Donation Behavior Segmentation

Donation frequency segmentation divides donors based on how often they donate to your cause. By tailoring your communications to these groups, you can target different types of donors with the most effective messaging. Segments include:

First-Time Donors
Monthly Donors
Year-End Donors
Long-Term Donors

First-time donors

First-time donors have the lowest retention rate. They often don’t feel as connected to your organization after one donation than your other donors do after years of donations, volunteering, and other involvement.

For these donors, it’s best to:

Send them a personalized message via email instead of opting for a general message over social media.
Include a call-to-action in the message that will entice them to either donate a second time in the near future, volunteer, or learn more about your organization.
For first-time donors that make larger donations, you may want to consider inviting them to meet with you or see your location.

Monthly Donors

Donors that agree to give every month are VIPs in your donor-base. Repeat donors are retained at a much higher percentage of 63%.

Make sure to:

Send them a unique monthly thank you that includes key information and updates
Put the most energy into retaining these repeat donors
Showcase the benefits of being a regular donor (social media giveaways, discounts, etc.)
By showing your followers how much you care about your long-term donors, you may inspire some newer donors to become long-term donors, helping to increase overall donor retention.

Year-End Donors

In order to make sure these year-end donations are coming to your organization, create and execute a communications plan that incorporates various forms of social media as well as email and highlights:

Number of people you helped
Communities you impacted
Animals you fed
Shots you gave
Hours spent in the classroom
Dollars raised.

If you have donors that only give during the last months of the year, you shouldn’t be surprised. 31% of all donations come in December, with 12% coming in the last three days of the year.

Event attendees:

Those who attend an event and don’t give the rest of the year usually do so for one of two reasons:

1. The ticket to attend the event was relatively expensive and the donors don’t feel they need to give more because of that high ticket price.

2. They attended the event because of their interest in the topic or and not necessarily interest in your organization.

Read on to learn more about how to engage donors from these two groups:

Event Attendee #1

"The event ticket was expensive, so I don't feel I necessarily need to give more in addition to my ticket price."

Encourage this donor by:

Thanking them for their attendance
Keeping them updated on the work you are doing with their donations from the event.
Invite them to return the next year with friends!
Keep them posted about upcoming events.

Event Attendee #2

"I attended the event because I was interested in the activity or theme, not necessarily because of the mission of the organization."

Encourage this donor by meeting them at their interests and their needs.

For example: Your wine tasting event had a huge turnout of new donors. However, you aren't seeing any continued donations. This tells you that these new donors were more interested in the wine than the mission of your organization. To encourage these donors to give again, you can create more wine-related incentives for donations. With a donation of $50 or more, they receive a custom wine stopper. A $100 dollar donation will get them a wine glass with your organization's logo on it.

Long-term donors

Your long-term donors are your most loyal donors, and they deserve to be treated differently than your other donors. With these key donors, you want to make sure to:

Send them new information or testimonials to maintain their interest and encourage further involvement.
Share with them any upcoming initiatives so that they feel closely tied to your organization.
Treat them like key decision-makers in the organization.
For example:
- Invite them to a board meeting
- Host a special dinner for top donors where you gather feedback on events and fundraising initiatives.

The more your long-term donors feel involved, the more likely they are to continue their participation and donations!

Overview

What are the best ways to communicate with donors based on their frequency group?

Regardless of how you segment your donors, it is crucial to create unique communications plans to increase not only overall donations to your organization, but also donor retention.