What happens when someone gives you a gift for the very first time? Do you have a system in place to onboard these people? 

This is where many organizations trip up and lose new donors; they simply don’t have a plan in place to get new donors acclimated and familiar with their organization. So, after a new donor gives a gift, they mark the task off their “do-good” list, and sometimes (unfortunately) end up forgetting about you and the great work your team does.

You can prevent that from happening. All it takes is a thoughtful onboarding process to keep new donors plugged into your mission by welcoming them in a genuine and thoughtful manner. 

Let’s assemble the (onboarding) forces.

Confirmation page. People are most engaged with your organization, your values and your mission at the moment of their first gift. They just discovered you and they’re feeling inspired and motivated enough to share their resources with you and partner with your mission. Capitalize on that commitment. Ask them to take another step deeper by including an “opt-in” option on the confirmation/thank you page to subscribe to your email newsletter. Don’t just say thank you—take full advantage of that confirmation page. 

But rather than just asking people to opt-in, make sure that you associate value with the opportunity. Share examples of the type of content that you’ll be sending them if they opt in, and give them the chance to choose their own frequency and type of communications that they want to receive form you. Just asking people to do something isn’t enough—you always need to provide value. 

Gift receipt. This is your second chance to ask people to go deeper with you. When you send the immediate thank you email with a gift receipt, give them another chance to opt-in for your email newsletter. Once again, make sure that you make the value of this action easily understood. Tell people what they’ll miss out on if they don’t subscribe.

Make sure that you also include all your social media links somewhere in that email so that readers can easily access your accounts if they so desire. Keep in mind that this email should be sent immediately after they complete and submit their gift.

Welcome Email Series. Just because someone donated to you doesn’t mean that they know everything (or even anything!) about you. Chances are they don’t know your entire history or the extent of your outreach. So share that with them through a welcome email series. Here is an example of what a basic welcome email series could look like.

• Email 1. (Send one day after gift): Reiterate gratitude for their gift. Welcome them to the organization and provide a brief glimpse into what their gift will accomplish. Provide links to recent blog posts or press releases about your work.
• Email 2 (Send three days after gift): Give more history of the organization: how you started, why you exist, and your current outreach. Provide links to site pages where people can learn more. At the end, ask people to subscribe to your email newsletter to stay in the loop with everything else that is going on.
• Email 3 (Send six days after gift): Use this email to share more ways for people to get involved. Ask people to follow you on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter (whichever platforms you are most prevalent on) to get real time updates on when and how they can volunteer or get involved.

Printed Thank You Letter. This is the extra golden step that really sets you apart. It could be something as simple as a postcard that gets sent to them a few weeks after they give. Going the extra mile in this way really helps you to stay at top of mind with your donors.

Within the postcard, make sure to include ways for people to stay involved and provide a link to a landing page where they can learn more. Since this is a print piece and people will have to actually enter the link manually—make sure that you have a really simple link.

With automation, you can make the entire process of onboarding new people even easier. Implementing the above tactics for every new donor that you secure can seem daunting if you don’t have automation on your side. So embrace automation, for it makes everyone’s life easier. 

Automation can take care of your confirmation page and your immediate emailed gift receipt. It can even take care of your welcome email series. All you have to do is write the content, set the rules and then the communications run on their own. Viola! Donor management CAN be a breeze.

 Currently stuck in a donor management software that doesn’t allow you to automate communications? Check out Donor.com. With our email management tools, you don’t have to worry about hitting the send button multiple times a day. Request a demo today to see just how easy it can be.