5 ways a CRM can kickstart your fundraising in 2024

As we get further into 2024, more and more charities are looking at new ways to kickstart their fundraising efforts. One of the most effective tools in a fundraiser’s arsenal should be their CRM database. As your contact database, payment centre and communications hub, making effective use of it can make a real difference to your ability to raise funds.

Today we’ll be looking at 5 different ways you can take advantage of a CRM in order to raise more money!

1. Segment your data!

How is your data sorted right now? One of the biggest ‘hidden’ opportunities in your current database might be filtering it in different ways and creating new groups of contacts based around certain patterns and interests.

Do you have clusters of contacts in a specific geographic location? Perhaps you record if they have a certain specific interest, or if they have donated to a certain type of project before and you have another similar related one they might be interested to know about. Creating groups and incorporating these elements into your campaigns can make your asks feel much more tailored and engaging to your prospective donors.

Say, for instance, you have a group of donors living in a specific town. If you have any projects in the area or can highlight specific localised impacts, your message will resonate far more effectively than something less specific. And the more your words resonate with your potential supporters, the more likely they will be to donate.

Of course, it’s here you might run into the limits of your data set! You might figure out you don’t have all the data you want to make the best groups and this could lead you to making new priorities on collecting it for the future. We’ve got a whole webinar about how to better segment your data and the benefits it can bring with more information!

2. A New Mailing Campaign

According to statistics, in 2022 the average UK nonprofit raised £66 for every 1000 fundraising emails sent. If you have a large mailing list, that’s a lot of potential money on the table. And even if you don’t, regular mailing campaigns can help remind your potential donors of your cause so that when they feel in the mood to donate, your organisation is already in their mind.

Given that 2024 is still getting underway, now is a great time to talk about what new projects you’ll be working on for the year and any ambitions you have as an organisation in the near future (and what you might need to fulfil them!). And if you can, personalise what you talk about here. As we’ve mentioned above, try to tailor your content to your segments, e.g. tell them more about projects relating to recorded interests.  Knowing about what you intend to do, especially if it’s a topic that resonates with them, will make your prospective supporter feel more inclined to help support your goals.

And of course, as we’ve discussed in previous webinars about emailing, make sure to measure the success of your campaigns with analytics. Which messages are working? Are there any themes that are encouraging more donations? This might be very useful information that you can use in further mailing campaigns and also in your other activities. 

For all of this you’ll want a robust drag and drop mailing system with great reporting. You’ll also want it integrated directly with your contact database, to save having to do time consuming data exports and so that you can quickly re-use the same segments you’ve been creating.

3. Donation Forms

One of our top pieces of advice for any charity is to have prominently displayed donation forms that are easy to fill in. It should be immediately obvious at a glance on your website how to donate. In all your communications, it’s a good idea to offer a visible link to a donation form, even when it’s not the main focus. You never know when someone might feel like donating and it’s important to make it as easy as possible.

Within a CRM like CiviPlus, it’s easy to spin up such a form and link them. And one of the major things you’re going to want from these forms is some kind of online payment processor. While it’s all well and good receiving a pledge, you will then have to do the follow-up to secure the payment. Having integrated payments reduces complications on your sides and makes the process quick and easy for your donor. 

Of course, another thing you can collect with donation forms in the UK is a confirmation of Gift Aid eligibility. This can make a massive difference with additional funds for very little extra on your part with the appropriate CRM’s support. 

And it’s not just Gift Aid! Donation forms can be an excellent way to gather all the data you might want to improve how you segment your data.

4. Events

A new year means new opportunities for events and gathering together your prospective donors! While digital marketing is incredibly effective (and you’ll almost certainly be relying on it to invite people!), there are times when getting people into a room simply can’t be beaten for developing important relationships and raising funds. 

Plus there’s the opportunity to look into sponsorship opportunities with local businesses. Maybe they’ll offer funds, a prize for a raffle, or book a table at your gala dinner. Don’t be shy to ask for sponsorship supportit’s important to always remember you’re asking for your cause, not yourself, and the worst case scenario is that they say no. But it’s likely one might say yes!

Events can, however, take a lot of organisation. And while they’re frequently more than worth the effort, it’s certainly natural to look for a way to make things simpler for yourself. Which is fortunately where a good CRM with event management functionality will come in handy. Connected to all your contact data, it can make processing bookings and sending the all important reminders hassle free. Instead of having to spend time manually tracking signups, your CRM can simply log everything and you can create personalised automated reminders to go out on specific dates.

It’s not just before the event either. Having a CRM can make logging attendees and any pledges on the day painless. Once again, having your online donation forms handy can make a significant difference - you could have a tablet out with your form or provide QR codes on the tables to make this easier! And once the event finishes you can track attendance, analyse who turned up and even create segments based on this.

You can find more tips about events in our recent webinar!

5. Grant Management

We’ve talked a lot so far about traditional fundraising methods, be it from the public or from businesses. But it’s vitally important to also consider that there are many grants available out there for charities which you may be eligible for! In fact, we made a list of some of the places UK charities can look for them.

Applying for multiple grants at once can be somewhat tricky to keep track of effectively without a proper system to manage it for you. For instance, you’ll want to check on any important dates around the application, any tasks you need to do (and when for!), the stage of the application and any details specific to it. Having a dedicated part of your CRM dedicated to your grant applications can make it easy to achieve track all these things and more within a single interface. Plus you can run reports very easily to find out how your applications are going!

CiviPlus makes all of that easy with its grant management functionality. It’s equally capable of making it simple to offer grants to others as it is tracking your own progress on your own applications.

Conclusion

Having a powerful CRM can make your life so much easier as a fundraiser, and as we’ve looked over our different areas today, you’ll note that many of the opportunities one area of the CRM can help with are equally able to support another. Using your donation forms alongside your events, or segmenting your data ready to email. 

A great CRM is the hub of all your fundraising activities and centralising your data and toolsets can supercharge your capabilities to provide tailored experiences that drive more donations.

If you’d like to get started with a CRM that can help you with every single one of the areas mentioned above, consider CiviPlus. We’re happy to have a chat about how we can help you reach your fundraising goals in 2024.

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