Impact = Increase

Do you want your donors to increase their contribution to your United Way? Of course you do, and I am going to share the secret for increasing contributions that comes from surveying thousands of United Way donors over the years.

FEW DONORS INCREASE THEIR CONTRIBUTION

Over the years, United Ways have asked us to help them figure out how to get their donors to increase their contribution. When United Ways analyze their donor contribution history, they often find that fewer than ten percent of their donors who have given at least two years in a row have increased their contribution.

You would think it would be easy to get more than ten percent of your donors to increase their contribution – but it isn’t as simple as it seems, and it isn’t for a lack of trying. This is where donor research comes in and we can identify what it takes to get a donor to increase their contribution.

THANKING IS NOT ENOUGH

We have tested a lot of different possibilities for getting donors to increase their contribution and have found most things do not correlate with increased contributions. For example, just thanking someone for giving to your United Way does not make them more likely to increase their contribution next year.

Please understand that you must thank your donors or else they may never give to you again. Failure to acknowledge a donation can result in a disappearing donor. But it takes more than a thank you for a donor to increase their contribution next year.

Have we tested absolutely every possibility for increasing a donor’s contribution – probably not. But, over the years, we have tested all sorts of things: multiple ways of thanking donors, frequency of communication, types of communication, ease of giving, offering awards and prizes, different forms of donor recognition, etc. None of these things will make a donor more likely to increase their contribution next year.

UNDERSTANDING IMPACT = INCREASED CONTRIBUTION

Statistically, the best predictor of a donor increasing their contribution is when a donor understands the impact of their gift. Simply put, if a donor said they understood the impact of their contribution, they were more likely to increase their contribution. Similarly, the less a donor knows about the impact of their contribution, the less likely they will increase their contribution.

Does this mean that every donor who states they understand the impact of their contribution actually increases their contribution every year? No. But, the correlation between the donor’s understanding of the impact of their contribution and a donor increasing their contribution is so strong that we can predict how many donors will increase their contribution over time, based on how many donors clearly understand the impact of their contribution.

CHANGING LIVES

To get your donors to increase their contribution you must be communicating the impact of the donor’s contribution. What your donors want and need to know is how their contribution will change lives. Will people who are homeless have homes, will adults who were unable to finish high school be earning their GED, will families who are struggling to make ends meet become financially stable, etc.? Issue focused United Ways do this everyday.

Donors need to know the impact of their contribution to change lives, not the impact of their contribution on United Way. The amount of money raised, or the number of programs funded, is all about United Way, not how the donor changed lives. Impact is always the result of the contribution, not the processes of United Way.

It is not necessary for a donor to understand all of the ways their contribution changes lives. In fact, communicating too much information can be overwhelming to donors. Highlighting just one or two ways your donor’s contribution changes lives will be more likely to be remembered and understood by donors.

Getting your donors to increase their contribution requires your United Way to communicate the impact of the donor’s contribution as it relates to changing lives.

SAVE THE DATE!

Be sure to reserve Tuesday, February 3, 2026 on your calendar! We’ll have a big announcement coming up in our next blog post for a “you will not want to miss this” special event!