ARTICLE
13 Ways To Find New Donors For Your Nonprofit Organization
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Updated - 02/25/2025
Connecting with new donors is crucial to growing your nonprofit’s supporter base and ultimately raising more for your cause. The most recent data from the Fundraising Effectiveness Project shows that more donations are coming from an increasingly small donor pool and emphasizes new donor acquisition as a top priority for nonprofits:
“The decline in donor numbers is largely driven by low participation from the smallest donor size group (under $100), which saw an -12.4% year-over-year (YOY) decrease, as well as declines in numbers of new donors, who experienced an -11.5% YOY decrease.” – Source
New donors invigorate your nonprofit with a fresh wave of funding and engagement. And, when you properly steward and build relationships with these new donors, they can become lifelong supporters of your mission.
But first, you have to find and connect with these individuals. This guide covers the following strategies for finding and engaging new donors:
- Leverage your existing supporter base.
- Invite prospective donors to getting-to-know-you events.
- Use social media.
- Conduct prospect research to connect with new major donors.
- Build strategic partnerships with businesses.
- Form relationships with other community organizations.
- Reach out to one-time and lapsed donors.
- Build your email list.
- Optimize your website.
- Treat volunteers as potential donors.
- Turn to your board for help.
- Engage with your local media.
- Transform donors into ambassadors.
1. Leverage your existing supporter base.
Your current supporters, including donors, volunteers, advocates, and peer-to-peer fundraisers, are some of the strongest advocates for your cause because they’re already invested in seeing your mission succeed. Ask them to spread the word about your organization amongst their family members and friends.
Incentivize supporters to promote your cause. For example, offer a free branded t-shirt to volunteers who bring a friend to a volunteer opportunity or to donors who invite a loved one to a fundraising event.
Ensure supporters have access to the resources they need, such as links to your nonprofit’s About page or information about your current fundraising priorities, so they can support your most pressing needs.
2. Invite prospective donors to getting-to-know-you events.
Donor research from BWF found that an organization’s most dedicated donors are typically individuals who:
- Know multiple people at the nonprofit
- Are friends with fellow donors
- View giving as a part of their identity and strongly connect with the nonprofit’s donor community
Getting-to-know-you events can be the perfect way to foster these relationships between donors and your nonprofit and strengthen bonds with your community.
These events can be tours of your facilities, panels with guest speakers, or informal meet-and-greets and coffee chats at your nonprofit’s headquarters. These experiences should offer information about your organization’s mission, services, goals, and ways to get involved.
Send follow-up emails to attendees to gather feedback and introduce them to additional engagement opportunities. Reference specific information you learned or interactions with them during the event to show them that you appreciate their involvement and care about forming a real relationship.
4. Conduct prospect research to connect with new major donors.
Use your internal donor database and external resources to identify prospective donors who exhibit warmth toward your organization and the capacity to contribute a larger donation.
Look at the annual reports, donor recognition lists, and newsletters of similar organizations and compile a list of their donors. Ask board and staff members if they know anyone on these lists. If so, ask them to share information about your organization and invite this individual to attend one of your events or sign up for your newsletter.
However, remember that prospects will most often come from your nonprofit’s existing donor pool. Prioritize prospects who exhibit both wealth indicators (real estate and stock ownership, large previous charitable gifts, etc.) and philanthropic indicators (previous donations to your organization or similar nonprofits, a history of political giving, etc.).
5. Build strategic partnerships with businesses.
Corporate partnerships offer win-win benefits for nonprofits and businesses. Nonprofits receive valuable fundraising and volunteer support, while businesses get a PR boost.
You can receive direct donations, in-kind donations, matching gifts, volunteer grants, and other fundraising support from businesses. These initiatives are highly lucrative but often untapped resources for nonprofits. According to Double the Donation’s corporate giving research, about $4-$7 billion in matching gift funds go unclaimed annually. Plus, 84% of survey participants say they’re more likely to donate if a match is offered, demonstrating how corporate philanthropy programs can motivate new donors to get involved.
You can also engage employees in workplace volunteering. Ask your corporate partners to spread the word about your mission or engage with these prospects directly at your events and volunteer opportunities.
6. Form relationships with other community organizations.
Similarly to corporate partnerships, forming relationships with other community organizations, like associations, civic clubs, and other nonprofits, can benefit your organization in multiple ways. You can cohost fundraising events with these organizations, share fundraising resources, and leverage both organizations’ marketing platforms to reach a wider audience of potential new donors.
Look for organizations whose missions align with yours. For example, an animal shelter and a veterinary association may work together to host an event that funds pet adoptions and teaches new pet owners how to care for their animals properly.
7. Reach out to one-time and lapsed donors.
Your one-time and lapsed donors may still be interested in giving to your organization, but perhaps you’ve fallen off their radar, or they don’t know the best way to engage with your nonprofit regularly.
Reach out to these donors with various ways to continue their involvement, such as your monthly giving program, peer-to-peer fundraising opportunities, or upcoming fundraising events. Additionally, thank these donors for their past contributions and expressly mention their donation amounts and impact to show them the value they’ve already added to your organization.
8. Build your email list.
Email is a highly effective fundraising tool. In fact, according to the Global Trends in Giving report, 33% of donors in the U.S. and Canada say email is the communication channel that most inspires them to contribute—more than any other platform.
Collect email addresses during community events and volunteer opportunities and via your social media channels. Create a welcome series for new subscribers that introduces your organization’s mission, describes your impact on the community, and offers engagement opportunities.
Additionally, ensure your website includes a simple email registration form for visitors to sign up for your newsletter.
9. Optimize your website.
Statistics show that over half of all nonprofit website traffic comes from mobile devices, so your site must be mobile-friendly to engage new and current supporters alike. Also, use your website to entice visitors with a “pop-up” offering free information and resources. Send interested individuals a welcome email and relevant informational emails over several weeks.
Finally, ensure your online donation form is easy to find and fill out. 63% of donors prefer to give online with a credit or debit card, so ensure your form can process multiple card types.
Use various call-to-action buttons and links on your homepage to attract visitors to your donation page. Then, only ask for necessary information, such as names, contact information, and payment information, to make it as convenient as possible to complete.
10. Treat volunteers as potential donors.
42% of volunteers participate in a volunteer program before deciding to donate to an organization. This statistic shows that volunteering can be a way for potential supporters to learn more about your cause and determine whether they want to support you financially as well as through volunteer work.
Steward your nonprofit’s volunteers by showing them gratitude and explaining the impact of their volunteer work. Then, send them low-commitment donation requests to gauge their interest. For example, you might ask them to contribute a $20 donation to your summer crowdfunding campaign. If they take you up on your offer, you’ll know that they may be receptive to future fundraising opportunities.
11. Turn to your board for help.
Nonprofit board members are often highly engaged in their communities, serving on multiple boards, volunteering, and forming business partnerships. These individuals can be effective ambassadors for your cause, sharing your mission with their family, friends, and colleagues.
Equip board members with talking points and resources they can use to encourage those in their networks to donate, such as your nonprofit’s annual reports or Form 990.
12. Engage with your local media.
Reach out to your local newspaper, TV station, and radio station with fascinating stories from your nonprofit’s work or beneficiary community. These news outlets often run human interest stories about people overcoming hardship or communities coming together to support those in need, and your nonprofit can be an excellent fit for those PR opportunities.
13. Transform donors into ambassadors.
Contact your most loyal, long-term donors to see if they’d be interested in joining your ambassador program. Host training sessions for these donors and provide them with talking points, strategies, and resources to promote your cause effectively.
Offer incentives for joining your program, such as gift cards or free branded merchandise. Present the opportunity as a way for dedicated supporters to take their involvement to the next level and grow their leadership and public speaking skills.
Leverage Bloomerang to Acquire and Steward New Donors
Finding new donors and building a reliable donor pipeline takes time and dedication. Bloomerang’s donor database simplifies the process by offering all the data you need to identify and steward new donors at your fingertips. With Bloomerang, your nonprofit can:
- Conduct wealth and philanthropic screening in your donor database through a DonorSearch integration to identify top donor prospects.
- Segment supporters based on shared characteristics to send personalized messages to each group.
- Leverage clean data to support your outreach efforts—Bloomerang automatically checks for and corrects duplicate records, outdated addresses, and birth year updates.
- Grow your donor network with built-in email marketing tools, templates, and scheduled email sends.
- Evaluate donors’ feelings about your nonprofit through satisfaction surveys.
- Send yearly giving statements to thank donors for their ongoing support.
Learn more about our donor management solutions in this short video:
Wrapping Up
Use a combination of these engagement strategies to ensure you’re reaching various new donors across your numerous communication platforms.
Once you find new donors for your nonprofit, your stewardship strategy should immediately kick in. Send personalized thank-you messages, show donors the impact of their gifts, and invite them to engage in additional activities your organization offers, like volunteer events or peer-to-peer fundraising challenges.
With these strategies, you can transform your new donors into long-term supporters. Then, these supporters can recruit other new donors by sharing their fulfilling experiences, creating a cyclical process.
For more information on finding new donors and stewarding them effectively, check out these additional resources:
- Donor Stewardship: Key Tips to Build Relationships. Use this guide to help you build a strong donor stewardship plan that turns new donors into lifelong supporters.
- Cultivating Donor Retention to Grow Your Giving Garden. Take a deep dive into the current state of donor retention and learn how to improve your nonprofit’s donor retention rate with this eBook.
- Donor Welcome Series Email Templates. Cultivate lasting connections with new donors with these email templates.
Bloomerang supports donor acquisition with accurate insights, marketing support, and more!
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