Strategies Can Bolster Fundraising If the Economy Turns Rocky

Although economic growth and jobs data continue strong at the start of the year, many AccuList® nonprofit clients still express anxiety about the impact on charitable giving of higher inflation or even recession later in 2023. Here's the advice from fundraising veterans: Stay the course and avoid the temptation to cut back on direct mail or digital marketing. When fundraisers reduce the channels and frequency of donor requests, they cut opportunities for giving and erode long-term connections. 

A better way to offset economic drags is to increase the efficiency of donor acquisition and retention programs. For direct mailings, costs can be reduced by tactics such as modified package size and pre-sorting, as well as by greater mailing list efficiency. Using the best-performing vertical lists and modeled data can boost donor prospecting ROI, for example, while house donor lists can select out lower-value or lower-response segments. 

In tougher times, nonprofits also can't afford the waste of bad data. OneCause, a provider of event and online fundraising technology, found that only 18% of nonprofits reported having enough data and insights for cost-effective decision-making in 2022! So fundraisers should prioritize clean data—de-duped, complete, consistent, deliverable and actionable—for cost-effective targeting. 

Fundraisers also can take better advantage of the fact that today's donors are multichannel responders by coordinating direct mail with boosted social media outreach as well as online and mobile giving. In-person fundraising events are expected to make a comeback in 2023, too. OneCause reports 83% of organizations plan to hold at least one in-person event in 2023. Data supports that investment in event and online efforts: Over half of nonprofits surveyed reported generating 21% of operating budget from event and online fundraising in 2022. 

For help with donor acquisition, multichannel fundraising and data management, see https://www.acculist.com/fundraising/

Use Tech and Data Trends to Spur Fundraising

Innovations in data analytics and technology offer some potential boosts for 2019 nonprofit fundraising. Consider trends highlighted in this spring's Nonprofit Technology Conference in Oregon. For example, nonprofit tech pros reported success using Digital Wallets, such as Apple Pay, Paypal and Google Pay, to make donating easier for donors and to increase conversions. AI and chatbots are another boon cited by tech experts, not just because they free up staff from time-consuming interfaces but because they can be used to segment audiences and tailor communications to boost donor acquisition, value and retention. Meanwhile mobile text messaging and mobile giving not only continue to grow in use, but nonprofits are learning to leverage SMS to trigger response, scale donor relationships, and engage and motivate communities more fully. Online giving continues its growth path, but there are now more online giving services and their offerings are expanding. For example, Give Lively has free online fundraising tools for text-to-give, peer-to-peer, events, and integration with social media platforms such as Facebook. Finally, virtual-assistant voice services have entered the fundraising arena; for example, Amazon's Alexa now can help donors verbally contribute up to $10,000. But for tech innovations to be effective, quality data and data analytics for targeting are essential. Data can combine with real-time marketing automation, triggered e-mail series and variable data printing of personalized direct mail for improved donor acquisition and retention. And nonprofits don't need to vacuum up every bit of big data for better results. The key is to collect and track the information in the donor database, or to select the key response factors to target in prospect lists, most likely to lead to success. Beyond the basics of name, address/contact, gender, age and date and amount of last donation, data targeting can be enhanced with parameters indicating donor capacity (the ability to give) and donor affinity (the willingness to give), as a recent Philantopic blog post advises. Indicators of donor capacity include personal income/wealth measures, real estate ownership, business title, stock ownership, etc., while donor affinity parameters include the RFM (recency, frequency, monetary) of the donor or prospect giving history, past relationship/interest in a specific cause or affiliated appeal, and political affiliation and giving. Of course, a good database policy also includes regular hygiene and updating, and an ongoing check for knowledge/data gaps. For questions to ask to avoid costly data knowledge complacency, see our website blog post at https://www.acculist.com/tech-data-trends-spur-2019-fundraising-opportunities/

Social Media Revs Zoo & Museum Fundraising

Zoo and museum marketing is uniquely suited to social media fundraising efforts. A recent blog post by digital marketing agency Search Influence offered some helpful tips. For social media promotions, mobile outreach or online donation drives to work effectively, marketers must first make digital giving as easy as possible with user-friendly platforms, forms and payment options. Search Influence cites three examples of success. The Boston Museum of Science raised over $1,200 from Facebook users alone, many of whom might not have contributed via traditional channels, by using the free-to-download FundRazr app. The app offers custom giving options, such as donations via credit card, debit card or PayPal, and the ability to choose to contribute anonymously or self-identify via Facebook profile. Meanwhile, Cameron Park Zoo launched a mobile giving campaign that encouraged zoo supporters and visitors to donate $5 or $10 through a simple text message to show support from home or say thanks after a great day at the zoo. Rosamond Gifford Zoo boosted its continuous Adopt an Animal program with a special two-day digital promotion to honor National Adoption Day. To reach a wider audience, the promotion offered a lower minimum donation requirement and a smaller, custom donation package. The brief effort not only earned an extra $350, it tapped those who normally might not donate. Social media works best as a visual engagement medium, which offers lots of opportunities for zoos (cute animals) and museums (special exhibits and events). Search Influence cites multiple examples of success live-streaming exhibits, such as a night-stream showing patrons what creatures are up to when the zoo or aquarium is closed, or a 24/7 feed of active and entertaining animals, such as monkeys. If a zoo animal is expecting, marketers can get the public involved by broadcasting the pregnancy, birth and early baby growth. Photographers can be great viral promoters for a zoo or museum, too. Ideas include social media-hosted fan photo contests or onsite-hosted photographer-only after-hours events. And there is always an opportunity to re-purpose great existing photos on social media with a share-worthy caption! For more see http://www.acculistusa.com/smart-social-media-helps-boost-zoo-museum-fundraising/

Fundraisers Face Challenges Wooing Millennials

Millennials, now the nation's largest generational cohort, are a challenge for many nonprofit marketers. Alas, fundraising campaigns that won over baby boomers don't necessarily succeed with millennials in their 20s and 30s. Yet fundraisers can't afford to fail with this younger age group. A recent NonProfit PRO interview with Vickie Lobello, fundraising consultant Turnkey’s lead strategist, offered data points that explain why. Lobello cites research, from Salesforce to Millennial Impact reports, verifying that millennials want to make a difference and so form a great pool of prospective volunteers. For example, 88% of millennial females and 82% of millennial males say that it's important to be engaged in work that gives back to the community. A Pew Research Center survey found that 57% of millennials reported volunteering in the last 12 months, compared with 52% of boomers. Even more important for marketers, millennials are a growing donor force. Lobello points out that 52% of millennials say they donated to a cause affiliated with a social issue in the past month. Plus, millennials are more likely to increase their giving year-over-year compared with other age groups! Finally, Lobello underscores that millennials offer potent social media leverage. Research shows 61% of millennials post about issues they care about anywhere from one to 11 times a week on social media! Yet millennials are motivated in different ways from their parents. Messaging, creative and preferred giving channels need to reflect that reality. Randy Hawthorne, executive director of Nonprofit Hub, recently drew on his experience to outline changes in fundraising tactics to successfully win millennials. For example, since millennials spend so much time connected to social media, Hawthorne urges promoting the cause (not the organization) on social platforms. Also, since millennials seek relationships, marketers should realize that a cold ask for dollars may be a turn-off, and should also offer ways for millennials to engage more deeply with a cause, such as volunteering (which leads to donating). Fundraisers also must cater to millennials' impulsive use of technology by offering easy online and mobile donation options. Then maintaining that valuable millennial engagement requires frequent, meaningful communication, not just an annual report! Read our full post at http://www.acculistusa.com/fundraisers-face-the-challenge-of-wooing-millennial-donors/

Aging Donors, Not Millennials, Lead Online Giving

Many fundraising strategists assume the millennial age group, as digital-social-mobile junkies, should be the top target of online giving strategy. Not so, according to the latest survey commissioned by Dunham+Company, a nonprofit marketing firm. The study found that older donors, those aged 40-59, now are the most likely to give online, with 67% donating online in 2015, a 20% rise since the survey started in 2010. A smaller 54% of those under 40 years old reported donating via website in 2015, down from 60% in 2014 and mirroring the 54% online giving by those over 60. Which channels are driving online giving today? E-mail appeals are growing response, with 20% donating online as a result of an e-mail in 2015, up from 6% in 2010. But direct mail continues to spur online donors, too, with 11% saying they gave online because of a direct mail appeal. Older donors, per conventional wisdom, are more influenced by direct mail, with 19% of those over 66 years old inspired to give online by a direct mail appeal, compared with 8% of those under 40. Social media, a presumed catalyst of millennial charity, is having more online-giving impact--but not because of charities' direct appeals. Community and engagement are the engine of social media fundraising, with more donors in 2015 (26%) making online donations at the urging of another individual (friend/influencer) on social media than in 2014 (20%).  The basic lesson, per Dunham, is the importance of a multichannel strategy across age cohorts. The survey's direct mail trends support that conclusion: While 36% of those responding to a direct mail appeal sent their donation through the mail last year, the majority (51%) said they go online to contribute, and 18% will make that online donation using a mobile device! For more from the survey: http://www.dunhamandcompany.com/2016/01/survey-shows-aging-donors-most-likely-to-give-online/#sthash.38GD6IY2.dpbs

Online, Mobile Lead Charitable Giving Growth

Mobile giving scored headlines for Blackbaud's latest Charitable Giving Report, turning in a performance that shows nonprofits are "past the mobile tipping point when it comes to digital giving," per the report. Overall, the 2015 study found a 1.6% increase in donations via all channels from the previous year, but online outperformed with 9.2% growth--and mobile giving delivered 14% of those online donations. A NonProfitPro article recently provided a good summary of results from Blackbaud's 2015 survey of 5,000 nonprofits. Breaking out trends by nonprofit size and sector spotlights some key charitable giving ups and downs. For example, 2015's strongest donation growth was recorded by international giving, up 5.1% due to a number of big natural disasters, such as the Nepal earthquake, followed by faith-based appeals (up 3.9%) and health care (up 1.9%). Charitable giving actually slipped for other sectors, with human services donors the least generous last year (donations down 2.8%). Higher education, K-12 education, and public and societal benefit donations were also down slightly from 2014, while medical research appeals stayed flat. Yet almost all sectors showed big growth spurts in online giving, led by 15.2% more online donations for higher education, 12.3% growth for K-12 and an 11.2% online surge for environmental causes. Only medical research was down slightly for online donations. Looking at what Blackbaud calls the "key metric" of digital giving--online as a percentage of total giving--the new nonprofit benchmark for online dollars stepped up slightly to an average 7.1% share. But mobile giving stats, tracked for the first time, provide the eye-opener in this year's report, grabbing 14% of online giving dollars per those surveyed. For more detail, go to http://www.nonprofitpro.com/article/online-mobile-giving-grows-more-from-blackbauds-charitable-giving-report/