Episode Description
How do nonprofits attract and retain donors before the first gift is ever made?
This is the first of a five-day Nonprofit Power Week journey with Bloomerang, moving from donor discovery and awareness into consideration, decision-making, retention, and the upcoming giving season.
Day One starts at the beginning of the donor journey . . .Discovery, Awareness, First Impressions, and Trust.
Emily Kelly, National Accounts Manager with Bloomerang, joins us to explore what happens before someone becomes a donor, and why nonprofit leaders should treat that early relationship as a business asset rather than simply chasing the next transaction. Emily puts it plainly: “The donation is just the transaction and then the relationship is the actual asset.”
Potential supporters can discover an organization through social media, its website, an event, a friend, a volunteer experience, or word of mouth. That means there is no single magic communications channel. Different generations and individual donors may consume information very differently, making donor communication preferences and CRM segmentation increasingly important.
The goal isn’t to be everywhere. It’s to understand “ . . .who already supports you, where you can reach them, what they care about, and how they prefer to engage.” Emily adds “You can't convert a donor that you can't reach.”
The conversation also pushes nonprofits to rethink personalization. It isn't merely inserting someone's first name into an email. It means understanding whether a supporter prefers volunteering, events, direct giving, email, social media, mail, or another form of engagement—and recording those preferences so the organization can respond accordingly.
That matters because communication that ignores a donor's preferences can weaken trust, while thoughtful interactions can make supporters feel recognized long before another ask arrives.
Key Takeaways:
Treat the donor relationship as the asset; the donation is one transaction within it.
Start with existing supporters before pouring resources into constant donor acquisition.
Identify your strongest donor demographics and build communications around how they actually engage.
Use CRM segmentation to record communication preferences, interests, geography, events, and support behavior.
Personalization means recognizing how someone wants to participate—not merely knowing their name.
Make discovering, understanding, and supporting your organization easy from the very first interaction.
00:00:00 — Nonprofit Power Week Begins
00:03:51 — The First Impression Before the Gift
00:05:06 — The Relationship Is the Real Asset
00:06:12 — Reaching Different Generations of Donors
00:08:09 — Personalization Is More Than a First Name
00:11:37 — Stop Chasing Only New Donors
00:14:02 — Trust, CRM Segmentation and Better Donor Asks
00:22:35 — Make Giving Easy—and Build What Comes Next
Find us Live daily on YouTube!
Find us Live daily on LinkedIn!
Find us Live daily on X: @Nonprofit_Show
Our national co-hosts and amazing guests discuss management, money and missions of nonprofits!
12:30pm ET 11:30am CT 10:30am MT 9:30am PT
Send us your ideas for Show Guests or Topics: HelpDesk@AmericanNonprofitAcademy.com
Visit us on the web:The Nonprofit Show