70% of Donors Only Give Once: How Insights Help NFPs Retain and Recruit Donors

70% of Donors Only Give Once: How Insights Help NFPs Retain and Recruit Donors

Use data, insights, and media activation to retain donors and drive new recruitment programs.

A new year brings new challenges and opportunities. As not-for-profits (NFPs) plan for 2025 they are navigating a myriad of obstacles, from inflation, to a possible recession.  Combine this with ongoing donor fatigue (70% of donors only give once), and changing demographics, today’s challenges are making it even harder for NFP marketers.

So how can NFPs find opportunity and success in these conditions? It starts with a better understanding of donors and finding effective ways to reach and engage them. NFP marketers know the value of data and insights, but a lack of resources has limited their access for most. 

Fortunately, marketers’ licensing or buying of insights is changing thanks to platforms like intelligentVIEW, which have a service subscription model. You can read more about how intelligentVIEW is a game changer for NFP marketers here.

To help you see how intelligentVIEW can help NFP marketers in 2024, we’ve put together a scenario featuring one of Canada’s largest NFPs.

The Challenge

The NFP’s largest concentration of high value donors is in Ontario. Since the pandemic, retention and recruitment have declined in this province. They know that both the economy and general uncertainty are impacting overall giving, but they want to have a better understanding of:

• Who are their top donors?
• How many other Canadians resemble those donors?
• What’s the actual market size and opportunity?
• What is the best way to target and engage lookalike audiences?
• How to then find and activate those same audiences with existing media partners?

How intelligentVIEW answers these questions and provides a complete breakdown of their donor base.

Understand the Donor Base with Segmentation and Demographics

intelligentVIEW has a built-in segmentation system, intelligentSEGMENTS, that clusters Canadians into 94 distinct segments, making it possible for the NFP to break down their Ontario donors into clear, actionable segments.

To get started the NFP uploads a postal code file of its top Ontario donors into the platform and runs a profile report.  IntelligentVIEW uses postal codes as its common identifier to adhere with Canadian privacy requirements. This also allows users to connect digital to geography.

Read more on how we use privacy-compliant data for accurate geographic targeting.

The profile report is generated, identifying that the NFP’s donors index is the highest in two segments: F2 – Comfortable Suburbia and K3 – Coffee in Suburbia.

From there, the NFP drills down into all the intelligentVIEW report modules to profile their top donors and gain key insights.

From demographics and ethnicity, to what cars they drive, and where they spend and bank, intelligentVIEW’s report modules deliver the full picture of their top donors to inform the decisions they need to make.

Find Lookalikes and New Opportunities

Insights into the NFP’s current donors also pave the way to new prospects. 

Canada has over 640k F2 and K3 households, with a large cluster around Hamilton of 3,148 households. While Ontario still represents a significant growth opportunity, they’ve also identified two new regions that they want to test run a targeted multi-channel recruitment program through Q3.

Interested in an NFP specific sample report? Click here.

Target and Engage Audiences

These insights generated from 30,000+ data variables guide the NFP’s marketing decisions, from sponsorship partners and persona development to enhancing the creative strategy for its new brand campaign.

Now that the NFP has the insights it needs, it is time to engage its target audiences. 

IntelligentVIEW also includes media consumption report modules shared with the NFP’s media strategy team. These media report modules for print and broadcast media break down the mediums, channels, and programs that their donors are engaged with.

Activate Audiences

Taking it to the final step, they had CiG onboard their media agency and work with them to build audiences within their two targeted geographies by using the Audience Builder tools. They then push these audiences directly to media vendors such as Canada Post, Facebook, Google, and other programmatic platforms.

IntelligentVIEW connects households to digital media by using postal codes as a common ID. This makes it possible to build, profile, and reach the exact same audience across multiple media channels. NFPs can drive effective campaigns across direct mail, digital, and social, all from one platform. 

Leverage audience insights and drive new recruitment programs with intelligentVIEW

NFPs may be facing some serious headwinds, but luckily, intelligentVIEW is here to provide a powerful tailwind, using insights to help navigate the way forward.”

Budget constraints too often hold NFP marketers back, but intelligentVIEW’s monthly subscription plans are made accessible to NFPs. 

To support planning, we’ve introduced some new NFP specific subscription packs. Talk to sales to find out more.