitative and quantitative data and feedback from your donors and stakeholders, and use them to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your engagement strategy, and make the necessary adjustments and improvements.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?