How to create a new donor welcome series
When a donor makes their first donation, they are telling you “I am digging what you’re doing and I’d like to be part of it.” Now, it’s your turn to return that engagement.
You may be wondering: does automating your emails make things less personal?
And the answer is… Nope! Not at all. Email automations are crucial to personalizing your donor experience.
In this post, we’ll dive into how to create a solid first impression with your donors -- using a donor welcome series to set the foundation for lasting relationships and donor retention.
Why do you need a donor welcome series?
If you want to retain your donors, automatic email marketing is the ticket. A donor welcome series is an automatic sequence of carefully created emails sent over a short period of time to connect with your donors.
👉🏼THE GOAL: gratitude
Your series is a space for you to show your genuine gratitude and demonstrate the real impact of each individual’s generosity.
By delivering relevant and compelling content over a series of emails, you’ll create a sense of deep connection and trust. Giving donors a way to stay engaged also encourages them to potentially become long-term supporters of the organization. It’s a win-win all around.
What do you do when a new donation comes in?
Ideally, your new donor process would look something like this:
Write a handwritten thank-you note.
Call and thank them for their generous gift.
Ask them to volunteer, come to your virtual event, see if they are interested in database management, or want to be your board treasurer (because you really do need one and yes, we’re desperate).
But as a small shop, that’s easier said than done.
Here’s the usual scenario:
A donor makes a donation — A GIFT. This is real money in your bank account and you’re so busy in the flow of all the other things on your to-do list that it takes several days? A week? A month to respond. Am I getting this right?
I get it. You’re constantly stuck in catch up mode — because that’s the nature of being a small shop ED. But what if a few hours of up front work could take the donor welcome experience completely off your plate?
Yep. It’s time. Let’s walk through how to create a new donor welcome series.
What should your nonprofit welcome series include?
Having a welcome series isn’t an excuse to blab on about your mission and values. Yes, you’re introducing yourself to new donors through the series, but you need to be doing it with your donor at the center. Make your donor the hero. Help her feel valued and appreciated.
Share stories, not a copy of your mission statement.
Please, from the bottom of my (marketer-turned-executive-director) heart, do not write a single sentence about your mission in these emails. Engage your audience and make it about them. Show the donor how they’re playing a significant role in the cause.
Here’s what a sample welcome series looks like:
Email 1: Acknowledge the gift + welcome the donor to your nonprofit fam
Donors come to your nonprofit because they believe in your mission. They stay with you because you prove yourself worthy of their trust and commitment. Transparency and dependability are key. So send your letter of acknowledgement as soon as you can.
Most experts agree that the letter of acknowledgement or thanks should be ready for mailing to the donor within 72 hours of receiving the gift. Some even say within 48 hours.
If done within the first 2 days, your acknowledgement creates a better first impression, confidence in giving, and overall donor loyalty. (Hello, trifecta!)
Email 2: Spark a two-way conversation
Ask an open ended question about how donors came to know you or what motivated them to give. More than anything, you want to encourage donors to reply back to you. Here’s a chance to get to know them better and spark a conversation.
Some questions you could try:
What are you curious to know about the organization?
What connected you to our cause?
How did you hear about us?
What type of content do you like getting in your inbox? Blogs? Videos? Tell us!
Test out different questions to see which one ignites a reaction. You might not get a lot of responses, but it’s worth a try. At the very least, you’re communicating to the donor that you really care about them and want to hear their perspective.
Email 3: Share what your nonprofit does
Your third email is the introduction of your organization. The “Show and Tell” of what you do. Don’t let this fool you, everything is still all about the donor. Your email might include:
Sharing an infographic demonstrating the work you do
Sharing an article about gender equality
Share a recent article you were featured in
💡THE BIG IDEA: share with the intention of serving your audience.
Sharing is serving — because people want to be educated, entertained, and inspired. Use mission-aligned articles, podcasts, and relevant news stories to tie your nonprofit to relevant news.
Source: Deseret
Email 4: Tell an impact story
Tell a story about someone you impacted. Why was the donor’s gift so important? Provide some context about the situation. What was life like before the donor got involved vs. afterward? Make the story personal. Include photos and quotes if you can to help your reader feel even more connected.
Email 5: Give a next step
Help your donors build a stronger relationship with you. What’s an action your donor can take to become even more connected to your work? They could:
Opt into your newsletter
Volunteer at an event
Learn more about a program you offer
Follow you on social media
Give your donors a soft ask to help them become more connected to your nonprofit organization.
Source: NYC Food Policy
How do you set up your donor welcome series?
1. Outline.
For starters, you’ll need to put a plan together for each email. Follow the emails outline above and put a basic structure together for each message. (Think: What’s your greeting, intro, what’s going in the body of your message... you get the idea.)
Then list out any of the digital assets you’ll need. For example…
Do you need to create a survey?
Do you need any graphics?
Do you want to include photos or videos?
I know this sounds like an extra step, but trust me. Having a clear outline—and knowing what content you need to gather or create—will help you feel less overwhelmed when it comes time to write.
Okay. Now that you have an idea of what you want your messages to look like and what you want to say in each email, it’s time to head to the next step: It’s writing time!
2. Draft.
Writing sounds scary—I know—but your first draft is really just dumping your thoughts down. Without a filter. Focus on getting your ideas out. Don’t worry about how it sounds; just dump it all down. The refining and editing comes later.
Which brings us to the next step...
3. Edit and get feedback.
I mean it when I say this: try to save editing for another day. Or at the very least after a long break. You gotta look at those messages with FRESH EYES. And catch typos while you can! I recommend Grammarly or the HemmingWay App to make it easier on you.
Even better: call in some reinforcements. Can you get a colleague or board member to take a peak? (Also: side note… folks in the SproutED Flourish membership can share one piece of content a month for me to provide feedback on… just saying😜).
Anyway, whoever’s your second pair of eyes, have them check:
Does everything make sense?
Does reading the email make them excited about your nonprofit?
Do they want to learn more?
What would they change?
Bottom line: get some feedback so you can share with confidence.
4. Upload into your email provider.
If you haven’t invested in an email provider yet—NOW is the time. Whether you use Constant Contact, MailChimp, ConvertKit, doesn’t matter. As long as you have a system that can automate and send emails to your donors (and connect with your CRM... like DonorPerfect or Network for Good).
5. Send yourself a test copy.
Send each email to yourself as a test. You want to make sure the formatting looks clean and everything turned out the way you planned it. As an example, here’s a video on how to send a test email in MailChimp.
Once the test lands in your inbox, now's a good time to check your gut reaction to your emails. When you open your message on your phone, are you overwhelmed or annoyed by how much text there is? Do you find yourself skimming? Are you entirely BORED???
If you’re bored, your donors have deleted the email and forgotten about you already. Spice it up with stories and GENUINE GRATITUDE. Come back to the draft in a few days with fresh eyes if you need to.
6. Set up automations.
Automations will save you so much time. What’s the point in using tech if you’re not using your systems to the fullest?
Bare minimum, set up the gift acknowledgement automation. From there, set up the rest of the emails to go out once a week or so. Select a cadence that makes sense for you (and feel free to tweak six months from now, after you’ve seen how it works).
Engagement is the ticket to retention
Engagement is the “love language of nonprofits.” It’s your chance to show your donors how much you love and appreciate them. On the flip side, engagement is also your donors’ chance to REALLY get to know you - and fall in love with your amazing work even more!
When you create a memorable, engaging experience—from the VERY FIRST GIFT—you’ll form deeper relationships and improve donor retention.
