How Do I Find New Donor Prospects for Fundraising?
If you're stuck in creating a list of new individuals with whom to connect for philanthropic support, try some of these strategies nonprofits use to build donor prospect lists and bring in more donations!
When starting with a new client, we are often asked questions like how do I find new fundraising prospects? Or how do I identify a major gift prospect? And we typically implement some or all of the following strategies:
Start with seeking to recapture your lapsed donors. Look at lists of those who have given in the last 5-10 years but not this or last year, and conduct a targeted giving drive or targeted mailing/email blast to this group. When you reach out, be sure to acknowledge their support in the past, and offer for them to join your new campaign/giving club while you introduce new perks that weren’t offered before. You can also just call them! Call them and ask them to lunch to make a face-to-face ask. If they supported you before, they are likely to do so again.
Reach out to the business community. Consider your listing of local businesses, vendors, and event sponsors, and invite them to give as a pledge instead in exchange for perks. You may call the same businesses a few times per year to sponsor several events, but instead you can make one ask for a cash gift that earns them sponsorship for ALL your events. My personal favorite way to ask vendors is to say, “We do a lot of business with you, and we would like 3% of it back.” Consider also donors who might want to give through their business and be recognized personally or vice versa.
Research local foundations. Local is the key here. Foundations tend to have funding set aside every year to be given away, and getting on their annual list can sometimes mean a gift every year. Consider both public (community foundations) and private foundations who may want their funding allocated right at home. Standard grant writing is not as profitable, but instead look at your local community, they will want funding to stay local as well.
Review ALL event lists. People who attend our events but aren’t regular donors are fantastic prospects! They already are familiar with what we do, and they likely have friends who give to our organization. Invite them preemptively to a recognition event while inviting them to join the corresponding giving club by a certain deadline or set up one-on-one meetings to make individual asks.
Establish a robust fundraising volunteer structure. When all else fails, leveraging connections in the community is the fastest way to gain new qualified prospects who will almost always take your meeting. We recommend setting up a structure of 30-50 fundraising volunteers organized by giving type to give your organization an expanded network, endorsement of community leadership, more volunteer work hours, and trust of the mission and brand. Best of all, by recruiting and training this network, you can now get to almost anyone in the community by 1-2 degrees of separation, which in fundraising, matters the most!
Not sure where to start in building your volunteer fundraising team? We might be able to help! Feel free to schedule a chat with our team to see if we can optimize your fundraising structure and get your staff the support they need.
