Building an Inclusive Fundraising Approach: 4 Strategies

Nonprofits are typically inclusive by nature, aiming to help as many people, animals, or places as they possibly can. Why shouldn’t your fundraising strategy reflect this inclusive approach?

When you create your fundraising strategy with inclusion in mind, you can engage more supporters and build a diverse community of people passionate about your cause. This guide will present several tips to help you embrace inclusive fundraising.

1. Redefine what you consider valuable engagement.

While major donors are integral to your nonprofit’s success, don’t forget about your other supporters. When you only measure success by donation size, you may exclude those who show up in other ways.

Take a holistic approach to engagement. While donor databases have historically helped organizations identify their top giving prospects, some nonprofit CRMs provide more comprehensive engagement scores, accounting for factors like:

• Volunteer hours

• Email opens

• Survey responses

• Peer-to-peer fundraising participation

• Event attendance

• Content downloads

• Social media interactions

• Advocacy actions

By considering all the ways supporters can engage with your organization, you can better steward these relationships and demonstrate how much your nonprofit values each and every constituent.

Additionally, gauge the length of each supporter’s involvement. A donor who has consistently contributed $10 a month for the past eight years can be just as passionate about your cause as a major donor who gives $10,000 a year. Celebrate anyone who’s been loyal to your organization over a significant period of time to encourage continued involvement.

2. Implement asset framing in your storytelling.

Storytelling is an effective marketing strategy because it helps current and potential supporters form an emotional connection to your cause. However, you must use storytelling ethically to respect the beneficiaries, supporters, or staff members featured.

In the past, many organizations have used deficit framing in their storytelling, which means they define the individual or community they’re portraying by the challenges they face or the trauma they endure. Nonprofits that leverage this approach try to solicit donations by evoking pity from their audiences.

Instead of taking this negative, pity-focused approach, try a more positive, uplifting angle, otherwise known as asset framing. Unlike deficit framing, asset framing focuses on the central character’s aspirations, strengths, and agency. While it acknowledges the hardships they’ve faced, it portrays the nonprofit as a partner in their success, rather than a savior.

For example, let’s say you run a homeless shelter. Instead of starting a story by saying a beneficiary was “helpless and had nowhere to go,” introduce them as “a community member seeking stable housing in a city where affordable housing is scarce.” While the first framing presents the beneficiary as a passive victim, the second demonstrates that they’re actively trying to overcome a difficult situation.

3. Audit your database for cultural competency.

Create strong supporter relationships by addressing people how they’d like to be addressed. Instead of forcing people to conform to the norms they might usually see on forms, use inclusive data collection methods that account for different identities and preferences.

Review your donor database and how your donation forms capture personal data. Consider whether your systems:

• Collect and use pronouns.

• Accommodate non-Western naming conventions.

• Allow for flexible prefix options.

For example, a supporter may have multiple surnames. If your donation form doesn’t have a place to enter them, you’ll save their contact information incorrectly and refer to them by an incomplete name. Create custom fields as needed to make your forms as inclusive as possible.

4. Make giving accessible.

Any donor who wants to give should be able to do so easily. Inclusion means making the donation process frictionless for every current and potential supporter.

Bloomerang’s donation page guide recommends making your page more accessible by:

• Using high contrast colors so that those with visual impairments can easily read any text

• Avoiding strobing or flashing elements to prevent a negative user experience and possible seizures

• Including alternative text and captions to help individuals with visual and hearing impairments interpret all media on the page

• Adding form field descriptions outside of the fields so screen readers can navigate them

Additionally, ensure mobile responsiveness so users can access your donation page from any device, and diversify your payment methods to include flexible options like digital wallets that some supporters may prefer.

As you make your fundraising strategy more inclusive, survey your supporters to check in with how well these changes serve their needs. Adjust your approach as needed based on their feedback, and stay open and transparent throughout the process.