Learn how YMCAs are helping their communities thrive with efficient, affordable, and sustainable fundraising.

You shared your fundraising needs and from those conversations, we have developed an innovative package to equip your organization with tools and strategies to build long-lasting and impactful community relationships.

You’ll learn how to:

• Unlock your Donor Data: Enhance and segment your current donor database to increase general donations and uncover and unlock major gift potential.

• Strengthen your brand and community engagement: Our comprehensive fundraising platform provides the tools to build, connect, and convert new relationships into sustainable donors.

• Efficiently fundraise in Bloomerang: Our team will equip you with the skills and knowledge to efficiently develop and maintain these new relationships to create a solid fundraising foundation.

Check out the slides from this webinar here.

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Transform your YMCA’s online fundraising game with actionable tips you can implement today! Join us on June 25th as Emily Kelly shares key insights and best practices from successful nonprofits. Learn how to make simple yet powerful changes to boost online donations, avoid common fundraising roadblocks, and confidently hit your fundraising goals.

Key Takeaways:

• Simple ways you can update your online fundraising process

• Common pitfalls to avoid when building your fundraising campaigns

• Insights from other nonprofits’ online giving experience and how that impacts donations

Check out the presentation slides from the webinar here.

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5 ways fundraising is different for YMCAs

1. YMCAs typically launch one annual appeal a year

Many nonprofits send fundraising appeals every month, every other month, or at least once a quarter in addition to days of giving, GivingTuesday, and year end.

However for most YMCAs, the fundraising ask comes once a year during the annual appeal. That doesn’t mean that’s the only time they invite donors to give, since YMCAs may also participate in the YMCA Day of Giving, GivingTuesday, end-of-year fundraising, or a capital campaign. But the YMCA model is still very different than other nonprofits.

2. Many YMCA donors are also members

This presents an extra challenge to YMCAs. If a member isn’t happy with their customer experience as a client, they may be less likely to give.

3. YMCAs often lack fundraising systems and tools

Because YMCAs are, first and foremost, membership organizations, their software may be limited to just a membership platform. It’s very difficult to manage fundraising without the proper fundraising resources, like a sophisticated donor database that enables YMCAs to create fundraising campaigns and online donation forms, and (even better) can offer predictive giving insights to reveal philanthropically-minded high-net-worth members that they can cultivate and solicit.

4. They may not have a culture of philanthropy

As a membership organization that derives a significant portion of their operating budget from dues, many YMCAs lack a robust culture of philanthropy. Development staff may feel very siloed from program and operational staff. Since they aren’t 100% reliant on donations as their sole source of income, YMCA executive and board leadership may not embrace fundraising, relationship building, and a culture of gratitude as much as typical nonprofits might. Worst case, executive and board leadership may look at fundraising as something they “have to do once a year for the annual campaign.”

5. Stewardship may be an afterthought

With a full calendar of daily events and programs for members—and at a bare minimum, a single annual fundraising campaign—it’s easy to see how stewarding donors and keeping them engaged on the impact of their donations throughout the year can easily fall through the cracks. This is one area where YMCAs are like a lot of nonprofits — stewardship can be viewed as a “nice to have” or at worst, a cost center. But if you only send out one annual campaign you have to make donors feel connected to your cause year round and ensure your donors feel special and know their gift had a meaningful impact.

How can your Y make the most out of stewardship?

Here are some of the very best YMCA stewardship examples to inspire your Y so you can boost your donors’ giving and loyalty.

First-time donor welcome postcard – YMCA of Northwest North Carolina

Front:

Back:

Why is it so important to make your first-time donors feel recognized, valued, and appreciated? Because according to the Fundraising Effectiveness Project, only 19% of first-time donors will give a second gift. That’s just two out of ten.

To put this another way, 81% of first-time donors won’t give to your YMCA again.

But, if you can get them to give a second gift, a whopping 63% will give again. Meaning, get that second gift and sx in ten will give again.

If you consider your fundraising return on investment (ROI), retaining your donors is infinitely more cost effective than going out and finding new ones since acquisition costs ten times more than communicating with your existing donors.

The greatest gift we can give our donors is the gift of being known by us; this is why special communication acknowledging a first-time gift is so important.

After they’ve made their first gift and you’ve thanked them properly, it’s time to build their engagement.

Engagement campaign: What’s your Y story?

The better a donor’s engagement, the higher their retention.

Ask any member, and they’ll tell you their Y story. It could be a childhood memory of their first swimming lesson. That memory could take them back to the sounds of the lifeguard blowing their whistle, or the smells of the pool’s chlorine, or even how far away the water looked when they stood on the diving board for their very first dive. Maybe it’s a caring staff member they remember who helped them set goals and build confidence.

Consider how you can invite members to share their Y story with easy story prompts they can submit online, like this example from the Indy YMCA.

Thank members for their submissions and consider a mission-related prize or giveaway.

Don’t forget to add their submission to their record in your donor database software. That information is an important part of being able to upgrade their giving. If you don’t have a donor database, Bloomerang is a donor database solution that measures donor engagement for you.

Staying top of mind with a donor thank-you bookmark: YMCA of Three Rivers

This bookmark is an inexpensive way to stay top of mind with your donors. It has a lovely gratitude message on the front and their mission on the back, along with the philanthropy team’s contact information and a QR code to donate.

If you’ve ever felt a little ‘different’ fundraising at your Y, it’s because Ys are uniquely special. If you, like many Ys across the country, are only soliciting gifts once a year during your annual campaign, consider how you might implement a first-time donor welcome packet, engagement campaigns, and stewardship ideas like the examples shown here.

Have winning YMCA fundraising campaigns you’d like to share? Drop it in the comments!  

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Challenge

Grand 7 Detroit was looking for a more formal and robust way to track constituents, handle online donations, track giving records and patterns, run reports, and send out email updates through a donor CRM. It was time to make the investment. “When I started at G7D, there was no system in place at all to keep track of donors or even contacts. Although we had already led multiple volunteer events and taken some donations, there were only paper records of those people’s contact info. I knew this would not help us grow so I started looking for a digital system. I first used a free software that I was familiar with, but it did not have much capability for an organization and I knew we were going to have to find something more robust. I needed a system that could track constituents’ contact info, take donations online, track giving records and patterns, run reports, and send out email updates. I looked at 3 or 4 programs online and felt that Bloomerang was the best fit for G7D’s size and budget. They had options specifically made for start-up nonprofits and I liked that it was web-based so I didn’t have to worry about backing it up. At that time I had no idea how amazing their online support would be!” said Leigh Fehr, Development Director at Grand 7 Detroit.

Solution

Leigh was initially drawn to Bloomerang’s ease of use and affordable price point but has come to appreciate the friendly and knowledgeable customer support team more and more since getting set up. “I was originally drawn to the lower price packages that were available for a small organization like G7D. I also liked that the system looked easy to use since I would be doing all the updates. Now that I am using Bloomerang, what I love the most is the support! I often use the chat support and get help very quickly. I have also watched and read many online tutorials. Even more amazing is all the webinars that teach invaluable lessons on using the software.”

The team at Grand 7 Detroit was also excited to see improvements with their donor retention and gift development processes by being able to keep better track of their constituent data. “G7D uses Bloomerang primarily to track all its constituents. That includes keeping their contact info all in one place, tracking their donations, sending them updates via email blasts and snail-mail, and sending year-end tax receipts. ON top of that, we also use Bloomerang (and its partners) to take online donations via credit card and EFT.”

An additional big-picture benefit to Grand 7 Detroit came in the form of Bloomerang’s integration with Benevon, a sustainable development model. “One of the other benefits for us is Bloomerang’s partnership with Benevon. G7D decided to use Benevon as a development model even before we chose Bloomerang as our software. Having a system that works with that model means keeping us on track with connecting and following up with contacts and giving us a picture of how we are doing.”

Leigh is happy to tout Bloomerang’s training, online webinars and resources, and built-in customer support as reasons to recommend it as a top donor management system for public benefit organizations like theirs. “For a small start-up like G7D, Bloomerang’s excellent support system is huge as the learning curve is pretty big. Like me, most Development Directors for super small orgs need a lot of help and training. This is all available through Bloomerang’s weekly webinars and online support. You can become a great Development Director simply by tuning into these valuable resources.”

Results

Since implementing Bloomerang, Grand 7 Detroit has gained power over their data and has benefited from making informed decisions. “Once we switched to Bloomerang, we were able to begin tracking our constituents including all our volunteers. Without a great deal of time, we could input spreadsheets of info into the system and know that the contact info could be easily accessible. This makes following up with donors and volunteers much easier!” And since increasing their efficiency and gaining better access to their data, Leigh and his team have been able to benefit from raising more money. “Before using Bloomerang, donors could only give by check. Now, we receive online donations by credit card and from bank accounts. This means more donations and easier tracking.” In addition to high number growth, the team at Grand 7 Detroit has also seen improvements in the quality and frequency of their constituent communications. “Before Bloomerang, we weren’t sending out any updates to our contacts. With Bloomerang, this is relatively easy to do via email or mass mailing if we choose.” All in all, it’s amazing what a simple and innovative donor database can do for the growth of an organization such as Grand 7 Detroit.

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Challenge

Goodell Gardens & Homestead was looking for an accessible, affordable, and intuitive donor management system that they could use on the go to keep donor records and information up to date. “We wanted to have something simple and accessible. We had cost in mind and were happy to find a reasonable price with Bloomerang.

The challenge was mainly the access for both myself and the Executive director. The list of members was ever-changing and we both wanted to remain in the loop and have updated material when it came to our members,” said Melissa Moreland, Visitor Services Coordinator at Goodell Gardens and Homestead.

Solution

Melissa was initially drawn to Bloomerang because of its affordability and ease of use, but they’ve since come to appreciate the addition of DonorSearch to their development arsenal, as well as Bloomerang’s robust reporting functionality. “The price was what drew us first. We also liked the way it was set up. We now have DonorSearch which is a nice feature.”

Melissa recommends Bloomerang as a reasonable option to keep all their member and donor data available and in one place. Growing nonprofits like theirs who don’t already have a membership database “should try Bloomerang” — it might be the right fit like it is for Goodell Gardens & Homestead.

Results

Since implementing Bloomerang, Goodell Gardens & Homestead has alleviated several fundraising pain points through the reporting functionality, and in turn have increased their productivity and efficiency while getting some time back in their day. “The reports are something we easily can make without a lot of hassle.”

Melissa and the team at Goodell Gardens & Homestead have found that Bloomerang fits nicely into their current gift development processes while enhancing what they already have working for them by having an all-in-one system that fits their needs. “It keeps everything together. Even people who aren’t members and want to buy tickets or donate money to us.”

The team at Goodell Gardens & Homestead has also seen improvements with the quality of their constituent communications through segmentation capabilities and streamlining their communication efficiency. “It’s easier to send emails to our constituents based on their needs and ours.”

All in all, it’s amazing what an easy-to-use, fundraising-focused database can do for the growth of an organization such as Goodell Gardens & Homestead.

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