A donor recognition wall is a classic tribute to the generosity of contributors to a good cause. They’ve been used for over 100 years to this end and have evolved with the times to include a vast range of styles and applications.
For some, these walls may seem obsolete, but despite the fact that life and work for many have migrated almost entirely online, there is still a place for the live presentation of thanks that a recognition wall provides.
If you’re wondering how a donor recognition wall might help you, what the process is, or even if one is really still relevant at all, this one is for you. We’ve even got some donor wall ideas to inspire you. Let’s get started!
The Rise (and Fall?) of the Donor Recognition Wall
The concept of a donor recognition wall goes way back to the early 1900s and used to be set up in a central location inside the headquarters of a nonprofit or public service building where it could be seen by anyone entering. Its role was to display, in their entirety, the names of any people or companies who had contributed capital or other donations to the organization itself.
This wall was a testament to the generosity of donors of all types and was designed to honor the contributors, one by one, while at the same time inspiring future contributions from both the donors listed and others who visit the wall.
The standard format of a donor recognition wall began with the header, followed by a series of columns of names forming a list of all the benefactors, traditionally engraved on brass plaques. Over time, new styles were incorporated to keep up with changing appeal, and now there are donor walls of a variety of kinds, including electronic, touch-screen, and multi-media.
Modern donor recognition walls tend to represent a much less formal and more arty contribution to the main hall of a building, one which may heavily present the company logo, branding, and mission statement. The fundamental elements are similar, however: the donor recognition wall remains a complete account of the people and entities who helped get the organization to where it is now.
However, there has been a recent shift to a more virtual environment for organizations in every sector, and many new nonprofits now function primarily online. Those that remain with a physical headquarters may use it for their office staff and may not receive a lot of visitors. So, is the concept of donor recognition in the wall form obsolete?
Is a Donor Wall Still Relevant?
Despite the fact that the donor recognition walls of old often looked more like a war memorial than a symbol of gratitude to the living, there is still room in modern nonprofit society for donor walls. As we mentioned, styles have changed, and donor recognition walls have kept up with the pace.
There are now countless options for a much more engaging donor recognition wall in modern buildings, but even for those who don’t have a building, there are virtual wall ideas that may come in handy, many of which we will cover in the next section. First, let’s take a look at some of the ways a donor wall might be a good idea for you.
Your donor recognition wall can be either a physical or virtual manifestation of your gratitude to your supporters. It can even be a combination of both! However you approach it, your wall will have a list of all the names of people you want to thank for getting you to your goals. Aside from expressing thanks, it will also allow you to:
- Highlight the highest-value contributors – Fundraising seems to follow the 80/20 rule fairly closely. This means that the minority of your donors will provide the majority of your donations. With a recognition wall, you can draw attention to the extra contributions made by the donors who gave the most, and others who have stuck with you for the long haul.
- Improve retention – Speaking of sticking with you, a public showing of gratitude also inspires donors to keep up with your cause and continue to contribute. Recognition in general, is known to boost donor retention, and this improves the value of the donors you’ve already got.
- Set benchmarks – With a donor recognition wall, you can categorize donors by the amount they contribute. This means you’re able to promote some healthy competition among your donor base to get their names as high on the wall as possible. This can boost donation amounts and ultimately net more capital for your cause.
So there are perks to the wall that you may not have thought of to begin with. But with the option of a more modern approach, you can benefit even more from setting one up. For these reasons, you may consider investing in a donor recognition wall. We’ll go into some of these benefits in a lot more detail very soon, but if you’re still on the fence, perhaps it’ll help to look at some of the donor recognition wall ideas we’ve got lined up below.
Donor Recognition Wall Ideas
We’ll cover some of the virtual donor recognition wall ideas in the very next section, but meanwhile, we’ve got some suggestions for the different approaches you could take with your recognition wall, whether you want to go traditional or futuristic, or anything in-between. For some inspiration for a more classic, physical installation, take a look at these ideas:
- Traditional – The grand installation in the center of the hall may not be outdated in every context. If your cause relates to it, there’s always the old-fashioned brass plaque setup. If you’ve got the budget for it, you can even engrave the busts of your top donors as the head of the wall. While columned lists are the more traditional way, it can be handy to break them into more stylish segments to avoid the association with fallen heroes.
- Fusion – Mixing in a little bit of modern style with the traditional approach, you can make use of wooden plaques or frames to give a more contemporary touch to the classic theme. Adding colored blocks or artistic sculpted pieces can bring a nice touch and allow a lot of creative freedom in how you arrange the names.
- Contemporary – There are almost infinite new ways to design your wall. If you’re going for an exclusively modern look, make your style your own. Incorporate your brand colors and styles, and make use of relevant artwork. For example, if you’re an environmental nonprofit, use leaves or animals to decorate your board. If you’re a school, use your mascot and school colors. A modern wall can have photos and pictures on it, too, that really get your gratitude across.
If you’re looking for a more virtual approach, there is a range of styles available here too. With the right digital donor wall ideas, you can cover a lot more ground using virtual means than physical, and you get to combine the two where possible.
- Digital– These alone come in a range of applications. A wall of screens with names and photos presented upon them is one of the simplest forms of a digital wall, and this can be a cheaper alternative to a physical installation.
- Interactive – This is a step up on the same theme as above; an interactive wall can include touchscreens, testimonials accessible at the touch of a button, scrollable lists, and anything else that you want to encourage your visitors to engage with.
- Virtual – If you don’t have a venue to host a wall of any kind, you’re not entirely out of luck. A virtual donor recognition wall can be presented on your website or social media and can incorporate all of the above suggestions in terms of style and versatility.
Whether you’re going old-school or modern, physical or digital, a donor recognition wall of some kind will go a long way to making your donors feel valued. The important thing is to make it relevant and an accurate reflection of who you are, whom you’re thanking, and how genuinely grateful you are.
To push the digital wall idea a little more, let’s take a look at how they covered an edge over the more traditional approaches.
The Perks of a Digital Donor Wall
As we touched on, digital walls have a substantial number of benefits over physical installations. There are simply more ways to reach your audience with a virtual wall and more bases you can cover. Here are a few of the top perks to going digital with your recognition wall:
- They can be easily updated – Virtual walls are editable in real-time and can be entirely overhauled if needs be. Simply editing text in the displayed file makes correcting errors, updating information, and experimenting with new fonts or styles cost-effective and fast.
- They’re versatile – on that note, if you’re hosting a particular demographic, a virtual wall can be altered to suit them. Editing the style of your wall allows it to keep up with the current company of the building, and this can prevent it from ever clashing with whatever else is going on.
- They’re eye-catching – Virtual walls make it easy to grab people’s attention with striking visuals, animations, audio, or video.
- They’re adaptable – You can easily change the size of your display or change the content entirely! If there’s urgent information that needs to get out there, the virtual wall can lend its services. If you’ve got promotions to share, or you want to let people know of the next donation drives, your wall can be a very effective tool.
- They’re portable - In most cases, the majority of a virtual wall is a screen or two. These can be taken down and set up pretty much anywhere, and since the content is digital, it’s easy to bring your recognition wall with you.
- They’re interactive – Touchscreens and buttons allow visitors to access the information they want to see in the order they want to see it. This is a significant boost to engagement.
- They can be accessed remotely – One great thing about digital walls is that they can be viewed from anywhere. A live stream of the content on your website means there’s not even a need for people to visit the wall to become familiar with it.
- They’re cheap! – Compared with traditional walls, the cost of setting up and maintaining a virtual wall could be significantly less. Even if you do end up spending more on the setup, the versatility and longevity, as well as the low maintenance of its upkeep, go a long way to paying it back. Finally, if you are able to use the wall to reach new donors or sell more products, you’ll find the wall pays for itself.
So if all this looks appealing, you may be wondering what the process is to get one installed for your nonprofit. Let’s go over some of the general basics now.
The Donor Wall Process
A donor recognition wall is a bespoke item, so there are no standard answers to a lot of the questions about how much or how long it will take. However, there are some general ranges that are worth looking into and plenty to consider along the way. We’ve separated the general process into five phases of consideration. Let’s take a look:
First of all, the cost:
This, of course, will be subjective, but it’s important to begin with a budget. If your wall is going to be entirely online, this can be pretty low. You may even be able to do it yourself. For a more in-depth installation, it’s going to be higher.
Consider the needs of your donors. If you’ve got fifty people who’ve all donated $100, you may not need to spend $5k on a board with their names on it. On the other hand, if you’ve got a thousand names to thank for helping you raise six figures, maybe you can splash out a little more. For very low budgets, there are pre-designed walls you could use, and for higher budgets, there are designers who will happily help you get the most for your money.
Then, the content:
Now that you’ve budged for the wall, who are you doing to put on it? How will you assign them a hierarchy based on their contributions, and how much information will you include about them? If you’re going virtual, will you design the content in a dynamic or static fashion?
Now, the style:
Again, think of your donors. Your style needs to appeal to them, reach them where they are, and encourage more people to contribute. It also needs to be in line with your cause and possibly be on-brand. You could consider using volunteers to help you with the design of the wall. Donors themselves may be interested in helping out.
Next, the time:
Again, the smaller projects are going to take fewer resources here. A web page can be ready in a day or two, an interactive physical installation may take a year from conception to completion. You need to factor in the design process, any revisions you’ll need to make, then the planning and fabrication. This will all take longer with an inefficient command chain, too, so the time it takes will depend on many factors that you need to consider.
You shouldn’t begin the project until you’ve planned out the time it will take, and this might involve plenty of pre-build meetings to properly schedule. Once you’re sure of the timeline, it’s time to plan the fabrication.
Finally, the build:
If you’re outsourcing, how will you run the project? How involved will your organization be with the fabrication, and how many revisions will you get? Who’s assigned as a responsible person, and how will you review the process as it is ongoing? Of course, this is going to take a lot more planning for a physical wall than a virtual recognition page, but either way, it’s good to have the bases covered.
With all those considerations covered, you’re likely ready to get your wall up!
Conclusion
So, a donor wall could work for you, regardless of your style, your cause, and your donor base. There’s a budget for everyone. Whether you think traditional walls are obsolete or you quite like the idea of a brass plaque in your lobby, there are countless styles to choose from.
If you go modern, consider the multimedia approach. Interactive displays boost engagement and can be used for a multitude of other purposes, too; they can even make you money!
A donor recognition wall is only one part of the equation when it comes to engaging your supporters. With tools from Rally Corp, you can find your donors where they’re looking and make the process of engagement quick and easy for all involved.
Mobilize your base with short and QR codes sent directly to their mobile devices. And for live feedback, the fundraising thermometer can keep your connections warm by showing them the immediate impact of their contribution.
