Yet the Agitator hardly ever sees any fundraising mention of the Hispanic audience.

So we were gratified to see this article regarding a charity that has built a Hispanic donor base of some 226,000 individuals. I’ll bet you think it’s a huge charity — maybe one of those health/disease or child sponsor behemoths.

Wrong … guess again. A religious organization? Now you’re getting hot.

It’s Priests of the Sacred Heart.

What this group does successfully is not brain surgery; nor does it require a blockbuster budget. They simply focus on relevance and appropriately nuanced communication. If they can do it … you can too.

Here is their approach. (from Dimensions, National Catholic Development Conference).

Tom

P.S. Thanks to ListenUpEspanol for the heads-up.

We all know the growth is strong — 43% over the past decade. America’s 50.5 million Hispanics now account for 16.3% of the US population.

Five states — New Mexico, Texas, California, Arizona and Nevada — have populations that exceed one-in-four Hispanic. And nine states account for 76% of the total Hispanic population — Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York and Texas.

However, what I find most striking is the ‘diffusion’ of the Hispanic population throughout the country. 81% of Hispanics lived in those nine states in 2000, and 86% in 1990.

Moreover, the states with the largest percent growth in their Hispanic populations include nine where the Latino population more than doubled, including a swath in the southeast United States — Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee and South Carolina. The Hispanic population also more than doubled in Maryland and South Dakota.

Do you think of any of those states when you think “Hispanic”?!

Bottomline … are you communicating with this population?

For nonprofits who have not traditionally addressed the Hispanic community, you have two alternatives:

Focus on making your existing program relevant to the Hispanic audience, and communicate that relevance in culturally appropriate manner. That is, address Hispanics as “Americans” with the same underlying hopes, fears and aspirations as any other Americans.

Or, identify areas/issues of unique interest and priority to Hispanics — but within your general sphere of concern and competence — and develop new programs addressing those areas. That is address Hispanics as having special concerns that your organization might not have focused on in the past.

For your organization, is it a communications challenge or a programmatic one? Or both?

Tom

I’m intrigued by Villa’s prediction of a Hispanic baby boom: “With close to 20 million Hispanics at or entering child-bearing age over the next 10 years, the potential for a new baby boom is real. The resulting demographic shifts could reverberate across U.S. culture and commerce for the next 50 years.”

The new 2010 US census data might find Hispanics hitting the 50 million mark … or certainly pretty damn close. WOW! Do Hispanics fit into your fundraising planning yet?

Tom

Are fundraisers targeting this market yet? How do you fundraise in California and ignore four-in-ten people?

Here’s a good article from ClickZ on how marketers like General Mills, Qwest, Yahoo and others are addressing Hispanics … or is it Latinos?! It also includes some instructive tips and source links.

I was fascinated to read the NY Times instructing its writers — Hispanic? Latino? Or What?

Tom

The Ad Age article itself provides good context, but is made even more valuable by some of the resources it links to. For example, it cites a recently published “yellow” paper from AlmaDDB, written by Isaac Mizrahi and Howard Konig, The New State of America: What the 2010 Census will reveal about the evolution of the United States of America.

The big story of course is the emergence of Hispanics and their cultural and economic impact. Some of the factoids:

• 62% of Hispanics are under the age of 34.
• 33% of Hispanics will be under the age of 18.
• In Texas, California, New Mexico, Hawaii and the District of Columbia, the white portion of the population is already a minority (representing less than 50%).
• At the DMA, level there will be 19 markets where the minority is the majority. In 15 of them, the dominant minority is Hispanic; in two markets the dominant minority is Black, and in Hawaii, of course, it’s the Asian/Pacific Islander.
• By 2020, minorities are expected to account for 40% of the country.

Says Mizrahi: “The most important thing is the internal discussion of what are the possible consequences of this demographic shift. We can’t look at the past. … We need to write the future. … So experimentation, control programs and pilots are the best options for marketers … Few people realize that Hispanics are influencing the general market more than vice-versa. They are trendsetting.”

The Ad Age article sparked a lively set of Comments worth perusing as well.

Something to think about after you get your next mail package or email appeal out the door!

Tom

Some key factoids:

• 84% of Hispanics have a broadband connection vs. 79% of Whites
• 36% of Hispanics view the Internet as tool for building a better life vs. 30% of general market
• 68% of Hispanics are wireless Internet users vs. 54% of Whites
• 81% of Hispanics text vs. 62% of Whites
• YouTube.com, 15 million monthly Hispanic visitors
• MySpace.com, 8.8 million monthly Hispanic visitors
• Facebook.com, 6.2 million monthly Hispanic visitors
• Twitter.com, 3.0 million monthly Hispanic visitors

Lee’s main point: "When you combine the highly social Hispanic culture with strong technology usage, you get a perfect storm."

Not many "mainline" nonprofits have made a very high priority of communicating their agendas to this fastest growing segment of the US population. Last time I raised this issue, Lilliam Sanchez at the March of Dimes sent this rundown on their program. Darn impressive. Can anybody top what the March of Dimes is doing?

Maybe this would be a focused challenge for your online team.

Tom

Hispanic Trending, the work of marketing consultant Juan Tornoe, compiles a handful of articles from various sources each day that give insight into the Latino community — everything from political dynamics to "what’s hot" for Hispanic consumers.

Tornoe also writes a blog with his own analysis of Hispanic marketing issues, which you can find here.

To date, I haven’t noticed Tornoe feature anything dealing explicitly with fundraising from the Hispanic community. That’s OK. For now, I’m just looking for context … and there’s plenty on offer.

Good work Juan … you deserve a raise!

Tom

In addition, the number of Spanish-preferring US users of Facebook climbed to one million, driven by this new opportunity to connect with friends and relatives abroad.

If Hispanics constitute an important segment of your nonprofit’s international or national target audience, this is animportant phenomenon in its own right. But there’s a bigger point here.

Vann notes the disproportionate use of social net sites by Hispanics, which he attributes to a combination of younger age profile and cultural values that emphasize family and community.

I think this is a key point for any nonprofit experimenting with the social sites … you can’t "manufacture" a community. All you can really hope to do is enable or facilitate one to assemble around your cause, mission or particular set of values. People must have pretty strong motivation to do that, once again pointing to the importance of bringing forward the emotional side of your organization’s appeal.

Tom

P.S. I should note that our own DonorTrends surveying also indicates a important by-product of Hispanics’ social nature. Hispanic donors are nearly twice as likely (at 38%) to be recruiters for causes they support than the overall donor population (at 20%). We touch on this in our forthcoming White Paper … DonorSuperstars. Watch for it next week.

Lilliam Sanchez of the March of Dimes did so (here’s their Spanish-language site).

Hi Tom:

The horse is not dead!!! For more than 12 years, the March of Dimes Foundation has successfully been reaching out to Hispanics with culturally relevant and linguistically appropriate mission messages.

The Foundation is committed to improving the health of all moms and babies. Through its Pregnancy & Newborn Health Education Center, the Foundation gives women and families all the information they need in English and Spanish on preconception, pregnancy and newborn health. We serve consumers globally through the following media:

*Print materials – a portfolio that includes more than 30 titles, many of them written in an easy-to-read format

*Spanish-language online content at nacersano.org – with more than 5.8 million visitors and 17.97 million page views in 2008

*Personal, one-on-one e-mail responses from trained health educators to consumer questions

*Spanish-language monthly e-newsletters on preconception, pregnancy and newborn care

*Social media, including a Spanish-language blog, blog.nacersano.org, with an average of 1,500 views per day, and text messages on pregnancy via twitter.com/nacersano and on baby’s health via twitter.com/parabebes

The March of Dimes has a long-standing relationship with various partners for Hispanic outreach, such as TodoBebé, Univision, as well as many Hispanic celebrities.

We understand the importance of reaching out to our Hispanic moms and families. In the end, everyone benefits when all communities are in the best possible health.

However, I think one of the main challenges with fundraising with the Hispanic community is the lack of understanding of the philanthropic triggers. If anyone has any thoughts on this, I would love to hear them.

Lilliam Sanchez

Most of what Lilliam reports — and it all sounds terrific — is programmatic engagement, as opposed to fundraising per se, as she  observes at the end. But of course, your nonprofit needs to deliver something of value and relevance before you can think about soliciting donations. Surely the robust programs Lilliam describes should go a long way toward providing that fundraising case for the March of Dimes, though she kind of implies her group hasn’t yet found the fundraising key.

I suspect Lilliam isn’t a team of one in putting together the broad program described above. But because she stepped forward to proffer her organization’s impressive efforts, Lilliam deserves a raise!

Tom

P.S. And here on social media and here on online communities, and here on direct mail are a few more useful articles on marketing to Hispanics. All from Engage:Hispanics.

Here are a few more … from Business Week re TV advertising, Online Media Daily re online behavior, and from Engage:Hispanics re  brand perceptions. All good background reading.

But am I beating a dead horse here?

Everytime I do this, I ask Agitators readers for some success stories about nonprofits reaching out to the Hispanic audience.

Nada! Three possibilities …

1. Complete and utter disinterest in marketing causes and charities to Hispanics.
2. Complete and utter failure in attempted efforts, so no success stories.
3. You’re just not in a sharing mood, because you’ve been sooo successful you want to keep this gold mine to yourselves.

Which is it? Is anybody out there marketing to Hispanics? Doesn’t someone out there deserve a raise?!

Tom