The Latest Wake-up Call

July 7, 2008

At the very time when the stock market is dropping, unemployment is rising and fundraisers are attempting to read the tea leaves in preparation for next year’s budgets, Target Analytics has released their Index of National Fundraising Performance for the 1st Quarter of 2008 … and the picture ain’t pretty.

Not only did the number of direct response donors continue to decline, but, for the first time, the increases in revenue per donor that have compensated for the decline in number of donors failed to prevent an overall revenue drop.

The Index’s authors say the falling donor populations “may be due to a mix of factors including economic changes, a changing generational profile in the United States, changing attitudes of donors about giving, and a change in focus by fundraisers toward higher-dollar donors.

Whatever the reasons the numbers are a bit spooky:

·The number of new donors has declined 7.6 % over the past two years. (However, the rate of decline has slowed from 5.3% in the first quarter last year to 2.3% in this first quarter of 2008.)

·Retention rates continued to fall with first-year donor retention dropping 6.6% in Q1 2008 over the same quarter a year before.
·And reactivation rates declined 5.0% from Q1 2007 to Q1 2008.

Among the 72 organizations included in the Index only those in the environmental and animal welfare sectors escaped the pain. For advocacy groups (what Target Analytics calls the “Societal Benefit Sector) there is sunshine among the clouds. New donor growth rose 6.1% in Q1 2008 with 69% of the organizations in this sector showing positive donor growth.

The news wasn’t as encouraging for groups in the International Relief Sector where new donor acquisition declined 23%–the greatest decrease of any sector –and reactivation rates were down significantly as well, falling 21.6% from Q1 2007 to Q1 2008.

And we shouldn’t be looking for clear skies and a return to growth in the near-term future. As the economy slows, so does giving.

Now’s the time to take another look at next year’s budget and make sure you’re spending more, not less, to achieve on donor satisfaction and loyalty to hold on to your base.

Roger

 

Posted by rcraver | Filed Under Don't Miss these Posts, Hot Research, Measuring Up, advocacy, charities, demographic trends, direct mail, donor retention, fundraising, loyalty, nonprofit management, nonprofits, research | Leave a Comment 

Boomer Gloom Affecting Fundraising?

June 27, 2008

Have The Agitator and DonorTrends discovered the Fundraising Rosetta Stone … demystifing the real reason behind falling acquision and retention rates and other recent fundraising plagues? We think so.

In reporting our 2005 DonorTrends survey three years ago, we noted that Boomers had climbed to the top of the donor heap, surpassing Seniors (born before 1946) and Post-Boomers (born after 1964) in average annual contributions. In 2005, Boomers on average contributed $1361 over a 12 month period; Seniors — the traditional bedrock of giving — donated $1138, while the younger generations brought up the rear with $791.

Might this be the beginning of a "Golden Age" of Boomer giving we asked. Well, as it turns out … not quite.

In our recently completed and soon-to-be-released 2008 DonorTrends Survey, Boomers fell to the bottom of the heap — Seniors reclaimed first place, averaging $1542 in donations in the past 12 months, Newbies (our term for the Post-Boomers) jumped up to $1205 in donations (a percentage increase of 52%!), and Boomers fell to $1081.

What happened to the Boomers?

A new "must read" report by Pew Research, called The Gloomiest Generation, suggests the answer.

As it turns out, compared to both their predecessors and their successor generation, Boomers actually have the least optimistic view of both their current and future economic situation, even though in real terms they are the most prosperous. For example, Boomers give their overall quality of life a lower rating than other generations; they are more likely to worry that their incomes won’t keep up with inflation; they believe more than others that it is harder to get ahead now than it was 10 years ago; they are less likely to say their standard of living exceeds the one their parents had when their parents were the age Boomers are now; and not surprisingly then … Boomers are more anxious than other Americans that they will have to cut household spending in the coming year because money is tight.

This adds up to a pretty gloomy head trip! Might it cause a more conservative approach to donating — even a retrenchment? In our opinion…Absolutely.

Pew suggests a few possible reasons for Boomer gloom.They note that substantial percentages of Boomers are in a "sandwich" phase of life — many are financially supporting their parents, their own children in the home, as well as adult children outside the home — at the very time they are beginning to contemplate retirement and living on fixed incomes. Also, Pew finds seven-in-ten Boomers dissatisfied with the direction in which the country is going, a worse assessment than other generations. The DonorTrends 2008 Survey, to be reported fully soon, probes Boomers’ issue attitudes in detail and finds the same concerns.

But taking their gloom into account, and noting the fall-off in their average giving, we still need to remind ourselves that Boomers numerically dominate the donor universe … so target them we must!

Fundraising Implications Today and Tomorrow. Make no mistake. When the largest and most wealthy generation of donors is in a near-Prozac stage and scared to death of their financial future in a society they perceive is going to the dogs, it’s not good news for fundraisers.

Acquisition suffers because they’re reluctant to make new commitments. Retention suffers because the generally skeptical nature of Boomer generation is turbo charged by fear of the future … and perhaps the perception that the world’s problems are getting solved after all, despite Boomers’ original idealism. In short, they’re skittish, disappointed, and they bail far more quickly than either the Seniors or the Newbies. Is it any wonder acquisition and retention rates for many organizations hit the downward skids at the same time the Boomer generation succeeded the blindly-loyal Seniors as the majority of America’s donors?

And rising gas prices, food prices, and health care costs merely exacerbate the giving malaise.

In short, fasten your fundraising seat belts! This is about more than a temporary economic downturn.

Roger and Tom

P.S. In the DonorTrends 2008 Survey on Generational Giving, available shortly, we’ll set forth actionable recommendations on how to survive and thrive in this sea of depression afflicting America’s largest group of donors. Meanwhile, download the Pew report and stay tuned to The Agitator. Roger & Tom

Posted by tbelford | Filed Under Boomers, Don't Miss these Posts, DonorTrends, Hot Research, demographic trends, fundraising | Leave a Comment 

Where Younger Voters Get Their Information

June 17, 2008

Last week, as the primary phase of the presidential campaigns ended and the run up to the November elections began in earnest, Ad Age and Digital Hollywood held their co-produced extravaganza Advertising 2.0 in New York City.

Among the panelists was Kristi Vandenbosch head of Tequila, the global marketing services network, who put together a video reel to emphasize the dramatic change in politics. Her message and the message of the video is that social media and user-generated content have fundamentally changed the political landscape. Where once the ‘brand" (read ‘candidate’) was controlled by campaigns, control has now shifted to the "consumer" (read ‘voter’).

Ms. Vandenbosch told Ad Age, "The pieces I collected in the video were examples from an informal poll I conducted asking people under 35 where they got their election information. Rather than traditional news outlets, they provided these as samples. They were more likely to trust commentary –even satirical commentary –from their peers than either news or — especially — the candidates’ advertising." I’m not sure the reason for the shift is that clear or simple, but judge for yourself.

You can watch the Ad Age video by clicking here.

Roger

Posted by rcraver | Filed Under General Post, advocacy, branding, communications, creativity, demographic trends, new media, online video | Leave a Comment 

Postal Mail Lives

June 10, 2008

Agitator aficionado Bob Roth alerted us to a piece in e-Marketer reporting on the just-released “2008 Channel Preference Survey” from email marketing firm ExactTarget.Bottom Line: The preferred personal comunications channels — phone, email, text and instant messaging — are not necessarily the preferred channels for marketing. On a scale of 1 to 5, respondents gave direct mail an average score of 3.9, followed by e-mail at 3.7. All other channels averaged under 3. More than 75% of the 1550+ folks surveyed reported making a purchase in response to direct mail. And nearly two-thirds said they had made a purchase because of a marketing message received through an e-mail.Take a look at the Age and Channel breakdown on this chart prepared by e-Marketer:
 Take a moment to download and study the ExactTarget Channel Preference Survey. Among the points I found worth noting:

  • New marketing channels are being layered on pre-existing ones instead of replacing them.
  • Overall, direct mail has the highest acceptability score of all channels. E-mail received the highest score across digital channels compared to SMS and instant messaging.
  • BUT…there is a quite different attitude between direct mail and e-mail when it comes to unsolicited promotions. Send an unsolicited promotion through direct mail and consumers do not mind. Send the same message through e-mail and it’s SPAM.
  • Be careful about invading personal space. The survey found that the closer you get to the individual, the more likely consumers are to sense that their personal space is being violated. Direct mail and e-mail can feel anonymous if the consumer chooses. However… as Morgan Stewart, Exact Target’s Director of Research and Strategy notes: “phones, text messaging, and social networking sites feel more personal. Let’s face it, regardless of the ‘relationship’ a consumer has with a company, interaction through these channels can feel creepy, pushy, and just generally uncomfortable.”

Finally, if you really dig into this survey you’ll get some fabulous tips on what channels are best for what types of communications and why here at The Agitator we keep harping ad naseum about the importance and benefit of multi-channel integration.RogerP.S. The results of this channel preference survey agree with our just-out-of-the-field DonorTrends Survey of Online and Offline Donors. Our analysts and editors are now at work preparing twelve specialty survey reports dealing with everything from generational and channel differences in giving, to a report on the top-ranked nonprofits in each major fundraising sector from animal rights to human rights, and a range of other findings and actionable recommendations. Stay tuned for release dates.

Posted by rcraver | Filed Under Don't Miss these Posts, Uncategorized, demographic trends, direct mail, direct marketing, fundraising, marketing metrics, new media | Leave a Comment 

This Brave Nation

June 9, 2008

Dear Reader,

Permit me a personal moment. Like you, I often wonder why I do what I do. And because I’ve done it for so long, I sometimes wonder whether it all was worth it. Well, make no mistake. It was and is. Especially when the reasons are so graphically and emotionally recorded on film. Let me explain.

Last night I watched — online — the second episode in a remarkable series co-produced by The Nation magazine and Brave New Foundation. The site where you’ll find all this is This Brave Nation. At a time when nearly everyone’s blaming the internet for sapping civic spirit and the desire to learn, rather than play games, on the part of today’s young folks, here is a remarkable counter argument.

This Brave Nation, in the words of The Nation editors, "brings together the most intellligent, passionate and creative voices of one generation with the activists, journalists and artists of the next to dialogue on loves, lives, politics and history."

Here at The Agitator we write a lot about techniques, trends, accountability and other important stuff for non-profit CEOs, comms people and fundraisers. But, at the end of the day our intention is only to offer the insight and advice necessary to support missions and content. And, regardless of whether you’re a die-hard leftie like me or some other form of zealot (you’re forgiven in advance), here’s a classic example.

Print married with film. Film and print married with the internet. Internet married with text, audio and video. Text, audio and video married with ACTION.You don’t need a user’s manual to get the beauty of all this integration. Beginning on June 1 the first episode of a five part video series — eventually to be produced in a DVD boxed set — aired.

Regardless of your ideology — or maybe especially because of your ideology — I urge you to watch ‘em all. Last night’s episode was a moving interchange between singer-songwriter-activist Bonnie Raitt and union organizer-humanitarian-feminist par excellence Delores Huerta.

For the next generation — today’s 18 to 35 year olds– it’s important to understand the roots and motivation of modern social change and why the agitators and sparkplugs behind that change do what they do. You’ll find it here, especially in the conversation between Bonnie Raitt and Delores Huerta. Not only is their colloquy of how they got into the movements and what drove them emotionally moving; their explanations will surely attract the next generation.

 

And to make sure there’s an opportunity, This Brave Nation is sponsoring a contest to name today’s future movement leaders — limited only by age. Past 30 you’re out of luck. Featured in these five episodes are Carl Pope longtime leader of the Sierra Club, Van Jones, founder of the Ella Baker Center, of course Delores Huerta and Bonnie Raitt, activist and folk singer Pete Seeger, along with environmental justice organizer Majora Carter, ACLU executive director Anthony Romero along with teenage peace activist Ava Lowery, and activist/politician Tom Hayden along with Nation columnist Naomi Klein.

Whoever at The Nation or Brave New Films came up with this concept, so beautifully executed, to inspire us all, you deserve a raise!!!!

Roger

Posted by rcraver | Filed Under Don't Miss these Posts, You Deserve a Raise, communications, demographic trends, innovation, issue fundraising, latinos, online advocacy | 1 Comment 

Voyeurgasm And Other Trends

June 25, 2007

It's Monday … time for some mind stretches to get yourself “brain on” for the week ahead.

Successful nonprofit marketers need to be sharp trend spotters … or at least avid trend watchers.

Old fossils that we are, we at The Agitator have just discovered trend spotter Michael Tchong at Ubercool, who shares some stimulating insights about the future of marketing here.

Key consumer trends today, says Tchong:

  • Voyeurgasm: the age-old consumer desire “we like to watch” is now on steroids, powered by do-it-yourself media tools that make everything recordable … fueling a growing expectation of tranparency in all things.
  • Digital Lifestyle: the average US household owns 26 consumer electronic devices … the “nation” of MySpace” is as big as the population of Brazil, the world's fifth largest. Broadband users spend nearly one-half their weekday spare time online.
  • Time Compression: we've crossed a tipping point of sorts when in response to the greeting “How are you?” the answer became “Busy” … instead of “Good” or “Fine.” Less sleep. More sleeping pill prescriptions. A $7 billion energy drink market. Forget oil, time is a commodity become steadily more precious to consumers.
  • Unwired: Manhattan's phone book is getting smaller as population grows … consumers switching from land lines to cell phones. Got your iPhone yet? Get ready for the “instant on” culture, as mobile phones become the primary access device for the internet.
  • Generation X-tasy: barraged with 3,000 marketing messages a day and 60 million SKUs, successful consumer interactions must be “experiences” replete with adventure, indulgence, variety.

Tchong elaborates a bit on each of these trends and what they mean for consumer marketing. Think about how they might affect the marketing of your cause or charity … or think about your retirement.

Roger & Tom

Posted by admin | Filed Under Don't Miss these Posts, communications, demographic trends, media usage, new media | Leave a Comment 

Unbelievable Number!

March 2, 2007

According to a new report from The Media Audit, the 87 U.S. metropolitan markets they regularly survey contain 23.2 million households with annual incomes of $100,000 or more.

Not necessarily a show-stopper. BUT …

They say 6.2 million or 27% are under the age of 35.

And this compares to 4.4 million or only 19% who are over the age of 54.

That's a surprise to us. So we're re-reading our own White Paper, 4 Reasons You Should Care About Under 40s!

Roger & Tom

Posted by admin | Filed Under Hot Research, demographic trends, fundraising | Leave a Comment 

Old Codgers Online

February 21, 2007

Meet Jim Hannah, age 72, and Don Deitch, age 75. Both spend a lot of time online doing sophisticated stuff. According to Larry Dobrow writing in The Magazine of Online Media, Marketing & Advertising (OMMA), these guys shatter the stereotype of “seniors” being web adverse. Yet online marketers are still writing off the oldsters.

Dobrow's article is worth reading if you're inclined to dismiss your pre-Boomer constituency (you know, the ones who donate all that money) when it comes to online engagement.

Our takeaway from the piece is that you might need to be satisfied with using the online medium with this older segment for communications, service and education, as opposed to fundraising. The reason: only 14% of 65-plus men feel “somewhat” or “very” comfortable using a credit card to shop on the internet (no figures given for women), compared with 35% of the US population as a whole. This reluctance to charge online is very likely to curb online donating.

But as the article points out, following behind this oldest segment are nearly 36 million Web users between ages 50 and 64 years, who are even more comfortable with the online medium.

Our advice: don't let the youngsters plotting your nonprofit's online presence get away with design features, gimmicks and tactics that only appeal to fellow youngsters! The online audience is far more multi-generational these days.

Roger & Tom

Posted by admin | Filed Under General Post, demographic trends, online fundraising | Leave a Comment 

Pew, Pew, Pew!

January 12, 2007

The Agitator just can't say enough good things about the various Pew Research arms.

If you collect a paycheck from a nonprofit group and do not regularly follow the various studies of these folks on Americans' media habits, on attitudes of various demographic segments about public issues, about trends in media coverage, you oughta be fired!

These studies might not help you construct the best A/B split for your next mailing, or help you pick a better database vendor, or design a better landing page for your website (and we're direct marketers at heart, so we're not knocking the importance of thoughtful execution). But if you want to comprehend the bigger picture and have a clue about the trends about to smack you and your nonprofit in the face, then read them!

Here's just some of the latest from Pew …

Pew's Project on Journalistic Excellence has just issued its inaugural News Coverage Index. The Index, to be released every Tuesday, is an ongoing study of the news agenda of a wide swath of the American media — newspapers, broadcast & cable nets, radio, online sources (48 different outlets in all). The Index will attempt to provide an ongoing look at what the media are and aren't covering, the trajectories of major stories and differences among news platforms. Says Pew: “We believe it is the largest continuing study of the media agenda ever attempted.”

Two other notable recent research reports from Pew:

And if you want to look even further into the future …

The Agitator is still absorbing all this data, but no need to wait on our take.

Posted by admin | Filed Under You Oughta Be Fired, demographic trends, media usage, research | Leave a Comment 

What is the Web 2.0 Anyway? And Who Cares?

December 26, 2006

From our archives. Happy Holidays!

For those of you for whom sorting your email is a major tech challenge, all the buzz over “Web 2.0″ must be a real mystery. For most pundits, the concept revolves around “user-generated content” posted out there on the web for all to see.

Of course, an email is user-generated content; the difference is that the originator of the email controls its distribution or exposure … that is, til a recipient forwards it along! Isn't sending an email to 10 friends about your trip to Nassau, or lamenting the latest Congressional sex scandal, to be considered “social networking” (a term often joined at the hip to Web 2.0)?

So, we're back to where we started. What is this Web 2.0 stuff? And why might it be important to nonprofit fundraisers and communicators?

Here's the best conceptual discussion of Web 2.0 I've seen, courtesy of the folks at Pew Research Center. It includes some very interesting comparative examples of “then” and “now” — Encarta vs. Wikipedia, GeoCities vs. MySpace, Photobucket vs. KodakGallery.

And why is this 2.0 stuff important to the nonprofit world?

Continue reading “What is the Web 2.0 Anyway? And Who Cares?”

Posted by admin | Filed Under Don't Miss these Posts, communications, demographic trends, media usage, new media | Leave a Comment 

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