How Your Nonprofit Can Utilize Donor Surveys

The next time you find yourself in doubt when it comes to your events, marketing efforts, volunteer activities, etc. Turn to some of the people who support you most: your donors.

Sending out a donor survey has the power to do much more than collect data.

Donor surveys have the ability to segment your data, provide feedback, help tailor your organization’s activities/events and so much more.

You might feel like you are bothering your donors or asking too much of them, but don’t hesitate. A donor survey can actually strengthen your relationship by showing your donors you value their opinion.

Here are some ways that a donor survey can help provide valuable insight and information for your organization:

Ask for a Donor’s General Information

This helps you better understand the demographics of those who are interested in donating to your organization, which will also help when it comes to targeting your audience.

Discover Your Donor’s Interests

This is a huge step in building a relationship and relating to your donors. You can already assume your donors are passionate about your cause and mission, but getting to know some of their personal interests helps tailor your future events and activities and helps you strike a conversation with your donors.

Find Out Your Donor’s Preferences

Find out how your donors prefer to donate or be contacted. This is a key way of easily catering to your donors and making sure you aren’t bombarding them with unnecessary communication. For example, your donors of Gen-Z might be more interested in a text message or your social media posts rather than getting mail.

Get Feedback From An Event

Find out what attendances liked and didn’t like about an event they attended. This will help you understand what your audience is most interested in when it comes to your events and fundraisers.

Get Insight on Which Volunteer Opportunities to Focus On

Ask your donors and volunteers how they would prefer to contribute their time to your organization! You might be surprised to find that some of them can help you in ways you didn’t think about before. Looking for ways to keep volunteers virtually engaged? Click here.

Learn Ways to Improve With Year-End Feedback

See what your donors liked and didn’t like throughout the year when it comes to campaigns, events, opportunities, etc. Here are some sample questions:

• What was your favorite campaign, event, etc. this year?
• How was our communication?
• What would you like to see more of next year?
• Would you like to be more involved next year? If so, please let us know in what ways you’d like to contribute.

Post-Donation Surveys

Ask some questions while your donor’s interest is piqued right after they donate. You could ask how they heard of your organization or what inspired their recent donation along with their basic information and details. This gives you a better understanding of what outlets and marketing efforts to focus on.

Are you interested in setting up a survey on your website or within your next email campaign? DonorView can help. We provide your organization the ability to easily create and build your own branded survey (see image below.) DonorView tracks each survey participant’s answers right in the software so you can easily go back and look at answers anytime.

Interested in learning more? Schedule a demo today!