Fundraising teams are under constant pressure to raise more money and hit goals with limited resources. From managing gifts, pledges, and donor follow-up, time is of the essence for these teams, and that time is often spent taking care of administrative tasks instead of focusing on strategic initiatives.

Utilizing fundraising automations can be a simple, efficient way to manage outreach, follow-up, and more while maintaining the donor experience.

Here are 10 fundraising automations that your nonprofit can set up today to raise more money with half the work!

1. Donation Receipt and Tax Acknowledgement Automation

Immediately after a donor makes a gift, an automation should be triggered that sends donation receipts and tax acknowledgement details. This immediate action helps build trust with the donor and reduces administrative work for your staff. Particularly during high-volume giving seasons like year-end, this automation ensures every donor receives the proper and correct documentation with accurate amounts.

2. First-Time Donor Stewardship Automation 

This automation should place new donors into a short sequence of emails that thanks them for their donation, explains how the donation will be used, and introduces your mission more deeply. This thoughtful, immediate follow-up increases the chances that a first-time donor gives again.

3. Invitation for One Time Donors to Join Your Recurring Giving Program 

Create an automation that identifies one-time donors and automatically nurtures them towards joining your recurring giving program. These messages should focus on the impact of predictable, steady revenue to your organization, and how long-term support and loyalty helps sustain your mission year-round.

4. Recurring Gift Payment Recovery Automation 

When recurring donations fail due to expired or declined credit cards, an automation should be triggered that notifies the donor and offers them an easy way to update payment information for future payments.

CharityEngine’s subscription billing technology, SustainerIQ, automates these communications for you, sending timely reminders to donors with no manual outreach required.

5. Donor Upgrade and Invitation to Increase Gift 

Over time, if a donor consistently gives at a certain amount, they should be invited to increase their support. Create an automation that monitors donors’ giving patterns over time, and flags those that are ready to increase their support with a friendly message detailing the impact that increasing their gift by a certain amount will have on your mission.

6. Major Gift Prospect Identification Automation 

Create an automation that analyzes giving history, engagement activity (such as volunteering and event participation), and other indicators to identify supporters with major gift potential. These prospects are then automatically flagged for the development team to begin outreach.

7. Event-to-Donation Follow-Up 

After a donor has attended an event, this automation identifies attendees of the event that haven’t recently donated and follows up with a timely invitation to give. Setting up this automation instead of relying on manual outreach takes the stress of timely outreach out of your staff and ensures fundraising opportunities aren’t missed.

 8. Lapsed Donor Reactivation 

When donors haven’t given in a defined time frame, an automation should be triggered that sends them a personalized reengagement message and an invitation to begin giving again. Automating this process ensures no donor is forgotten and reminds them of past impact and current needs. This will help recover donors that would have otherwise been lost.

 9. Donor Milestone and Loyalty Recognition 

Celebrate donor milestones, anniversaries, and other long-term loyalty metrics through automated recognition that reminds donors they are appreciated at every stage of their giving journey. These moments of appreciation help donors feel recognized and valued for their contributions.

10. Year-End Giving Readiness and Follow-Up 

Before the busiest time of the year approaches, set up automations that will make your staff’s lives (and your own!) ten times easier. Automate the process of sending gift receipts, acknowledgements, and follow-ups for timely and accurate outreach. This will help manage high gift volume without sacrificing the overall donor experience.

Why the Right CRM Matters

Fundraising automations are designed to help nonprofits ease their day-to-day tasks so that they can focus their time on expanding the mission. But the success of these automations heavily relies on the system that runs them. If your donor data is siloed and unhygienic, the automations run the risk of sending the wrong message to the wrong donors.

A strong nonprofit CRM ensures donor data, engagement history, and giving data lives in one place with systems that speak to each other, so that every interaction a donor has with your organization is taken into consideration when triggering automations. The right data and the right automations can go a long way in making a difference to your fundraising goals!