Canadian nonprofit fundraising survey examines perceptions, appreciation & knowledge

Last week we featured the first part of our review of the recently published ‘2013 What Canadian Donors Want Survey’ which was created by  the AFP Foundation for Philanthropy – Canada in partnership with Ipsos Reid. We took a look at the nonprofit fundraising factors and results behind why donors decide to give and their overall attitudes. This week we’ll look at some of the other revealing data from the survey.

Administrative Costs & Operations – I found it really refreshing that questions were even posed in this particular arena, it’s an important topic to donors that rarely is considered elsewhere within many studies conducted about nonprofit fundraising. The public’s perception of the nonprofit industry is a very important consideration in general and one that can definitely influence the overall success of a charity’s fundraising efforts.

It is encouraging to realize that a huge ratio of those surveyed (83%) agree that nonprofits have administrative costs in the same way a business in the private sector would. On the other hand in an ideal world that number would be far closer to 100%.  Also interesting is data that demonstrates a good/very good level of trust for the sector:  Canadians essentially agree that charities in Canada act responsibly with the donations they receive (60% agree vs. 20% disagree), that they are trustworthy (57% agree vs. 17% disagree), and that they are well-managed (56% agree vs. 19% disagree). In each case there is still room to reduce those ‘disagree’ results by improving communication with donors and creating improved levels of transparency. While that is not always easy to achieve, websites and social media make it easier than ever to speak directly to your supporters. Perceptions can of course often take a long time to alter.

Also interesting is that the public tends to understand that nonprofits in general aim to conduct very cost-effective operations but can’t currently achieve all of their goals – only 51% say that “most charities in Canada have the plans and resources – human, physical, financial and technological – to satisfactorily carry out their mandates”.  Other elements of the report show that trust in the industry in general still has much room for improvement.

Appreciation & Thanks – You often read that many donors feel that being thanked for their support is a natural expectation. To that end 61% say that charities do a ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ job in thanking them for their support. A traditional letter in the mail is the preferred method (46%) followed by email (32%), worth noting is that some 15% prefer not be thanked. I’m not quite sure how a nonprofit can segregate that particular demographic to match that particular preference.

The key finding in this section supports a common theme – 77% of donors say that is important for a nonprofit to communicate to them how their donations have made a difference. Explaining how funding is being used to your supporters should always be an ongoing objective and this survey reaffirms that fact.

Nonprofit Knowledge – A huge 86% of those surveyed said that they were knowledgeable about the causes that they support and this is a figure that keeps increasing. In fact 70% say that they will conduct some level of research before choosing to donate. Both of these results reiterate the importance of delivering a very clear message about your organization via your website, during events, in your literature and through social media avenues. Websites (41%) and the thoughts of friends/family/co-workers (36%) provide the bulk of the research that donors conduct.

One of my favourite nuggets of information from the survey is that 84% of respondents ‘need to know a charity is fulfilling its purpose before they donate’. This fact is important to ponder if you work for a nonprofit and ask yourself whether your organization achieves this consistently. Asking yourself exactly how a potential donor might make that determination is vital, as is understanding that two people could have very different definitions of how that is accomplished.

I do hope that you found the survey results as interesting and informative as I did and whether you would make any changes to your operations as a result.
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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.