donor journey mapping template

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How to cre­ate a donor jour­ney map, ally smith of fundrais­ing kit shows you how to cre­ate a donor jour­ney map and shares why they’re impor­tant to your fundrais­ing strategy..

For centuries, maps have helped us navigate foreign countries, complex city streets, and even our own hometowns. As fundraisers, maps can help us navigate relationships with our donors.

Donor journey mapping is the process of  stewarding your non-profit’s supporters  and potential donors to become recurring donors and advocates for your cause. This process can be visualised using a map that illustrates the key stages supporters go through as they move along their journey. 

This article will explore the importance of creating and using donor journey maps to develop  stewardship plans  for your most promising supporters. It will also highlight the key stages of your donor journeys.  

Why your non-profit should create a donor journey map

Building a donor journey map is a valuable exercise for every fundraising team. ‘ Why ?’ you might ask? Well, when you know when, where, and how your donors are connecting with you, you can be better equipped to understand your fundraising successes and shortfalls. 

This practice is also a great way to get your team focused on donor-centred stewardship practices and strategies. Additionally, it will help your team understand the decisions your donor base makes as you nurture your relationship with them. 

An effective donor journey map will help your non-profit team to do the following: 

• Learn more about your donors:  By understanding where your donors are and how and why they’re giving, your team can identify the key factors that motivate donors and create a strategy around those factors.  
• Keep your team aligned:  The donor journey map provides a framework that your entire team can use to promote donor engagement. Additionally, it will help your team stay on the same page. 
• Improve donor experience:  As your team creates  donor journeys , they’ll start to understand opportunities and gaps in your strategy and develop opportunities for improvement. 
• Visualise the future:  An essential part of non-profit development involves forecasting and  projecting fundraising outcomes . With a donor journey map, you can predict what donors will contribute over time and use that information to estimate outcomes.
• Monitor your progress:  Mapping the donor journey can help you understand the stages where you’re losing donors or converting donors well. Then, through mapping your success, you can spot areas for improvement.

How to create a donor journey map to increase revenue

Let’s walk you through an example donor journey map using an animal rights advocacy non-profit as an example: 

Nancy is a baby boomer and an active donor who supports animal rights causes. Nancy’s annual salary is approximately US$100,000, and she is prepared to donate US$50 to US$70 each month to this non-profit.

Now, let’s look at what a donor journey map would look like, and as we explore it, we’ll discuss how Nancy’s journey plays out. 

Your map should have three components: giving stages, fundraising touchpoints, and the donor's point of view (POV). 

Let’s start by looking at the giving stages component.

Giving stages

You are likely already familiar with the donor giving stages: awareness, research, decision, appreciation, and repeat. 

Donors interact with your non-profit at each of these stages.  

By progressing through these stages, you strive toward the goal of encouraging donors to become repeat or  recurring donors . Achieving this goal can take a while and will require patience. 

In practice, donors might actually loop back to the research stage after the decision stage or even skip the research phase altogether. However, the most important factor is that they keep moving between stages. 

Fundraising touchpoints

Fundraising touchpoints are the recorded interactions you’ll have with your donor during each giving stage. It’s vital that you develop communications from the donor's perspective.  

Here is an example of what that might look like in Nancy’s case: 

Donor point of view (POV)

Working your donor POV into your donor journey is critical and involves considering your donors’ long-term goals, thoughts, and activities as they go from one stage to the next. 

When assuming a donor’s POV, you should begin by clearly defining your audience. Then, if you use a  non-profit customer relationship management, or CRM , you can analyse your database to learn more about your best supporters and most consistent donors. This process will give you some insight to help you anticipate the POV of promising supporters with similar characteristics. 

Make sure to consider the campaigns that your supporters tend to contribute to. Additionally, take note of their age, gender, preferred communication methods, and average gift size.  

Let’s go back to Nancy. Based on your donor base analysis, you’ll need to think strategically about what Nancy would think as she progresses through her giving stages. Here’s what that might look like:

Once you’ve established Nancy’s POV, you have everything you need to monitor her progress and help give her the donor experience she’s looking for and deserves. 

When you put these three pieces together (giving stages, fundraising touchpoints, and donor POV), you’ll have a complete donor journey map that’ll inform your non-profit’s fundraising strategy. So, take some time to create a donor journey map for your organisation’s most impactful supporters and increase your fundraising success

Remember, you should begin this process by identifying your ideal donors. To do that, you can use  KIT’s free Donor Profile Template  to organise your donors’ information and identify your most engaging donors. 

Good luck! We are excited to hear how you create these journeys and continue to raise more funds for your cause.

About the author: Ally Smith

Ally Smith (she/her) is a freelance content writer for Fundraising KIT. With a background in politics, a stint in the start up world, and a landing in social innovation, she brings a unique perspective to tackling social issues with innovation, collaboration and community engagement.

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Donor Journey Map: Why Nonprofits Need One & How to Create It

Donor journey maps help you visualize the steps needed to convert prospects into donors and sustainers and prompt you to think of critical touchpoints where you can influence the journey.

Donor journey maps are key to understanding your donors and knowing how to engage them better. They'll help you drive giving! Targeted engagement will also lead to a positive user experience and, ultimately, more success for your nonprofit.

What is a Donor Journey Map?

A donor journey map visually represents the stages a donor goes through as they interact with your nonprofit. If you think of it as a timeline that starts with the first time a donor becomes aware of your organization and ends with them naming your nonprofit in their will, you’ll see that there’s a whole lifetime during which you can engage and positively influence your supporters.

In short, a donor journey map will:

• Teach you about your donors and how to engage them best
• Keep your team focused on donor engagement
• Improve the experience your donors have when they give
• Help you predict future fundraising
• Illustrate where in the journey you need to double down or tweak your strategy

Donor Journey Map Template

We're happy to help! Download our free template. This worksheet walks you through questions and gives you a spot to write notes and plans. The plans become your own personal donor journey map!

Want to create your own map? Download our free Donor Journey Template .

Stages of the Donor Journey

All donors go through these stages. At each one, you have the opportunity to influence and guide prospects as they become donors. We will break it down so you can think about your donor journey map at each stage.

I’m just going about my day when my brother calls and tells me that his family is adopting a rescued dog. As he tells me about the nonprofit that found and cared for the dog, I’m touched by their work and how they’ve really saved this puppy.

That’s awareness. Word of mouth is one form of awareness, but what are some other ways I could have learned about the nonprofit?

I could have seen brochures or pamphlets at the pet food store or the vet. The nonprofit could have held a pet food drive and offered me the chance to meet some of the residents. There could have been an event I attended, or my friends could have seen the nonprofit on social media.

The first stage of the donor journey is awareness. As you are building a donor journey map, this is where you start. Look at the data in your CRM and segment your current donors, and then answer these questions for each segment.

• What are you doing to increase awareness of your mission?
• Who are you targeting with each effort?
• What methods of engagement have proved the most effective?
• What methods of engagement are ineffective?

For each segment, clearly understand the most effective way to increase awareness. Use technology to help streamline your data and illustrate different channels you can use to engage donors at optimal times.

Consideration

Now I know about this great animal rescue nonprofit. Before I decide to support them, I want to know more about their mission, how the community (like my vet) views them, and where donated money goes.

The second stage of the journey is consideration. As a nonprofit, you will benefit from utmost transparency. Lay it all out on the table, from how clean you keep your facility to your financials and how much of every donation goes to the animals. Get them to connect emotionally with stories of rescues and how animals are saved, healed, and placed with loving families.

You want potential donors to have as much information as they need to answer their questions. Your website is a great place to keep this critical information in one place (and it doesn’t hurt that your donation form is right there, too)! Include testimonials, before and after photos of pets, and even videos of rescued animals happy and healthy.

If your mission statement is obvious and compelling, your content can tug at heartstrings and form a connection, your financials are as transparent as possible (even if it’s a statement that x amount of every dollar helps animals in need), and your website offers an engaging and seamless experience, you are giving your potential donors the tools they need to make an educated decision.

This is when things get real. I know about your nonprofit, and I’ve done my research. I like everything I’ve seen, and I know my brother thinks you’re…well, the top dog. (Sorry about that.)

The third stage of the journey is conversion, or turning a prospect into a donor. It is critical that your nonprofit makes it easy to give! That’s optimizing your donation form and ensuring it’s well-designed. Don’t ask for more information than you need. You don't need a mailing address because you can email everything, from a donation receipt to a tax form. A name, email address, and donation and payment information should suffice.

What else do they do well? They give frequency options and pre-set levels of giving.

This example, from Food Bank for the Heartland, showcases an excellent technique. It ties giving levels to the number of meals the donation will provide:

If you missed our fantastic webinar with Angel Aloma, who ran Food for the Poor for decades, and his brilliant son, Kristian, a Ph.D. who talked about the psychology of giving, read this recap of their presentation . Angel talked about how quantifying a donation leads to a much stronger donor relationship as well as increased giving.

Don’t forget that volunteering, attending an event, and even signing up for regular communications can be a conversion. Regardless of how it happens, it’s the moment your prospect commits in some way to your organization.

Retention 

This is often the biggest challenge for nonprofits, and it’s the part of the donor journey map on which you might want to particularly focus. If you’ve influenced the donor journey perfectly to this point, you know how to engage each segment of your donors, you give them the resources to make an educated decision to support you, and you’ve made giving so easy the money almost flies out of their wallets.

And then…whomp whomp….you never hear from them again. I, the donor, found someone else who rescues cute puppies, and I forgot all about how I teared up watching your little canine residents heal and find loving families.

Retention is the fourth stage of the donor journey , and if you do it right, I’ll never forget about your nonprofit.

How can you retain, or nurture, donors? The importance of the donor relationship can’t be overstated, so at this point in the donor journey, think of ways you can show your donors how much they are appreciated. Tips include:

• Say thank you when a donor commits to giving time, talents, or treasure…and then keep saying it perpetually!
• Personalized communication is needed to share your progress and heartwarming stories, and to keep your nonprofit at the forefront of a donor's mind.
• Provide opportunities for engagement beyond writing a check, like volunteering.
• Reward them with tickets to or premium seats at an event , delivery of a swag bag of branded merchandise, or even cards dropped in the mail with an update on how their donation is working.

The key to retention, we often say, is personalization. Think of ways you can make your donors feel seen and appreciated. And remember that a relationship is nuanced….there are many different ways to keep the connection alive. You just need to add it to your donor journey map. And take any chance you get to make sure your donors know that their nonprofit donations made a difference.

Otherwise known as evangelization, this stage of the donor journey is when your donors become ambassadors, spreading the word about your mission and encouraging others to give. A wonderful technique to insert into your donor journey map is a peer-to-peer (P2P) campaign . By definition, a P2P campaign turns donors into ambassadors and gets them talking about and raising support for your nonprofit in their communities.

Create shareable content, whether it’s an email with pictures and a story or social media posts. Publicly thank your donors, which makes them feel good and broadcasts to others that this person is supporting your organization.

Don’t miss the opportunity to send t-shirts, hats, or shopping bags branded with your nonprofit. Mugs, pads, and pens are lovely, but they sit inside – give your donors something they can wear or use that’s visible.

You can offer benefits to donors that get friends to donate! Be creative and think of ways to get these donors to advocate for you. You’ll get more donors and increase fundraising , but you’ll also be cementing these good relationships that can have an impact on your nonprofit for years to come.

Final Tips for Creating a Donor Journey Map

As you create this donor journey map, put yourself in the donor’s shoes. What might the donor be thinking? What would cause hesitation to support your nonprofit at any given stage, and what can you do to eliminate that roadblock?

For each audience segment, consider the point of view and consider how you could use a touchpoint to meet the need or answer the question.

Imagine that there are touchpoints at every stage of the donor journey map. For example, consider content. Can blog posts be shared, each speaking to a certain stage along the journey?

Consider emails. Is there a message that would compel donors at a given stage?

Even if you’re just chatting with your friends, developing loose (or not-so-loose) donor personas means you’ll have greater insight into what makes those donors tick. And give. And come back.

As you can see, a donor journey map is just looking at what it takes to get lifelong donors and considering how you can influence, or perhaps nurture, the relationships. If you want to talk about donor management or what kind of technology makes it easier, we’re ready to chat when you are !

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5 cogent reasons to create a donor journey map for non-profit organizations (+template)

Existing to help those in need, charities and nonprofits themselves cannot exist without help and support from the outside. Donors are the backbone of almost every successful charity or nonprofit initiative.

Sometimes such organizations forget about the importance of donor experience. But effective fundraising is not about seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions, it's about building long-term and valuable relationships with supporters. 

Donor journey mapping can help nonprofits and charities get more insight into the process of interactions with their contributors and even more. 

• 1 Shining a spotlight on your donors
• 2 Identifying touchpoints and improving their performance
• 3 Getting more supporters
• 4 Revising your fundraising strategy
• 5 Keeping your hand in life and developing empathy
• 6 The ready-to-go template

There are 5 key reasons to map this journey out.

Shining a spotlight on your donors

Since charities and nonprofits are inherently focused on those in need and therefore are person-centered, focusing on their active supporters seems reasonable. Committed people are the most valuable resource of any social initiative. At the end of the day, any good idea fades without enthusiastic support.

By mapping your donor experience, you put yourself in the shoes of your contributors and see what guides, encourages, and engages them. You will inevitably find out the challenges and problems your donors face. You will also see what can ruin your relationship with them to revise and fix it later.

Pro tip: Before diving into mapping the donor journey, create personas describing your major donor groups. Usually, 3-4 personas are enough to cover your donor base. Then, you can choose one or several personas to focus on first. 

Identifying touchpoints and improving their performance

Donor journey mapping helps you reveal touchpoints — physical and non-physical interactions between your nonprofit or charity and your supporters. By understanding your personas’ experience at each of the touchpoints, you will be able to see what needs to be improved and make these changes, ultimately enhancing the whole experience. For example, you can extend a range of donation options, establish a straightforward membership procedure, simplify billing, and divide the responsibilities among your team members.

When you get the idea of touchpoints, it is easy to plan the routine activities at your organization based on the improvement ideas. 

Getting more supporters

Having a detailed donor journey map in front of your and your colleagues’ eyes, you will see the journey stages where your supporters are actively converting and dropping off and the reasons behind their actions. 

For instance, after making the first donation, your supporters may never donate again because of the negative experience during the money donation stage or because they never heard back from you and don’t know about your new initiatives.

To improve their experience, you may think of introducing additional communication channels and making your offerings more relevant to your contributors. For instance, change your content strategy by using annual reports along with testimonials from other supporters and infographics to attract new admirers. 

Additionally, customizing the way your personas interact with your project can help you win their trust and inspire their loyalty. 

Plus, having information about target personas and their journeys will be beneficial for non-profit digital marketing agencies that help you promote your campaigns.

Revising your fundraising strategy

Donor journey mapping also highlights some of your efforts and activities as an organization. Going through the stages your supporters take step by step, you can detect problematic points referring to your fundraising strategy gaps.  

For example, trying to draw people’s attention to your project, you launch a pretty expensive Google Ads campaign. The number of your daily visitors is increasing, but the number of donations is the same. Where is the problem?

Maybe before donating, your potential donors want to understand what is behind your project. They may be interested in the background of your organization, the people involved in your activities, and your goals and values. But as your website is outdated and it contains too little information about your organization and its mission, they may not go further and look for an alternative initiative to donate to. 

Keeping your hand in life and developing empathy

The best thing about donor journey mapping is the ability to co-create a map together with your team. The team members, who join this process, will better empathize with your customers as they will know every step your donors take throughout their journey. It helps your nonprofit or charity stay intentional and strategic in making decisions. 

Besides, you can use the map during onboarding new teammates. It will be easier for them to get into your ideas and develop a sense of belonging to the organization.  

The ready-to-go template

Our new donor journey map template is for charities and nonprofits who want to become more donor-focused and improve their donor experience by identifying existing flaws and gaps and fixing them. Healthcare-related organizations will find it helpful, too.

We built our Donor Journey Map around a 58-year-old architect Judith who is looking for a charitable organization to support.

It covers all the actions that she takes, like choosing a charity and a program to support, signing a donation agreement, making her first donation, and so on.

We also added some tips on delivering the best experience to your potential donors in this donor journey map template, so be sure to check out the "Best Practices" section😉

Ready to see what’s inside?

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In my experience, donor connections are often very personalized, there is no one-fit-all approach. But we still find donor journey mapping helpful in making sure we’re sending the right message, provide enough communication channels, and make the process as seamless as possible.

X Marks the Donors: A Nonprofit's Guide to Creating a Donor Journey Map

For centuries, we've relied on maps to get us where we need to go. From grabbing a free road map at the gas station to sailing across oceans for a chest of gold doubloons, maps have helped us navigate unfamiliar territory and reach our goals. And that's just what a donor journey map can do for your nonprofit.

What is the donor journey?

The donor journey is the entirety of interactions and experiences a donor has with a nonprofit organization, from first learning about a cause to becoming a recurring and active donor. The initial acquisition steps are often likened to a donor funnel, as donors are brought into the nonprofit's fold.

Here's the thing: when a potential donor becomes aware of your organization, they don't just Google your website, fill out a donation form, and hit "submit." They research your nonprofit. They read an annual report and maybe a blog post. And they carefully consider whether (and how much of) their hard-earned money should go to your cause. In the long term, their journey may end after a $5 donation. Just a quick trip! Or, they might go from a first-time donation to a monthly donation to becoming a major donor and eventually chairing your board.

The point is that every journey is different, but you can control what type of journey your donors are on. By carefully considering all the touchpoints a donor encounters as they move from the awareness stage to that online donation and become a consistent donor, you can create a journey that's long, enjoyable, and memorable. But to do that, you need a plan. And that means you need a good map.

Why your nonprofit should do donor journey mapping

Just like drawing a map without Google Maps is a lot of work, so is mapping your various donor segments' journeys. So, why should you put in the effort to create a nonprofit customer journey map? 

Donor retention

If you want prospective donors to become first-time donors and first-time donors to stick around, you need to offer them an easy and intuitive experience with your charitable organization. The better the constituent experience, the more loyal donors you'll cultivate.

Donor recruitment

In addition to improving your donor retention strategy, effective journey mapping can help with your marketing efforts, driving visibility and attracting new donors. You can see what's working and what's not, then implement those lessons to meet your fundraising goals.

Foster donor empathy

Nonprofits spend a lot (A LOT) of time trying to figure out how to get additional donations. Now, you can walk in your donors' shoes and experience exactly what they experience, pain points, and all! Huh, suddenly you realize that your CTA is really confusing and that marketing content is pretty darn grating.

Deepen donor relationships

Sometimes, nonprofits put so much energy into recruiting new donors that they forget to put in the effort with existing donors. But when individual donors feel like you see them, whether it's through a personalized donor engagement strategy or a volunteer onboarding process that anticipates their every question, they trust your organization. 

Lay groundwork for predictable revenue

The more carefully you map the donation process as well as your various donor touchpoints, the more patterns you can identify to create a reliable framework for generating revenue. 

Volunteer recruitment

If people have a great experience with the donation process, their journey won't end with a one-time donation. With a well-thought-out journey, you can highlight volunteer opportunities while supporting your fundraising efforts, building out your community with minimal effort.

Improve personalization

By understanding all the different paths donors can take and what they respond to, your fundraising team can create more personalized communications and experiences for everyone. And that's a recipe for success.

Donor journey map vs. customer journey map: What's the difference?

A donor journey map is a type of customer journey map. It focuses on donors' interactions and experiences with a nonprofit organization, while a customer journey map refers to customers' interactions across any one business, brand, or product rather than just a nonprofit.

So, while the two maps may have a different target audience, they both have the same goal: optimizing the user experience. Just as a great sales and purchasing experience can turn one-time visitors into lifelong customers, a great giving experience can turn one-time donors into loyal supporters. As such, customer journey mapping offers valuable lessons for nonprofiteers seeking to ensure a rewarding expedition for all your donor-travelers. For starters, the five phases that customers go through on their journeys also apply to donors: awareness, consideration, decision/purchase, retention, and loyalty/advocacy.

How does a donor journey differ from a volunteer journey?

Everyone who interacts with your nonprofit is on their own journey, including donors versus volunteers. So, the donor journey is the experience potential and current donors have with your nonprofit, while the volunteer journey refers to the interactions of your volunteers.

Since every journey is unique, you want to personalize the experience based on your audience segment. Just as taking a cross-country road trip requires a different map from finding the closest coffee shop, so do the different members of your donor base require their own paths for an optimal experience. A volunteer's journey will look very different from a major donor's journey, which will look quite different from the journey of a monthly donor.

How do you map a donor journey?

With all those different types of journeys out of the way, you can finally move on to the actual donor journey mapping. To map your donors' journey, you create a visual representation of all the touchpoints a donor goes through when interacting with your nonprofit. You can then use this outline to better understand the donor experience and optimize it going forward.

So, where do you begin? Let us map the journey mapping process.

Journey maps start with donor personas

Before you can start your map, you need to know your donors. And when you want to connect with your key audiences, your most powerful tool is ... (drumroll, please) donor personas . Basically, a donor persona is a representation of a type of ideal donor. You take all your demographic data and key insights and behavioral information and use that to create profiles that help you understand motivations, preferences, and needs for key donor segments.

For example, an animal shelter might have Carolina, a 30-something professional who doesn't have time for a pet but loves animals, as well as Richard, a retired man who loves dogs and finds himself with extra time on his hands, among two or three others. What attracts them to your nonprofit? What types of opportunities and interactions appeal to them? Write up a profile for each one. Then, with that information, you can start exploring what the journey with your nonprofit looks like for each persona.

Stages of the journey

With donor personas in hand, we can start mapping for real. Remember those five customer journey stages? Now, we're going to determine how you address critical needs for each donor persona at each stage. As you go through each stage, write down key donor touchpoints to see what the journey looks like for each persona.

In the awareness stage, you're examining what your digital marketing strategy looks like in terms of spreading awareness of your cause. Before donors ever know your organization's name, how do they realize you exist? Maybe you rely on social media posts to spread the word, or perhaps you buy targeted ads. It could be that someone Googles your industry and your site pops up, or they hear about you through a peer-to-peer campaign. At this stage, you're not trying to get a donation; you're just getting the word out.

Consideration

Now, your donors know that you're a thing—congrats! Once they know your name, they start wondering if they should make a gift, and that means you need to prove that you're the best option out there, taking names and making an impact. Just like for-profit organizations that are convincing a customer to buy, buy, buy from them, you want to use various communication channels to convince would-be donors to give, give, give. This is where educational and informative websites and social media channels pay off.

Your Instagram account was amazing, and now, you have a potential supporter waiting in the wings—they're on the cusp of opening that donation form! Here, you're moving away from educational pieces of content and helpful articles and focusing instead on closing the deal. They decide to sign up for that newsletter, and through personalized emails with clear CTAs, they complete the donation process.

Hurray, a donor donated to your cause! Now, you want to use good donor management practices to get those previous donors to stick around for years to come. Send a donation receipt, say thank you, and start nudging them in the direction of lifelong supporters. Here, it's about providing a consistently positive experience, including personalized communications, regular follow-up, and steadfast support. 

Loyalty/Advocacy

Finally, there's the loyalty stage. Loyal donors are in it for good, and they're doing more than just making a donation every once in a while. They have a meaningful relationship with your nonprofit, and they'll spread the word near and far. From participating in P2P campaigns to singing your praises on social media channels, you have a loyal partner, so don't mess it up.

How donor data affects the journey

One more must-address area before we get to the map itself: To get your personas and map into tip-top, most-useful shape, you've got to follow the data. Data is your secret weapon when it comes to understanding donors' journeys with your organization. By analyzing demographic and behavioral data, you can curate a personalized experience for your donors and optimize future engagement. Data helps you create a content strategy that resonates with your donor segments, choose communication channels that connect with your base, and identify persona-specific touchpoints for maximum effectiveness. Happily, Funraise has you covered with data and dashboards that provide all the essential insights to craft a top-tier digital strategy.

Simplified donor journey map template

Organizational objective What's your goal for the journey mapping process?

Donor personas Note: You do not need to fill out every section below for every persona; aim for a complete profile for each one.

1. Name     Age     Education     Average donation     Location     Job     Communication preferences     Goals     Frustrations     Motivations

Donor journeys Choose your most common persona to start and map the journey. Then, you can replicate the process for other personas later.

Journey map obstacles

Of course, no journey is without its obstacles. Here are a few hazards you may encounter along the way.

Limited resources for innovation projects

Sometimes, an optimal journey requires an innovative approach, but innovation often requires ample resources. Nonprofits, alas, are often short on those, so you may have to compromise your ideal vision in the name of budget and practicality.

Traditional structures and extended decision-making periods

Nonprofits with hierarchical structures and a tendency to draw out the decision-making processes might struggle to agree on a course of action that takes into account changing donor expectations and needs.

Involvement of multiple stakeholders

Too many cooks is a real problem when it comes to implementing effective journey maps. Managing input and getting alignment among various stakeholders can be challenging and may slow down the process.

Not treating the map as a living document

Just as your project and strategies change, so does your donor pool. Your map is not static, and you'll need to revisit and update it regularly to ensure you're consistently meeting donors' changing needs and behaviors.

Small audience

Smaller nonprofits may move through the decision-making process more quickly, but a smaller donor base means limited data, which can be a challenge for creating detailed personas or conducting in-depth analysis.

Difficulty moving donors through the funnel

As with any journey, sometimes, participants get stuck. Likewise, some donors may get stuck at certain stages, and you'll need to motivate them to progress to the next level of engagement. 

What happens after a donor has... journeyed?

Trick question! The donor journey never ends, my friend. Creating an intentional and thoughtful digital journey for your various donors is a lifelong process, and you'll need to continue to tweak your communication strategies, email marketing, social channels, website, and interactions to meet donors where they are and ensure they stay engaged with your organization.

Effective donor journey map tools for nonprofits

If you really want to dive into the world of journey mapping, you'll want a journey mapping tool to help you visualize the comprehensive donor journey. Here are a few places to get started:

• Lucidchart . Lucidchart lets you drag and drop to make visually appealing, easy-to-navigate diagrams for workflows and project management.
• Smaply . Smaply is all about managing the customer experience, with tools for journey mapping, stakeholder mapping, and persona mapping.
• WebMaxy . WebMaxy 's data-driven marketing platform has specific tools to analyze the customer (or donor) journey, allowing you to see your website from the visitor's perspective.

Even for the most experienced and confident nonprofiteers, the rugged landscape of the nonprofitsphere can sometimes leave you feeling unsure or lost. Luckily, you can build a donor journey map to find your way out of the deepest darkness. Gear up, intrepid adventurers, and let's go!

Donor journey: Key takeaways

• The donor journey encompasses the series of interactions a donor has with a nonprofit, from the initial awareness stage to becoming a loyal supporter.
• The nonprofit customer journey can be highly varied, with different donors taking different paths. Some make a one-time donation, others become volunteers, and others become lifelong supporters.
• Mapping the donor journey is a powerful technique that involves understanding the donor's POV by identifying touchpoints at each stage of the journey.
• The customer (and donor) journey consists of five stages: awareness, consideration, decision, retention, and loyalty/advocacy.
• Donor data is essential for effective mapping, enabling personalized engagement and targeted communication for different donor segments.

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5 Steps to Creating an Effective Donor Journey Map

Whether you help run an established nonprofit with a proud history or a brand new startup nonprofit just getting on its feet, having a plan that guides your organization is always going to be helpful. Whether you’re creating a marketing plan, scheduling donor surveys , or sketching out a P2P campaign , a good strategy helps you understand where you are where you’re going.

But what about your donors? It’s one thing to know what’s happening at your organization, but it’s something altogether different to know what your donors’ patterns are, where they are in their personal cycle, and whether or not you can count on their continued support. 

And that’s why you need to map your donor journeys.

5 Essential Emails To Steward your Donors

Use this 5 email templates to nurture and engage donors at each stage in  their Donor Journey.

What Are Donor Journeys?

A donor journey is a powerful technique you can use to understand the individual donors who are so important to the continued success of your organization. 

It’s a model that provides a framework to  help you track how and when your supporters give and communicate with you , and why they make the giving choices they do .  Understanding each stage of the donor’s cycle is your window into how to reach them with the right message at the right time. And you can lay it out visually, like a map, so it’s easy to follow and you’ll know just what to do at just the right time.

Why Are Donor Journeys Important? 

With so many nonprofits fundraising regularly, getting someone to give to your organization just once is a feat in itself. Getting them to remain loyal to your cause and give year-after-year? That requires planning.

With so many options in the nonprofit marketplace, donors will give wherever and whenever they want if left to their own devices. So it’s important to remember one simple truth: you need them, they don’t need you. You are dependent on your donor base to balance your books and ensure the longevity of the valuable work you do, so you better try to keep them.  According to this study , a huge percentage of donors stop giving for reasons that are completely within your power to control, namely, poor donor communications . But not all who wander are lost, you just need a map. Mapping the donor journey helps you create lasting, personal connections with your supporters, deepening their connection to your cause and encouraging a foundation of commitment that leads to regular giving. It’s your best tool to tailor the donor experience to the people whom you rely on most.

The Five Steps on the Donor Journey 

Traditional thinking on how to map the donor journey had five stages based on inherited ideas from mapping customer journeys in the for-profit business world:

• Raise Awareness
• Gather Information
• Ask for Donation

While these steps served many nonprofits well for decades, they don’t quite reflect the reality and spirit of the donor/nonprofit relationship. Keela CEO Nejeed Kassam has upgraded the donor journey to more accurately guide nonprofits through the process.  But before embarking on the donor journey, it’s good to know who is traveling alongside you, so you need to define your donor personas . 

By taking a look at the types of people who give to your organization using this handy document, you can better understand their preferences and tailor their journey for them. 

Use data from previous donations and everything you know about prospective donors to create as many segments as you feel is appropriate and helpful; even just four groups (e.g. one-time donors, monthly donors, major donors , corporate donors) can significantly impact the choices you make when you map out their journeys. Then for each donor persona, follow Nejeed’s updated donor journey map:

It isn’t enough to just tell potential donors what your organization does; you need to inspire them with powerful and meaningful stories that connect with people on an emotional level. Donors want to feel that they are a part of your work and that what they do makes a difference. 

Tell personal stories that use specific information; there’s a big difference between, “Our work changes lives. Donate today.” and “Because of you, 1,000 young people are off the streets. Join us to bring the next 1,000 home.”

2. Learn and Engage

When you run ads or post on social media, track every data point you can. When you host digital events, record who comes. You need to figure out who is engaging with your organization, where people are coming from, how old they are, and anything else that will inform their journey. Try to learn what is driving them to your website. 

Compile all of this information, then look for trends. This will help you determine the best engagement strategy for potential donors – in a way that resonates with them. Meeting donors where they are is the best way to reach them; making them come to you is destined to fail.

Once you’ve learned everything you can, it’s time to engage. 

Respond to their comments on social media, reply to emails, return phone calls, have face-to-face meetings, invite donors to participate in things your organization is doing in order to include donors in the work. The more they feel like they are on the frontlines, the more they become aligned to your cause. This means more than just a newsletter every now and then; donor engagement means you need to build an actual relationship.

3. Ask for a Donation

Our advice: be bold and direct. 

Ask for a donation and tell them what it will do to change lives.  Use your donor personas to tailor your asks to your segments. Don’t ask a millionaire for a $50 donation. Don’t ask for $100 per month from college students. If your ask is close to what they are already willing to give, you’ve got a much better chance of getting that donation.

4. Thank and Show Impact

As soon as that donation comes in, you have to thank the donor. Right away, more than once, in a way that acknowledges the valuable contribution they have made to your cause.

Get creative with thanking and base it on donor personas: a phone call to a Millennial is probably going straight to voicemail but may mean a lot to an older donor. Invites to appreciation events may be ill-advised if your donors live outside your city. In concert with thanking, showing impact is the element that binds donors to your cause for the long term. Demonstrate impact by telling donors exactly what their donation did, who it helped, and why it was necessary. The more donors feel that they have made a difference, the easier the next step will be.

After some time has passed, it’s time to ask for another donation. 

Whether you’re asking for another one-time donation or an upgrade to monthly contributions, make your re-ask with a story accompanied by data. Tell them what their donation has done in the time since they last donated. Tell them what additional donations will achieve. 

Use everything you’ve learned about your donor to customize your re-ask to transform your one-time donor into a lifelong supporter.

6. And the Secret Sixth Step…

Go back through the cycle again and again. Keep inspiring donors with thoughtfully composed messaging and useful, interesting content; always be learning about your donors and updating your donor journeys to reflect what you’ve learned; stay on top of engagement and respond to donor communications as quickly as you can, especially for previous donors. And ask, thank, and re-ask with regularity, because you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.

Use this 5 email templates to nurture and engage donors at each stage in their Donor Journey.

Mapping the Donor Journey with Keela’s Donor Insights 

Figuring out who your donors are, what they like, and what they’re going to do next has never been easier with Keela. Our CRM offers a suite of Intelligent tools to help you understand your donors and better guide your fundraising efforts.  For instance, Keela’s Donor Score tool ranks donors according to their previous giving behavior, segmenting them into categories in order to determine which ones are most likely to give. By segmenting your donor database , you can efficiently plan the best way to nurture them and ask them for a donation.  Also in our suite of donations tools is Donor Readiness. Built using an artificial intelligence algorithm which is similar to the one that forecasts the Stock Market, our Donor Readiness tool predicts the likeliness of a contact donating within the next two weeks, allowing you to sort donors by their Readiness and to streamline your communication to send personalized emails and Follow-Ups to those most likely to give. Book a demo today and learn more about how Donor Insights can help you map the donor journey. 

See How Nonprofits Use Keela to Raise 4x More!

Get a glimpse of how Keela’s donor management system can help you develop better relationships, retain donors and raise more for your cause.

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How to Build A Donor Journey Map

A donor journey map shepherds new supporters through your stewardship process to help them build meaningful relationships with your nonprofit - learn how.

Donor stewardship isn’t a one-size-fits-all task. However, you can make the process easier by identifying different donor cohorts— mid-level givers , grassroots supporters, and volunteers, for example. For each group, you can then set specific goals and relevant paths of engagement to guide your donor stewardship efforts.

A donor journey map shepherds new supporters through your stewardship process to help them build meaningful relationships with your nonprofit and be motivated to give their first donation. You can also use it to move current donors up the engagement ladder , such as recognizing when a grassroots supporter is ready to become a recurring donor. Below, we’ll cover more on what a donor journey map is, why you need one, and how to get started building yours.

What Is a Donor Journey Map?

A donor journey map is a blueprint for donor cultivation and stewardship. It lets your development team visualize the steps donors move through between their first interaction with your nonprofit and becoming lifelong supporters of your cause. 

It can help you quickly gauge the strength of a donor’s relationship with your nonprofit, whether it’s time to adjust your stewardship goals for them, and which engagement touchpoint you want to deploy next.

What Are the Phases in a Donor Journey Map?

There are four phases in a donor journey map. Each is tied to a set of actions nonprofits take to grow relationships with donors. These four phases mirror the four steps of the donor lifecycle :

• Prospecting : This stage is about keeping notes on potential new donors and their first interactions with your nonprofit. Identify consistent volunteers, people active on your social media pages, and individuals who have given major gifts to similar causes.
• Cultivation : This phase involves reaching out to prospects and providing them with opportunities for further engagement. Respond to their social media comments, invite them to an event, or email them an update on your flagship program.
• Requesting : This step is about making your ask. Once you’ve fostered a relationship with a prospective donor, send them your end-of-year appeal, ask on social media for them to join your recurring givers circle, or invite them to launch a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign.
• Stewardship : The final and ongoing phase in a donor journey map is stewardship. After supporters have made a donation, thank them and continue to offer ways for them to grow their connection to your cause in advance of your next request.

Why Is a Donor Journey Map Important for Nonprofits?

It can be challenging to keep up with the many moving parts of running a successful nonprofit. You don’t want to let any of your donors inadvertently slip through the cracks or receive the wrong type of connection at the wrong time. A donor journey map helps your fundraising team stay aligned on goals for each donor cohort so you can continue to implement timely, effective donor stewardship strategies.

A donor journey map also helps you better learn about your donors so you can improve their involvement with your nonprofit. As you move through the map’s different phases, you’ll take notes on how they respond to your actions. This lets your team tailor their experience and move them to different engagement cohorts as needed. This improved connection can ultimately lead to lifelong support, repeated donations, and greater engagement from your donors.

Finally, donor maps assist with visualizing your nonprofit’s future and tracking your progress toward it. For example, you can see how close you are to increasing your number of monthly recurring donors and how that sustainable revenue will allow you to implement new initiatives.

3 Tips for Building a Donor Journey Map

Building an effective donor journey map requires team buy-in and a consistent process. These three tips can help you implement and refine your donor journey map.

1. Set Personalized Goals for Each Donor Segment

Different donor cohorts will have different stewardship goals. For volunteers , your goal may be to encourage them to give their first monetary donation, whereas for annual donors, your goal might be to shift them to a monthly gift cadence. You may even have specific goals for lapsed donors to inspire them to support your cause again.

Your stewardship touchpoints will look different based on donor levels and related goals. With a volunteer, your engagement strategy may include sending a handwritten thank-you note for their service and then inviting them to launch a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign for their birthday. With an annual donor, you could invite them to a volunteer event to grow their personal connection to your cause before asking them to join your community of monthly donors.

For each donor cohort, map out what the unique stewardship touchpoints will be in your donor journey map to reach your goals.

2. Create a Standard Operating Procedure

To track progress in your donor journey map, you’ll need to collect data on how donors respond to your stewardship actions. You’ll also need to know who on your staff is responsible for which steps in your donor cultivation process.

A standard operating procedure (SOP) helps get your full team on the same page through written policies and procedures concerning your development department’s core functions. This includes data management expectations. 

When developing or reviewing your SOP, think about it in terms of your donor journey map, and ask questions like:

• What data are important for us to collect, and at what stages in the donor journey?
• How often will we review progress through our donor journey map for different cohorts?
• Who is responsible for updating our donor journey maps?

Use your responses to establish step-by-step instructions in your SOP that help your team stay organized, meet fundraising goals, and connect with your donors.

3. Review and Revise Your Process Regularly

Once you’ve built a donor journey map, you need to put it into action. Your donor journey map is a living document that needs to be regularly reviewed and revised to be the most effective.

Plan to check in as a team at least quarterly to review donor relationship metrics . You’ll want to pay particular attention to:

• Interactions : Are you on track with the frequency of interactions you planned for each donor? Are you consistently reaching out and inviting donors to be involved with your cause?
• Sentiment : Are donors responding positively to your engagement strategies? Which strategies are receiving the lowest response rate?
• Referrals : Are donors inviting friends to join your cause? How have your different donor cohorts grown or changed over time?

As you review progress along your donor journey maps, pinpoint what’s working and what needs to change in order to meet your goals.

Leverage a Donor Journey Map to Elevate Your Donor Stewardship Efforts

A donor journey map provides a blueprint for how to initiate and grow lasting relationships with donors. Build one to keep your team on track and motivated to reach your development goals.

Instil makes mapping donor journeys easy. The platform has an option to track donor sentiment, letting your team quickly review which engagement tactics work best to move donors through your map’s different phases. Holistic community profiles and simple data visualizations are also built right into the solution for organized, accessible data analysis. 

Contact the Instil team for questions, demos, or educational materials any time through our website to learn more about how our software can work for you.

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Understanding the donor journey of your nonprofit’s supporters

Understanding a donor’s journey with your nonprofit is like having a roadmap to success. You see the individual touchpoints and interactions along the way that take someone from first hearing about your nonprofit to being a lifelong supporter. It's all about creating lasting connections and ensuring those who support you today stick around for the long haul. Let’s look at the basics of a donor journey, as well as the benefits of understanding your donors’ experience with your nonprofit.

Table of Contents:

What is a donor journey.

• Stages of a Donor Journey
• Benefits of Understanding a Donor Journey

Think of the donor journey as the path a supporter walks down with your nonprofit, from the moment they first hear about your cause to the point where they become a dedicated advocate.

Each donor's journey is unique, and not all supporters will reach every stage. However, understanding these stages can help you craft tailored communications and engagements that foster deeper relationships with your donors. Every step in a donor's journey is an opportunity. To not just promote your cause, but to have a meaningful dialogue.

So, what are the stages of a donor journey?

Donor Journey Stages

Awareness is the cornerstone of any successful donor journey. This is the initial stage where potential donors first learn about your nonprofit. During this crucial stage, potential donors may stumble upon your organization through various channels: a compelling social media post, a heartfelt testimonial from a friend, or perhaps an engaging community event where your cause is highlighted.

This first encounter sets the stage for the rest of their journey, making it essential to leave a memorable impression. Captivating storytelling, eye-catching visuals, and clear messaging are key elements that can help ensure your nonprofit stands out amidst the noise of countless other causes vying for attention.

Engaging donors in the awareness stage

A whopping 69% of nonprofit donations are made online . This means that a majority of donors are discovering and engaging with nonprofits through some form of digital interaction. Whether they're scrolling through social media, getting inspired by a powerful email campaign, or simply searching the web for a cause that resonates with them, digital platforms are key treasure maps guiding new donors to the X that marks the spot – your nonprofit!

So, how do you increase your digital presence?

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - SEO can feel very overwhelming, especially when you’re already wearing a lot of other hats. You don’t necessarily have the time to deep dive into search algorithms. So, let’s look at the basics to improve your nonprofit’s digital presence . Create a list of keywords that you’d like to rank for and that align with your mission and start using those regularly in your content. For smaller nonprofits, these words will be more targeted. For example: You probably wouldn’t rank for “Animal Shelter”, but “Animal Shelter in [your location]” will be much easier to rank for.
• Google Ad Grants - Did you know that G oogle offers nonprofits $10,000 of free advertising a month for nonprofits ? Learn more about taking advantage of these free dollars with this free guide to Google Ad Grants .
• Social Media - Posting on social media can be a powerful way to reach new audiences and stay top of mind with current donors. Post content that is relevant to your audience and uses keywords that you want to rank for. Struggling to come up with post ideas? Check out Steward - an AI assistant designed for nonprofits . A great prompt: Give Steward specifics about your nonprofit and ask for 10 social media post ideas.

Moving from Awareness to Consideration

To usher donors in the Awareness Stage along to the Consideration Stage of their donor journey, you’ll need easy ways for them to further explore your nonprofit. This could include directing individuals to your website for more information, inviting them to sign up for newsletters or updates, or encouraging attendance at upcoming events where they can engage directly with your cause. By fostering curiosity and offering opportunities for deeper engagement, you can lay a strong foundation for cultivating lasting relationships with potential donors as they progress along their journey.

Consideration (or Research):

At this point, potential donors are curious and seeking more information about your nonprofit. They might sign up for your newsletter or follow you on social media. Now, they're seriously contemplating a donation. They're looking at what impact their donation could have and how it aligns with their personal values. They want reassurance that their support will make a tangible difference.

Engaging donors in the consideration stage of their journey

Providing clear and concise communication about your mission, goals, and impact helps potential donors make an informed decision about giving to you. Prevent barriers to entry by making sure this information is easily accessible to potential donors.

• Create a compelling website - Your website is the central hub where potential donors first look to find information about your nonprofit. A website with copy that resonates with potential donors plays a big role in whether you receive a gift or not. Is your nonprofit following website best practices ?
• Highlight success stories - Stories of success, testimonials from beneficiaries, and concrete examples of how donations are used help build trust and demonstrate the value of supporting your cause. Share these stories on your website and social media.
• Post regularly on social media - Social media plays a role in both the Awareness and Consideration stages of the donor journey. Sharing regularly about your mission shows donors that you are an active nonprofit working hard to make an impact.
• Engage potential donors - Encourage dialogue through social media, email, or personalized outreach to help nurture relationships and deepen engagement as individuals progress along their donor journey. By actively listening to their questions, concerns, and feedback, you can foster a sense of connection and demonstrate your commitment to transparency and accountability.

Storytelling is an important part of engaging potential donors in this stage. Emotionally resonating stories move hearts and encourage generosity and philanthropy.

The pivotal moment in the donor journey is the decision stage. This is the turning point where they choose to make a financial contribution for the first time towards your cause. Properly engaging and motivating them at this stage can ensure not just a one-time donation, but may lay the foundation for a long-term relationship.

Improving a donor’s experience

• Optimize donation pages - Making the donation process easy, quick, and secure is vital at this stage. No one wants to battle a complicated procedure to give their money. Wondering if your donation page is optimized? Check out the Donation Page Playbook to make sure you’re following donation page best practices.
• Highlight Impact - When it comes to making a decision, a donor wants to understand the potential impact of their contribution to your cause. Use images, stories, and statistics on your donation page to vividly illustrate the tangible impact their gift will make. It is also helpful to tie a specific impact to a donation amount, as this can increase how much a donor gives.
• Donor Recognition - Have a plan in place for acknowledging gifts after they’ve been given. Immediately after a donation has been given, redirect your donors to a “thank you” page. With the right nonprofit CRM , you can send automated receipts and thank you emails, so donors know that their gift matters.

“Consider every conversion point that you have in your donor journey, let’s say it’s the donation page. They go to the donation page and it’s a checkout form. What does that experience look like? And what happens after they make the gift? A lot of times nothing happens. It’s just a blank screen after and you don’t get an email. You don’t get anything. There needs to be recognition of the action that was taken by the donor or supporter. -Julia Devine on Beyond the Donation episode 26

Engagement:

So you've successfully secured your first donation from that new donor. Congratulations! But the work is far from over. This new chapter begins with the Engagement Stage . Your focus now is to cultivate your connection with the supporters and highlight the invaluable effects of their contributions.

Building Positive Experiences

Your donor's first gift is just the starting point. Because donor acquisition can cost up to 5x more than donor retention , it’s important to continue to engage those who’ve already given to your nonprofit. The post-donation journey builds upon that initial connection by fostering positive experiences. How do you give these positive experiences?

• A personalized thank you - Whether through snail mail, email, text, or phone call, it’s important to prioritize showing donors your appreciation for them .
• Nurture communication - Newsletters, emails, and texts that aim at nurturing connection are a valuable part of growing donor engagement. Monthly or quarterly nurture emails allow you to update donors on the work being done. Donors value transparency and communications are a great avenue to be open and honest about what is happening at your nonprofit.
• Illustrative impact reports - Crafting an impact report is a vital practice for any nonprofit intending to magnify its influence and leave a lasting impact. With an impact report, you can track the performance of specific initiatives, programs, or events. A nonprofit impact report shows the successes — or possibly failures — of such efforts. This essential document links the work of the organization and the financial support they have received to tangible outcomes.

The decision stage is not just about landing a donation; it's about creating a meaningful connection between the donor and your cause. Implement these steps and watch as your prospective donors transition into actual supporters, creating enduring relationships with your organization. Foster a wonderful experience and your supporters are more likely to contribute again in the future.

Loyal Supporter, Advocate, and Major Donor:

These three stages of the Donor Journey are reserved for donors who offer ongoing support. These donors consistently support your cause and have a deep connection to your mission.

• A Loyal Supporter gives regular recurring gifts, whether monthly or annually.
• At the Advocate stage, they're not just giving; they're actively promoting your cause to others. Someone in the Advocate stage might share your content regularly, bring friends to events, or volunteer their time.
• A Major Donor is someone who gives significantly of their time or resources. These are individuals who make significant, often larger, contributions. Additionally, they might be involved in strategic discussions or sit on the board.

Identifying these stages in a donor's relationship with your organization increases the effectiveness of your outreach attempts. It allows you to provide a personalized experience, thus making their journey with your nonprofit truly meaningful.

Benefits of understanding a donor journey

When you understand how potential donors interact with your nonprofit, you’re better able to

• Segment your donors : Categorize your donors based on their engagement level, past contributions, and interest areas. Donor segmentation allows you to craft more targeted, relevant communication.
• Personalize your communication : Understanding the 'Where,' 'Why,' and 'How' of your donors' engagement contributes to sending customized messages that resonate better and ensure higher response rates.
• Boost donor loyalty : By providing value, nurturing trust, and refining experiences continually, you can increase donor satisfaction, encourage repeat donations, and foster lasting relationships.
• Enhance donor value over time : By fine-tuning your interactions based on your understanding of your donor's motivation and communication preferences, you can gradually move them towards higher contribution levels

To sum it up, embracing your donor's journey is as good as embracing your donors. It displays that your organization values its supporters not just for their dollars but as partners in your mission. Remember, a robust donor relationship requires continuous effort, and each interaction along the journey can strengthen that bond.

Incorporate this strategy, understand their journey, engage them better, and witness how a better understanding of your supporters' roadmap contributes to the sustainable growth of your nonprofit.

To streamline this process, a tool like DonorDock can automate many aspects of donor engagement, ensuring no opportunity for advancement along the journey is missed. If you'd like to map out these stages for your organization, check out this free donor journey map template for a great starting point.

Understanding your nonprofit’s donor journey is like holding a roadmap to success. It illuminates the vital touchpoints that guide a curious onlooker to become a lifelong supporter of your cause. These interactions are about cultivating enduring relationships and ensuring today's supporters remain committed in the long run.

By understanding your donor's journey — from initial awareness, through consideration and decision, to engagement and eventual loyalty — your nonprofit is equipped to communicate effectively, engage sincerely and inspire generously. This knowledge helps to craft rich, personalized experiences that deepen relationships and entrench support for your mission.

Remember, a prosperous donor relationship isn't a one-time transaction; it requires continuous effort and interaction. Each junction along the journey strengthens this bond, transforming individual contributions into a sustainable foundation of support for your nonprofit.

So, take time to understand your donor journey framework, and see how fostering this roadmap boosts your organization's sustainable growth.

Are you using a donor development platform that serves up actionable tasks to help you cultivate donor relationships along each stage of their journey?

Nurture your donor relationships with DonorDock. Try it for free today at www.donordock.com/signup

Elisha Ford is a content writer at DonorDock. With personal experience in nonprofit fundraising, she is passionate about having a positive impact on the nonprofit world. Her days are spent researching nonprofit best practices and connecting with people in the industry so that she can provide readers with valuable insights related to nonprofit organizations, fundraising, and donor management.

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Start Mapping Your Donor Journey.

Bring donors from awareness to engagement, then onto generosity and advocacy..

Start creating donor personas and mapping your donor journeys with The Donor Journey Guidebook from Virtuous.

These fillable templates will help you approach your communication planning in an organized and deliberate way, so that you can take each donor on a relevant and responsive journey.

Responsive donor journeys help you bring donors from awareness to engagement, then onto generosity and advocacy.

Begin planning your donor journeys to build deeper supporter relationships today.

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Donor Journey Mapping Sets the Course for Long-term Giving

Better fundraising comes from understanding your donors, engaging them with empathy, and providing them with a meaningful giving experience.  Donor Journey Mapping is a powerful technique used to understand and effectively guide your donors into making a gift.

What is a donor journey? 

The Donor Journey is a personalized blueprint for the interactions and touchpoints you have with your donors at each stage of engagement.  

Why are Donor Journey Maps important?

With a donor journey map, your team will know exactly what to do to build a strong connection between the donor and your mission, create a better giving experience, and drive generosity– beyond the first gift.

The Phases of the Donor Journey

A donor’s journey , from their first awareness of your cause to a long-term commitment of support, has four general phases:

• Awareness. Your donor becomes aware of your mission.
• Consideration.   The donor begins to see how they can help.
• Decision. The donor gives (usually in response to an appeal or ask).
• Evangelizing.   The donor has a long-term investment in your organization and encourages others to give.

FIVE STEPS TO MAPPING A DONOR JOURNEY

• Know Your “Typical” Donors. Segment your donor/prospect base into groups by shared characteristics (demographics) and perspectives (likes and dislikes, needs, expectations, motivations, attitudes).  Messaging and approaches that show that you empathize with their experience will personally engage your donors.
• “Map” actions/touchpoints with each phase of the Donor Journey.
• Plan the RIGHT ask. This comes from listening and monitoring the donor’s response to your engagement touchpoints.
• Evaluate and Evolve. Have a strategy for staying connected and learning more about your donors.  They grow and change, and the more you approach them from an empathic understanding of their perspective, the deeper the relationship. 

PRO TIP: DonorSearch Ai’s AI-Analytics synthesizes 800+ data points to provide you with highly-predictive giving likelihood ratings and a well-rounded picture of your donor base.  We deliver the results in a data visualization tool that you can use to build donor segments and inform your actions.

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The revolutionizing donor prospecting solution. Seamlessly navigate a custom user dashboard, embedded Gen AI prospect reports, rapid access through keyword searches, interactive prospect profiles, and more! Ready to transform your fundraising journey?

Donor Journey Template

Creating a donor journey is the best way to ensure your outreach efforts are targeted and effective. It’s not hard when you have a guide!   

We’ve created this free Donor Journey Template to walk nonprofits through the questions they can ask themselves to create a plan. When you’ve completed the questions and filled in the actions, you will have a thoughtful donor journey map that can direct your fundraising efforts.  

As with all our worksheets, click file -> make a copy so you have your own private, editable document.  

Download the Worksheet

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Storytelling is an incredibly effective way to stop people in their tracks and connect with them on a personal level. By telling your story in an engaging way, you can reach new people and help them understand your mission and vision.

Data driven storytelling—which is what donor journey mapping enables—allows you to gain better insights into how people are thinking about your organization and what it stands for. That awareness enables you to craft stories that are more appealing than ever before. This, in turn, helps your organization to reach new people and keep current donors engaged with your work.

Donor Journey Mapping and Donor Personas

What is a donor journey map, why do you need donor personas.

Once you have created your donor personas , it’s important to study the behavior of similar donors in order to design your donation process accordingly. For example, if a family man in the prime of life is most likely to donate through random acts of kindness (RAOK), you might want to create a RAOK donation crowdfunding page specifically for this group of donors.

By understanding your audience and tailoring your donor experience accordingly, you can more effectively tell your organization’s story and reach fundraising goals. However, it’s important to remember that your ultimate goal is not just collecting money —it’s getting donors involved in your mission and programs so that they become lifelong supporters of your work.

The Steps of Donor Journey Mapping

Create an empathy map ( Miro has a useful template ) to better understand what motivates your users and gain insight into their attitudes, beliefs and worries. This article by the Canadian Centre for Christian Charities does an excellent job explaining the details.  By understanding these motivations behind your users’ behavior, you can develop more effective marketing campaigns that will reach them on an individual level.

Understand how different interactions impact individuals along the continuum of giving. This includes personal contacts (such as face-to-face meetings or email exchanges), interactions with sponsors or partners, and finally taking action (through attending events or making donations). When you have a clear picture of how all these different interactions impact donors, you can create strategic plans for success.

It’s true donor engagement is key to success in fundraising and that data-driven fundraising can be a powerful tool to help you achieve it. However, it all comes down to telling your story in a way that resonates with your audience. By taking some time to map out your donor journey, understand your target audience, and craft a story that will inspire them, you’ll gain more and longer-lasting support for your cause.

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