Invisible Donors and How to Reach Them

Fundraisers and other nonprofit leaders often use the term “donor” specifically to mean someone with money who gives it to their organization. With that meaning, the world can be divided into donors (people who give money to nonprofits) and everyone else.

I think that this narrow use of the term “donor” or even “donation” doesn’t serve us well, because it’s often used in a patronizing, condescending or otherwise negative manner — i.e. “They’re a volunteer, not a donor”, or, from some fundraisers, “I don’t have the money to be a donor”.

In my opinion, everyone is — or has been — a donor. Everyone has given something to someone at some point.

How do you define a donor or a donation?

Vocabulary.com says: “To donate means to give something — money, goods, or time — to some cause, such as a charity. The word has a more altruistic meaning than does simply ‘giving’; it suggests that you don't expect anything in return for the contribution.”

Let’s look at the origin of the word, per Vocabulary.com : “The verb donate has always meant ‘to give’, all the way back to the Latin verb donāre, ‘to give as a gift.’ Trace it back even further, to the ancient Indo-European roots, and you still have that same feeling to the word — ‘gift.’ But it's more than a gift — it's a gift with the intention of helping. As an African proverb says, ‘If everybody in town donates one thread, the poor man has a shirt.’”

Merriam-Webster gives us a list of synonyms for donor, including supporter, giver, helper, contributor, altruist, patron, and altruist. So why do we insist on separating the various types of “donors” based on their wealth?

As those of you who have heard my presentations know, I personally experienced this issue when I, as a person with new financial resources, first attempted to give to various nonprofits. Since I wasn’t “on the list” as a “donor”, I was completely invisible to the organizations I wanted to support (financially, at this point.) Even (or maybe especially) if I had volunteered for the organization, or donated “in kind” instead of in cash, I was in a separate category of, as I felt, people who didn’t have the ability to give significant money. I was then treated as if I didn’t have — or maybe even deserve — a “seat at the table”.

I’ve been on many nonprofit boards and I certainly understand the need to know the “capacity” (which always seems to mean financial capacity”) of our donors and prospects, so that we can strategically plan how to meet our budget requirements, but what about the millions who are invisible?

My favorite story — one that I hear often — is about the “surprise gift” where a bequest arrives and nobody in the organization recognizes the name of the late donor. Upon a bit of research and/or asking around, (since the donor might not be on any “donor lists”), the nonprofit determines that the donor was a volunteer, or someone that a member of the staff had taken to tea occasionally, or someone who was impressed by an event they happened to attend as a guest.

The moral of this is that everyone is a donor. Giving feels good and is good for our health, and everyone has the capacity to give something to someone at some point. Most have done so.

Donors are just human beings — yes, some can be obnoxious, annoying or condescending — but there are “bad actors” in every large group of people, not just those with money. If you feel like you can’t be bothered by these “longshots” because you have limited resources and you have to focus 95% of your time on your existing list, realize that, today, 60% or more of high net worth individuals are FGWs — “first generation wealthy” — and many of them are just now dipping their toe into the water with giving. The vast majority of them are just people who have the capacity and the desire to do good, any many of them — especially the younger ones — will likely not be on your prospect list. They might, however, be in your volunteer database, or “checking you out” by giving small amounts to evaluate if yours is the kind of organization that shares their values.

A final word on this… I keep hearing that monthly donors are “small potatoes” that don’t have a place in the “real money” or major donor prospect discussion, but those monthly donors, like your long-term volunteers, should be treated as gold. They’re showing a real commitment and connection to your mission and your organization, and you can bet that some of them have more resources than you’re aware of. Research suggests that about 90% of them keep their credit card on file long-term. Discounting them is a poor strategy.

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The Philanthropy 451 Team