We would bet almost anything that if you were to poll your current donor base right now and ask them, “How does donating your car help our organization?” the vast majority of the responses you would receive would run the lines of, “I don’t know,” “It’d give your team a vehicle to drive,” or “We can donate cars?”
Many non-profits and charities struggle with vehicle donation programs not because they don’t have the right social images, website landing page, or email campaigns, but because their donor base doesn’t understand the measurable impact that donating a car has for their beloved organization. That’s why equivalency metrics can be a development team’s biggest asset when stewarding their donor segments. By clearly illustrating the tangible impact a car donation can have for your organization, vehicle donations transform from an illusory concept into an actionable moment.
Vehicle Equivalency Metrics: How do we determine these?
Your donors may not be the only ones scratching their heads when it comes to describing the impact a vehicle donation can have for your organization. If your charity works with a program (like ARS Car Donation Services), your vehicle donation proceeds may be classified as unrestricted funds. In the NPO world, you know that that is a gold mine. Those funds are free to be applied wherever there is a need in your charity without restrictions or limitations. And while this is great for your financial meetings, it can make it tough for marketing and development teams to clearly communicate impact – because a car donation can literally help anything.
Start With Your Median Vehicle Donation Value
Proceeds from vehicle donations can vary – from a few hundred dollars to tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. Go through your vehicle donation records and determine what the median value has been for your organization. If you’re organization is just starting your vehicle donation program, you may not have historical data to reference. We’d recommend starting modestly with a $1,000 baseline. The amount you determine isn’t intended to be shared with your donors; it is the starting point for building your equivalency metrics.
Calculate What That Amount Covers
The next step is then taking that donation amount, looking at it like an unrestricted cash donation, and figuring out what it could “do” for your charity. Reference your cost per initiative (or cost per program) documents, or look at other donation materials where equivalency metrics may already be in play.
And don’t limit yourself to just one equivalency. In fact, having 2 or 3 illustrative examples of what a vehicle donation can do for your organization allows you to build multiple narratives that speak to various donor motivators. For instance: $1,000 would cover one research grant, ten in-home visits, or 50 delivered meals.
Turn It Into an Inspirational Narrative
Now you’ve got your data, it’s time to construct the impact story that speaks to your donor group. Remember, it’s not important that you share the dollar amount – because every vehicle donation will return a different proceed amount. What’s important is giving the donor a real image of impact that they can relate to: Donating your vehicle could cover the cost of our next research grant. Your vehicle can be transformed into ten in-home visits from our team. One car supports the delivery of up to 50 meals.
Important Note on Language: Be careful when you are crafting your narratives that you don’t inadvertently promise a specific outcome of those funds to your donors. Unless your vehicle proceeds are going to be restricted, you want to employ open-ended language like “could,” “helps,” and “supports.”
Where to Feature Vehicle Donation Equivalencies
The beauty of equivalency metrics is that they pair well with everything! Print, digital, audio, you name it. There are a couple of key locations, however, where they will have the most impact during the donor journey:
- On your vehicle donation website landing page
- Social media posts
- Near a call-to-action in your email newsletter
- On donation materials specifically highlighting your vehicle donation program
- Annual reports
Whatever the channel, focus placing these metrics where conversions are most likely to happen. They can be the difference between a donor seeing your vehicle donation program and thinking, “Oh that’s cool,” and “I know what we’re doing with that car we don’t need anymore.”
Do Vehicle Donation Equivalency Metrics Even Matter?
Hey, we get it. Chances are that if you’re reading this article, your charity’s vehicle donation program is a small slice of the pie that you are managing (and that’s probably just one pie out of a dozen you’ve been handed). So you ask the next logical question: “Is it worth the time and effort for my team to make these calculations, design the graphics, update our website, emails, socials…”
We could give you plenty of reasons why the time and effort you spend crafting these metrics are worth it, but don’t take our word for it. In a 2022 report by the Stanford Social Innovation Review examining the results of an 8-year study conducted by the Impact Genome Fund and ideas42, researchers found 74% of individuals care about metrics when choosing which charity donations to make.
“Our study showed that making it easier to compare giving options and giving people access to the data they need does change the way they give.”
A Quick Word on Donor Stories for Program Impact
One final note when it comes to illustrating impact of vehicle donations: Donor & Recipient Stories. These user-generated pieces of content (UGC) have never had greater value than they do now in this AI-digital landscape. As important as equivalency metrics can be, showing someone the tangible impact of a donation on a recipient of the services the funds provided, or the experience and “why” behind a donors decision to give makes the process feel possible and very human. On top of which, UGC is growing in authority for AI-summary tools and as a trust developer with your donor audiences.
ARS is here to support your organization with insights, tools, and best practices to elevate your fundraising efforts. Contact our team if you’d like to learn more or have additional questions.