Donor Surveys: Why and How to Make Them

For nonprofits, understanding donors is paramount. Every donation represents not just a financial contribution but a connection between the donor and your cause.

Donor surveys are one tool you can use to help better understand your support base. This information can help you shape campaigns, form stronger relationships, and retain and gain new donors.

Here, we’ll look at some best practices for using and creating donor surveys for your organization.

Why Should You Use Donor Surveys?

Donor surveys are structured questionnaires designed to gather feedback, preferences, and insights from donors, potential donors, and even past donors who have not given in a while.

Donor surveys can cover a wide range of topics, from understanding the motivation behind giving to communication preferences and perceptions of impact. This information can help your nonprofit better understand your donor base.

Additionally, surveys can help you improve different aspects of your campaigns, from building better donation forms to focusing on the right marketing channels to overall campaign strategies. All of these elements contribute to a better donor experience.

More reasons to use a donor survey include:

• Give donors a voice: Help donors feel included, heard, and connected to your organization by giving them an opportunity to provide their thoughts about the work you are doing or how things are working for them.
• Form long-term relationships: Donor surveys can help you plan retention and recurring donor acquisition strategies. Asking for feedback builds trust and credibility with donors.
• Answer questions: Ask anything that would be valuable to your organization, including donor communication preferences, feedback about a campaign, demographic information, and more. This feedback can help you create more personalized campaigns that resonate with donors.
• Strategic planning: Donor surveys provide valuable data for strategic planning. By analyzing survey responses, you can identify trends, preferences, and areas for improvement. A data-driven approach enables your organization to refine strategies and allocate resources more effectively.
• Foster trust: By actively soliciting feedback through surveys, your nonprofit demonstrates a commitment to listening and responding. This fosters trust and loyalty, increasing the likelihood of continued support.
• Impact assessment: Donors want to know that their contributions are making a difference. Surveys allow you to gather feedback on the perceived impact of programs and initiatives. This information can validate your efforts and provide insights for future initiatives.

How to Make Donor Surveys

The best donor surveys are simple, clear, and straightforward. This combination is the key to sending out a survey that donors will actually respond to.

Making donor surveys has never been easier. With the availability of user-friendly survey tools and templates, you can design and distribute surveys with ease. Plus, digital platforms allow for quick and efficient data collection and analysis.

Best practices for making a donor survey include:

• Start with a thank you: Thank donors in advance and explain what you need the survey for.
• Mix question types: Use a variety of questions, including some longer, open-ended questions. Most of the questions should include a simple multi-select answer option.
• Use inclusive language: Your survey should feel personalized to donors while encompassing all that you do.
• Questions to ask: Exactly what questions you ask depends on your goal for the survey. Some options include: How do you prefer to donate, how would you rate your donation experience, what inspired you to donate, what part of our mission resonates with you the most, and how likely are you to continue supporting our organization?
• Common tools: There are a variety of tools out there that you can integrate with your website for ease of surveying or that stand alone. Gravity Forms, SurveyMonkey, Jotform, and QuestionPro (which has a free nonprofit plan) are common options that you may already have.
• Sending and distribution: The perfect times to survey can be after larger campaigns or events, soon after someone makes a donation, at the end of the year, or before or after major organizational changes. You can also plan regular check-ins, such as a quarterly or annual survey. The common method of distribution for donor surveys is through email, but you may also include them as a post on your blog or social media.

Drive Greater Impact With Donor Surveys

Donor surveys are a valuable tool when you want to deepen your organization’s understanding of donors and enhance engagement. By prioritizing donor feedback and leveraging survey data, you can build stronger relationships, refine campaign strategies, and ultimately drive greater impact.

GiveWP can help you further build relationships with a free donor database and powerful donation forms. It’s easy to use and works with your WordPress website.

Learn more about GiveWP or schedule a demo today.