Megan Simmons
Senior Consultant
Ask nonprofit leaders what donors want to fund, and many will tell you the same thing: new initiatives, pilot programs, expansions. They want their gifts to launch, catalyze, and create!
Sometimes, this aligns perfectly with your priorities. You have a new program ready to test, your leadership is committed to making it happen, and philanthropy can provide seed funding to bring it to life.
These opportunities are exciting, but not always reality. And even when pursuing new initiatives, you must still raise the dollars required to sustain the programs, people, and infrastructure that make your mission possible—in other words, fundraising for operations.
Annual Support Fundraising Communications That Inspire
Unlike “shiny new initiatives,” operations can feel more difficult to package into compelling donor opportunities. Often, we present annual support as maintenance: “Your gift will sustain our mission and support operations.”
The good news is that sustaining mission-critical work does not require telling the same story year after year. Even long-established programs generate new opportunities, new challenges, and new insights that can help donors see familiar work in fresh ways.
Consider, for example, how we can reframe annual support for a foodbank’s ProduceRx program—which connects neighbors experiencing food insecurity and chronic disease to healthy produce—through three different lenses.
Highlight New Impact
Your organization is likely always refining, improving, and strengthening your existing initiatives. Help your donors understand how their support fuels those improvements.
Instead of: “Your gift will sustain ProduceRx operations.”
Consider: “Your gift will continue to support a new choice-based approach to ProduceRx, allowing participants to select the fruits and vegetables that best meet their family’s needs. This model improves accessibility, honors individual preferences, reduces wait times, and positions the program to serve more people in the years ahead.”
The opportunity is to identify meaningful improvements or goals already planned within your existing operating budget. Ask: where are we evolving? Becoming more effective? More accessible? Those are donor-worthy stories.
Highlight New Urgency
Sometimes the program has not changed, but the environment around it has.
For example: “Demand for ProduceRx has risen steadily for years. As reductions to food assistance programs threaten safety nets for families, demand will increase significantly. This is a pivotal moment. Your support can help ensure that fresh, healthy food remains available to families who need it most—even as other resources become increasingly uncertain.”
The opportunity is to help donors see how familiar programs are uniquely positioned to address emerging challenges.
Highlight New Knowledge
Sometimes a new insight or talking point is enough to spark a fresh conversation with a donor.
Imagine sharing: “Recent program data shows more than 90% of ProduceRx participants consume at least three-quarters of their prescribed fruits and vegetables each week. Emerging research also continues to demonstrate strong links between produce prescription programs and improvements in health outcomes, including sustained reductions in chronic disease risk factors.”
This gives donors fresh evidence of progress, deepens their confidence in your work, and reinforces the significance of continued investment.
We often assume a new project is needed to generate donor excitement. In reality, donors frequently need something else: new and fresh ways to understand the impact of work they already care about. Let’s help our donors recognize the possibilities, challenges, and discoveries embedded within the mission they already believe in.
Ready to make your case for annual support more compelling? Let’s talk, our team can help you find fresh ways to frame the work donors already believe in.