Fundraising 101: Cultivation Before Solicitation
In the nonprofit sector, building strong relationships with donors is key to sustaining impactful programs and expanding your mission. But too frequently, we don’t start at the right step. We think a donor relationship begins with the donation. It doesn’t.
Imagine meeting someone for the first time and immediately asking them for a favor. Chances are, you’d hesitate to make the request, and they would likely feel uncomfortable obliging.
Or, my favorite analogy, imagine you’re looking for a life partner. But instead of dating people who share your values and can buy into your dreams, you just show up at a speed dating session and propose to everyone there. I mean, they’re looking for a partner too; let’s just cut to the thing I need.
When we translate the solicitation stage in a donor relationship to real life interactions, it’s obvious that nonprofits are doing this wrong. But we don’t think about it when we turn the relationship into a transaction.
But here’s the problem. You want donors that give year-after-year…that’s a relationship, not a transaction. So we MUST think about it in terms of how we’d build and nurture any other IRL relationship.
Donor cultivation is about building trust, showcasing the value of your work, and making the donor feel connected to the mission before asking them for a financial commitment.
Cultivation helps to:
Create emotional investment: Donors want to feel personally connected to your cause, understanding the tangible difference their contributions can make.
Foster a deeper understanding of your organization: By learning about your programs, challenges, and vision, donors are more likely to see the long-term potential of their involvement.
Establish meaningful relationships: Engaging with donors before asking for money builds a relationship based on partnership rather than a transactional exchange.
When cultivation is done thoughtfully, donors move from passive supporters to active champions of your mission.
Converse, Don’t Broadcast.
Unfortunately, the organizations that often THINK they are cultivating their donors are also doing it wrong. A four email welcome series when someone joins your mailing list is great. It’s a part of cultivation. But if it’s four emails and then an ask email, with no other engagement…you missed the mark.
If cultivation is about relationship building, your cultivation points can’t be a monologue. Cultivation activities have to create dialogue.
Nonprofits tend to broadcast, but we need to converse. Here are a few innovative, engaging, and authentic ways nonprofit leaders can cultivate relationships with donors before making an ask, both online and offline.
1. Behind-the-Scenes Tours
A powerful way to cultivate donors is by inviting them to see your work firsthand. Hosting a behind-the-scenes tour of your facilities or programs gives potential donors a chance to witness your impact in action. This can be done in person for local donors or through virtual tours for those at a distance, allowing donors to ask questions and engage directly with staff.
And while I think these are amazing, do be careful with how you use these. If you work with sensitive audiences (think homeless and domestic abuse shelters), you may not want to open your clients up to this level of inspection. So you’ll want to think about when and how you do something like this (if you do it at all). If you have a sensitive mission, my friends Maria Bryan and Diana Farias Heinrich have so much good content for you to figure this out.
But if you’re an arts organization, letting audiences see the stage rigging, backstage rooms, etc. can be a fun way of immersing them in your mission. I worked at an arthouse cinema, and donors loved coming to see our projection booth and equipment. If there are ways to bring your audiences behind the scenes, they’ll get excited and activated.
2. Mission-Driven Dinners
Hosting small, intimate mission-driven dinners is an innovative way to create dialogue between donors and the nonprofit. Your current donors and board members can invite friends (potential donors) to meet with nonprofit representatives (staff, board members, and even program participants) in an informal setting where stories and experiences can be shared. This not only offers donors an opportunity to understand the work on a deeper level but also fosters personal connections between the nonprofit team and the prospective donor. These are one of my favorite ways to engage with new donors.
3. Impact Meetings
Another innovative approach is impact meetings, where nonprofit leaders invite a group of prospective donors to hear about the impact the organization has made over the prior month/quarter/year, and invites them to ask questions and give feedback to the organization. This participatory approach builds a sense of ownership and investment, making donors feel like valued partners rather than just financial supporters.
For example, an organization might share a strategic plan or new initiative with a select group of key donor targets and invite feedback to incorporate their insights.
4. Community Forums
Similar to impact meetings, you can host community forums where donors and stakeholders can interact with nonprofit leaders; these create a dynamic space for dialogue. These forums can be framed as town hall meetings, Q&A sessions, or panel discussions, where prospective donors can learn about the organization’s challenges, progress, and future plans. Encouraging live questions and feedback helps foster a sense of transparency and accountability.
5. Volunteer Days
Nonprofits too often think there’s a firm line between volunteers and donors…but my experience has been that your best donors are volunteers and your best volunteers are donors. Donors can also engage more meaningfully through volunteer experience, where they work alongside staff to experience the organization’s work firsthand. This could involve helping out at a food bank, mentoring participants in an educational program, or assisting at a community health fair. These immersive experiences leave a lasting impact, showing donors the value of their support and fostering deeper emotional investment.
6. Coffee Chats with the CEO
Sometimes, the simplest approach is the most effective. A one-on-one or few-on-one coffee meeting with the CEO or executive director can be a powerful cultivation tool, allowing a potential donor to ask questions, hear about future plans, and share their personal connection to the cause. This informal setting encourages a deeper conversation and a stronger relationship between the donor and the organization’s leadership.
TR;DL: Build Relationships Before Asking for Money
Donor cultivation isn’t just a precursor to making an ask—it’s a long-term strategy for building meaningful partnerships with people who believe in your mission. By engaging donors with personalized experiences, open dialogue, and opportunities for active participation, nonprofits can nurture a deeper connection that will sustain their work for years to come.
Innovative cultivation techniques, whether online or offline, enable nonprofits to showcase their impact, while also creating opportunities for donors to engage meaningfully before being asked to make a financial contribution. And when the time comes to solicit support, the donor will feel fully invested in the cause and ready to make a significant impact.
Remember, fundraising is not about the transaction; it’s about building a community of champions for your mission.
