I must admit that I was a bit surprised after reviewing a recent online survey of 2,379 U.S. adults, conducted by Harris Interactive in collaboration with Mindshare Interactive Campaigns of people18 and over, who volunteered, donated or advocated for a nonprofit in the past twelve months. The survey brought some interesting new facts to the table for nonprofits, their fundraising teams and consultants to consider … whether it is improving the organization’s website, or creating communication strategies that engage the donor in a more interactive way as they move forward to build their online communities.
Consulting Online Resources
My biggest surprise was that 62% of the adults surveyed link directly to an organization’s website to find out information about the organization before donating. Why … because this resource is used more than friends (38%), the Better Business Bureau (38%), family (31%) or third-party sites like Charity Navigator (11%) or GuideStar (7%). I am not saying that the survey shows you can ignore charity watchdog groups … but organizations need to really look to how they present themselves to the world and dedicate more time and resource to ensuring that their websites show the great programs and personal stories of how their work makes an impact.
How People Prefer to Receive Organizational Communications
No surprise here … thirty-five percent of nonprofit donors still prefer direct mail as the method to receive information from the organizations they support. However, this preference was significantly different among varying age groups: Older donors (those 65 and older) are more likely than younger donors to prefer direct mail (46% of those 65 and older versus 25% of those age 30-39, and 36% of those age 40-49). But how did preferences for communication fall after direct mail? 18% of nonprofit supporters prefer searching the organizations website themselves, (Website search – another reason to make certain your store front is in order!) 14% prefer to receive information from friend, 12% prefer to receive information from family, (people giving to people) and 10% preferring e-mails from the organization. This finding was a bit of a surprise … it is also a head’s up to organizations who rely solely on eappeals and enewsletters to reach their online fundraising goals. They need to begin thinking of how they can engage donors through more interactive marketing tools and strategies rather then just push marketing.
Those Who Donate More Spend More Time Online
Adults who support nonprofits and are online spend about equal time with the Internet as they do watching television. These supporters spend an average of 17 hours per week watching television compared to an average of 16 hours on the Internet. Time spent each week with television (17 hours) and Internet (16 hours) exceeds time spent with radio (9 hours), newspapers (4 hours), and magazines (3 hours).Again not surprising, donors who give more and are online spend more time with the Internet than television.
Those who donated $5,000 or more in the past year and who are online spent an average of 19 hours per week online as compared with an average of 16 hours watching television. In comparison, donors who gave less than $1,000 in the past year and are online spend more time with television than the Internet – on average those who gave less than $1,000 spend 17 hours per week with the Internet as compared with an average of 18 hours with television. In addition, younger adults who are online and support nonprofits spend more time with the Internet than with the television than older supporters. Those aged 25-29 spend 15 hours per week with the Internet and an average of 13 hours per week with television. Those aged 65 and older spend an average of 16 hours per week with the Internet and an average 23 hours per week with television.
My colleague, Michele Salomon, Research Director, of Harris Interactive shared “These findings suggest that important segments of nonprofit and charitable supporters rely on the Internet as much if not more than other media sources to get their information. This seems more pronounced among higher level donors and younger supporters. This survey certainly shows that nonprofits need to alter the balance of their communication efforts if they want to effectively engage supporters. Direct mail is still important. (As direct response guru Roger Craver continues to tell us “Don’t Give up Your Postage Meter!”) But as more time is being spent with the Internet, younger and more affluent donors are using this medium now more than ever. Nonprofits looking towards the future must change the focus of their efforts when acquiring, cultivating and retaining donors.
M. Sue Woodward, CFRE
Virilion
swoodward@virilion.com
