Fundraising in 2024 continues to bring a unique set of challenges for nonprofit organizations. We recently wrote about ways to lean into fundraising success during challenging and uncertain times, such as what organizations are experiencing right now. But there is another pressing challenge lurking beneath the surface: Need fatigue.
Need fatigue occurs when donors become desensitized or overwhelmed by a constant stream of appeals, resulting in decreased engagement and fundraising.
The reasons for need fatigue are varied and often different for individual donors versus corporate donors.
For individual donors, the persistent exposure to need-focused narratives with ever increasing urgency makes donors feel inundated and often powerless to make a difference, no matter their level of giving.
Corporate need fatigue is somewhat different, as its ties to giving are directly related to business development strategies. In an increasingly polarized society, corporate donors are finding that cause marketing carries the risk of alienating certain potential customers.
Inbloom monitors trends nationally through our research and professional network while also having our “ear to the ground” with our client projects. With decades of experience in fundraising success, it has enabled us to forecast need fatigue and counsel clients on how to adapt faster.
While our approach is customized to serve individual client needs, the checklist below are three key principles any nonprofit organization can explore to combat need fatigue in 2024:
Marketing & Communications
Is your messaging strategically diverse? Are each of your target audiences in mind when you craft and distribute your messaging?
Are you balancing emotionally charged, need-focused appeals with success stories focused on donor impact?
Tip: Your marketing should be well integrated with fundraising to ensure success.
Fund Development
Have you identified your Very Important Donors, and do you have a plan to engage them in the organization's success moments that are made possible thanks to them? This links giving and donor gifts directly to positive results, increasing energy and decreasing fatigue.
How are you involving donors beyond monetary donations to create a feeling of shared ownership in mission success? Stakeholder activities focused on positive momentum can create buy-in for your mission because it is the opposite of focusing on need only.
Tip: If you need to reconnect with your Very Important Donors, consider staging a stewardship interview project as a mini-feasibility study. The effort helps spur on new gift conversations by uncovering what your donors care about now.
Strategic Planning
Is your strategic plan current and are you using it to engage donors in your mission with a compelling vision for the future?
Tip: Develop a full brochure featuring your strategic plan and post it on your website.
If your organization is experiencing less engagement from donors resulting in a decrease in support, it could be a symptom of need fatigue. Contact us for a consultation and to determine a course of action to return your organization to fundraising success.
