10 Must-Know Stats about What Influences Donors to Give Online
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The inaugural edition of the Global Trends in Giving Report will be released on September 4, 2017. However, it has uncovered some interesting statistics about what influences donors and we thought you would like to see a preview.
“Knowledge is Power” said Sir Francis Bacon and we agree. So here is some information that if applied correctly could help your organisation boost your online fundraising by taking into account the following statistics:
Online fundraising strategies for nonprofits
Who is your target market?
It is more important than ever for non-profits to become as sophisticated with their marketing as business has become. However the ability to target market just the right people has also become a lot easier especially on social media. But it all starts with taking a good look at your current donors, members, volunteers and followers.
Why?
Well as much as you may think everyone should be a supporter of your cause or organisation the truth is people have diverse perspectives and as a result, they are more inclined one way or the other. If you know what characteristics define your core supporters, you will be better able to find more people like them. Here are a few things you should consider that come out of the Global Trends in Giving report:
- The top four causes supported by liberal-leaning online donors are
- Human and civil rights,
- Animals,
- Children
- Youth
- The top four causes supported by conservative-leaning online donors are
- Religious services and faith,
- Children
- Youth
- Human services.
- 73% of online donors worldwide are female.
- 60% of online donors donate more money during religious holidays.
- 62% of online donors have also volunteered at a non-profit, charity, or NGO within the last 12 months.
Once you clearly define what category your organisation falls into and then look at your current donors to define what their significant characteristics are, you will be better able to use the target marketing tools that platforms such as Facebook or Google provide to better target who sees your advertising messages or who you should target to follow your Facebook page for example.
“At Community Funding Strategies we have even more powerful tools than Facebook offers for finding people who match your target market criteria which we use to help our clients perfect their target marketing.”
Of course if you don’t fall into one of the categories listed above, and there will be thousands of organisations that don’t, the principle still applies. First define what you are and then define who your best potential donors are by looking at the characteristics of those who currently donate to or volunteer to help your cause or organisation.
Which Platforms or Marketing Strategies Work Best
Social Media platforms, Blogs and Websites are like people, they all have unique characteristics and mainly appeal to people who appreciate those characteristics. Knowing who a particular platform appeals to can help you craft your message to suit the audience (See example below). But first, let’s have a look at the statistics that are being uncovered in the “Global Trends in Giving” research project:
- Online donors are predominately inspired to give by social media and email.
- Of those inspired to give by social media, Facebook triggers 4X as many online donations as Twitter and 7X as many online donations as Instagram.
- The .org, .edu, and .ngo domains are the most trusted by online donors. The .net and .com domains are the least trusted domains.
Matching the Right Social Media Platform to your Target Market
Here is one example of how knowing your audience and then finding the right social media platform to talk to them can be understood and applied. In this example I will look at the platform that performs the worst in the research above, Instagram.
The 2015 Pew Research study of U.S. residents social media usage found that:
- 31% of women use Instagram to like, share, and post.
- 24% of men regularly use Instagram to like, share, and post.
- 55% of all online 18 to 29 year olds are using Instagram
- 28% of 30 to 49 years-old are the next largest age demographic
- 11% are 50 to 64 year-olds.
- 4% of adults over 65 years of age use Instagram
As for American teenagers, in a Piper Jaffray semi-annual Taking Stock With Teens survey, 27 percent described Instagram as their most important social network, second only to Snapchat.
Instagram location demographics
If you’re looking for Instagram followers, look no further than the big city. The Pew Study found that
- 32% of online adults who live in urban areas are using Instagram.
- 28% of users live a little further out in the suburbs,
- 18% of Instagram users live way out in the country.
Finally, female millennials who make between $50,000 and $74,999 who live in urban areas are using the photo sharing app more than any other Instagram demographic.
I believe Instagram performs the worst when it comes to finding donors not because of any inherent problem with the platform but rather because few non-profits know how to use it properly.
Instagram appeals to millennials, predominantly women (but not exclusively), who live in urban areas. If this is your target market, your message needs to be crafted specifically to appeal to them. Too often organisations use a “One campaign suits all” approach rather than developing their message to suit the platform and the audience which that platform attracts.
What Motivates People to Donate
- 47% of online donors donate to non-profits, charities, and NGOs based outside of their country of origin.
- Online donors are primarily motivated to give by empathy and altruism. Fear and anxiety have the least impact on online donors.
Empathy and Altruism are powerful motivators especially with millennials but this demographic is more likely to respond to images and videos than articles, just look at their text messages to see how many smileys and emoji’s they use to express their ideas.
Does your message match their preferences? Do you talk in their language?
Author:
Ric Vatner is CEO of Community Funding Strategies, an agency that specialises in helping non-profits with their fundraising online, developing fund raising ideas for non-profits including schools, churches, hospitals, community colleges, political organisations, ngos, small nonprofits, foundations and community groups.
If you would like to discuss your online fundraising strategies please email us through the Contact Us page.
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