How to Adjust Your Fundraising Appeals In Response to COVID-19

Don’t stop fundraising. In fact, now is the best time to invest more thought into how you are fundraising and adjust your fundraising appeals in response to COVID-19.

The current reality of the Coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic is hectic and uncertain, but your nonprofit does not have to stop fundraising amidst it all. While it’s important to adjust your messaging and ensure you are not being tone-deaf to everything that is going on, online fundraising right now can be more effective with an increasing amount of attention online. 

What your Nonprofit Development Team should be doing is shifting your perspective and giving people something else, perhaps something positive like making a change, to focus on in these anxious times.

Be Intentional in How You Ask

Fundraising doesn’t stop in the wake of a global pandemic, but how you are approaching the donation ask must be more intentional than ever before. Be loud and clear that through the pandemic, your nonprofit and your team is dedicated to continuing to help solve some of the world’s most crucial problems long-term. The best way to deliver strong messaging is to focus on your organization’s Why statement and what the donor journey looks like.

Be Clear About Your Why, Who, and How

Make sure both your longtime donors and prospective donors are clear about your organization’s mission, who it’s impacting, and how their contribution directly affects your cause. People want to feel like they are playing an active role in making a difference, especially in times like these. Don’t leave them in the dark about the importance of their contribution’s impact. 

Show up especially strong in the following areas:

1. WHY is your mission important?
2. WHO is it helping?
3. HOW are donors helping eradicate an issue?

If you feel that you need to take a step back and reevaluate your donor journey, continue digging deeper and answering the outstanding whats, whens, and wheres of your nonprofit mission.

Get Creative in Where You Show Up

Once you get your messaging down, it’s time to get creative. In light of quarantines and social distancing, our attention is increasingly online so make sure the way you are making your fundraising appeals makes sense given the current times. Take to new platforms you might not have tried before like Facebook Live, Instagram Stories, and IGTV  to share your story and deliver your powerful mission. 

Now is not the time to halt your fundraising altogether, but it is important to adjust your appeals in response to COVID-19 and ensure you are showing up intentionally. 

Cameron Ripley