DIY fundraising was expanding across the nonprofit sector, and IRC’s program was growing with it. What IRC lacked was a formalized investment plan or coordinated strategy for sustainable growth, and a clear picture of who was participating, what motivated them, and what would keep them engaged after their first campaign.

The program also served two connected but very different audiences that were not receiving distinct experiences. The existing journey showed the strain: limited personalization, disconnected fundraising technologies, insufficient acknowledgment and feedback, gaps between social media activity and CRM data, and few defined pathways from one-time participation to deeper support.

The engagement began with quantitative data analysis, interviews, and workshops, which produced two central personas. Anna, a casual contributor, gives because someone she knows invited her to support a fundraiser. Ethan, an engaged supporter, creates and manages his own. Mapping each journey touchpoint by touchpoint revealed the pain points and the moments that mattered most in each relationship.

Those findings became a set of interconnected journeys spanning fundraiser recruitment and coaching, contributor acknowledgment, first-time donor welcome, monthly-giving conversion, retention, and social media lead capture. Every touchpoint was grounded in behavioral science principles such as reciprocity, urgency, tangibility, and social proof, with storytelling matched to each supporter’s motivation, stage, and channel. A staged technology roadmap sequenced near-term platform and CRM improvements ahead of longer-term automation and AI-supported personalization.

“Our goal was to create a strategic, tactical, and investment plan for sustained growth,” said Emily Martin, IRC’s Director of Digital Marketing. “Journey mapping helped us move from a general interest in expanding DIY fundraising to a practical master plan, with investment in people, technology, and processes, as well as specific initiatives that could be implemented incrementally.”

IRC gained an evidence-based view of its supporters and a framework that recognizes DIY fundraisers as a distinct audience: advocates and storytellers who need tools, guidance, recognition, and timely feedback. Email, SMS, social media, direct mail, webinars, and fundraising platforms were each given a defined role within one coherent engagement framework rather than operating as isolated campaigns.

The engagement produced a 127-page master plan covering people, technology, processes, communications, implementation sequencing, and measurement. It separated immediate priorities, including dedicated staffing, DonorDrive platform improvements, stronger acknowledgment, and clear internal ownership, from longer-term investments in AI-supported personalization, deeper CRM and social data integration, and continuous testing.

The plan tied every journey to a measurable growth objective, setting targets of a 50 percent improvement in retention within selected areas and the conversion of 20 percent of appropriate one-time donors into recurring supporters.