The nonprofit fundraising world is constantly evolving, almost daily. Understanding its various trends will position your organization along the path of success.

There are several major industry trends shaping the nonprofit fundraising community: transactional viewpoints, increased technology, and turnover and burnout. Let’s look at each of these segments in more detail.

Transactional Relationships

Nonprofit trends are moving toward transactional elements with incredible speed. Although its definition depends on a variety of factors, most professionals agree that transactional relationships are focused primarily on about quick results and money: ask for cash, receive cash, repeat.

As development professionals, we know that transactional relationships are the furthest thing from the ideal relationship and why most of us are in this profession. Donors want to be engaged in a personalized, caring, and thoughtful way. Minimizing their contributions to a transactional formula isn’t just disappointing to donors; over time it dramatically impacts your bottom line.

Increased Technology

The things that can be accomplished with a touch of a button are simply astounding. Donors are using more tech than ever before, with mixed results. Today, a nonprofit audience expects the ability to plug into your organization on multiple fronts; website signups and online donations, text to give, peer to peer fundraising options, etc. not to mention utilizing a host of different social media channels to receive and communicate information.  Failing to manage the right tech stack could negatively impact your organization and its mission in many ways.

Turnover And Burnout

Donor engagement professionals were hit hard by COVID-19. The internal pressure and tension caused by the change of engagement, coupled with lower donation rates for more than eighteen months, dealt a blow to morale. Today, 50% of nonprofit professionals are currently at risk for burning out.

As transactional style relationships are pushed toward development professionals, more and more internal pressure is felt. Engagement officers want to meaningfully connect with their donors and their mission, but with a growing number of moving targets to meet, the moving goalpost becomes a barrier to their workflow leading to turnover and burnout.

Ways To Stay Ahead of The Industry Curve

Changes within the fundraising industry won’t be slowing down anytime soon. While these tips can’t be considered ‘silver bullets,’ they can reframe your perspectives about potential guidelines, updates, and thought processes for your organization.

Don’t Make Decisions for The Donor

Your donor deserves personalization -- especially in their engagement choices. Start by asking your donors about how or when they like to be contacted, and through which medium. Some development professionals are better wired for face-to-face meetings, while others prefer the instantaneous nature of a video call. No matter what your preference is, be sure the donor has the first and last say.

More Listening, Less Talking

It’s easy to be trapped in a cycle of talking TO rather than talking WITH a donor. In the midst of busy schedules, back-to-back meetings, and countless board inquiries, it’s easy to fall into a transactional mindset. Avoid this by making relationships king of your organization. Optimism and expectation, not worry and fear, should guide your conversations. Your donors will notice the difference.

Keep It Simple

Sometimes, fundraising professionals build up processes, procedures, and other big picture initiatives that miss their original goals. The problem? Complexity.

View your goals through the lens of simplicity, and let ease guide your steps. Ask yourself, “what’s the best thing that could happen?” Allow yourself to expect more, and tackle challenges as they arise.

Don’t Let Tech Rule Your Life

Tech tools and data points are a necessary part of our industry. However, they shouldn’t be the only things calling the shots. Recognize that industry tools are simply that: tools. Overreliance could shoot yourself in the foot, and cause donors to feel more like banks than partners in the mission field. Be willing to celebrate with your donors through the medium of their choice -- and take a step back from the constant flow of technology.

Be Willing to Be Flexible

Rigidity is a natural, even normal part of the fundraising industry. Having a plan and sticking to it is a great way to yield results, but it could also hinder your ability to pivot in the face of obstacles.

Flexibility doesn’t mean zero planning. It also doesn’t mean avoiding best practices. But it does mean giving yourself enough margin to take a breath before making the next decision.

Leverage Dot Drives to Manage Nonprofit Industry Changes

The decisions we make for our nonprofits now will affect the future in a tangible way. At Dot Drives, we believe in addressing the evolving industry of fundraising on several fronts.

Our simple nonprofit CRM was launched to address everyday pain points experienced by professionals on every front of the organization. Managing tight time constraints, juggling donor needs, and failing to keep up with technology demands can be quickly addressed by a single software integration.

Ready to learn more? We’d love to chat. Book a free demo with a team member to see our tech in action.

Written By Meagan Shelley

Post Contributors Wendy Adams and Sal Ferlise