Latest / Nonprofit Launch Plan Podcast for Startup, Small, and Growing Nonprofits / Nonprofit Fundraising: The 4 Stages Every Donor Moves Through Before Giving (Ep 54)
Transcript
- Matt Stockman (00:00) What if I told you that most nonprofits don't actually have a fundraising problem? Instead, they have a donor journey problem. Most organizations spend enormous amounts of time and energy figuring out how to get a gift, but very few spend that much time at all thinking about all the steps that happen before somebody is ready to give in the first place. And today we're going to walk through the four stages every donor moves through before making that first gift. And I'll show you exactly where a lot of nonprofits are unintentionally losing supporters long before a donation is ever on the table. Welcome to the nonprofit launch plan podcast for startups, small and growing nonprofits. This podcast is here. To help you build your nonprofit from the ground up on a strong, sustainable foundation by providing clear frameworks and practical tools and the real world guidance that you can actually put into practice. I'm your host, Matt Stockman. I'm a nonprofit growth coach. And here at Nonprofit Launch Plan, we believe that every successful nonprofit has got to be operating at peak performance across six critical areas. Those six areas, say them with me: leadership, fundraising. Marketing, programs and services, operations, and finances. Those are the six areas. So on every episode of the podcast, we focus on one of these core areas to help you build lasting impact without unnecessary complexity in your nonprofit. Now, before we dive into today's episode, if you like the kinds of things you're learning and picking up from listening to the podcast, there's more of that in my free weekly email. It's called the Nonprofit Launch Briefing. Each week I send out one meaningful email about something different than what we talk about on the podcast. Strategies, practical tools, fundraising insight, real-world guidance for startups, small, and growing nonprofits. So if you're serious about building a healthy nonprofit with real impact, I'd love to have you on the list. Shoot me a quick email with a simple sign me up in the subject line. My email is Matt. At nonprofitlaunchplan.com. Again, sign me up in the subject line. I'll take care of the rest. Matt at nonprofitlaunchplan.com. Now, today I want to talk about something that I think a lot of nonprofit leaders understand intuitively, but few actually build into their strategy. It's what I call the donor journey. One of the most common frustrations that I hear from nonprofit leaders that I coach sounds something like this. We've posted about the need on our social media accounts, we've sent emails, we've talked to people about the mission. Why aren't more people giving? And the assumption behind that question is simply that if enough people hear about the organization, that they should naturally become donors. But you and I both know that's rarely how it works. Think about your own life for a moment. Most of the organizations and businesses and ministries and causes that you support today probably didn't earn your trust overnight. You didn't discover them one afternoon and immediately become a passionate supporter. More likely, you heard about them several times, you visited their website, you followed them on social media, maybe you attended an event or had a conversation with somebody connected to the organization. And then over time, That trust began to build. Eventually, you reached a point where supporting that organization just felt like the next natural step for you. That's what we call the donor journey. And the problem is that most of us in nonprofit leadership don't think in terms of journeys. We think rather in terms of transactions. We focus on the donation itself rather than all of the steps that happen before a person. Is ready to give because after all, we need the donations to continue doing the ministry. So this episode is part one of two where I want to walk through what that journey looks like and help you identify where your organization might be losing potential supporters in the journey before they ever become donors. Now, the first stage of the donor journey is what I call awareness. This sounds obvious, but it matters. Before somebody can support your organization, they need to know that you exist. And the challenge is that awareness alone is often just mistaken for engagement. Just because somebody sees a social media post doesn't mean they care. Just because somebody attends an event doesn't mean they understand what your mission is all about. Awareness is simply the first introduction. And this is where many nonprofits Kind make their first mistake. They move directly from awareness to asking for money. Imagine meeting somebody for the first time and immediately asking them to loan you $1,000 or going on a first date and midway into the meal, you propose. Most of us would recognize how strange that would be, and yet nonprofits do the equivalent all the time. A person discovers the organization and immediately They receive a donation appeal before any meaningful trust has been established. It's at this beginning stage that the goal is actually helping people understand who you are and what problem you're trying to solve in the world with your nonprofit. Building awareness is not a once and done thing either. During my years in the radio industry, I can't tell you how many radio advertisers believed one or two commercials would sell out an event. We tell them the same thing every time. People need repeated exposure before they take action. And the same thing is true for nonprofits. If somebody has only encountered your organization once or twice, awareness hasn't really been established yet. I talk with nonprofit leaders all the time that think our website looks good and we've posted on our social media channels about the need. So the gift should just start flowing in a lot. Awareness is not built immediately. Immediately. In fact, back to the radio story, because I think the numbers work the same way here. We would tell advertisers that listeners needed to really hear their commercial message like at least eight times before they started to become even a little aware of who you are. And in 2026, with the amount of advertising messages and distractions that there are on our devices 24-7, that number is only higher, not lower. So in order for somebody to at some point in the future, maybe be interested in the impact that your nonprofit is making in the world, they've got to be exposed to it in some way or another at least eight times before you're even beginning to build awareness in their mind. Many nonprofit leaders assume that social media is their primary awareness strategy. And the reality is a little more complicated than that. Social media can certainly create some awareness, but for most nonprofits, its greatest strength is actually in driving engagement with people who already know a little bit about you. I'll use Facebook as an example. If you have a thousand followers on Facebook and you post something, the way the Facebook algorithm works. And keep in mind that they change these things all the time and they don't tell you about it. But the way it works is about 10 to 12% of your followers might get your post in their feed. So when you make a post, it's easy to think that all 1,000 of my followers are going to see this. And that's just not true. Maybe a hundred will see it. And then maybe 10% of those people might pause the scroll long enough to give you a glance or two. The best way to straight away just create awareness on social media is actually to pay for ads, which can be expensive and don't always wait work super great as well. So the magic in your social media is in the opportunity for engagement, which we'll talk more about in a few minutes. So once awareness has been established, that's the first step in the donor journey. People move into the second stage, which is interest. This is where curiosity begins to develop. A potential supporter starts asking questions in their mind. Like, what exactly does this organization do? Who are they helping? How are they making a difference? Can they be trusted? Do they seem competent? This is where your messaging becomes incredibly important. If somebody lands on your website and can't quickly, and by quickly, I mean like two seconds or a few words, understand your mission, they'll leave. If your stories don't clearly connect the problem to the solution, they'll lose interest. And many nonprofit leaders think that their mission is obvious because they live with it every day. But the reality is that outsiders often need help understanding both the problem and the impact. This is one reason I spend so much time coaching organizations on mission and on clarity in messaging. I see a lot of nonprofits and businesses both. That try to get super clever or catchy on their website or with their nonprofit name or something like that. And hear me when I say this clear messaging beats clever messaging every time. Clear messaging beats clever messaging every time. So let me make it practical. If a person who has a the problem of being overwhelmed in the process of homeschooling their kids as an example, If they're interested in connecting with a nonprofit ministry that provides resources and training for homeschool parents, let's imagine that's what you do in your nonprofit. And they come to your website and they see a bunch of text above the fold, meaning as soon as you hit the homepage of the website about what year you were founded and the principles that your nonprofit was founded on in all of the communities you're you serve, but it's not obvious how you solve the problem they have. They'll be gone. So that clarity builds confidence. And that confidence creates trust. And then trust is ultimately what drives generosity. So if you're clear in your social media about what you do and the people you serve, what will happen is people who are interested in that will find you. Because if you think about our social media feeds, they are really interest based now. If you open your own Instagram, Beyond your friends that you are connected with on Instagram, most of the accounts that you follow are based on your interests. Like if you were to look at my Instagram account right now, what you would find is I I'm a big La Liga, which is a Spanish League soccer fan and a soccer fan in general. So you're gonna find a lot of accounts that I follow that are different soccer teams or just soccer accounts in general. Your Instagram accounts are gonna look the same way. So people who are interested in what you do at some level in your nonprofit are gonna find you based on that interest. So that's step two. Now, once somebody understands what you do and why it matters, then the next question becomes whether they're willing to move closer to the organization. And as interest grows, people enter the third stage of the donor journey, which is engagement. This is where things can get really interesting. Engagement doesn't necessarily involve money. In fact, many of your future donors will engage with your organization long before they ever make a financial contribution. They might subscribe to your email list, they might follow you on social media, they may attend an event, they may volunteer, they may watch your videos or read your share your content with others. These actions matter. Because they do indicate movement and interest. This person is no longer just aware of your organization. They're beginning to invest their time and attention. And one mistake I see often in nonprofits is undervaluing these forms of engagement because they aren't necessarily financial right off the bat. But engagement is often a leading indicator of future giving. A volunteer who believes deeply in your mission may eventually become a monthly donor. A newsletter subscriber who reads religiously may become a major donor a year or two or even five years from now. Someone who attends an informational event today may introduce you to a significant funding opportunity later. Not every supporter starts with their wallet. Most start with their attention. And I see a lot of nonprofits drop the ball on engagement. Let me give you a few practical examples. Social media platforms, for example. I encourage nonprofits to spend more time engaging with people on social media than posting on social media, meaning responding to comments, following the people who follow you, commenting on your followers' posts, commenting on the posts of other influential people in your community. People connecting on social media and interacting on social media makes the platforms really happy because it means that people are on the platforms longer. Meaning they're exposed to more ads, et the platforms will reward accounts that have high engagement more than they will reward the accounts that have tons of followers but low engagement. Second. And as silly as this is, when it comes to creating increased engagement on the donor journey, this next step, there's a huge missed opportunity for a lot of nonprofits and simply just not following up with the people who reach out to your organization by email or by phone. A while back, I did an experiment when I where I went to about 20 or 30 different nonprofit websites and I found their contact us page. And I asked a question on the contact us page, or I asked for more information about what they do, or for somebody to get in contact with me. Basic stuff like that. The number of nonprofits that reached back out to me with a response, it might have been two, but I think it was only one of the 20 or 30 that I connected with. This included some churches, which should just be embarrassing. So Hear me when I say this. If you have a website and you have a contact us page or you have an info at email account, get a volunteer to every month check to make sure a message goes through on that platform that the process works and that somebody in your organization responds within 24 hours. Because if I happen to be reaching out to these organizations to see which one I might consider being generous towards, just one would have got my gift. Simply because they engaged me back when I made the first move. That's all it takes to put you ahead of a lot of other organizations. Eventually, now, after enough awareness, enough interest, and enough engagement, some people arrive at the fourth stage, the first gift. This is the moment most nonprofits focus on rather than the three leading up to it. And don't get me wrong, the first gift for sure worth celebrating. But it's important to understand what that gift actually represents. The first gift is not the end of the journey. It's not the finish line. It's not the moment that the relationship is complete. It's simply the moment in a long journey where a person says, I trust you enough to take the next step. That's all. The first gift isn't proof of lifelong commitment. It's proof that trust has reached a level where action feels appropriate and natural. And the danger is that for a lot of nonprofits, they treat that first gift. Like the final objective. They work incredibly hard to acquire the donor and then have no real strategy for what happens next. And that's exactly what we're going to talk about in the next episode because the truth is that the biggest fundraising opportunities often happen after the first gift has been made. Now, before we wrap up, here's your homework. I want you to grab a whiteboard or a legal pad or the back of an envelope and draw four boxes on it. And in the four boxes, I want you to put awareness. Interest, engagement, and first gift. Then write down every single thing that your organization is currently doing to move people from one box to the next. What I think you'll discover is something interesting. Most nonprofits have plenty of ideas for getting attention and asking for gifts, but very little intentionally designed to move people through the middle of the journey. if you can strengthen those middle stages, interest and engagement, you'll dramatically increase the number of people who eventually become donors. All right. So that's it for this episode. Next time we're going to talk about donor retention, second gifts, monthly giving, and how to create a donor journey that turns supporters into long term partners rather than. One-time contributors. Thanks again for listening to the Nonprofit Launch Plan podcast. Remember, if you like what you're learning in the podcast, you can get more of it in your inbox every week. Sign up for my free weekly email, the nonprofit launch briefing. Each week I send you one meaningful email with something you need to be considering or thinking about or working on as a nonprofit leader. And it's different stuff than what we talk about in the podcast. Never the same stuff. It's designed to help you lead smarter and grow stronger and avoid some common mistakes, most of which I've made. If you're serious about building a healthy nonprofit with real impact, I'd love to have you on the list. Just shoot me a quick email with the simple sign me up in the subject line. My email again is matt at nonprofitlaunchplan.com. Sign me up in the subject line, matt at nonprofitlaunchplan.com. That's it for this episode of the Nonprofit Launch Plan Podcast for Startup, Small and Growing Nonprofits. If this podcast has been helpful, would you consider sharing it with another nonprofit leader? Maybe he's just getting started or just needs some help and more clarity than hype. Until next time, again, thank you so much for watching and listening. Keep building wisely and keep making a difference.