How Loyalty Drives Giving

When we think of loyalty programs, our first thought is usually of airlines. Then we think of hotels and retail stores. These are companies who want us to buy their goods and services, be loyal to their brand, and return to make more purchases. This makes perfect sense; loyalty is the lifeblood of most for-profit companies, because loyalty drives sales. What we don’t often consider is that loyalty is also the lifeblood of nonprofits, because loyalty also drives giving.

Nonprofits Need Loyal Donors

When you take the time to think about it, this may be an area that needs loyalty more than any other. There are many more options for your donations than for anything else you spend your money on. You have churches, charities, schools, etc. There are so many charitable organizations vying for donations that people feel overwhelmed, and give a little here and a little there. One year here and the next year over there. Finding a way to make your donors loyal to your cause so they’ll keep coming back year after year is crucial to future planning.

There are several ways to build loyalty among donors. The first is simple and most common. People contribute to charities when they have a vested interest in what the charity is all about. This is often the case when research charities are finding a cure the donor can relate to.

The next way to build donor loyalty is by making them feel part of a group, as with churches and schools. Then there’s the pull on your heart strings – think ASPCA and St Jude’s.

Rewarding Donors Builds Loyalty

But perhaps the best way to build donor loyalty is to make it easy, painless, perhaps cost-free, and personally rewarding for them. When we say “reward”, we don’t always mean points or cash. Just as points can be a reward, so can a public “Thank You” (PBS springs to mind) – allowing donors to “show off”.

Many of you have read my post about merchant funded reward programs. These programs are a great way to allow people to donate to your charity while purchasing things they were going to buy anyway. By setting up a merchant funded portal you allow your donors to give the money they earn from shopping back to the charity. It allows them to donate without having to cut other things out.

Another way to make donating fun while building donor loyalty is to let them earn points for giving and allow them to spend those points on items donated by commercial partners and other donors. These can be put in catalog form, auctioned or raffled.

There are many ways to use loyalty for giving, and it can be done on any budget. Think about implementing these suggestions, and watch your donor loyalty grow.

DBG Loyalty is a leading innovator in loyalty and rewards marketing. DBG was founded in 2002 because the industry was looking for a trusted technology leader who could develop and establish consumer loyalty programs. DBG has customer relationships which span from the time of inception.