Scroll Top
Powering Nonprofit Success Through Participatory Processes:

Did you know that organizations prioritizing participatory processes and deliberately decreasing barriers see a significant increase in program effectiveness? This Fall, I’m excited to delve into how this framework powers real-world success through our three-part webinar series, Insights for Impact!

On September 18th, Dr. Inderjit Vicky Basra, President and CEO of the Delores Barr Weaver Policy Center, and Jessica Raymond, former Chief of Staff of the YWCA, joined Sharity Global Expert Anne Miskey to offer real-world examples of ways participatory processes elevated their organizations’ mission and impact. Dr. Basra emphasized the importance of including direct and indirect experts in decision-making conversations. She noted, “…layered communication makes the change.” When those in the community who experience the challenges your organization strives to address work alongside those with academic or professional experience in key areas, your organization can begin to affect systemic change. Jessica added, “When we talk about advocating for people and engaging their voices…here is the mic! You sit at this table, you tell me what you need from us, you make the decision…”

Key takeaways from the conversation included:

  • Write equity into your policies and procedures.
  • Avoid “tokenizing” the community you serve. Ensure that if you ask something of your community members, such as asking them to share their stories, you are developing and strengthening a mutually beneficial relationship with them.
  • Identify ways your organization may connect direct experts, those with lived experience, with donors, elected officials, and other community leaders and influencers.
  • Engaging all voices allows you to review and evaluate the impact of your programming with an open mind and heart.
  • Give credit to all the experts helping you execute your mission. Whenever possible, compensate and recognize direct experts, those with lived experiences, for their work on behalf of your organization, just as you would an indirect expert with academic or professional experience. 

Dr. Basra summed up the importance of engaging all voices when she described the success her organization has had with connecting survivor mentors with the recently rescued. “[Survivor’s] concepts around hope look very different because they’re sitting across from somebody, that at some point, was in the same space that they are in…Their survivor-mentor becomes a beacon of hope!” Anne added, “The little ways you can connect your donors in real ways to people” will bring about transformation.

Watch The Full Video Now

By Noelle H. Lowery

With all thoughts in the nonprofit world turning to year-end campaigns right now, many nonprofits also are on the lookout for new donors. After all, these entities just spent the last nine months asking all of their loyal, established contributors for their continued financial support.

However, new donor acquisition can be a pricey proposition. In fact, new donors are considered “investments” by nonprofits, and it can take up to two years for a nonprofit to break even on these costs. Typically a nonprofit’s average return on investment for a new donor from the initial donation is 50 cents. When it comes to looking at the lifetime value of a donor (LTV), we need to think about how much that donor will give over the course of their relationship with the organization. In most cases, it significantly surpasses the investment made to acquire that donor in year one.

Sharity Global President Carol Wick believes nonprofits should wait on expanding their new donor audience until they have maximized the giving potential hidden in their current donor lists. “Identifying the right donors is the biggest mystery for nonprofits, but it doesn’t have to be complicated,” she emphasizes.

“Start with your center circle, those closest to your nonprofit,” she adds. “If you haven’t convinced your inner circle to give, you shouldn’t be looking outside that network. You have to know who you have on your list and how much they potentially can give.”

The process is called donor segmentation, and it involves dividing your current donors into segments based on shared qualities. Donors can be segmented based on their geographic location, age, education level, donor status, length of the donor relationship, and communication channel preference. Donor segmentation allows nonprofits to create distinct and separate fundraising strategies for their donors, providing specific messaging and asks tailored to the donor’s segment.

Donor segmentation also allows nonprofits to wealth screen their donors. Wealth screening allows nonprofits the ability to determine a donor’s capacity to give by sorting through top indicators of wealth such as land holdings, business ownership, and investment portfolios.

“There is so much potential with those that are already connected to your organization,” Carol says. “You are sitting on wealth. You probably just haven’t segmented and targeted your donors with the right types of asks. That’s why wealth screening is so important. It can help you know how much to ask those people for and how to start segmenting your donor list. Too many nonprofits are leaving money on the table by not asking the right amount.
One tool Carol advises Sharity clients to use for donor segmentation and wealth screening is iWave, the Canadian-based software company whose next generation platform is simplifying fundraising for nonprofits around the world. By providing the most comprehensive philanthropic, wealth, and behavioral data available, iWave arms nonprofits with the metrics and information vitally necessary to target their most viable funding opportunities.

Recently, Carol sat down with Jeremy Davies of iWave (insert link to video) to discuss their innovative approach to fundraising intelligence. Carol and Jeremy take a deep dive into iWave’s data and donor segmentation services, focusing on expanding fundraising opportunities in current donor lists. iWave helps nonprofits uncover a donor’s history of philanthropy (Propensity), the strength of a donor’s connection to the nonprofit’s cause (Affinity), and the ability of a donor to give a major gift (Capacity).

Most importantly, iWave’s wealth screening function helps nonprofits find the hidden gems (mid-level donors who could be major donors), champions (top donors dedicated to your cause and organization), and distinguished philanthropists (major gift donors with additional giving capacity) buried deep in their donor lists.

“There are sleepers in your database that you haven’t had a chance to talk to,” Jeremy told Carol. Donor segmentation will reveal them.

While donor segmentation definitely helps with year-end campaigns, it can be especially valuable to the long-term, multiyear nonprofit budgetary process and creating a successful and growing annual fund. In fact, Carol suggests that nonprofits begin incorporating donor segmentation into their multi-year budget planning.

“Most nonprofits think of their annual fund as a plan they create year to year just like you create a budget year to year,” she explains. “Sharity clients go into multi-year plans with multi-year budgets, and we see large increases in fundraising. Donor segmentation is critical to this plan and the strategy.”