Prior to working for Treefort, I spent 16 years in the non-profit world. From church work to international community development and non-profit management, I learned that our ability to effectively communicate a story was critical to the ongoing efforts of an organization. Donors give to causes they believe in, and they rightly expect to stay informed about the impact their support is having.
At Treefort, we have the opportunity to serve many non-profit institutions. From ministries to colleges and non-profit publishing houses, we’ve had a window into how non-profit organizations strategically leverage their content to truly engage their donors and bring them along in the story of the work they are doing.
Here are four principles I’ve seen organizations use to keep their audiences engaged.
Frequent
When it comes to keeping people engaged in the story of your organization, more is more. Digital Content Next recently published an article that suggested that a daily publishing cadence outperformed weekly and monthly cadences in app session duration, sessions per month, screen views per session, and time spent per month. A missing element in this study is the perceived quality of the content, but, all things being equal, regularly offering content keeps your key patrons more involved. The more your patrons are involved with what you are doing, the less disconnected your fundraising “ask” will be. Think of it as reciprocity.
Human
Content doesn’t have to be polished or expensive to be engaging, but it should be human. My personal perception is that AI is great for processes and automation within an organization, but I really want to hear from a person, especially if I’m giving money. AI content cheapens reciprocity.
Leveraged
Leveraging your content means more than telling a compelling story. It also means making sure you get the information you need to build a lasting relationship with your audience.
Third-party platforms, like YouTube, provide a quick and easy way to stream, but they don’t allow you to know who your regular audience members are. Audience information, such as email addresses and content engagement, allows you to know who your audience is and what content they are engaging with.
Four thousand five hundred views of a video on YouTube only tell you that the content was interesting, but nothing else. Even more important for your donor relations or alumni engagement director is to know who those people are. The goal is a relationship, not simply views.
Unified
Finally, make it easy for your donors to connect with you.
When your videos are on YouTube, podcasts on Spotify, articles on your website, and books on Amazon, you are asking your patrons to do the work of keeping up with you.
One of the advantages of having your own app is that, instead of hunting around for what you make, your patrons know where to go to get it, and the relationship is more “give and take” and less “hide and seek.”
Your donors and supporters have already invested in your story. They already love what you do, so give them more. As you create content and structures for engagement, make sure that they work for your organization and for your patrons.
