Generosity often starts long before the first dollar is given. Acts like volunteering, advocacy, and in-kind support operate as the emotional and relational “front porch” of philanthropy—where trust is built, belonging takes root, and impact becomes tangible. It’s the gateway act to future giving.
According to our inaugural Voices for Good report, roughly one-third of donors volunteered or advocated, and almost two-thirds gave in-kind before donating to the same cause. These pathways transform empathy into investment. Donors who first contribute time or talent are more likely to develop loyalty strong enough to sustain future gifts. Nonprofits that recognize, measure, and intentionally nurture these on-ramps can design communication loops that turn early, hands-on participation into ongoing financial confidence.
Through our Voices for Good work, we uncovered donor sentiments around non-monetary giving and have turned those insights into practical action items for nonprofits.
It’s understandable that at the end of the day, nonprofit organizations need cash to operate. Those fiscal gifts have a direct, immediate impact on your organization. However, by building in a framework of non-monetary giving opportunities, you’re creating more connection points for prospective donors. This connection is critical to fostering financial support in the future. Voices for Good found that when donors feel like they're part of the team are 15% more likely to turn into a reoccurring donor. Direct exposure to the organization gives volunteers evidence of results and impact, which move them from being a supporter to a donor.
With economic uncertainty looming in the minds of donors, mixing in financial asks with non-monetary requests helps to alleviate pressure and avoids the fatigue that comes with over solicitation. Here are a few non-monetary opportunities, paired with some segment-specific Voices for Good insights.
Just like we’ve said with other Viewpoints from Voices for Good, keep in mind key themes like transparency, visible impact, mission alignment, and urgency. However you decide to shape your non-monetary framework, ensure you’re creating “I made a difference” moments, that lead to emotional satisfaction. Thank your donors for their time and support. Establishing this culture of reciprocity and recognition is key to building up to future stewardship.
Now you know you need non-monetary opportunities to build connections with prospective donors. But how do you operationalize that?
Non-monetary engagement is not a detour from giving—it’s the foundation of it. When nonprofits close the loop between hands-on service and transparent outcomes, trust crystallizes into sustained financial support. Roughly two-thirds of donors first gave something other than money; of those, a meaningful subset advanced into recurring and planned gifts. Nonprofits should treat every volunteer, advocate, and in-kind contributor as a donor in progress—activating communication loops that honor their effort, quantify their impact, and invite them naturally into deeper partnership.
Voices for Good, Brand Federation’s inaugural index that benchmarks donor behaviors and motivators, has uncovered a wealth of insights that create a picture of today’s nonprofit donor. Generated from the insights of over 500 nonprofit donors from around the country, Voices for Good provides nonprofit leaders and executives with proven findings and tangible action items for navigating the economic uncertainty of today, ensuring that donor relations and expectations aren’t just met, but exceeded.
Brand Federation fielded 512 in‑depth, semi‑structured interviews on EmpathixAI’s CultureChat
platform. Built and overseen by PhD‑trained social scientists, CultureChat conducted large‑N qualitative interviews using a 17‑question guide that blended open‑ and closed‑ended prompts. Interviews totaled 213 hours of conversation. Transcripts were systematically coded and cataloged, combining expert-designed code frames with model-assisted classification to generate structured aggregates and prevalence estimates, which were reported in the Voices for Good Report. This approach preserves qualitative richness (what donors say and why) while enabling statistically defensible summaries across key demographics (e.g., gender, age, income, education, and religion/denomination).
Rian Chandler-Dovis is an accomplished researcher and brand strategist with two decades of experience helping organizations define what they stand for and deliver meaningful experiences. She has developed strategies for some of the world’s best-known brands, including MIT, Harvard Medical School, GM, American Express, Mercy Corps, Samsung, PepsiCo, the World Wildlife Fund, AB InBev, and Colgate.
