A donor profile or donor persona is a description of the type of person donating to an organization. Nonprofits often have more than one donor profile, and each profile usually includes information like the donor’s age, gender, education, employment, location, marital status, interests, type of gifts, number of gifts, and many other defining
characteristics.
So, now you’re probably asking yourself why donor profiles are important? There are two significant reasons:
- They help you build stronger relationships with your existing donors
- They assist you in identifying new donors
But how? Well, let’s start with how donor profiles help to build stronger relationships with existing donors. Think about any relationship in your life; the better you know and understand that specific person, the more effectively you are able to communicate with them. The same goes for donors. Each donor profile allows you to create customized communication plans to engage your donors better, ultimately resulting in stronger and more sustainable donor relationships.
Now, how can donor profiles help you to find new donors? As mentioned above, each donor profile is created based on the donor data you have collected and ultimately reveals the similarities in a subset of donors. Therefore you can use your donor profile to create a map of the places you are most likely to find donors similar to those in a specific profile.
So, gather the donor data you have collected, talk to your donors, and get started creating your donor profiles today!
