Regardless of your organization type (theatre company, athletics program, or a nonprofit), so much of production costs rely on donations. Fundraising campaigns supported by your generous supporters are what can keep your mission moving forward.
Through donor tracking, you can organize your donors and have insight into their patterns. This means being able to monitor who is giving, how often, when, and why – all data that helps you build stronger relationships, and ensures you are never starting from scratch when planning your next fundraiser. Smart donor management goes beyond raising funds and into creating a community that believes in your mission and stays connected after that first donation.
What is a donation campaign?
A donation campaign is a focused fundraiser meant to raise money for your organization. This can be for a new production, upgrading your equipment, or for a community outreach initiative. Successful campaigns thrive when they have clear goals and an understanding of your customer base.
When you know your audience and track their history, you can personalize your outreach. You’ll see who donated previously to know who might be ready to give again, as well as who might be first time donors. Seeing this record of donations is valuable information to you, as you can target your ask for a donation to be meaningful and personal.
ACTION STEP: Consider what goals you have for fundraising, and set up a campaign that focuses on raising for that targeted goal.
How can you utilize BookTix to retain donors?
Booktix makes it easy to track donors, manage your relationships with them, and measure the performance of your campaign. Through the system you can easily see top contributors or those who donated once and haven’t donated again. You can see patterns on giving and attendance. You can see frequency and amount of donations to track trends.
This all gives you a personal touch when you reach out to those donors – either for thank yous, to offer benefits from donating, or to invite them to give again. You can tag customers based on their donation history, then easily contact from the system with a personal and branded message.
Over time, a data driven approach like this will lead to better donor retention, and sustainable growth for your organization.
ACTION STEP: Use BookTix tags to mark your donors into different categories so you can easily contact them when you’re ready.
Thanking your Donors
Saying thank you is a key part of donor retention. A heartfelt acknowledgment of their gift makes your supporters feel seen, appreciated, and valued. Whether it’s a personal note, a social media shoutout, or a recognition in your program, gratitude will help build loyalty to your organization.
Sending a thank you note is easy within the BookTix system. Just use an email campaign to send a thank you message, which you can use to give them gifts back – in acknowledgement, special previews, and more. Every thoughtful thank you strengthens your relationship and sets the stage for future giving.
ACTION STEP: Send an email campaign to those who donated on your past fundraiser with a heartfelt thank you.
Collecting Data and Empowering your Organization
Donor tracking helps your organization in the long run, as this data helps you plan for the future. You can measure campaign effectiveness and trends in donating that help you with future campaigns, and can use that data on a larger scale for grant applications, for national funding, and ultimately, for growing your organization.
The more you know about your donors, the more empowered your organization becomes. With knowledge of their history, habits, and interests, you gain clear insights into their patterns, which can help you build long term strategies. In turn, this can lead to stronger donor programs, and can show the impact that fundraising has on your organization as a whole.
ACTION STEP: Take time to review your donor data each quarter. Evaluate trends, retention rates, and identify opportunities to re-engage past supporters.
Building and maintaining a strong donor base doesn’t happen overnight, but when using tracking tools and approaching your donors thoughtfully, it’s easy to grow your donor base year by year.
