What are wealthy donors doing online?

A much-remarked study called "The Wired Wealthy," (from Sea Change Strategies and Convio; reported in the Chronicle of Philanthropy at Wealthy People Increasingly Give Online, Study Finds) shows a high level of internet usage by high-end donors:

• About 80% said they had made a charitable gift online
  
• 51% said they prefer to use the Internet for their donations.
  
• 46% said that they expect to make a greater percentage of their charitable gifts online within the next five years.
  
• 56% said that charities send too many e-mail messages
  
• 81% of donors dislike messages that take an urgent tone in seeking a repeat donation.
  

Before you rush out and change everything, remember: It's just a survey. When you ask people what they think, you find out what they think, not necessarily what they do. Actually, you really only find out what they say they think. If you really want to know something you can act on, watch actual donor behavior. When you see changes in behavior, that's the time to change everything.

Most organizations that pay attention to what their donors do will probably find these survey results to be a bit hysterical and slightly out of step with reality.

That said, this survey should get your attention. It signals a change in response medium that's likely to become significant quickly. Not only wealthy donors, but donors across the spectrum are turning more an more online to give and otherwise interact with charities. Donation revenue is migrating from the mail to the web, and that means we need to become effective at communicating online.

The study is available for download from Convio here (registration required).

Technorati Tags: fundraising, nptech

Comments

[Peter Brown]

If the movement from snail mail approaches to donations to e-donors is picking up pace, would you have any suggestions on how to raise 1.5millionUSD in an e-environment?

cheers,

peter
libertasadmin@gmail.com

[Conor Byrne]

I found this really interesting. Do you feel its a case of non profits not spending enough on their online tools, or just spending it in the wrong way?

[Vinay Bhagat]

Jeff,

Thanks for referencing the study. As you point out, it is generally better to observe what people actually do vs. what they say they do ... however we must remember that current donor behavior is strongly influenced by how nonprofits engage them. If we have conditioned our donors to respond via mail and don't make the online experience as compelling as their online banking, shopping, or travel booking experiences, surely it influences their behavior?

The point of a donor survey was to understand the "gap" between donor stated preferences and how nonprofits perform today. A couple of the key findings were that donors frequently don't feel inspired by the nonprofit websites they visit, nor the emails they receive. They also universally want more control over their communications experience.

Another key insight is that not all donors are equal in their preferences. Cluster analysis showed clear psychographic segments which had very different communication desires.

Personally, I find it ironic that a blog focused on Donor Power would seek to ignore the voice of the donor in helping derive next generation strategies.

Vinay Bhagat
Founder & CSO
Convio

Wired Wealthy Study co-author

[Jeremy Gregg]

Great thoughts, Jeff. I read your blog daily and refer people to it often -- thanks for your commitment to analyzing these trends in our sector, and reminding us of what's important.

I especially appreciate your comment to not "rush out and change everything." I feel like there is a great tendency to react that way, particularly among smaller social service organizations who are competing tooth-and-nail for every dollar that they can get.

Keep up the great blogging.

Jeremy Gregg, Editor
The Raiser's Razor
http://theraiser.blogspot.com/