Whether you are fundraising for a charity, organisation or alumni foundation, technology can help to improve your donor experience. With donations frequently taking place online or in a socially-distanced setting, it can be difficult to give the same warmth and thanks to your donors as you could normally do. Using technology to enhance your donor experience can be a great way to show supporters a personalised experience and maintain the same relationships you have with your donors. 

1) Use engagement tracking to find out what interests your donors

One of the best ways to create a great donor experience is to tailor your communications and content to the individual. Using your engagement data, such as event attendance, content interaction and email opens will give you a better insight into what your donors are interested in, and will help you to create smaller segments that you can supply with their preferred formats or type of content, helping to build a deeper connection. 

2) Automated birthday messages

Using automated birthday messages is a great way to remind your donors of your cause during the year, outside of traditional fundraising communications. Many people set up birthday fundraisers on Facebook, and reminding your supporters about the great work you are doing which may inspire them to fundraise on your behalf. 

3) Bring your stories to life, wherever your supporters are

Creating engaging content that will bring inbound traffic to your site is key to maintaining your donor relationships: find ways of expressing your mission and telling the stories of your beneficiaries, and promoting this content through your owned channels to show your donors how their funds have been used to help further your mission.

4) Seamless payment integration online

The ability to use Apple Pay and Paypal on your charity or alumni site can greatly improve your donor experience, by offering them a seamless and trustworthy experience. 

5) Using technology to enhance experiences in the ‘real world’ with Goodbox

In a new contactless world, with fewer opportunities for small wins like charity collection boxes, fundraising teams will have to work harder for donations. One example of a brand showing the way forward by going beyond the traditional donor process is Goodbox, who offer tailored donor experiences to bring causes to life. With donors expecting more of charities, and a greater need for fundraising than before, offering a real world connection that surprises and delights supporters is a smart way to bring the joy back into donating.

6) Use fundraising software to leverage your relationships and build new connections

A good fundraising management system can make a world of difference when creating an exceptional donor experience. Using a software ensures that all interactions are logged and saved and enables any fundraiser within the organisation to access key details such as when the donor last gave, and why they give, which in turn can help to build deeper relationships and make your fundraising more effective.   

Find more top tips on fundraising, engagement and data on our blog. 

ToucanTech customers are creating exceptional donor experiences all over the world. Discuss ways to make your community more engaged with an experienced ToucanTech engagement evangelist; organise a time to talk to the team here.