How to inspire donor loyalty

Prioritise donor needs

In 2023, we are living in an increasingly contactless society. In 2022, half of all payments in the UK were made by debit cards, while the proportion of payments made by cash fell from 15% to 14%. There were 6.4 billion cash payments, compared to 17 billion made by contactless.  

One of the best ways to encourage donors to return to support your charity is to make it as easy as possible for them to donate to you. That includes being able to accept contactless donations wherever they are, including using in-situ donation stations. Involving donors in the conversation is a great way to identify their needs, perhaps through a survey, a method which is too often overlooked. As GWD notes, “If you want more people to give, you’ll need to explore how they want to give.” 

“Twice as many charity donors see contactless as a good idea than those who dislike it, so the more methods you provide, the more demographics you appeal to and the more likely visitors are to give.”   

Keeping donors engaged requires an ongoing understanding of their behaviours and needs. While ensuring that donors can donate in ways that suit them, charities also need to consider barriers to donation and how they can remove them in future.  

For example, the cost-of-living crisis may have affected donors’ ability to give money to charity, particularly in the short term. But once charities have understood the reason behind a potential lapse in support, they can address it head-on. Perhaps Gift Aid is the best solution for this – charities receive 25% boost in donations at no extra cost to the donor. 

GWD advises offering flexibility in fundraising. “If a supporter needs to pause their giving, keep in touch with impact messaging and success stories,” rather than continuing to ask for funds.  

Charities can think about using softer prompts to supporters, such as “Would you like to hear more about our work?” or “Do you want to know how your donation will be spent?”. This is an optional feature of the Donation Station; GWD calls it the ‘Conversation Starter’ and it works as a way to keep in touch with one-off donors, increasing the likelihood of conversion in future or when the donor is ready.

The questions allow supporters to stay in touch with you without the immediate financial pressure of donating. It raises awareness of your cause, while keeping donors inspired for the future.  

Overall, charities should prioritise sensitivity when thinking about donor needs. Allow donors to change the donation amount online and via contactless payment devices, and, when thinking about physical donation stations, too, GWD recommends mapping out visitor journeys and considering appropriate placement, as well as dwell time and footfall. Places with high footfall but no dwell time, for example, won’t be ideal for a Donation Station as it will causes queues and deter visitors from interacting with the device. 

As charities have learned in recent years, donor behaviour is liable to change dramatically according to economic and societal circumstances.  Understanding the needs of different supporters and demographics when it comes to donating, therefore, is an ongoing process, requiring continuous analysis of existing donor data and sector trends.