By Gabe Cooper, CEO, Virtuous Software
The world of fundraising has dramatically shifted in the past 15 years. Today’s donors are surrounded by 7000+ ad messages, personalized social feeds, and targeted content, all competing for their attention. Whether it’s our Netflix recommendations, or our personalized Apple News Feed, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for nonprofits to break through the noise and create a personalized connection with each potential donor.
To thrive in this environment, nonprofits need to adopt new strategies that connect with constituents more personally at scale. This new model nonprofit growth is commonly known as Responsive Fundraising—and a growing number of nonprofits are adopting this strategy with unprecedented success.
The problem is that moving to this new paradigm can feel like boiling the ocean for many nonprofits. Overstretched teams, limited budgets, and legacy, siloed data make it feel almost impossible to move away from traditional, impersonal fundraising to a world dynamic, personalized campaigns based on the behavior of each donor.
This is where the Responsive Maturity Model comes in.
A maturity model is simply a framework that helps an organization evaluate their capabilities and processes to determine their current level of maturity. It provides a set of steps to “level up” methodologically over time without feeling overwhelmed by the scale of change. The Responsive Maturity Model, in particular, provides a structured path to help nonprofits become more Responsive to donors over time. Each step in the model provides incremental value to the fundraising strategy and creates a foundation for future growth. And when executed well, you should experience.
- A Better Experience for Your Donors
- Enhanced Fundraising Efficiency
- Scalable Personalization to Drive Retention & Average Gift
- Better Data-Driven Decision Making
- Overall Increased Generosity
Let’s dive in deeper to see how the model works.
Understanding the Responsive Maturity Model
The Responsive Maturity Model is crafted to guide nonprofits through five progressive steps, each building upon the previous one to create a cohesive and responsive fundraising strategy.
These steps are:
- Data Health and Reporting
- Integrated Technology and Teams
- Segmentation and Personas
- Dynamic Campaigns
- AI Personalization
Diving Into the Steps
As tempting as it is to skip steps, the Responsive Maturity Model should be executed linearly. Meaning, Step 1 should be at least 80% addressed before moving to Step 2, and so on. It’s impossible to be 100% perfect on each step, but skipping or exiting a step too early will inevitably create issues as you try to mature.
1. Data Health and Reporting
Establishing a foundation of clean, complete, and accessible data is paramount to fundraising success. Driving personalized fundraising and gleaning data-driven insights are functionally impossible if you can’t trust your data. Any good data health strategy begins by conducting a comprehensive audit of your existing contact data, including:
- Identifying Inaccuracies: Reviewing data for errors, inconsistencies, and outdated information.
- Eliminating Duplicates: Merging duplicate records ensures each donor has a unique profile.
- Filling Gaps: Identify missing information and implement processes to collect complete data moving forward.
After your initial audit is complete, it’s then important to establish protocols for ongoing data hygiene to maintain long-term data integrity. Regular audits and data cleaning processes will help support the accuracy and reliability of your donor information.
My favorite business guru, Peter Drucker, famously said, “You can’t manage what you can’t measure.” However, trusted data is only the first step in effective management. True acceleration happens when clear, summarized data is available to your entire organization and aligned with your overall goals. Great reporting creates clarity around what’s important, what’s working, and what’s not. It also allows you to confidently test new ideas, knowing you can quickly measure and adjust based on trusted data.
If you feel like your organization struggles to provide clear reporting, I’d recommend defining 3-5 clear quarterly goals tied to your organization’s Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Once the goals are clear, build reports to showcase each KPI and ensure everyone on your team has access to the appropriate reporting. Each team member should have a clear view of their core metrics and understand how their daily tasks drive overall mission success.
Once your core reports have been created, work to remove any gatekeepers or roadblocks in your organization that prevent your frontline team members from diving into the data on their own. Most of your best insights will come from empowering your team to do additional analysis or build reports that facilitate their individual work.
2. Integrated Technology and Teams
As nonprofits scale, unseen walls begin to form between teams. Fundraising, program, finance, marketing, and volunteer teams begin to operate in their own silos. And each silo often includes its own set of data and KPIs that are segregated from the rest of the team. The result is limited team collaboration, missed data insights, duplicate work, and ultimately, a disconnected donor experience. Breaking these internal team and data silos is essential truly scaling a more effective and personalized fundraising strategy at scale.
The fix to this problem is simple, but it’s not easy. It will take work. At minimum, I recommend focusing on the following tactics.
- Promoting Open Communication: Establishing regular cross-functional meetings and communication channels to facilitate information sharing across teams.
- Implementing Integrated Technological Solutions: Utilizing platforms that allow different departments to access and share data seamlessly.
- Aligning Team Efforts: Ensuring that all departments understand and are aligned with the overarching fundraising strategy. When possible, share KPIs and goals across teams.
Cross-departmental collaboration not only cuts down on inefficient work, it ensures that every interaction with a donor is coordinated, consistent, and data-informed, ultimately leading to a more cohesive donor experience.
3. Segmentation & Personas
Donor personas and segmentation help to provide a clear understanding of your audience, enabling more effective and personalized communication that resonate with each donor’s unique characteristics. Unless you can effectively group donors by their behavior or affinity, it will be impossible to communicate in a more personal way at scale.
In order to begin this process of segmenting donors, I recommend starting with the following three steps:
- Defining Personas and Giving Segments: Develop comprehensive profiles for 3-5 core “personas” who are likely to give to your organization (e.g., “recently graduated alumni”, “clean water influencer”, etc. Each profile should highlight a personas typical motivations and engagement patterns. As you scale, overlay giving analytics to further segment based on financial capacity and propensity (e.g. “recently lapsed,” “monthly donor prospect,” “major donor”).
- Analyzing Donor Data: Use your existing data to “bucket” your donors as much as possible. Where you have gaps in understanding donors, use surveys, UTM codes on donation forms, or good old fashioned phone calls to fill in missing data.
- Mapping the Communication Strategy: Once complete these personas should guide the creation of targeted messages, engagement tactics, and content tailored to each group. This step can feel overwhelming, but start small with your “top three touch points” that are non-negotiable for your top persona.
By segmenting donors by their interests and stage in the donor journey, you’ll be well-positioned to connect more personally, increase engagement, and ultimately drive higher average gift, response rate, and donor loyalty.
4. Dynamic Campaigns
One-to-many fundraising campaigns based on the nonprofit’s timing (think “our standard November appeal) are becoming less effective over time. Again, your team is competing for attention in a world where donors are distracted by an endless stream of content personalized to them. In order to truly break through the noise with a more personalized approach, you’ll need to move to dynamic campaigns that are triggered by the behavior and intent of each donor.
Now that you have 1) trusted data, 2) integrated teams/data, and clear segments and personas, you’re ready to take this massive leap in your journey to becoming more responsive.
Here are the three steps that you’ll need to take to get started
- Listen to Donor Behavior: Decide on key donor behaviors or insights that should trigger specific outreach (e.g.” first gift from clean water donor,” “event attended,” “planned giving prospect,” “lapsed alumni donor”).
- Leverage Fundraising/Marketing Automation to Respond: Your team can’t do this on their own with manual one-to-one outreach. Automation allows you to send the right message on the right channel at the right time based on donor behavior, persona, or segment.
- Personalizing Messaging: Personalize your automated messaging based on the donor’s behavior along with any messaging/CTAs that are specific to each persona.
If the idea of dynamic campaigns is new to your organization, don’t be afraid to start small. The easiest first step in an automated New Donor Welcome series that sends automated messages on at least two channels (email, SMS, postcard, call, etc.) over a 90-day period. Next, begin splitting your Welcome Series based on the size/capacity of each donor or the channel/source they came from to better tailor each experience.
When done well, this more responsive form of donor engagement will inevitably increase donor retention, giving level, volunteerism, and overall engagement.
5. AI Personalization: The New Frontier
AI can dramatically improve your ability to deliver highly tailored experiences at scale. Leading nonprofit fundraisers are already experimenting with AI to find creative ways to free up their team and better personalize your communication.
If you are new to AI, we recommend starting your journey by evaluating AI tools using the following criteria:
- AI that Predicts Behavior: Employing AI and Machine Learning to predict donor behavior, such as the likelihood of giving or areas of interest. The better you can listen to donors and predict likely actions, the more successful your fundraising efforts will be.
- AI that Generates Content: Using Generative AI to quickly write copy, edit videos, or generate images can help accelerate both content creation and personalization. It can also help ensure all messaging that leaves your organization conforms to your brand and best practices.
- AI that Does a Job: AI Agents are designed to not just “help you do your job better” but to actually “do the work for you”. When AI cannot just learn but take action on data, you can gain back hours a week in manual tasks.
AI helps nonprofits to anticipate donor needs and preferences. By leveraging AI, organizations can create a more engaging and personalized donor experience at scale.
Overcoming Common Challenges
Implementing the Responsive Maturity Model is not without its challenges. Nonprofits may encounter limited resources, resistance to change, or technical complexities.
Here are a few helpful tactics to overcome these common hurdles:
Limited Resources
Nonprofits often operate with constrained budgets and limited staff.
To address this:
- Prioritize Initiatives: Focus on the most impactful stages of the model that align with your immediate needs and long-term goals.
- Leverage Technology: Utilize cost-effective tools and platforms that offer robust functionalities without requiring significant financial investment.
- Seek Partnerships: Collaborate with technology providers, consultants, or other nonprofits to share resources and expertise.
Resistance to Change
Change can be daunting, especially in organizations with established processes.
To create a culture of adaptability:
- Communicate the Benefits: Clearly articulate the advantages of adopting the Responsive Maturity Model, emphasizing how it will enhance donor relationships and organizational efficiency.
- Provide Training: Offer comprehensive training and support to help staff understand and embrace new technologies and strategies.
- Involve Stakeholders: Engage key stakeholders in the planning process to ensure buy-in and collective ownership of the transformation.
Looking Toward the Future of Responsive Fundraising
Implementing the Responsive Maturity Model requires commitment and a willingness to embrace change. However, the benefits are worth the effort.
As the philanthropic landscape continues to evolve, nonprofits that adopt the Responsive Maturity Model will be well-positioned to thrive, making a lasting and impactful difference in their communities.