The early days of running a nonprofit can be exciting! You probably have a core team of supporters who are highly energized. They believe strongly in your cause and have promised to do “whatever it takes” to help make your organization a success. Your donors may have given generously to help get things off the ground—even giving more than they initially planned.
But unfortunately, over time, that enthusiasm can start to wane. Maybe it took a bit longer than anticipated to get the doors open and start providing services. Or perhaps they see their money going toward things that they don’t feel are essential to the cause, such as office expenses or legal fees.
Getting a nonprofit organization off the ground will almost always take more time and require more money than the founders originally estimated. Many founders find themselves having to go back to those who have provided start-up funding and ask for even more money. Eventually, those donors are going to be tapped out—either because they don’t have any more money to give, or because they are tired of being asked for money over and over again by the same organization. When this happens, (or ever better—before this happens) a nonprofit that wants to be successful will need to widen their donor base.
Having a large donor base takes the pressure off of the few big donors who have been keeping the organization afloat. It also sends a message to those donors that they are not the only ones who are committed to the cause.
So, how does a nonprofit find new donors, especially if its leaders have already exhausted their own personal networks? The answer for many nonprofits is to work with a nonprofit marketing agency in San Antonio. A marketing agency that specializes in working with nonprofits can help find and cultivate new donors. Just like a traditional marketing agency helps businesses grow by attracting new customers, a nonprofit marketing agency can help charity organizations grow by finding them new supporters.
A nonprofit marketing agency in San Antonio will typically start by helping an organization grow their email list. Different marketing agencies in San Antionio have different strategies for doing this, and some are more successful than others. (Be sure to ask about an agency’s success in this area. They should be able to provide you with concrete data to support any claims.)
Then, once people have expressed interest in the organization by providing their email addresses, they can start receiving regular communications and learn more about the nonprofit—the services they provide, the good things they are accomplishing, and the community of like-minded people they are creating. After a time, organizations can start to ask subscribers to consider becoming supporters, and once someone has given a one-time gift, they can then be asked to become a monthly supporter.
An organization’s large donors cannot be relied upon forever. At some point, if an organization wants to thrive, they will need to find other people to help support the cause, and a nonprofit marketing agency in San Antonio can help do just that!
