Just as a fundraiser needs a different approach for a major donor compared to one who gives $10, so the organization needs to have a different persona for different donors.

During the DMA 2014 Washington Nonprofit Conference, Dolores McDonagh, principal consultant of Charity Dynamics, defined a persona as a representation of one of an organization’s key target audience members. She said one way to establish a valid persona with those targets is through the use of surveys. They can be taken among staff as well as donors and site visitors.

Just as the approach must be tailored, so must the survey. McDonagh said you must be mindful of who is taking them. That said, however, there are several key survey questions that can be very helpful. They are:

• Purpose of the visit;
• If they were able to find what they wanted;
• How easy it was to accomplish their task;
• What challenges did they experience;
• How often do they visit and how likely are they to visit again;
• Demographic information;
• General comments;
• Willingness to be interviewed; and,
• Make survey invitations engaging, even if the website isn’t yet.