Describe your nonprofit, donor audience, and research goal. Makeform creates an editable donor survey about motivation, satisfaction, communication, and giving preferences.
Send responses to Google Sheets, Slack, and Zapier.
Sample builder prompts
Choose a starting point, tailor it, or send it to the builder. Every example is editable.
Audience
Recent and recurring individual donors
Format
Five-minute satisfaction survey
Prompt size
264 chars
Example survey structure
Five-minute satisfaction survey
What most influenced your decision to give?
How satisfied were you with the giving experience?
How clearly did we explain the impact of your gift?
What would improve your donor experience?
May we contact you about your response?
Suggested routing tags
Follow-up requested
Communication change
Stewardship insight
Ask about one recent interaction before overall satisfaction; a specific memory produces clearer feedback.
Step 1
Define
audience, decision, and survey goal
Step 2
Ask
motivation, experience, and preferences
Step 3
Segment
compare patterns without exposing respondents
Step 4
Act
assign improvements and close the loop
Better donor listening
Gift records show what happened. A donor survey explains why supporters acted, where they found friction, and what they want next.
Ask donors to rank the mission, program, story, relationship, or event that moved them, then shape appeals around those reasons.
Rate donation ease, acknowledgment, staff interaction, and impact reporting separately so low scores point to specific repairs.
Let supporters choose topics, channels, and frequency, including fewer messages or no campaign updates.
Choose the right moment
Send surveys when the nonprofit can act, and match questions to the relationship moment.
Learn how new donors found you, why they acted, and how giving and thanks felt.
Gather satisfaction, program interest, and channel preferences before setting the stewardship calendar.
Test appeal clarity, reach, donation friction, and which outcomes donors want reported.
Invite lapsed donors to explain changed priorities without blame or another fundraising ask.
Survey workflow
Start with the decision the answers will inform, then keep the survey focused.
Name the donor group and what the team must decide from its answers.
Remove questions you cannot act on, label rating endpoints, add opt-outs where appropriate, and preview on mobile.
Show comments after low scores and contact fields only when a donor requests a conversation.
Compare useful segments, remove identifiers from summaries when needed, and assign each improvement an owner.
Question design
Pair comparable answers with open questions for context.
Field guide
Build six compact sections. Put optional identity fields at the end.
Giving motivation
Anchor the question to a recent gift. Offer mission, program, story, personal connection, event, organization confidence, and other.
Giving experience
Rate finding the page, understanding options, completing the form, and receiving confirmation separately.
Satisfaction and trust
Use labeled scales for acknowledgment, transparency, impact communication, and overall experience. Add not enough experience to answer.
Communication preferences
Collect topics, channels, and cadence separately. Include fewer appeals and distinguish program, event, and volunteer updates.
Future involvement
Ask which programs and participation options matter now. Treat stated interest as information, not a pledge.
Privacy and follow-up
Explain how responses will be used. Keep name and email optional, with a separate opt-in for staff contact.
Related tools
Use dedicated forms for fundraising, gifts, member interests, alumni, and volunteers.
Build an appeal after research clarifies the messages and programs that matter.
Open toolCollect donor details and gift selections through a clear giving path.
Open toolLearn how alumni want to participate and stay connected.
Open toolReview volunteer training, coordination, and service experiences.
Open toolFAQ
Answers for teams planning a useful donor survey.
It asks why supporters give, how they experienced donation and stewardship, which outcomes matter, and how they prefer to hear from the nonprofit. It adds context to gift records.
Ask about recent-gift motivation, donation ease, acknowledgment, impact clarity, communication preferences, program interests, one improvement, and optional follow-up. Connect every question to a team decision.
A focused survey often uses six to ten core questions, with conditional follow-ups only when relevant. Test it on a phone and time the final version before stating its length.
Anonymous responses can encourage candid feedback. Leave identity optional when it is unnecessary. Use separate consent and contact fields for donors requesting a conversation.
Send after a first gift or campaign, before annual planning, or while studying declining engagement. Wait if nobody can review the answers and own improvements.
Yes. Create versions for different donor groups or reveal relevant follow-ups conditionally. Keep benchmark questions consistent for comparisons and avoid report segments that identify individuals.
Yes. Makeform offers unlimited free forms and responses for generating, editing, publishing, and collecting feedback. The paid tier removes the Makeform badge.
Review ratings with comments, separate shared themes from follow-up requests, and assign each improvement an owner and date. Tell donors what you learned without exposing individual responses.
Listen before the next appeal.
