Four Fundraising Essentials in a Post-COVID World

The next crisis to hit your nonprofit isn’t an “if,” it’s a “when.” Make sure your organization is ready by investing now in these four critical areas of fundraising:

1. Recurring Gifts

If you don’t offer a monthly or other type of sustaining gift program, or if you have one but don’t promote it very much, get started today. The vast majority of donors who give automatically via credit card or bank transfer on a recurring basis give more over time, and they rarely cancel their gifts. During the COVID pandemic or another crisis with negative economic implications, recurring gifts provide steady, reliable income.

Communication strategies:

• Donors can give more over time by spreading out payments in smaller increments.

• It’s better for the environment because the organization will send fewer printed appeals, or none at all.

• Recurring gifts happen automatically so after the one-time set-up, the donor can simply feel good about giving over the long-term.

2. Endowment Gifts

As the Chinese proverb goes: the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, but the second best time is today. The same holds true for an organizational endowment. If your nonprofit hasn’t created an endowment, now is the time. If you do have one, its value may be down, but it’s still reducing pressure on your annual fundraising and providing guaranteed income to your organization. Focus on growing it.

Communication strategies:

• Share the percentage of your operating budget the endowment supports and describe how the distribution is allocated among specific programs.

• Explain that an endowment is like a retirement account for the organization, not a savings account. Only a portion is distributed each year, but this ensures it will fulfill donors’ wishes for their gifts in perpetuity.

• Show the impact of compounding interest by creating a graph that compares the original value of endowment gifts to current value. Here’s an example:

3. Emergency Funds

If you didn’t have an emergency fund of some kind before the COVID-19 pandemic began, you probably have one now. Continue raising money for it even after the immediate crisis has passed. And, keep the focus of the fund broad enough to respond to anything from natural disasters to social justice movements.

Communication strategies:

• Unless you’re going to have multiple funds, give your emergency fund a name that allows it to be inclusive of a variety of situations and purposes.

• Explain how the fund directly connects to your organization’s mission and/or values.

• Infographics are a great way to show the impact of emergency funding, like the one shown here.

4. Planned Gifts

Though the timing of planned gifts is unpredictable, they can be the largest gifts you receive in a given year. They are also a fantastic way to engage donors who can’t give large sums during their lifetimes but have demonstrated loyalty to your organization over many consecutive years of giving.

Communication strategies:

• Profile donors who have made planned gifts and how doing so solved their financial, estate, or tax problem.

• Target loyal donors with strong histories of consecutive years of giving (regardless of gift amount) for planned giving marketing.

• Share stories about how past planned gifts are continuing to have an impact on your organization today.