What is a donor journey?

This is how a Donor Journey can be described: Addressing a donor on a personal level and engaging in a individualised dialogue with them in order to deepen the relationship.

“We see our donor journey as a communicative journey for the new permanent donors,” says Anja Hunsinger from Save the Children, Germany, where she is a consultant for donor engagement and development.

While there is a lot of information on the internet about what people understand about the concept, it seems that nobody has formally defined it. Here is what we at RaiseNow suggest the definition should be:

A Donor Journey is a series of communications with donors that follow the logical evolution in the relationship between the organisation and the donor. The Donor Journey inspires and delights donors. In this way, their connection with the organisation should be strengthened and donations should be increased in the long term.

What do you think of this definition? We’d love to hear your suggestions to improve it.