70 Nonprofit Trends for 2015

Rich Dietz, senior product manager of digital fundraising, Abila
2. Storytelling becomes visual: Creating a narrative and sharing a story has always been important for nonprofits to successfully engage donors, but doing so in a visual way is becoming essential. Organizations will have to find creative and innovative ways to engage supporters in a world full of distractions, and visual components are key. Web posts with visuals drive up to 180 percent more engagement, and research indicates people process visuals 60,000 times faster than text.

Kivi Leroux Miller, president, Nonprofit Marketing Guide
3. Frequency of appeals — in both email and print — will go up. Over the last four years, despite conventional wisdom that frequency of print communications was probably falling and email was probably increasing, our data showed that both were actually flat.

However, in 2015, for the first time, we see a significant increase in the planned frequency of both print and email appeals. In other words, nonprofits are asking for money and other support more often. At the same time, their print and email newsletter frequency remains about the same as in previous years.

Wayne Luke, managing partner, nonprofit practice, Witt/Kieffer
4. Emphasize innovative and creative fundraising — A key part of organizational strategy should be innovative storytelling. With the growth of successful Internet-based not-for-profits, consider how to position your message creatively in order to tap in to different audiences, resources and markets. Rebranding and tailoring your message toward new “listeners” represents tremendous opportunities for your organization.

MOBILE
Miriam Kagan, senior fundraising principal, Kimbia
1. While this issue may have been beaten to death, many nonprofits still do not offer a truly resolution-centric mobile experience (not just for donors, but for their constituents in general). This will become increasingly important as mobile payments continue to make headway: smartphone-integrated payment technologies, increasing process of tablets and phablets and even near-field will mean that mobile-friendly becomes an old standard, not something that is still optional.