Make it Ridiculously Easy for Supporters to Engage
November 13, 2025 | By David M. Wagner
Do you make it easy for people to connect with your organization and your mission?
Like, lead the horse to water, fill a bucket, hold it in front of the horse and say, “You look thirsty, would you a drink from this bucket”-easy?
Passive Engagement Opportunities Don’t Work
If there was ever an age where “if you build it, they will come” worked, it’s long gone.
People are too busy. Too distracted. There are too many demands on their attention.
If you want potential clients, constituents, donors, and volunteers to get involved, you can’t rely on passive approaches:
Relying on a single “DONATE” button in your website header to solicit donations
Listing volunteer opportunities on a webpage with directions on where to send their volunteer interest form
Hoping stakeholders will use your “contact us” form to submit candid, constructive feedback about how your organization is doing
Are there people out there who will go the extra mile to seek you and follow those steps?
Sure. A few.
But that’s no way to build engagement with your community. That’s putting all the work on their shoulders to get involved.
So don’t be surprised if the one time each year you actively solicit participation – asking for money in an annual appeal – doesn’t get the results you expect.
Proactive Engagement Models
Contrast these examples with the passive approaches above:
A library invited their most loyal patrons to a limited event to learn more about the library’s needs and how they could become community champions
An art museum dramatically increased their number of volunteer docents by emphasizing that the role involved expert training on the museum’s entire collection
A nonprofit successfully staffed 90% of the work for a huge community event with volunteers by asking supporters to sign up on a simple form for specific roles and assigning team leads to organize their respective volunteers
An advocacy organization makes it easy to sign up to be “activated” to contact policymakers when there is a mission-related bill that comes up in your state
These are mostly volunteer-oriented examples, but there are many others.
Post creative content on social media and invite followers to respond to micro-surveys. Send useful information to subscribers and ask for their feedback. Host small events to thank supporters – or just provide an opportunity for them to connect with each other.
A Better Engagement Formula
Here’s a simple, 4-part formula for making engagement super easy.
Create lots of opportunities (even small ones!) for stakeholders to engage with your work
Develop “engagement funnels” – clear, easy, and (where possible) automated paths from someone saying “yes” to getting fully connected to an engagement point
Prepare messaging for engagement points that emphasize what’s in it for them, not for you
Proactively invite engagement from appropriate stakeholders – frequently, and in small ways
If you follow this formula, you won’t just see more people get more involved in supporting your work. You’ll also get more “yesses” to the asks (like donation requests) you’re already making.
Let me end by asking: What engagement techniques have you see get people more involved in supporting mission-driven work? And how else would you like me to engage with you, gentle reader? Drop me a message on LinkedIn!
(On the other side of the coin, set a time to meet if you’d like to discuss ways to increase your stakeholder engagement.)