Supporter Engagement is a Must-Have When Creating an Effective Fundraising Strategy
As the charitable sector in the UK faces economic turbulence, rising donor expectations, and mounting competition, one theme has cut through the noise: supporter engagement. This is now a must-have when creating an effective fundraising strategy.
According to Woods Valldata’s 2025 Individual Giving Fundraising Survey, 40% of fundraisers rank supporter engagement among their biggest opportunities, with retention climbing 13% year-on-year as a top strategic objective.
This growing focus reflects changes in how fundraisers build relationships and drive income. It’s no longer all about acquisition, but about nurturing charity supporters to grow in loyalty to your cause. Because supporter experience is directly related to their lifetime value.
This blog draws on insights from Woods Valldata’s recent sector webinar, The Lowdown Individual Giving Insights 2025 —plus leading sector studies—to explore emerging engagement strategies and spotlight practical success factors in creating an effective fundraising strategy.
The Sector Shift: From Product-Centric to Donor-Centric
“What we’re really seeing is a trend around acquisition and retention, around supporter journeys—really high on the agendas,” observed Helen Halahan, Woods Valldata’s Head of Marketing during the webinar. The data confirms this isn’t just talk: fundraisers are actively investing in mapping and improving their supporter journeys, ensuring that engagement is far more than a transactional ‘ask and thank you’.
Sally Bownes, Head of Loyalty at Save the Children, explained:
“It’s much more cost effective to retain someone than to acquire them. People are recognising and becoming much more audience focused, making sure we’re giving that [one-to-one] experience ... rather than a one-to-many.”
Practical Approaches to Engagement: Insights from the Panel
Engagement today is multi-faceted and deeply informed by feedback and data. Key approaches featured in the webinar include:
1. Listening and understanding motives
“Really listening to and understanding your supporters, getting in place those feedback mechanisms, and understanding in the data that you’re collecting upfront, what are they motivated by? What matters most to them? Being truly audience-centric...” advised Sally Bownes.
2. building tailored journeys for different charity sizes
Jade Dealey, Head of Individual Giving at Samaritans, spoke from both large and small charity experience:
“With smaller charities, you have the luxury to do more bespoke things. If you’ve got a smaller set of donors, you can be a bit more tailored with your communications, or you could try ... different things... lots of agencies are set up now that you can do smaller telemarketing campaigns ... a really great way of getting to know your donors.”
For larger organisations, “data-driven segmentation and multi-channel journeys” are essential, though Jade and Sally both warned against “siloed” approaches.
Joined-up thinking between teams is echoed by Suzanne Beeson, Head of Core Acquisition at Save the Children. She explains that acquisition and loyalty teams should work together, “making sure our teams do so ...we’re thinking about the motivations and values that supporter has at the point of acquisition.” Acquiring the right supporters who will go on to have a relationship with the charity is essential.
3. integrated and timely stewardship
A common thread: stewardship isn’t a single event, but an ongoing, integrated process that stretches across thanking, updates, appeals, and personalised touches. According to research from a Burk Donor Survey mentioned in a clarification.com blog, 45% of donors said it was an outstanding thank you letter that inspired them to give again, and 23% said they gave more generously because of the quality of the acknowledgement they received.
Woods Valldata’s expertise in charity response handling here is crucial. Our solutions include:
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Automated, multi-channel thanking—timely responses that connect supporters to their impact.
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Personalised fulfilment—welcome packs, updates, and bespoke communications, delivered at scale.
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Journey mapping and data strategy—in partnership with Sequoia Insights, harnessing segmentation and behaviour data to create meaningful touchpoints.
4. embracing digital without losing the human touch
Despite technology’s ubiquity, genuine engagement demands a balance between digital efficiency and personal rapport. As Jade Dealey put it, “Digital has to be thought of for everything that we do, because people are on their mobile phones all the time... not that it’s a main objective, but actually it’s embedded in everything that we do.”
Research from Maifesto explains that technology and the data gap is one of the key aspects precenting effective supporter experiences. They go on to explain that one in five (18%) of supporters say how they engage depends on the quality of their experience. Effective fundraising strategies therefore need to prioritise the delivery of great digital experiences to drive success.
Overcoming Obstacles
- Declining Donor Pools: Multiple speakers noted the challenge of “fewer people giving, but giving more.” Engaged donors are more likely to increase gifts or convert to regular giving.
- Siloes and Organisational Barriers: Suzanne and Sally discussed the need to eliminate silos, enabling seamless handovers between acquisition and retention teams. With acquisition even responsible for second gift rates.
- Resource Constraints: Smaller charities can leverage in-house touchpoints, volunteers, or partner telemarketing agencies—for larger organisations, automation (response handling, fulfilment, data analysis) frees up teams for strategy and creativity.
The Role of Woods Valldata: Engaged Supporters, Sustainable Growth
Woods Valldata supports charities with a full suite of engagement tools, including:
- End-to-end response handling—so every donor is processed, thanked, and welcomed quickly and professionally.
- Integrated fulfilment and stewardship solutions—linking supporter services, data, creative, print and digital engagement.
- Data-driven journey design and segmentation—delivered in partnership with Sequoia Insights for actionable, supporter-focused journeys.
Our clients benefit from effective, omnichannel retention campaigns—including for lottery, raffle, appeals and regular giving—as well as bespoke strategies for both new and long-standing supporters.
Building Supporter Engagement for an Effective Fundraising Strategy
The evidence is clear: supporter engagement and retention aren’t just “add-ons”—they are central to building an effective fundraising strategy. The sector’s most resilient charities are creating donor experiences that feel personal, relevant, and genuinely rewarding, using data, digital, and expert fulfilment.
If you want to put supporter engagement at the heart of your fundraising, speak to a Woods Valldata specialist today. Our team can help you design, deliver, and optimise donor journeys that turn engagement into growth.
