Sought-after donor swag celebrates support
Fundraising is foundational in the nonprofit world. And for nonprofit leaders, making connections and nurturing relationships are the keys to reaching fundraising goals.
In a study of more than 2,000 nonprofits, recurring donors gave nearly $950 on average each year. In contrast, the average one- time donation was $121. Ali Crumpacker, executive director of Project Chimps, understands the value of engaged recurring donors. She has seen firsthand how donor swag helps maintain donor relationships. She shared her experience with using promotional products to help form long-lasting connections between the nonprofit chimpanzee sanctuary and its supporters.
Q: What is the mission of Project Chimps, and how is it carried out?
A: Located in the North Georgia mountains, Project Chimps is a sanctuary for chimpanzees that formerly were used in medical research. We were founded in 2014, and since then we have worked with over 100 chimps.There are 95 currently in residence with us, and they live on about 230 acres.
We have more than 40 staff members and about 180 volunteers. Our volunteers do everything from cut food to drive trucks and work in the veterinary clinic. We even have a retired dentist who helps out whenever a chimp needs dental work.
Q: How important are donor relationships for the organization?
A: The chimpanzees we work with came from private research, not government research. That means they do not receive any taxpayer support. So, we have to raise all of our funds. One hundred percent comes from caring, loving civilians who are willing to donate to support the lifelong care of chimps.
Q: What strategies do you use in fundraising?
A: It runs the gamut. As a sanctuary, we are not open daily like a zoo. We do accept requests for private, guided tours, so on-site tourism helps raise revenue. Then we have a wish list program, where people can specifically select items to purchase and send to our team to help with our work. We also have folks who are extremely generous and name Project Chimps in their will or estate plans.
Q: How do gifts for donors help?
A: It’s always great when someone donates. But if they also receive something with our branding on it that they will wear or use, then they’re able to go out and have conversations with people who see it and ask, “What’s that about? Why are you wearing a shirt with a chimp on it? Why are you drinking a cocktail with a chimp face on it?” It helps spread the message.
“… if they also receive something with our branding on it that they will wear or use, then they’re able to go out and have conversations with people who see it and ask, ‛What’s that about?’” Ali Crumpacker said.
Q: Do you have any favorite examples of donor swag helping with fundraising?
A: Yes. We’ve had great success with our glassware. We started out with a stemless wine glass with our logo on it, which was a gift for donors attending one of our Cheers for Chimps events. Then we had beer events, so we bought beer glasses. Then we had moonshine events, so we had Mason jars. Then we bought tumblers when we had a whiskey event.
For these Cheers for Chimps events, we partner with a venue. Anyone who comes gets a glass and a free pour from the venue. Then you get to talk chimps with fellow chimp lovers.
The events have become very popular. We now have people check in for the event, and we see they bought four tickets—but they don’t have three other guests coming. They just wanted four of the glasses to have a matching set.
Q: How else have you used donor gifts to foster those relationships?
A: We also have an annual event called the Great Ape Escape 5K-ish (it’s not quite a 5K). When someone registers, they have a choice of several tiers of swag options. For example, they can add on a T-shirt or a hat. They also can get a glass, which includes a free pour after the race. Then there’s a VIP option where they can get all the available swag.
Q: What impact do these gifts have on fundraising?
A: We certainly see it’s something people want. They are first interested because they want to support the chimpanzees and it’s an activity or a social outing they enjoy. But it’s really interesting to see how many people buy extra tickets to get more donor swag or upgrade to the VIP tier because they don’t want to pick between one or two items—they want them all. We definitely see an upsell because of the offerings.
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Note: 4imprint partnered with Project Chimps and sponsored some of the event swag mentioned in this story.
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