Fundraising leads

Fundraising leads are people who have raised a hand for your cause, by signing a petition, taking a pledge, downloading a guide, registering for an event, starting a peer to peer page, asking about a legacy gift or enquiring about a corporate partnership, and who have agreed to hear from you. Lead generation for a charity or nonprofit is the work of earning those sign ups and turning them, with consent and patience, into first gifts and monthly donors. This page is for executive directors, development leads and boards. Canada Create is a Toronto agency with an office at 126 Willowdale Avenue, Suite 3, working with charities and nonprofits across Canada in English and French.

Contents

• What a fundraising lead is, and what it is not
• How supporters find a cause and decide to give
• Lead offers that fit the cause
• Event registrations and peer to peer sign ups
• From first gift to monthly giving
• Legacy, major gift and corporate enquiries
• Volunteer leads who become donors
• Ad Grants, Meta lead ads and landing pages
• CRM tracking and reporting by cost per donor
• Charity rules, CASL and consent
• How we run fundraising lead generation
• What fundraising lead generation costs
• Choosing a fundraising lead generation partner
• Your next step

What a fundraising lead is, and what it is not

Supporters before donors

Very few people give to an organization the first time they hear of it. A supporter lead is the step in between: a person who cares enough about clean water, a local food bank, youth sport or cancer research to add their name and email, and who can then learn what your charity does before being asked for money. The quality of that first step decides everything after it. A pledge to cut plastic use attracts people who care about the environment; a contest for a free tablet attracts people who want a tablet.

Why buying lists is not lead generation

Charities are regularly offered donor lists, rented files and lead packages. Contacting people who never agreed to hear from you damages trust, risks complaints and, depending on your status and the message, can breach privacy and anti spam rules. Donor information must never be bought or rented without the consent of the people on the list. Lead generation in the sense we mean builds your own list of people who chose you.

How supporters find a cause and decide to give

What supporters search

Supporters search for how to donate to a cause, volunteer opportunities near me, charity events in Toronto, how to help refugees, food bank donation drop off, run for a cause, or how to start a fundraiser for a hospital. Leaders search for donor acquisition, nonprofit lead generation, how to find donors and how to get monthly donors. Each of these is a door into your organization, and each needs a page that offers a clear first step.

What makes a supporter trust a charity

Before giving, people look for a registered charity number, a clear explanation of where money goes, recent stories from the work, named leadership, annual reports and a tax receipt. A lead offer works best when the page around it answers these questions too, so that the supporter who signs up already half trusts you before the first welcome email.

The giving calendar

Lead generation should run ahead of the moments when people give. Many donors give in November and December, when holiday appeals arrive and individuals think about charitable receipts before the calendar year ends, so supporters need to join your list in September and October to hear your story before the year end ask. Spring is often the season for walks, runs and school fundraisers, which means participant recruitment starts in winter. Emergencies, from floods to wildfires to a sudden spike in food bank use, bring sudden interest that a ready made landing page can capture, as long as the appeal describes what your organization actually does in response.

Lead offers that fit the cause

A lead offer is what a supporter receives or does in exchange for their contact details. It should be a small, real action that belongs to your mission.

Petitions and pledges

Advocacy organizations use petitions to municipal or provincial decision makers; environmental groups use pledges to change a habit; health charities use pledges to get screened or to learn warning signs. Each one shows that the supporter agrees with you, and each gives a natural reason to send an update. Registered charities should keep advocacy within CRA guidance for charities, which does not allow partisan activity.

Guides, quizzes and toolkits

A caregiver’s guide from a dementia charity, a school fundraising toolkit from a children’s hospital foundation, a quiz on water use from a conservation group, or a newcomer resource list from a settlement agency all bring in people with a real connection to the cause. The guide must be useful on its own, written in plain language, and ideally available in French as well as English.

Matching offer to audience

Different offers reach different people: petitions reach younger supporters on social media, guides reach caregivers and professionals through search, and events reach neighbours and families. Most charities need two or three offers running at once, each with its own landing page and its own welcome journey.

Judging an offer by the gifts it produces

A busy petition can fill a list with people who rarely give, while a modest caregiver guide may bring in fewer people who are far closer to the cause and more ready to support it. The only fair comparison is how many first gifts and monthly donors each offer produces over the following months, not how many names it collected in its first week. We keep offers running side by side long enough to see that difference, and retire the ones that fill the list without moving anyone toward giving.

Event registrations and peer to peer sign ups

Events as lead sources

Galas, walks, runs, rides, trivia nights, community dinners and open houses bring in registrants who are not yet donors. Every registration form is a lead form, and the follow up after the event matters more than the event itself: a thank you, a story about what the event funded, and an invitation to give again or to join monthly giving.

Peer to peer fundraiser recruitment

Peer to peer campaigns depend on recruiting participants who will each ask their friends. Ads and pages that recruit fundraisers for a walk, a birthday fundraiser or a challenge month should explain how easy it is to set up a page, what support the charity gives, and what the money will do. Each fundraiser’s donors are new leads as well; with clear consent at the donation step, they can join your welcome journey.

Third party and community events

Schools, workplaces and clubs that hold events in your name, from bake sales to golf tournaments, are leads of their own kind. A simple page that invites community organizers to register their event, and gives them a kit, turns well meaning volunteers into an organized source of new supporters.

From first gift to monthly giving

The welcome journey

A new lead should receive a short series of messages that thanks them, explains the cause through one or two real stories, shows where money goes, and then makes a specific, modest ask. The series is written for the offer they signed up for: a petition signer hears about the campaign’s progress, a guide downloader gets a second useful resource. A welcome journey sent with consent through donor and member email campaigns keeps the tone consistent.

Converting to a first gift

The first ask works best when it is tied to something concrete: a meal program for the week, a winter coat drive, a research fund. The donation page should be short, fast on a phone, show the charity number and promise a tax receipt where the charity issues them.

Monthly giving prospects

Supporters who give twice in a year, open most emails or volunteer regularly are the strongest prospects for monthly giving. They should receive an invitation that explains why steady, predictable support matters to your programs. Monthly donors are often the most valuable result of fundraising lead generation, and we report against them directly.

Legacy, major gift and corporate enquiries

Legacy and bequest information requests

Planned giving is a quiet conversation. People search for how to leave a gift in a will to a charity, and a page that offers a free information kit on gifts in wills, gifts of securities or life insurance gifts, with a discreet request form, creates enquiries your planned giving lead can follow up personally. The page should encourage people to speak with their own lawyer or financial adviser and avoid tax promises.

Major gift prospects

Major gifts usually come from people already close to the organization. Lead generation helps by flagging supporters whose engagement suggests capacity and interest, such as repeat event attendance or questions about naming opportunities, so the development team can reach out in person.

Corporate partnerships and sponsorships

Businesses look for sponsorship packages, employee giving programs, volunteer days and cause marketing partners. A page that sets out partnership options in plain words, shows the audience a sponsor will reach, and offers a short enquiry form brings these leads to the right person. Corporate enquiries are often reached through LinkedIn and through B2B marketing to local employers rather than consumer ads.

Volunteer leads who become donors

Volunteer leads are often the largest source of interest a nonprofit receives, and volunteers are among the people most likely to give later. Food banks, community centres, youth organizations and shelters can turn volunteer interest into lasting support by treating each volunteer application as the start of a relationship, not only a scheduling task.

Volunteer recruitment pages

List real roles with the time needed, the skills, any screening required and the location. A short interest form, followed by a quick reply from the volunteer coordinator, keeps people from drifting to another organization.

The path from volunteer to donor

Volunteers who see the work first hand often want to give later. Their journey should acknowledge their time first, share the difference volunteers make, and only later invite a gift or a peer to peer page. Recording volunteers in the same CRM as donors lets you see who does both.

Ad Grants, Meta lead ads and landing pages

Google Ad Grants traffic as a lead source

Eligible registered charities can receive Google Ad Grants, which provide search advertising at no cost within the program’s rules. Ad Grants traffic works best for lead offers and information searches rather than direct donation asks, because the ads appear for searches like how to support caregivers or volunteer near me. Our Google Ad Grant setup and management page covers eligibility and account management; here, the grant is one of several lead channels.

Meta lead ads

Facebook and Instagram lead ads let a supporter sign a petition, take a pledge or request a guide without leaving the app. Through our social media advertising service, these campaigns target people by location and interests, never by sensitive categories such as health or religion, and the form includes a clear consent statement before anyone is added to your list.

Landing pages that convert supporters

Every campaign needs a landing page focused on one action, with a headline that matches the ad, a short explanation of why the action matters, the form, a consent checkbox, and trust signals such as the charity number. A donation ready nonprofit website should host these pages so they share branding and tracking with the rest of the site. Short video from our video production team often explains a cause faster than text.

CRM tracking and reporting by cost per donor

Tracking from lead to monthly donor

Each lead should be recorded with the offer and channel that brought it in, then followed through first gift, second gift and monthly giving. A nonprofit CRM for donors and campaigns or CS+, our own CRM, keeps that history in one place, so the development team can see which petitions, guides and events produce donors, not just names.

Reporting a board can use

We report cost per lead, cost per first gift and cost per monthly donor by channel, so your board sees fundraising acquisition as an investment with a clear outcome. Reports also show the volunteer, event and legacy enquiries that do not convert to a gift right away but matter to the organization.

How lead generation fits with everything else

Lead generation is one part of nonprofit and charity marketing, and it draws on the same principles as our general lead generation service. Organic visibility for program and donate pages is covered in SEO for nonprofits. Faith communities that want to advertise services and events can read our new Churches Advertising page once it is published.

Charity rules, CASL and consent

Fundraising lead generation is shaped by a few rules. This is a marketing observation, not legal advice.

CRA guidance on fundraising

Registered charities are expected to follow CRA guidance on fundraising, which in general terms looks at fundraising costs and practices and how they relate to charitable purposes. Keep records of what each campaign costs and what it raises, avoid misleading claims about how donations are used, and review the guidance with your advisers.

CASL and the charity exemption

CASL exempts commercial electronic messages sent by or on behalf of a registered charity where the primary purpose of the message is raising funds for the charity. Consent, clear identification of the sender and an unsubscribe link remain good practice for every message, and they keep your list healthy. Nonprofits that are not registered charities do not get that exemption and need consent under the usual rules.

Privacy, Quebec and donor lists

PIPEDA sets general privacy expectations, and Quebec Law 25 applies to personal information of Quebec donors, with its own requirements for consent and transparency. Never buy or rent donor lists without consent, keep sensitive personal details out of analytics and ad targeting, and explain on each form what you will send.

How we run fundraising lead generation

We start with a free review of your current lead offers, donation pages, email journeys, CRM and campaigns, and a conversation about your cause, your audiences and your fundraising goals. You receive a written plan that names the offers, channels, landing pages and journeys, with fees quoted in writing.

We then build landing pages and forms, set up tracking into your CRM, launch the campaigns and welcome journeys, and report every month on leads, first gifts and monthly donors by channel. Ad accounts, the Ad Grants account where you have one, the CRM and the email platform stay in the organization’s name, and any ad spend is paid by the charity directly to the platform.

What fundraising lead generation costs

Our fees are quoted in writing after the free review, and ad spend, where there is any beyond an Ad Grant, is paid to the platform and shown separately.

What moves the fee for a charity: the number of lead offers and landing pages, whether guides or videos need to be produced, the number of channels (Ad Grants, Meta lead ads, events, peer to peer), the length and number of welcome journeys, French versions, the work needed to connect forms to your CRM, and how detailed the board reporting needs to be. A small food bank with one volunteer drive and a national health charity running petitions, legacy kits and peer to peer recruitment need very different scopes.

Choosing a fundraising lead generation partner

• Will every lead come with clear, recorded consent, and how is that consent worded?
• Will you report cost per first gift and cost per monthly donor, not just cost per lead?
• How will you handle the CASL charity exemption, and what if we are a nonprofit that is not a registered charity?
• Will you ever buy, rent or append data to our list? The answer should be no.
• Who owns the accounts? The answer should be you: ad accounts, forms, CRM and email platform should stay in the organization’s name.
• How will the welcome journey sound like our charity, and who approves stories about the people we serve?

A partner who asks about your donor retention, your monthly giving program and your consent wording before talking about volume understands that a thousand names who never give are not a fundraising result.

Your next step

Start with what you already have. A free review looks at the petitions, guides, event forms and donation pages your charity runs now, follows a test sign up through your welcome emails and into the CRM, and shows where supporters stop moving toward a gift. Your development lead then receives a written lead generation plan with fees quoted in writing. Reach the Toronto office at (416) 273-9030 or the 24/7 toll-free sales and support line at +1 (800) 808-9235, or send details through our contact page. We reply within one business day. Canada Create is at 126 Willowdale Avenue, Suite 3, Toronto, and works with charities and nonprofits across Canada.