Report on Women’s Support of Nonprofit Fundraising and Giving Habits Part 3

While many reports I’ve previously covered looked at different aspects of nonprofit fundraising and trends, such as 2011 donorCentrics Internet and Multichannel Giving Benchmarking Report, the 3rd Annual Nonprofit Social Network Benchmark Report 2011, The Nonprofit Research Collaborative report (and Part 2), the 2011 State of the Nonprofit Industry Survey and the World Giving Index 2011, The 2011 Study of High Net Worth Women’s Philanthropy and The Impact of Women’s Giving Networks, focused on the philanthropic habits, motivators and behavior of women in comparison to men as explored in Part 1 and Part 2.

Today I conclude my exploration of this study and take a look at how men factor into this report as it’s interesting to see what can be learned from this study in regards to high net worth men. Although I have to add that there is no discounting the relevance of the study focusing on high net worth women, as they are the fastest growing segment of the donor market.

The study was based on 68.93% male respondents which is somewhat reflective of the number of high net worth men versus their female counterparts. Of course this number continues to diminish as more women continue to join this elite group. However, there is still donor power behind the male segment which cannot be overlooked. If anything, what the study does reflect are two main facts: 1) male donors have different prioritized motivators to those of females and 2) the male segment is less engaged overall.

This is highly important for nonprofits to realize and understand, because although the male segment may be diminishing, there is still strength in numbers and if what the study concludes is that men are less motivated and engaged than women, how does a nonprofit address this segment of the market?

Men’s Ranking   Women’s Ranking                    Men               Women

Moved at How Gift Can Make a Difference              1                            1                                           70.9               81.7
Feel Financially Secure                                              2                            4                                           69.5               77.1
Giving to an Organization That Is Efficient               3                            2                                           69.2               80.5
Support Same Orgs./Causes Annually                    4                            6                                           67.9               59.5
Give Back to Community                                             5                            3                                           63.3               78.2
Political/Philosophical Beliefs                                    6                            7                                           50.8               52.3
Volunteer for the Organization                                    7                            5                                           49.8               65.7
Give Spontaneously to Support a Need                   8                            9                                           45.4               48.2
Remedy Issues Affecting Me Personally                  9                            8                                           40.8               51.1
Religious Beliefs                                                          10                          11                                         38.6               39.4

There is no surprise that overall, the number one motivator in both men and women to give and support a cause is to make a difference. I believe that to be the case in general, regardless of gender or socio-economic statuses. Interestingly, it’s financial security that ranked 2^nd amongst high net worth men as a motivator to give. There is very little nonprofits can do in this regard as they have no control over this area. However, it’s the 3th and 4th ranked motivators that can shed some light on how to address male donors.

Similarly to female donors, males also value giving to an organization that is efficient. Donors want to know that that their hard earned dollar is being spent wisely and being used more for the cause than say, administrative costs. Nonprofits must maintain a high level of transparency and communicate effectively on how donation revenues are allocated. There needs to be a high level of accountability and openness to reassure donors that every donor dollar is being managed efficiently.

So what’s the key for nonprofits?  Retention. Men may be less engaged than women as this study suggests, however once engaged nonprofits need to address this segment by maintaining a strong relationship and nurturing them with timely communications and addressing the needs of the male donor.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
For nonprofit, nonprofit fundraising, CSR business and other news, connect with us on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin or subscribe to our RSS feed.

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.