Streamline Your Workflow with Lead Qualification Service for Nonprofit

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so i know this isn't going to come as a galloping shock to anybody but all organizations have to generate leads right we know this what a lot of people don't think about though is that non-profits have to generate leads as well but there's a little bit of difference in how they do it so let's talk about that what's different what's the same hey everybody i'm ian campbell and i'm ceo of mission suite before we jump into today's video do me a favor and hit the subscribe button and ring the bell so that you're notified any time that we post new videos so a lot of times non-profits rely on donors to pay for the day-to-day operations of the organization and they have a responsibility to those donors to not waste the valuable dollars that they've been given mass mailings to potential donors with no connection to your organization or to your cause is not going to generate donations required to cover the time the wages the cost of printing and mailing and all the other things that you need to actually recover those resources and that money and whatnot and add new value to the donor base right shooting in the dark hoping to hit a potential donor is financially and fiscally irresponsible experienced fundraisers know that the likelihood of donation from someone who has no personal connection to your agency or someone the agency serves is pretty low and they spend pretty little or maybe no time on non-qualified prospects because a it's doubtful to lead to a significant donation b waste valuable organizational resources and c it's kind of wrong to waste those resources on things that are not going to actually yield any results non-profits have a fiduciary responsibility to their donors and their constituents that they serve to operate efficiently and spend responsibly so how do they do that well let's talk a little bit about a qualified donor profile so what is a qualified donor profile well before we talk about what a qualified donor profile or qdp is let's start with what it's not a qdp is not a name or an email or a street mailing address or a phone number that's been farmed from some wealth screening database it hasn't been taken from a donor report from another non-profit and it's not from a list that's been purchased or downloaded from some sort of website those are contacts there's a lot of work that needs to happen to turn a contact into a qualified profile see a lot of non-profit organizations are going to turn to some sort of wealth screening or donor reports and an attempt to find new leads right they they're going to send out heartwarming letters with hopes of of with hopes of wowing that that that person or that company uh with their heartwarming messaging they're going to touch them so deeply that they're going to write this big check that's going to bankroll their organization for the coming year the the coming year sometimes they think that the more letters that they send the greater their chances of gaining some sort of a new supporter and if they send out enough correspondence it's going to eventually lead to the desired result now i get that thinking and there's a little bit of truth there unfortunately not enough to really make it worth it see the problem with this approach is that information is being sent to hundreds of so-called donors who actually have no personal connection to your organization and more even more detrimentally have no personal connection to its cause and they've probably not been affected by the problems that your agency is trying to solve right they're also receiving multiple requests from a lot of organizations asking them for money and a lot of those are just and lending it ending up in the trash can think about it an organization is on a mission to raise awareness about the adverse effects of litter in the community and they're on a mission to clean up litter from public places and from the sides of the roads the letter goes to two people both of whom have the same amount of money one person is deeply disturbed by all that litter and they want it cleaned up right the second person throws their fast food bag out the car window which person do you think is more likely to actually support the cause see random communication sent out in hopes of landing a donor usually don't work procuring donors is a process that all begins with a qualified donor profile and a qualified donor profile is somebody or some company who's actually interested in the cause of your nonprofit you know that they're interested because maybe they've reached out to you for more information based on some sort of message or some sort of communication that was that was maybe dropped somewhere by you maybe they've seen you on the website maybe they've seen you on social media but once a person's reached out to your organization whether they've visited a landing page subscribe to a newsletter or attend an event or left their email address whatever it is if they've taken some sort of action toward learning about your cause or your organization well now they're a qualified donor now they're they're they're at least qualified right but keep in mind that not all qualified donors are the same right for example just because someone reached out to learn about your company your organization doesn't mean that they have the capacity to actually donate a lot of money simply put a qdp is just the starting point of a dialogue that's ultimately going to lead to some sort of a relationship maybe financial maybe not but the goal of that relationship is hopefully to blossom into some sort of support for that organization now again qdps are not all the same so there are a few things to look at when qualifying a prospective donor has the person or that entity expressed interest in your organization based on some sort of printed or digital information maybe an event or another activity that your organization has has put together as we talked about before if a person or entity has provided their contact information in an attempt to learn more about your organization then they are automatically by definition a qualified donor right well potentially a qualified donor at least you know that that they're interested in you now does the person maybe that the company that you're talking to do they have a specific interest or some sort of compelling emotional reason and supporting the mission of your non-profit persons people that are personally affected by the particular problem that you're solving are much more likely to become donors for example a family member of a person with developmental developmental disability can connect with the cause because of the personal story so it's much more likely to relate to an agency serving those with developmental disabilities is a praise that is that person or that company familiar with the organization if they've advocated for you before then maybe they're maybe they're a qualified profile if they volunteered with for you maybe they're a qualified profile if they shared messaging they could be qualified for you right have you have they out actually told you that they want to give to you right this one is well this one's a no-brainer right they're obviously qualified do they have the means do they have the capacity do they have frankly do they have the money to support your organization right someone living paycheck to paycheck may have a compelling emotionally based interest in your organization but simply don't have the means to give a cash donation it doesn't mean they can't be a qualified lead but you might approach them for volunteering or maybe sharing your messaging doing something other than actually supporting you financially so let's talk a little bit about how nonprofits actually generate qdps developing a base of qdps requires a substantial amount of work up front and is an ongoing process for most nonprofits both new and the established ones that being said there are a lot of different ways to find and to attract those qualified potential qualified donors the best place to start is on your nonprofit's website right you always start with messaging you need clear and concise messaging about that organization about what you're doing about the problem that you're solving and why it's important to actually get it solved non-profit organizations have a particular advantage over for-profit businesses because they're usually flush with compelling and emotional stories that can be tapped into about how an organization is helping a particular constituency or affecting some sort of change a well-crafted message is going to help create an emotional connection to the organization and provide a lot of different opportunities for an interested party to engage through clear calls to action right speaking of a well-crafted message and straightforward call to action are going to be the reason that somebody responds right that's going to be the reason that someone kind of raises their hand and say hey it says hey i'm a qualified donor prospect right calls to action should be located in all of your digital messaging systems like your social media posts your email campaigns on your website landing pages whole nine yards they can tell you they can tell an individual what you would like them to do right subscribe to the newsletter join the mailing list check out the blog contact us for more information learn more stories the whole nine yards right they're designed to effectively turn people interested in your organization into qualified donor prospects effective messaging always includes one or sometimes a few clear calls to action digital tools like websites social media sites email campaigns and advertisements off also offer excellent opportunities to generate those qdps right with effective messaging and clear calls to action fundraisers can create points of engagement between you and someone who's actually reading your message petitions are a great example of a digital tool that actually work for procuring qualified donor prospects a petition campaign sends a strong message about a problem that your organization is trying to change it engages a prospect by compelling them to take a pretty simple but meaningful action which is signing the petition and it can help them actually make it then it can actually help make change now once someone has responded to that kind of call to action for your organization to put out or you know kind of filled out that form for example you know that they are interested in your cause often when someone signs a petition they repost it on their social media which could also lead to other qualified profiles now before we go any further i do want to take a second here now i know it seems complicated and sometimes feels like it's a bit too much work to do but i can assure you that it's not and at the end of the day it's worth it if you're looking to keep track of your qualified profile donor prospects the leads and then the donors journey then you need a great crm that can actually help and we'd be thrilled to talk to you more about how missions we can help you do that now back to the qdps now events are another great way to let people get to know your organization and to generate those qualified donor prospects events offer the opportunity to put out informational brochures collect email addresses and meet face-to-face with members of the community and share your cause and begin to work on one-on-one relationships those that often produce the most support one-on-one relationships speaking of they are the entire reason for inquiring those qdps in the end is actually developing some sort of one-on-one relationship right making a connection those one-on-one interactions allow the fundraisers in your organization an opportunity to really get to know what an organization is about right they they they build trust they learn everything about what makes a particular donor want to give the goal here is to establish a relationship where making a gift is as beneficial and fulfilling to the giver as it is to the recipient now volunteers board members constituent family members those who are grateful to your organization for helping them or some or a loved one should consistently be recognized as qualified prospects as well now maybe they have the means to make a financial contribution maybe they don't right those who believe in your organization and feel compelled to help can offer practical resources such as time labor testimonials expertise anything like that right i mean it doesn't necessarily have to be financial but community engagement is a hugely valuable resource for non-profits and should be included in any sort of a segmenting plan now many non-profits make the mistake of only training their development team and effective donor stewardship that can be problematic because success happens when your whole team understands the essential role that donors play in funding day-to-day operations and how they can act as ambassadors to turn contacts into qualified donor prospects firm understanding what constitutes a qdp and the following steps that that need to be taken is a process in which all of your staff should be trained and engaged on it is important here to follow up and to remember that a qdp is just the starting point of a relationship between a potential donor and a non-profit organization someone has expressed an interest and initiated a conversation based on a messaging it may based on a message an event or a call to action that that was initiated by your organization now the goal of that organization of your organization is to follow up and to create a relationship with that qualified prospect newly qualified prospect that will go through another process before a fundraiser even actually makes an ask right once that relationship is established it's time to start nurturing right it's essentially to properly nurture that relationship by developing some sort of open and uh trustworthy and honest communication right you want transparent interactions with that prospect because this is when a fundraiser actually learns what they can about the donor while teaching the donor everything that they can and really need to know about the organization now again not all of these qualified prospects are the same so work to segment the qdps into categories such as major donor minor donor plan giver volunteer maybe they've got the capacity to give you know you're gonna you're gonna kind of you're gonna segment based on that don't write a potential donor off just because they can't offer a monetary donation right now volunteers often bring expertise skills and other resources to the table and ultimately oftentimes become donors as well now timing here is you know don't make an ask of your pro of that prospect until they've been adequately vetted by having all the information that they need to uh to decide to support that organ your organization and they've been paired with the right person from your team who are going to financially secure that donation qualifying donor prospects is the beginning of the donor relationship process good fundraisers find creative ways to use messaging digital tools all the different things that we've talked about to engage with the the to engage potential donors with your non-profit and bring them into the playing field emphasizing qualifying donor donor donor prospects may feel insurmountable initially but are ultimately going to yield in so many great so just much greater results in the long run and great fundraisers are probably going to have help in keeping track of all this right they're going to need it in some way shape or form look into a crm to help you right it's going to be hugely important because that's the way that you're going to be able to understand who's doing what who's who's in your database where they are in the journey the whole nine yards and of course reach out to us at mission suite we're happy to help you with that we're happy to help clarify anything that you heard here or offer any advice on how to make this more effective listen i hope that you got something out of this video if you did do me a favor give it a like give it a comment give it a share so that others can see it too it definitely helps us with the engagement and it helps us with this whole youtube youtube algorithm that we're working with also don't forget to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell so that you're notified when we post new videos and check out the other videos that you're seeing here on your screen and in the meantime we'll see you next time around cheers