Digital FundraisingStrategy Corner

The most successful nonprofits don’t just ask for support. They grow it, bit by bit.

Quick donation wins feel great—but if you want to meet your fundraising goals year after year, you need more than a viral moment. You need a digital fundraising strategy that builds trust, deepens relationships, and turns curiosity into generosity time and time again.

At Whole Whale, we see too many nonprofits apply urgent appeals and one-time campaigns that activate new donors without the infrastructure to nurture long-term donor relationships. The result? Unpredictable revenue, shallow engagement, and too many missed opportunities.

That’s where a full-funnel fundraising strategy comes in. This approach meets supporters where they are—whether they’re discovering your mission for the first time or giving for the fifth year in a row—and guides them toward meaningful, recurring support.

What is a Full-Funnel Approach to Fundraising?

We use the Funnel of Engagement to map how someone goes from hearing about your work to becoming a loyal, long-term donor. It mirrors traditional marketing funnels, but instead of selling products, we’re building generosity and deepening commitment.

The stages:

• Aware: They’ve heard of you and get the gist of your mission.
• Interested: They take a closer look—visiting your site, joining your list, or following you on social.
• Engaged: They give. Or volunteer. Or show up.
• Committed: They stick around—donating again, joining monthly, fundraising for you, and advocating for your cause.

“To get more committed donors, you have to be thinking about how you’re growing and engaging your audience at all stages of the funnel. A smart full-funnel fundraising strategy doesn’t just ask for money and stop once a donation is unlocked—it guides supporters through a journey that builds ongoing connection and trust.” – George Weiner, CEO

Why Full-Funnel Thinking is a Game-Changer for Fundraising

Let’s be real: your supporters are at different stages of readiness to give. A single “Donate Now” button won’t cut it. When you plan content, calls to action, and campaigns for each stage of the funnel, you:

• Grow your donor base with intention: Bringing in new prospects and gradually warming them up
• Raise more money over time: Increasing your average gift size, donor retention, and opportunities for recurring giving
• Create smarter donor journeys: Delivering the right message at the right time to inspire action and continuing to offer value to your supporters and donors
• Uncover bottlenecks: Seeing where people lose interest—and where you’re building momentum
• Align digital work with revenue goals: Tracking what’s actually moving the needle on your fundraising goals, allowing you to double down on strategies that work

Full-Funnel Fundraising in Action

Let’s break down how each stage supports your donation and fundraising goals—with digital tactics and measurable metrics to watch.

🌀 AWARE: Attracting New Donor Prospects

Your goal: Get on their radar. Start the relationship.

Where to begin: Consider who your donors are. Ask yourself: What content interests them? What brought your donors to you in the first place? How and where did they first learn about your org? And then think about how you can create more opportunities to reach more people with that type of content.

Ways to increase visibility among potential donors:

• Content marketing & SEO – Creating blog posts, videos, and more on your website that addresses the topics your donors are most interested in
• Google Ad Grant campaigns – Using your free google search dollars to drive traffic to the pages where interested supporters and new donors are coming from
• Awareness ads on social media and display networks – Telling stories of impact that capture the attention and interest of potential donors and prospecting audiences

Metrics that matter:

• Website traffic to key pages
• Social media reach and impressions
• New followers or subscribers
• Google searches for your org or issue

✅ Fundraising Outcome: Grow your donor pipeline by introducing more people to your mission.

👀 INTERESTED: Turning Curiosity into Connection

Your goal: Build trust and earn permission to keep in touch.

Where to begin: Think about how you are converting attention into action. Consider where your supporters are spending the most time learning more about you – are you offering calls to action there that allow you to further build a relationship with them?

Ways to increase interest among potential donors:

• Email signups on top traffic pages – Using newsletter signup calls to action to let your supporters know how they can learn more and keep in touch, emphasizing what they gain for joining your community
• Website pop-ups – Leveraging email pop-ups on visitor exit intent to ensure that no one leaves your website without being prompted to join your community
• Lead gen campaigns – Using digital advertising on platforms like Meta to reach and capture new supporters (e.g. website visitors, social engagers, donor lookalikes) through lead magnets like a downloadable resource or guide

Metrics that matter:

• Email signups
• Clicks from social or ads to key landing pages
• Resource downloads
• CPA (cost per acquisition) from ads
• Time on site or return visits

✅ Fundraising Outcome: Build a warm list of potential donors who can be primed to give.

💥 ENGAGED: Inspiring the First (or Next) Gift

Your goal: Nurture your supporters to make giving easy, compelling, and timely.

Where to begin: At this stage, you’re talking to people who have already signaled that they care—by signing up for emails, clicking on your content, or following you on social. Now’s the time to help them take an important next step.

Think about how you are building a relationship with supporters and donors over time. If new to your org, how are you offering value and nurturing with different stories and varied ways to engage? How are you thanking your donors and helping them understand the value of their gift?

Ways to drive action from warm prospects:

• Automated welcome series – Ensuring that every new supporter receives a thoughtful sequence of important messages, such as a story of impact, valuable community resource, ways to take action, or why they should give
• Email nurture and segmentation – Sending varied, timely, and relevant information and asks with storytelling, impact visuals, and clear CTAs, including direct donation appeals
• Retargeting appeal ads – Reaching warm audiences (e.g. email subscribers, lapsed donors) with urgent and/or timely donation asks on digital platforms like Meta
• Donation page optimization – Ensuring your donation form is mobile-friendly, fast-loading, and clearly shows the value of a gift

Metrics that matter:

• Email click-through rate (CTR)
• Dollars raised $$$
• # of new and returning donors
• # of petition signatures or other meaningful actions
• Donation page conversion rate

✅ Fundraising Outcome: Turn warm leads into donors by increasing investment and meeting people at the right moment to give.

🔁 COMMITTED: Building Donor Loyalty

Your goal: Increase donor retention, recurring giving, and long-term impact.

Where to begin: Think beyond the first donation. What happens next? Do donors feel valued and inspired to keep showing up? This is where many fundraising programs can lose steam—by not offering a meaningful post-donation experience.

The key is to treat every supporter and donor like you would a true friend. That means personalized follow-up, consistent updates, demonstrated value, and ongoing opportunities to engage, give, advocate, or fundraise on your behalf.

Ways to deepen donor relationships:

• Recurring giving programs – Inviting donors to become monthly supporters and giving them something of value in return, such as more personal opportunities to participate in your story
• Personalized stewardship – Sending tailored thank-you messages, impact updates, and mission milestones based on donor behavior to make them feel like a true VIP
• Peer-to-peer fundraising tools – Empowering loyal supporters to fundraise for you and bring new supporters and donors into the fold
• Donor anniversaries and appreciation – Celebrating giving milestones by showing gratitude with handwritten notes, shout-outs, or surprise thank-you videos

Metrics that matter:

• Average donor lifetime value
• Donation revenue and total individual donors YoY
• Donor retention rate YoY
• Growth in monthly giving and recurring revenue YoY
• Peer-to-peer fundraising participation
• Email engagement from returning donors

✅ Fundraising Outcome: More stable, predictable revenue from a base of loyal supporters.

Common Pitfalls in Digital Fundraising—and How to Avoid Them

Even with the right strategy, it’s easy to fall into these traps:

🚫 Starting & Staying at the Bottom of the Funnel

If your whole strategy is donate now, you’re leaving opportunity on the table. If you wouldn’t ask someone to marry you on the first date, don’t expect someone to give after just one click. And, if you’re only asking someone to give over and over again without giving them anything they value in return, your prospects are going to lose interest and look elsewhere.

👉 Do this instead: Warm people up. Lead with value. Give before you expect to get.

🚫 No Follow-Up for First-Time Donors

A donor who gives once and hears nothing back isn’t likely to give again. Thanking your donors is critically important, so look beyond one automated email receipt.

👉 Do this instead: Treat every gift like the start of a relationship, not the end. Have a post-donation journey ready that helps donors see the value of their gift and inspires them to do more.

🚫 Advertising only Direct Appeals

Only running ads that say “Donate Now” might drive some gifts—but it often comes at a higher cost and misses the chance to build a more sustainable donor pipeline. Cold audiences don’t usually give right away, and focusing all your ad budget on immediate conversions can leave you with high acquisition costs and limited long-term value.

👉 Do this instead: Incorporate lead generation campaigns into your digital ad strategy. Offering downloadable resources, event invites, or issue-based quizzes can help you build a list of warm prospects at a much lower cost that you can nurture towards giving. Think long game, not just quick wins.

🚫 Forgetting Fundraising is Journey, Not a Destination

It’s tempting to treat fundraising goals like the finish line—mission accomplished, move on. But when you view giving as a one-and-done event, you miss the deeper potential of the relationship. This mindset can lead to underinvesting in the stages that come before and after the gift: the content that builds trust, the moments that deepen connection, and the follow-up that turns a one-time donor into a lifelong champion.

👉 Do this instead: Shift your mindset from conversion to connection. Every interaction—from a social media like to a thank-you email—is part of a larger journey. Design your strategy to guide supporters through that full arc: from discovery to donation to lasting loyalty. And remember that most journeys aren’t linear, and people might bounce back up from committed to interested and down again. A well-mapped funnel doesn’t just raise more money—it builds a net that keeps your community connected for the long haul.

Final Takeaway: Full-Funnel Fundraising is Future Fuel

Sustainable fundraising isn’t about shouting louder or asking more often—it’s about asking smarter. A full-funnel fundraising strategy helps you do just that: meeting supporters where they are, nurturing their connection to your cause, and guiding them toward deeper, long-term investment.

The most successful nonprofits don’t just ask. They educate, inspire, invite, and build. Bit by bit. Supporter by supporter, donor by donor. Year after year.

By thinking beyond the donation form and designing intentional, value-driven experiences at every stage—from first impression to recurring gift—you’re not just raising money. You’re nurturing a community. You’re earning trust. And you’re building a future where your fundraising goals are met with less scrambling and more strategy.

If you’re ready to move beyond one-time appeals and start building a digital fundraising strategy that delivers sustainable support, let’s talk.