Donor Engagement and COVID-19
Our nonprofit donors play an integral role in allowing us to fulfill our missions. For that reason, even with our sites closed for now, donor engagement remains important. The resources listed below may be helpful to reach a better understanding of how this engagement might change and evolve due to our shared experiences with COVID-19, and how we may want to shift our approaches towards donor relations in order to ensure the financial sustainability of our organizations.
Bloomerang has compiled a library of crisis fundraising advice, articles, opinions, webinars, videos and resources in the wake of the new coronavirus and its impact on the nonprofit sector. Some of their webinars focus on empathetic donor engagement. Donor Love and Vulnerability in the Era of COVID-19, shows you how to lean into vulnerability in your fundraising. Donor Communication In The Wake of COVID-19 focuses on how to effectively fundraise in a time of overwhelming anxiety and stress. In During Fear & Uncertainty – How to Fundraise?, the speakers share their collective best practices for fundraising during times of fear and uncertainty.
The American Association for State and Local History also emphasizes the importance of empathy during this time in their webinar Empathetic Audience Engagement During a Crisis. In a follow up to the blogpost, Empathetic Audience Engagement During The Apocalypse, independent consultant and master educator Andrea Jones of Peak Experience Lab presents a thoughtful conversation about grieving a loss of normalcy during the current pandemic, while also making progress towards forging new identities.
Chronicle of Philanthropy gives you 4 Ways to Engage Major Donors During the Covid-19 Crisis, providing guidance on how fundraisers can adopt to new strategies for engaging key donors and prospective supporters while continuing to build meaningful connections.
Maryland Nonprofits created a webinar on Adapting Your Fundraising Strategy During COVID-19, providing guidance, tips, and tools to pivot and adapt your current fundraising strategies so that you can continue engaging donors and generating plans for driving revenue during this difficult time.
Looking beyond fundraising, the American Alliance of Museums shared a blog post on Three New Scenarios for Financial Survival in 2020. This post is a follow-up to How to Use Scenarios to Plan Your Museum’s COVID-19 Response. It presents three “state of the world” scenarios you can use as the seeds for your own stories and provides a worksheet for envisioning how your museum can thrive in each of these potential futures.
The Four Rivers Heritage Area would like to thank our donors for their continued support. We’re grateful to have you as part of our organization.