Research

And the survey says...insert theme song

I love surveys. Writing them, participating (if they’re not too long), reading the final reports, discussing the findings, analyzing the trends, etc. It’s kind of like comparing notes with a club of anonymous members. I guess I like the validation that other people feel the same way I do as well as find out the areas where I stand apart from the crowd.

So, I was obviously excited to see the 2011 Nonprofit Communications Trends Report from Nonprofit Marketing Guide.com land in my inbox. Even though I didn’t take the survey (it’s based on responses from 780 nonprofits in December 2010) I am guessing plenty of Convio clients did and these findings got me jazzed about the technology we provide them.

• Email marketing and websites will be the most important communications tools for nonprofits in 2011, followed by direct mail, in-person events, Facebook, and media relations/PR.
• Monthly emailing is the most popular frequency for nonprofits at 43%, followed by every other week at 17% and quarterly at 16%. Three-quarters of nonprofits (75%) plan to email their typical supporters at least monthly.
• Nonprofit communicators are excited about new ways to connect with their supporters, their increasing use of social media, and better communications planning and integration.

There’s tons more data in the report, but I wanted to give online/email communications a little shout out. If improved email communications is a priority for you this year, consider this:

• If your supporter is engaged through both traditional channels and online channels they are 95% more valuable to your organization in just a 12 month period. *
• Of the estimated $53 billion that was donated to charities by US adults during the 2010 holiday season, $6 billion (or nearly 12 percent) was estimated to have been donated online.**
• Organizations can expect $11 in online revenue for every email subscriber recruited. ***
• Regular e-Newsletters have a 19% open rate. ***
• A multi-part email campaign raises 4 times the amount of a single email appeal. ***

Let's just say for the 96% of you that responded that your website is a very or somewhat important communications tool in 2011, and 94% identified email marketing the same way – I’m comparing notes and have joined the club!

* http://www.strategic-one.com/Integrated_Marketing_White_Paper.pdf
** http://www.convio.com/signup/guides/2010-holiday-giving/
*** Based off of Convio Go! client results

Indulge Your Inner Nerd

When Convio’s Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Vinay Bhagat, recently gave a presentation about trends in constituent engagement, my inner marketing-nonprofit-fundraising nerd came out in full force. Like a kid in a candy store, I was wide-eyed and hypnotized.

The effectiveness of multi-channel donor communication knocked my socks off (slide six). The lack of inspiration via website made me both sad and determined (slide seven). The gradual upward tick of new donor acquisition made me hopeful (slide 14).

Trust me when I tell you, it’s good through and through.

Go ahead. Look at the slides. Give in to a little indulgence for your inner marketing-nonprofit-fundraising nerd.

Canada's Most Generous Online Cities

Our third annual ranking of the Most Generous Cites in the US for Online Giving to charity sparked a number of questions via social media about which Canadian cities are most generous. It is more difficult to get an “apples-to-apples” comparison of Canadian cities as our ability to standardize and correct addresses in US cities is easier and some of the multi-language requirements of Canadian providences complicates the reporting. Because of the challenges the margin of error is greater, so we’ve been hesitant to report that data. But, the requests have been many so here is the Canadian top 25 based on per capita online giving for 2010:

City 2010 Donation Amount per 1000 population

1. Calgary 440.80
2. Toronto 334.76
3. Vancouver 220.56
4. Ottawa-Gatineau 158.18
5. Victoria 151.43
6. Guelph 134.26
7. Kelowna 123.48
8. London 122.51
9. Edmonton 116.83
10. Abbotsford 113.05
11. Saskatoon 94.26
12. Kingston 72.80
13. Thunder Bay 50.40
14. Barrie 42.49
15. Regina 42.25
16. Winnipeg 41.88
17. Montreal 38.97
18. Moncton 38.68
19. Windsor 35.38
20. Kitchener 35.00
21. St. Catharines-Niagara 23.85
22. Oshawa 21.94
23. Halifax 21.06
24. Brantford 20.22
25. Hamilton 18.37

Most Generous Cities in America

How generous is your city? Check out the cities that made the top 10 for most generous online.

1. Alexandria, VA   
2. Cambridge, MA
3. Arlington, VA
4. Seattle, WA
5. Washington, DC 
6. Berkeley, CA
7. St. Louis, MO
8. San Francisco, CA
9. Ann Arbor, MI
10. Minneapolis, MN

The ranking comes from 273 cities with total population of more than 100,000 based on per capita online giving and total amount donated online through Convio’s online marketing and fundraising suite. To view the complete rankings of large cities, visit www.convio.com/onlinecities.

Whether you’re seeking supporters from the top 10 most generous cities or not, there are take-home points you can use in your development campaign.

• The average online gift size increased from $62 in 2009 to $65 in 2010.
• More than $389 million was donated by the 273 major cities in 2010, up approximately 27% from 2009
• Of the estimated $53B that was donated to charities by US adults this past holiday season, $6B (or nearly 12%) was estimated to have been donated online.
• Average gift, donations per 1,000 people, total amount donated per city and number of donations all increased in 2010 compared to 2009.

Is your organization enjoying a piece of the online giving pie? Could that piece be bigger?

The year is young; take this opportunity to incorporate strategic online fundraising into your organization’s goals.

What Makes Canadians Tick and Give

When I lived in the US for nearly six years, it was usually subtle things—like the pronunciation of ‘about’ or saying ‘holiday’ instead of ‘vacation’—that made people realize I’m Canadian. (There was also the time that I mentioned thongs in the office when referring to flip-flops, but that’s a whole other blog post.) I spent much of that period involved in the nonprofit sector, personally and professionally. Every time I read research about nonprofits, it was usually focused on the US, leaving me with little choice but to hope that the data could be applied north of the border as well. So, imagine how jazzed I was to hear about a recent study that examines how four generations of Canadians give. Finally, a look into what makes Canadian donors tick and give.

So what surprised me about the findings? First of all that, on the whole, it’s about twice as common for Canadian donors than US donors to say they support friends or family who are raising money for a charity. What’s the driver behind this fact? Is it that Canadians have a hard time saying no to others? Or are we more open with our wallets? Well, possibly a bit of both.

The second finding that jumped out at me was that 25 percent of Canadian donors give as part of a monthly giving program versus 14 percent of US donors. This stat is intriguing. I would love to know if, over the course of a year, the total amount donated is similar.

The third nugget was that US donors are more likely to be giving through their mobile phones (8 percent for US donors vs. 3 percent for Canadian donors). I’m not sure why there’s a lag in the adoption of mobile giving in Canada, but there is. The good news about this stat is that there’s plenty of upside potential for this channel in both countries.

There’s plenty more to sink your teeth into if you’re interested in the multichannel preferences and charitable habits of Generation X, Generation Y, Boomers, and Civics in Canada.

Regardless of which side of the border you live on, you can read highlights of the full study online.