Donors, volunteers seeking transparency and personalization

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nba.30292
• Date: 01 March 2017
• Published date: 01 March 2017

MARCH 2017

7

NONPROFIT BUSINESS ADVISOR

© 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company • All rights reserved

DOI: 10.1002/nba

(See TRANSPARENCY on page 8)

Nonprot Research

Donors, volunteers seeking transparency

and personalization

Today’s donors and volunteers expect more

transparency and want to know how their time and

money are impacting the causes they support, ac-

cording to new research conducted by Salesforce.org,

the charitable giving arm of customer relations

management rm Salesforce. Per the company’s

2016 Connected Nonprot Report, some 90 percent

of donors think it’s important to understand how

their money is impacting the nonprots they sup-

port, but less than half say they know how their

donations are being used.

If they did, they would likely donate or volunteer

more, the report shows.

Greater use of technology is playing an important

role in this. Thanks to mobile devices and wireless

internet, donors—especially those in the millennial

and Gen X cohorts—use multiple communication

channels throughout the day and expect the chari-

table groups they engage with to reach them through

those channels as well. This goes for soliciting and

collecting donations and for keeping donors in-

formed on how their support has impacted the end

constituents served by the charity.

Given how website ads and online content are

already tailored to their own personal search and

browsing behaviors—ensuring that topics and prod-

ucts most of interest to them are presented to them

as they navigate the internet—these donors expect

similar levels of personalization from social groups

that are competing for their time and attention.

Failure to do so means missing out on additional

support, according to the study:

• Sixty-ve percent of donors would donate more

money annually if they felt their nonprots really

knew them.

• Seventy-ve percent of volunteers would give

more time annually if they thought the charity un-

derstood their interests and preferences.

According to the report, sizeable portions of

donors and volunteers of all age groups would be

more likely to volunteer or donate if opportuni-

ties were suggested to them based on the causes

they are interested in. Unfortunately, few believe

that nonprots understand what those interests

are—highlighting the importance of gathering as

much data as possible on current and prospective

donors/volunteers.

While supporters are still engaging with nonprof-

its in more traditional ways—in fact, the top-two

ways donors give money today are in person (51

percent) and by mail (43 percent)—they increasingly

want to engage with nonprots through modern

technology, the survey found. This is especially true

As part of its support for efforts that improve

the quality of life in Indianapolis and in Indiana,

the Lilly Endowment has announced $100 million

in grants to 15 human service organizations to help

them enhance their long-term impact by building

stronger nancial futures. The grants, which comple-

ment the endowment’s regular support of human

service organizations through direct grants and its

grants to United Way of Central Indiana, reect

the organization’s long-standing commitment to

help charitable organizations that strive to improve

the lives of low-income individuals and families

and build social capital in communities across the

city and state.

The grantees will use these grants to invest in

sustainability plans they have developed. Their plans

include the creation of endowments and strategies

to strengthen organizational capacity. In addition,

the grants will fund a variety of efforts to strengthen

the organizations’ long-term sustainability and ef-

fectiveness, including technology and building im-

provements; investments in staff development and

retention; strengthening fundraising and community

engagement; and strategic planning. ■

Lilly Endowment awards $100 million for Indiana-focused groups