Fundraising success stories: examples & tips to learn from

We love hearing about nonprofits’ successful fundraising strategies in action, and sharing these stories allows nonprofits to learn from each other. Nonprofits face new challenges, big and small, every day, from an international pandemic to a stubborn mid-tier donor. Learning about other organizations that overcame similar challenges will help your organization develop solutions to apply to your own fundraising efforts.

One of the best ways to become a fundraising success story is to leverage the data in your nonprofit donor database to better reach and personalize donor outreach. Then, you can increase your retention rate and create a stronger base of support. 

Bloomerang customers have the advantage of leveraging a donor database solution designed by fundraising experts to help nonprofits improve donor retention rates and raise additional funds. In fact, even during the COVID-19 crisis, Bloomerang customers raised millions of dollars more than they did during the same period the previous year!

Fundraising success stories

We want to celebrate these nonprofits along with the other fundraising success stories. Read through these stories to learn more about the strategies the organizations used to overcome challenges and raise more funds.

Family Promise of Gallatin Valley used Bloomerang’s enhanced communication, accurate donor tracking, and customizable donation pages to increase their retention rate from 45% to 52% and raise 117% of their $150,000 auction goal!

Boys & Girls Club of Hawaii has used Bloomerang’s peer-to-peer fundraising and event pages to raise $2.8M for their Great Future Day campaign over the past 4 years, plus maintain a 48% donor retention rate.

Beth A. Gehlhausen and the team at Meals on Wheels of Hamilton County held an event that drove more than 300 donations, and were able to upload that information quickly into their database and get back to their mission.

After switching to Bloomerang’s Giving Platform from Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge, the Marshall Foundation for Community Health has improved donor retention to 50%, boosted recurring donors from 8 to 75, and seen nearly a 50% increase in revenue year-over-year.

Bloomerang’s user-friendly design and tools enabled Oregon FFA to increase operational efficiency, re-engage 25 lapsed donors, and achieve a 57% donor retention rate after they switched from Neon One.

Natalie Carducci and the team at Virginia Beach CASA reported approximately $10,000 in repeat/increased donations due to stronger retention rates among their supporters with Bloomerang.

Meghan Walsh and the board of directors at Roots Ethiopia utilize enhanced segmentation and targeting, automated communications, and Generosity Scores from Bloomerang to increase average lifetime revenue by 19% and raise their donor retention rate to 55%.

Integrated email marketing, householding features, DonorSearch, and powerful reporting tools from Bloomerang helped Landmark Trust achieve a 50% growth in their donor database and 80% of their $1.25 million campaign goal already secured before leaving the quiet phase.

Since migrating from DonorSnap to Bloomerang, America’s Black Holocaust Museum has raised $9M+ to reopen its doors in a physical location, and estimates that the constituents in their database have more than doubled.

Shana Perry of Capital Humane Society attributes their 52% donor retention rate to the consistent donor stewardship and effective data management they’re now able to maintain with Bloomerang.

Benefits of proactive outreach for fundraising success stories

During challenging times, nonprofits that take initiative to continue fundraising become the next success stories.

For instance, once the pandemic started, many nonprofits saw major dips in fundraising, but Bloomerang customers who sent email appeals contextualized for the crisis raised more money than those who did not address the pandemic. Proactive customers raised about 30% more in March 2020 than in the same month from the year prior. They saw similar results in April.

Fundraising success stories don’t happen because organizations wish hard for it. Instead, they make their own success by working hard and proactively strategizing for the future. Determine what you need to accomplish for your own organization to become a fundraising success. Then, gather the necessary tools and create the strategy you need to hit that goal.

Tips to become a fundraising success story

Every organization wants to have the next fundraising success story. To help your organization get on the right track, we’ve compiled a list of seven tips that you can leverage to further your organization’s fundraising success.

1. Get the best donor database.

Your organization’s donor database helps you collect information about your supporters and leverage that information for more effective and personalized fundraising outreach. Sending personalized communication and establishing a well-designed fundraising timeline helps your nonprofit retain more donors and increase your return on investment.

Conduct research to make sure you choose the CRM that’s best for your organization. Or, if you’re happy with your current database, conduct research to make sure you’re getting the most out of it. Leverage all of your CRM’s features, including customized donor profiles, marketing tools, your dashboard, and available integrations.

2. Focus on donor relationships.

Donor relationships are the key to success. Strong relationships are the reason supporters continuously return to support your nonprofit. By focusing on relationships, your nonprofit can increase your donor retention rate, thereby increasing the lifetime value of your donors and improving overall fundraising.

While the average donor retention rate has generally stayed around 40% to 45% over the last 15 years, raising this rate above the average at your organization can save money and help you raise more funds. Not only is it more expensive to acquire more donors than retain them, but donors also often give more over time.

3. Set timeframes for your strategy.

Too many people set arbitrary goals saying, “Someday, we’d like to raise one million dollars at this fundraiser.” These statements show wishful thinking—why not make someday happen sooner? When you set timeframes to improve your fundraising, you can make plans to hit your goals earlier and become a fundraising success story.

Leverage your multi-year strategic plan to identify the concrete goals you need to hit each month, quarter, and year to reach your eventual goal. Then, break down those goals into actionable items, ask a staff member to own each item, and set deadlines to ensure these actions are completed.

4. Segment your audience.

Nonprofit segmentation allows your organization to separate your audience into groups based on commonalities within those groups. For instance, you may have one segment for your brand new donors and another for your recurring monthly donors. While every nonprofit’s segments look slightly different, we recommend using the following factors to create donor segments:

• Donation recency
• Donation frequency
• Donation type
• Gift amount
• Reason for donating
• Interests relevant to the nonprofit

Segmentation allows your nonprofit to create personalized communications for your supporters without sending one-off messages for every supporter. It provides an efficient way to reach your donors on a personal level to develop relationships.

5. Engage your volunteers.

According to one study, nonprofit volunteers are around 10 times more likely to give than non-volunteers. Plus, about 70% of individuals surveyed said they already give to the nonprofit they volunteer with. By engaging your volunteers, you can maximize the impact they have on your mission, helping take your programming further.

Appeal to your volunteers who have not yet donated to your nonprofit and encourage them to contribute. Also, help your volunteers check their eligibility for volunteer grants. These grants are a part of corporate social responsibility programs where companies make a financial donation to nonprofits where their employees contribute their time. Often, supporters don’t know about their eligibility for these programs, which can increase their impact without any additional work on their part.

6. Ask for help.

If you’re struggling to reach your goals and raise money your nonprofit needs for your programming, don’t be afraid to ask for help from a professional. The right nonprofit fundraising consultant can help your nonprofit establish a development plan to define and start reaching your goals.

Identify what it is you want help with before investing in a consultant. Then, research consultants with expertise in the improvement areas relevant to your goals. For instance, you might invest in a consultant who focuses on your annual fund, capital campaigns, or even board and executive succession planning. Identify what you need help with early so that you can make the most of your time with your consultant.

7. Always say thank you.

Adrian Sargeant conducted a study asking lapsed donors why they stopped giving to nonprofits. 13% of these supporters reported that they were never thanked for their donation. Saying thank you, therefore, is a necessary aspect of retention, helping your nonprofit raise more funds.

Showing your donors that you care and appreciate their contributions is necessary for becoming a fundraising success story. You might leverage donor appreciation strategies such as calling donors after they give, providing educational materials, sending surveys, inviting them to exclusive events, writing thank you letters, and sending branded merchandise.

Thoughts from Bloomerang customers

“Preparing an email to go out is so much easier with Bloomerang. Once you get the first template laid out how you like, everything else is plug and play. Emails are actually fun now.”

– Tanya Moran, Philanthropy Operations Coordinator, Marshall Foundation for Community Health

“Bloomerang’s Giving Platform helps us streamline our event ticketing and reconciliation process. It’s intuitive and makes it easy to generate custom reports fast, which is a big win. Other platforms make it difficult to create and run reports. But with Bloomerang, I can create the reports I need quickly and easily.”

– Shana Perry, Director of Development, Capital Humane Society

“After a recent event with over 300 donations, it was so simple to upload all those donations with literally the stroke of a couple of keys. With our old system, much of the data was entered by contact manually one by one, taking hours. It is very easy for us to see how well we retain event attendees.”

— Beth A. Gehlhausen, Executive Director, Meals on Wheels of Hamilton County

“We immediately knew we found a company that truly loved what they do and wanted to serve the non-profit community.”

– Natalie Carducci, Program Assistant, Virginia Beach CASA