4 Takeaways Nonprofit Leaders Need to Know

As nonprofit organizations continue to move forward and advance their missions, they are continually faced with new and more challenging obstacles year after year. With over 1.5 million nonprofits in the U.S. alone, it becomes increasingly more difficult for nonprofits to understand which fundraising strategies to implement, how to improve donor retention and combat donor attrition at the same time, and what technologies are best fit for them.

To help nonprofits navigate through this particularly difficult time, we wanted to share four takeaways from this year’s “Nonprofit Leadership Impact Study” to help organizations understand what the main challenges the sector is facing and what big opportunities to take advantage of. To download this free resource, click here. 

1. Insufficient Resources Continue to Be a Major Challenge

In this year’s study we found that nonprofits are still battling with finding adequate resources, but it seems to become less of a burden each year. Forty-seven percent of nonprofits identified “lack of resources” as the key challenge facing their leadership teams (54% in 2019 and 62% in 2018).

Additionally, the types of resources nonprofits are lacking include specific positions/roles (58%), donations (55%), marketing budget (55%) and grants (54%). To learn more on writing a noteworthy grant proposal, click here. 

2. Most Nonprofits Aren’t Prioritizing Strategy, Potentially Missing Out on Revenue

To no surprise, less than half of nonprofits (47%) are developing strategic plans for their fundraising initiatives, which mirrors results from years past. This begs the question: Why aren’t more nonprofits strategizing their fundraising campaigns?

Similarly, when it comes to developing strategic plans for donor engagement, only 41% of nonprofits are doing so. We firmly believe going into donor engagement with no strategy can be harmful to a nonprofit’s overall success. Because without strategy, there is a higher chance of attrition, and donor’s slip through the organization’s cracks because they are not being engaged or communicated with.

3. Major Gifts and Direct Mail Remain Top Revenue-Producing Fundraising Strategies

While online fundraising continues to grow through the years, traditional fundraising tactics still remain top-performing fundraising strategies — like major gifts (38%) and direct mail fundraising (33%).

4. Nonprofits Want to Invest in New Technology

Technology offers nonprofits the ability to take advantage of their untapped potential. But herein lies the problem: resources. While 89% of nonprofits are interested in adopting a new technology, 64% are constrained by their budget. Our recommendation: Do your research, and ask around to see which vendors are willing to work with your organization’s budget.