Nonprofit Fundraising and Cause Engagement Study

Word of Mouth Still Most Effective Method of Engagement to Optimize Nonprofit Fundraising

I have written about several nonprofit fundraising reports that offer valuable insight into various areas of the current fundraising landscape. Some of my featured posts have included The 2011 donorCentrics™ Internet and Multichannel Giving Benchmarking Report, The Nonprofit Research Collaborative (and Part 2), the Millennial Donors Report 2011 (and Part 2), the 3rd Nonprofit Social Network Benchmark Report 2011, the Nonprofit Fundraising Effectiveness Report and The Blackbaud Index on Charitable and Online Giving October 2011.

Last week I wrote about an interesting study, the Dynamics of Cause Engagement, which was developed by Georgetown University’s Center for Social Impact Communication together with Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide. Two very impressive sources that I thought worthy of a second feature specifically focused on null.

For the purposes of this study the other generations are classified as Generation X (ages 30 to 45), Baby Boomers (ages 46 to 60) and the Silent Generation (ages over 60).  Having surveyed a representative sample of 2,000 Americans aged 18 and over the study covered several areas including beliefs in supporting causes, cause information sources and methods, ways they’re involved with a  cause, cause fatigue and most prominent causes in 2011.

Although Generation Y is most likely to use social media networks to learn more about a cause, other traditional methods of engagement (such as in person, word of mouth through friends/family and television engagement) rank higher.  Interestingly, across all age groups more than half agree that social media networks helps increase visibility of a social cause and issue, with a higher rate of this perception amongst Generations X and Y.  However they also agree that simply ‘Liking’ a cause on Facebook does not really mean anything.  When it comes to engagement and really paying attention to a cause, word of mouth is most effective when engaging supporters at any age.

Another commonality across all age groups is the feeling of online cause fatigue. Respondents feel an overload of online communications, with over 70% specifically citing email communications often being perceived as spam and older age groups believing they receive too many emails.  Nonprofits should really pay special attention to this insight, as to balance their communications with a focus to engage and not alienate by over communicating and contributing to the online cause fatigue.

The three top reasons why respondents across the board believe they support causes include the belief they can make a difference with their support, gives them a sense of purpose and meaning in their life and ultimately makes them feel good about themselves.  When it comes to the causes that they believe will be most prominent for 2011 the results are varied amongst the different age groups where Generation Y believes that Gay Marriage (28%), Supporting the Troops (26%), Bullying (26%), Global Warning (26%) and Feeding the Hungry (22%) as the top causes. The Silent Generation believes that Supporting the Troops (50%), Feeding the Hungry (38%), Tea Party Movement (33%), Childhood Obesity ( 33%) and Bullying (30%) will be among the top causes in this year.  Interestingly, when it comes to cause involvement across all age groups they are most likely to be involved with Supporting the Troops and Feeding the Hungry, however the Silent Generation also closely followed their involvement in health related causes like Heart Disease & Health, Breast Cancer and Diabetes.

I encourage you to read the null yourself as it’s important to learn how to best engage supporters in different age groups, how and what they think and ultimately what motivates them.  I will return to this nonprofit fundraising and cause engagement study series next week and focus on women and their support of causes.
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Miratel Solutions is a Toronto call centre, eBusiness, and letter shop mail house specializing in professional fundraising services including telephone fundraising, online fundraising, lottery services, donation caging, donation processing and other donor management services. We are committed to our CSR business values in all contact centre services and mail house operations and advancing the missions of the nonprofits we proudly serve.