New study shows social media levels playing field for nonprofits

A new study just released makes for welcome reading if your nonprofit is using social media as part of your overall nonprofit fundraising strategy. The findings contained in the study titled  “The Social Network Effect: Determinants of Giving Through Social Media” reveal that social media has made a huge impact in terms of leveling the playing field for charities. Whereas before the advent of the medium donations were based greatly on prestige, effectiveness, history and regional/national awareness; the changes caused by social media have allowed many smaller and local nonprofits to find (and fund) their own way more successfully.

It’s encouraging news overall and helps convince me that the full potential of social media along with online/mobile giving is still years away from being realized. Consider the facts that advances in technology have completely reinvented how we interact with companies we all use; whether it be checking our banking, our electricity usage, shopping for a new computer or planning and purchasing a vacation. How we learn about companies has also been revolutionised by technology and social media which naturally applies just as much to the nonprofit sector.

Fascinating new study about social media and nonprofits comes from Gregory Saxton at the State University at Buffalo (pictured above)

According to the creator of the study, Gregory Saxton, associate professor in the University at Buffalo Department of Communication, the largest change for nonprofits is that online/social media avenues almost remove the issues related to efficiency and size in the eyes of the potential donor. He says:

“The first, and major, unexpected finding, was that financial ratios, especially the level of a charity’s organizational efficiency, were simply unimportant in online giving, although they are known to be prominent determinants of off-line charitable giving. Studies that use the economic model of giving have shown that aggregate levels of charitable contributions are positively related to organizational size, so our second and more minor finding was unexpected as well”

When you allow that statement to percolate a while it speaks so clearly to the overall value of social media/websites for your charity allowing it to overcome obstacles that previously would have been essentially impossible. In real terms the ability to expand your donor reach and build awareness as a small or very specialized nonprofit is now viable if social media in conjunction with easy to use websites are employed. The study itself focused on the daily use of Facebook by over 50 different organizations and made numerous findings including:

•  The quantity of social media ‘friends’ impacts online donations, particularly in cases where a friend recommends or shares a cause to other friends.
• The overall quality of the nonprofit’s website holds great importance, especially in the ease of sharing the website and its content online.
• Nonprofits should ensure their staff includes the needed level of technically proficient individuals, those who have the understanding and skills to effectively use social media for their organization.
• Specific giving goals and projects with measurable (and easy to share) updates are very successful in gaining online support.

The report also poses some very interesting questions about web capacity versus financial capacity, website trust and the place social media currently holds which no doubt will continue to evolve. One of the conclusions by Gregory Saxton that resonated was this:

“Overall, our findings suggest attention-getting projects, social pressures, and “casual” and “impulse donating” are driving contributions more than “rational” concerns over efficiency.”

In addition the important matter of how to convert a large audience into active donors and supporters of your organization is addressed and Saxton introduces a terms called ‘slacktivism’ in his analysis:

“…the notable discrepancy between the number of “members” and the number of “donors” indicates that slacktivism – comprising actions that involve minimal personal effort – is widespread on social networking sites. Organizations will need to devise ways to convert less effortful fan engagement into deeper modes of participation, and thus better tap into and mobilize the resources inherent in these virtual social networks.”

The 35 page report takes a very exploratory approach to the relationship between social media and nonprofit fundraising and digs deep into the measurable relationship between both, even providing some financial data and analysis from the organizations studied. There are some very important and large questions being tackled here and I look forward to more research by the author in the future. The full report is very informative and is available for free after registration with a Google Education profile but to save you those steps I’ve uploaded a link to the full .pdf via our site here.
___________________________________________________________________________________ For nonprofit fundraising, CSR business and other news, connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and Pinterest 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 inbound telephone fundraising, outbound telephone fundraising, online fundraising, lottery fundraising services, donation processing and receipting and direct mail fundraising services. We are committed to our CSR business values in all our business decisions and advancing the missions of the nonprofits we proudly serve.