Essentials of Donor Acquisition: How to Find New Supporters

As a nonprofit professional, you understand the importance of donor acquisition in setting your organization up to achieve its fundraising goals. While nurturing current supporters sustains your work, expanding your donor base increases long-term growth potential and ultimately strengthens your impact.

Acquisition looks somewhat different for every nonprofit depending on prospective donors’ giving capacity, preferences, and connections to your mission, as well as your needs and goals. Generally speaking, the more a potential donor could give to your organization, the more strategic and focused an approach you’ll need to secure their support.

In this guide, we’ll review a few donor acquisition tips to help your nonprofit identify and reach new supporters. As long as you adapt these strategies for your organization, you can lay a strong foundation for relationship-building and lasting engagement.

Your nonprofit likely has a broad community of potential supporters, but not every prospect is the right fit for every campaign. To find new donors who align with your needs and goals, you need to understand who you’re trying to reach and tailor your approach accordingly.

Donor segmentation (the process of grouping supporters based on shared characteristics) can help you find the right target audience for your acquisition efforts. Common segmentation criteria include:

• Demographics: Age, gender, location, employment, education, marital and family status, wealth
• Psychographics: Interests, values, hobbies, lifestyles, opinions, motivations for supporting your mission
• Giving history: Average gift amount, frequency and recency of giving, preferred contribution method, lifetime value
• Engagement: Event attendance, volunteering, advocacy, in-kind donations, communication preferences

Use these existing donor analytics to develop tailored strategies for reaching new supporters with similar characteristics. For example, let’s say you want to attract donors aged 18-29. You might find that your current supporters in that age range communicate primarily via social media and texting, and most of them got involved in volunteering or advocacy before donating. So, you could promote volunteer and advocacy opportunities on social media and then text individual participants in those activities about giving to acquire them as donors.

According to Allegiance Group + Pursuant, the most effective nonprofit marketing campaigns are “those that establish multiple touchpoints across communication channels…to create a unified, consistent experience for your audience of supporters.” Multi-channel marketing is especially important for acquiring new donors so you can meet them where they are, no matter what platform they may be on.

Create a detailed plan for promoting your organization’s fundraising needs and opportunities across the following platforms:

• Your website. This is the hub of your nonprofit’s digital presence, so it should contain all of the information and resources supporters need to learn about your mission and get involved. Ensure your site is mobile-optimized and designed for accessibility so every visitor can have a positive experience using it.
• Email. In addition to crafting personalized messages for specific target audiences, consider sending a recurring newsletter to your entire email list. Signing up for this newsletter is often an accessible first step to acquiring a new donor.
• Social media. Tailor your posts to each platform’s format—for instance, you might repurpose the same message as a text-based post on Facebook, a series of graphics on Instagram, and a short-form, vertically-oriented video on TikTok. Additionally, expand your posts’ reach by encouraging your followers to like, comment, and share them with their networks.
• Text messages. Quick updates and reminders (e.g., letting supporters know there are only a few more days left to contribute to a certain campaign) are most likely to be read via text. Not to mention, this platform doubles as a convenient donation option when you host a text-to-give campaign.
• Print communications. Although many organizations focus on digital marketing, flyers and direct mail can still supplement your online efforts and resonate well with certain potential donor segments (local audiences, older community members, etc.).

Use consistent messaging and visuals across all of these channels to help community members recognize and remember your organization. Additionally, include links and QR codes in your communications as appropriate so audience members can give right away if they want to.

As of 2024, 57% of U.S. adults say they trust nonprofits. While this is a slight improvement over previous years, there is still room for growth. Many donors will only give to organizations they trust (especially if they plan to make large contributions), so building confidence in your nonprofit should be central to your donor acquisition strategy.

Share relevant impact data across your marketing communications to show potential donors that your nonprofit has a successful track record. Impact data can take many forms, but here are a few popular ideas to get you started:

• Add a “By the Numbers” section to your website’s About page showing key mission-related statistics (e.g., total number of beneficiaries served last year).
• Highlight recent wins and related metrics in your newsletter and other long-form marketing materials (e.g., total revenue raised during your last fundraising event).
• Include infographics and public-facing financial statements of important data (revenue by source, expenses by category, etc.) in your annual report to demonstrate prudent management of resources.

Mission-related storytelling also showcases your nonprofit’s impact to even more potential supporters. While some audiences respond well to hard numbers, others are moved to give by emotion, which stories allow you to engage. So, it’s best to combine both approaches in your content to make it resonate with as many potential donors as possible.

Acquiring major donors requires an even more individualized approach than the strategies we’ve covered so far. You have to gather a lot of information on each potential donor to cultivate them individually. Even your outreach needs to be well informed—you should know that each of your prospects is able and may be willing to make a major gift to the initiative you want to fund.

This is where prospect research comes in, which DonorSearch defines as “the process of gathering data that can help your nonprofit find high-impact donors within and beyond its current supporter base.” Holistic prospect research helps you find the following three types of information on potential donors, also known as indicators or markers:

• Capacity indicators demonstrate a prospect’s financial ability to make major gifts. They include wealth data like real estate ownership, stock holdings, business affiliations, and political giving histories.
• Philanthropic indicators show whether a prospect has charitable tendencies. Past donations to your nonprofit or other similar organizations are the best philanthropic markers.
• Affinity indicators reveal if a prospect might be willing to contribute to your specific organization and campaign. A history of non-donation nonprofit involvement, psychographic information like interests and values, and a strong passion for or connection to your mission are all good affinity indicators.

To find this information, choose a prospect research database that allows you to conduct comprehensive screenings (not just wealth screenings like many tools), pulls data from trusted sources, and has a high accuracy rate. Your internal donor database and public records, from SEC and FEC filings to prospects’ social media profiles, are also useful resources for identifying potential major donors.

Donor acquisition is about finding the right people, reaching them in the right ways, and earning their trust. Use the strategies above to get started, and remember that once you’ve secured a donor’s support, you need to apply what you’ve learned during the acquisition process to cultivate a relationship with them and retain them long-term.

Sarah Tedesco is the Chief Operating Officer and Part Owner of DonorSearch, a prospect research company that focuses on proven philanthropy. Sarah is responsible for managing the production and customer support department, which focuses on client contract fulfillment, retention, and satisfaction. She also collaborates with other team members in various areas like sales, marketing, and product development. Sarah holds an MBA from the University of Maryland and worked as a foundation prospect researcher before joining DonorSearch, providing her with industry experience that she applies to her responsibilities day-to-day.