April 1, 2010

 

 

April 1, 2010

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Open Rates Stall, But Email Files Continue To Grow

By Kate Rogers

Giving on the Web grew by 14 percent in the face of a trying economic environment, and overall 69 percent of organizations raised more in 2009 than the year prior.

According to results published in the new Convio Online Nonprofit Benchmark Study, the giving grew regardless of organizational mission. The study involves nearly 500 nonprofits’ online marketing results that are compiled to establish a series of benchmarks for evaluating fundraising, email, advocacy and marketing success online.

Among the reports highlights are:

  • Email files grew strongly. Total email file increased by 27 percent during 2009, to an average 39,100 constituents per organization tracked.
  • Web traffic growth was in the single digits at 6 percent compared with double-digit growth seen in previous years. However, 60 percent of organizations did report Web traffic growth from ’08 to ’09.
  • Web traffic was strongly correlated to email growth with 38 percent of an organization’s success building large email files being directly attributed to the amount of traffic to the organization’s Web site.

 

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Social Media …
Getting face time on Facebook

Interested in reconnecting through Facebook?
Neither are most of your colleagues in the Boomer generation.

But according to David Lamb and Kate Lindsay Breck of Target Analytics, who spoke at Blackbaud’s Conference for Nonprofits in Charleston, S.C., Facebook is catching on fast among a certain segment of people who did not grow up drooling on their parents’ computer keyboards: those who are 35 to 54 years old.

Surprised? Try this. The median age of Facebook signees is older than 25, the fastest-growing single group is 35-44, and women older than 55 remain the fastest-growing segment within that larger group. In fact, that 35-54 age demographic grew the fastest, 276.4 percent, during the second half of 2009.

This information could prove to be useful to colleges, as well as other nonprofits, by converting a networking tool into a fundraising tool. The pros of using Facebook for college reunions:

  • it can increase excitement for the reunion.
  • It makes it less expensive to connect quickly.
  • It can reinforce a collegiate culture and strengthen bonds.
  • It indicates affinity.
  • It engages alumni of all ages.
  • It makes it easier to keep track of graduates and keep then involved.
  • It can make them more comfortable interacting with the alumni association.
  • It can create a powerful alumni office/alumni partnership.
  • It can shift power from the alumni office to the alumnus (this also has the potential to be a serious drawback).

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Grants …
5 indicators of grant-making changes

If I knew yesterday what I’ll know tomorrow then I’d be able to do today what I should have done the day before yesterday and be all set the day after tomorrow.

OK, sure. How about, it’s knowing what is going to happen that can help us be prepared for whatever does happen, but we can’t always know what is going to happen.

About the only sure thing in the nonprofit sector is that ways must be found to keep the money rolling in. That can be especially tough in the middle of the Great Recession.

Patrick M. Rooney, executive director of the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University in Indianapolis, maintains that there are several indicators that can help nonprofits get a sense of how giving will go in the year 2010.

According to Rooney, the indicators are:

  • The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, which affects individual giving, foundation grant-making and the value of bequests.
  • Changes in personal income from the end of the previous year to the end of the current year.
  • Corporate income and Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which affect corporate giving.
  • Tax rates (individual tax rates for individual giving and corporate rates for corporate giving).
  • Prior levels of charitable giving (which affects both individual giving and corporate giving).

Fundraising …
6 ways to hold an auction for easily digestion

Going once, going twice -- are you sold that an auction could be a great event for your organization? If so, you need to know what goes in to a wonderful live auction event, according to Jay Fiske, CEO and co-founder of MaestroSoft, Inc., in Bellevue, Wash. Fiske gave his recommendations during a recent national conference.

Here are some of his tips:

  • Have something for everyone. As the values increase, the number of people able to bid will decrease. Make sure the large items have a broad appeal to snag their attention.
  • Conduct the auction during dinner – not after. Every minute of your auction is a time you could be making money.
  • Tangible, emotional item first. This can set your auction off on a high-note that will continue through the event.
  • Sound check. Fiske said house sound is rarely great. Do a system check when picking a location so you have time to address the sound quality.
  • Use PowerPoint. Projecting the item and bid number on a screen for all to see will help with the bidding.
  • Create a catalog. Allow for brief but complete descriptions of items. Use bullet points to draw attention to details. You should use larger font so people can easily read in dim lighting.

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