26 Places to Find New Donors For Your Nonprofit Cause

I couldn’t stop laughing! Last week I was having some fun with a nonprofit client as we were brainstorming how they could expand their donor base. They are just 18 months into a new effort around relationship-based fundraising. They have been working hard – systems are lined up, volunteers are feeling the momentum and joining in, they had a successful pilot campaign and now it’s time to get down to business and take things to the next level.

But why not have some fun while you’re looking for new ways to fund the mission?

So we went through the alphabet and came up with places to find new donors based on the next letter in sequence. Here’s a glimpse into the tomfoolery…perhaps it will trigger some ideas for your organization.

A – alumni groups
B – babysitting services (this was an organization focused on kids)
C – choir members
D – department directors (referring to colleagues)
E – events (your own and other community events)
F – former board members
G – golf buddies
H – high rollers 🙂
I – internal stakeholders
J – jeweler
K – kick boxing class
L – LinkedIn connections
M – mayor
N – newsletter subscribers
O – out of town family
P – past donors
Q – quilting club!
R – real estate investors
S – service clubs
T – teachers
U – university students and professors
V – there was a tie for vendors and volunteers
W – walking club friends
X – x-ray technician (and other health care workers who care about kids)
Y – yoga class
Z – there was a tie between zombie lovers and zucchini growers (?!)

As you can see, this exercise was as much about having fun as it was identifying future donors. And it worked! They came up with new ways to expand their donor base and also generated other ideas to keep the pipeline full.