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Weekly UpdatesDonors logged on to their computers to give online during the holidays and, for the most part, they were driven there by direct mail from the charities they eventually supported. That is, the majority of those who remembered what drove them to give got there from a direct mail solicitation.
According to a national survey conducted for The NonProfit Times by HarrisInteractive, 19% of people contacted said that they gave online during the 60 days prior to January 23 and 24. That period would include most of the holiday giving season. While giving online is still just 2% to 4% of all giving, the holidays are a traditional period when online traffic spikes.
The challenge for fundraisers is that 46 percent of those who said they gave online either did not remember how they were driven to give or got there without the aid of the traditional direct mail, telephone, search engines, online solicitations, special events, print ads or television spots.
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While direct mail response has historically skewed female, that has begun to even out during the past few years. Of donors who said they had given online, it was 20% of male respondents versus 18% of females who answered. Of those who said they were driven to give online, 21% were male and 13% were female.
"Women were still responsive to direct mail here (13% vs. 21% for men), though not as much as men. More women responded that they used a search engine or Web site (15% as compared to 9% of men) suggesting that perhaps they had an organization in mind that they wanted to donate to (or the kind of an organization they were interested in supporting)," said Michele Salomon at HarrisInteractive.
According to Michael Johnston, president of HJC New Media in Toronto, online has been skewing more male. "We find online donors have a slightly higher representation of men than in traditional direct mail donor files. However, for animal welfare organizations the skew is approximately 80/20 to women online. Health-related charities have a 70/30 skew to women and overseas development in 60/40 to women online," he said.
Who handles what in the household also might have had an impact on responses. "Personally I think it is because people are changing who takes care of the books at home and this, like other household tasks, are more evenly split," said Diana Estremera, senior vice president, May Development Services in Greenwich, Conn.
HarrisInteractive obtained responses from a nationally-projectable sample of 1,008 households. After determining if a gift had been made online, the person was asked what fundraising mechanism drove them to the charities' Web sites. Some 46 percent could not remember or did not know what mechanism was used. The remaining donors said:
Direct Mail--17%
Search Engine or Web Site Visit--12%
Special Event--10%
Print Advertisement--6%
Online Solicitation--5%
Television Commercial--4%
Age definitely played a role in responses and nonresponses. The younger the responder, the more likely that the contact and response were electronic or personal contact.
Of those ages 18 to 24, search engine or Web site visit or special events were the top two drivers to an online gift. In the 25-34 age group, mail and search engine or Web site visit pushed response. From 35 to 44 years of age, search engine or Web site visits and print ads drove the giving. The 45 to 54 group were pushed by direct mail and special events. From 55 to 65 was direct mail and search engine or Web site visits. For the 65 and older crowd, mail was far and away the push mechanism.
According to Tad Druart, spokesman for online fundraising firm Convio, because the survey is done by telephone, more active younger donors might not have been contacted. Federal Communications Commission rules prohibit random calling to cell phones.
"An example: I just hired a new employee who graduated with a master's degree after almost six years in college in the Austin area. Her phone number has been the same phone number since high school in Beaumont, Texas. That number and an ever-improving phone will probably be with her for life. Technology is allowing her to use that number with her cable provider, so she could have a phone that plugs into the computer, but maybe not the wall," said Druart. "My daughter is in a dorm. Every room has a phone jack. We gave her a landline that she has never plugged in. Out of curiosity we got her RA to look in all 50 rooms on her floor. Not one landline was plugged in."
That's where social networks come into play for pushing online giving, said Druart. "One of the fastest-growing trends we see in the social networking world is that the solicitation comes from a friend via email or online. Since it does not come from an organization they don't view it as an online solicitation. A good piece of the none of the above could be solicitation from a friend/co-worker," he said.
The more education the more likely the donor was to give online, according to the NPT/HarrisInteractive data. Some 35% of donors with a post-graduate degree reported giving online. Of college graduates, 23% said they gave online. High school graduates were at 15% and those with some high school had just a 12% response. The long-talked-about digital divide, of the less affluent having reduced access to the Internet, might be an issue in these responses. "Our research shows approximately 70 to 80% of online donors have higher education vs. 50 to 60% in direct mail files. Both, of course, are higher than the general populace," said Johnston.
Someone in the $35,000 to $50,000 income bracket is most likely to be driven to give online from a mail solicitation, according to the NPT/HarrrisInteractive data, at 37% of those in that category. It drops to 24% in the $50,000 to $75,000 category and 16% in the $75,000 to $100,000 group. It drops to just 7% of donors in the more than $100,000 group.
However, those in the $75,000 to $100,000 group, across all solicitation forms, were more likely to give online at 33%. It drops to 30% in the more than $100,000 category and 19% in the $35,000 to $50,000 category. This is where the U.S. economy and competition kick into response when it comes to more affluent donors.
"These are the ones most targeted by competing nonprofits, so a downward shift in future earnings-expectation has a more profound effect," said Herschell Gordon Lewis, a direct response consultant in Pompano Beach, Fla. The questionable economy and donor fatigue might reduce response.
While the question sought answers to online giving, one of the least likely ways donors were persuaded to give was from an online solicitation. Such solicitations ranked at 5%, just ahead of television spots. And, that was pretty much the case across all of the age groups.
The same appears top be true north of the border. "I've seen Statistics Canada data on giving that has consistently shown lower income people giving more as a percentage of their income and that falling as you earn more," said Johnston. "The farther you get from services that could help you--the less you give as a percentage of income."
Married people who gave online were twice as likely to be driven by direct mail (21%) versus search engines (10%) and special events (10%).
"I would suspect that widows and married folk get more direct mail, so I'm not surprised that they're driven to online giving more by direct mail," said Rick Christ, president of NPadvisors.com in Warrenton, Va. "I wonder if singles and divorced people spend more time online or if people who spend so much time online tend not to get or stay married which is why they get more online appeals. Or, put another way, what are single and divorced people doing online, and how can nonprofits cater to those needs and desires in a way that benefits philanthropy? I wonder if some nonprofits, especially museums, etc., are benefiting from special events as opportunities for their donors to meet each other and not really view the art."
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In fact, the largest percentage driver for single individuals was search engine or Web site visits (16%) followed by special events and online solicitations, both at 13%. Nearly a quarter (24%) of respondents who were divorced or separated were driven by search engines or Web site visits.
Respondents with children 18 and older were most likely to go online after a direct mail appeal (27%) while those with children 10 and younger were most likely (19%) to respond because of a search engine or Web site visit.
It's clear from the data that marital status and household composition drove the response mechanism. "It's interesting that men said they were driven online by direct mail and special events, and women by search/Web or print. Here's an area where gender differences may exist," said Christ. "While I'd answer most of the basic questions the same as my wife, as to general household giving, I'd likely not know what drove her to give online, but I might remember what drove me to give online, and there might be a real difference. Maybe that's because women more likely are readers of the kinds of magazines that drive to Web. Maybe women stay 'in channel,' more," he said.
10 Online Marketing Strategies For Fundraising in Challenging Times
This is going to be a challenging year. In addition to the economic slowdown, there are some other troubling indicators. Direct mail-based donor acquisition is getting more expensive due to postage rate increases and is harder to deliver because of mailing list fatigue and postal mail delivery challenges.
According to Vinay Bhagat, chief strategy officer at online fundraising provider Convio in Austin, Texas, current economic conditions, the increased use of online marketing and the trends in donor empowerment make a strong case for investing in an effective online marketing program.
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