Today’s Tips for NGOs & Small Businesses 031315

A new study about fundraising conducted by Dunham+Company/Campbell Rinker published in a blog on miratelinc.com points out that fundraising appeals to all age groups equally.

According to the study, the percentage of donors aged 66 and above, who made a donation online in 2014 has doubled from 29% in 2010 to 59% last year – considered a remarkable increase in just four years no matter what sort of adoption rate one is trying to measure. In fact the report verifies that the current rate of 59% is virtually identical to the 60% figure for those aged 65 and below.

Fundraising experts who viewed the data concurred that the age of donors now has extremely little if any relationship to their likelihood of making an online donation to a nonprofit organization or NGO.

Rick Dunham, president and CEO of Dunham & Company, observed about the report: “The trend of older donors giving online has definitely accelerated in the last two years. From our perspective, charities must seriously consider that an older donor is now just as likely to hop on to their website to give as a younger donor. This means charities must do all they can to optimize their website for ease of use as well as streamline the giving process to better serve these older donors, as donors over 60 are a prime demographic for giving.”

An aging population that began using the Internet a decade and a half ago still uses it so consequently that demographic is still involved in all of the online activities that it once was.

Consider these facts:

1. The percentage of North Americans who are regularly online has increased from 62% to 88% over the last decade;

2. The percentage of all visits to websites from mobile devices has increased about seven-fold in five years from 5% to more than 35%;

3. The percentage of nonprofit funding donations online are growing at a rate of between three or four times the overall growth rate for the industry annually

4. The percentage of people who have ever made an online donation or mobile donation is growing by about 15 percent each year

Additionally, researchers note the growing mainstream acceptance, trust and use of the internet across all demographics. The point at which 50% of people in North America were “regularly online” occurred about 16 years ago, when you stop to consider that someone aged 50 at that time is now 66 and someone who was 60 is now 76 it’s easy to understand how such a rapid shift is taking place among the older demographic especially when coupled with the ease of use for newer websites, changing technologies and smartphone/mobile device use.

The Performance Imperative Campaign. I came across these interesting guidelines on a website by way of Guide Star USA and Leap of Reason. It deals with things that inspire great organizations to make great impact. High performance is defined as the ability to deliver over a prolonged period of time meaningful, measurable, and financially sustainable results for the people, stakeholders or causes that your organization is in existence to serve.

Among the tenets are:

1. Courageous, adaptive executive and board leadership;

2. Disciplined, people-focused management;

3. Well-designed and well-implemented programs and strategies;

4. Financial health and sustainability;

5. A culture that values learning;

6. Internal monitoring for continuous improvement;

7. External evaluation for mission effectiveness.

Is your organization capable of satisfying these points?

Twitter is a contemporary water cooler or cocktail lounge. A vibrant community where small businesses and nonprofits/NGOs find leads, promote projects, raise funds and congregate as thought leaders to discuss timely topics.

Interesting Statistics

3% of charitable giving in the USA was earmarked for environmental and animal organizations, according to Giving USA.

5.8% of charitable donations in the USA went to small nonprofits/NGOs, according to Blackbaud 2014 Charitable Giving Report, which also pointed out that 17.4% of overall giving in 2014 occurred in December.

Contact me for more ideas and guidance.

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