3 Fundraising Challenges Nonprofits Face And How To Overcome Them

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4 Minute Read
Posted by Overflow Team on June 17, 2020

Tags: Company

As the COVID-19 crisis continues to impact people worldwide, nonprofit organizations have to work harder than ever to support the communities in need. At Overflow we outline three challenges currently facing nonprofits and how to overcome them.

Retain And Engage Donors

Did you know that 3 out of 4 new donors acquired by your nonprofit will never make a second donation? A significant challenge that all nonprofits face is how difficult it is to retain and continuously engage their donors long term. The average donor retention rate varies from 20 to 29%, so raising that number by a few percentage points could result in thousands of new donations for your nonprofit.

There are a few things you could do to increase your donor retention:

Build a relationship with your donors before asking for a donation.

  • Be transparent about your nonprofit's mission and always show how your nonprofit will use the gift.
  • Tell impact stories of the people or causes that your organization has helped.
  • Use your website and social media as a way for donors to personally connect with your organization and learn more about your work. Your social media accounts should be as personal and trustworthy as possible — stay away from cliché phrases and corporate tone!

“The average donor retention rate varies from 20 to 29%, so raising that number by a few percentage points could result in thousands of new donations for your nonprofit.”

Access Government Funding

Even though Americans donated over $440 billion to charity last year, many nonprofits still depend on government assistance to fund their programs. Government funding can come in various sources and forms, such as grants or matching gift schemes. It may serve as a safety net to support the charities experiencing fundraising difficulties.

However, as the federal and state budgets continue to decrease, it's becoming increasingly more challenging for nonprofits to secure government funding, while some charities receive no assistance at all.

Here are some things your nonprofit can do to stop relying on government funding:

  • Provide donors with multiple giving options (such as monthly or annual gifts) as well as the opportunity to "commit" to a specific gift in the future in case they're not ready to donate now.
  • Diversify your fundraising strategy to expand your charitable efforts. Encourage your donors to give more than just cash. Stock donations are on the rise, so giving your donors an option to donate stock or other appreciated securities will maximize your fundraising potential.

“Make it easy for your donors to give more. Nonprofits that receive stock donations see 55% higher fundraising growth than those that only accept cash.”

Accept Stock Donations and Bitcoin

Did you know that over 1 million charities and nonprofits in the US can't access non-cash gifts such as securities, cryptocurrencies, and stock? For years, stock donations have been one of the most convoluted ways of giving, making it accessible primarily to wealthy donors or donors with wealth management advisors.

Donating stock to charities has been a complex process that requires donors to spend up to weeks working with their brokers and financial advisors, filling out paperwork, and waiting for their documents to be accepted.

For charities, the process of receiving a stock gift can be just as tedious. To receive a stock donation, a charity must work with each donor individually to send and process the stock donation form, track and record each gift, send the acknowledgment letter, and ensure that the paperwork is correct for both parties.

Considering how many operational expenses nonprofits have to face, accepting stock donations used to be an expensive and time-consuming process that many organizations couldn't afford.

“ Over 1 million charities and nonprofits in the US can’t access non-cash gifts such as securities, cryptocurrencies, and stock”.

How Overflow can help

Overflow is a frictionless solution to help charities accept online donations of publicly-traded stock. Our platform has automated the transfer of shares to help your nonprofit organization directly accept stock donations.

With Overflow, your donors will no longer need to coordinate with brokers or financial advisors. All they would need to do is to visit your nonprofit's donate page, securely connect to their brokerage account, and select the shares they want to give. Overflow will take care of the rest.

‍Book a meeting with us to maximize your year-end giving appeal today!