Abila Engagement Study Finds Disconnects Between Nonprofit Practices and Donor Preferences

(Press release, April 15, 2015) — Abila, provider of software and services to nonprofits and associations, today announced findings from its Donor Engagement Study - Aligning Nonprofit Strategy With Donor Preferences that explores donor engagement and where alignment and disconnect exist between donors and nonprofit organizations. The study also includes engagement preferences across four generations of donors: Matures (70 or older), Boomers (51-69), Generation Xers (35-50), and Millennials (18-34).
"In many ways, donors and organizations are on the same page," said Rich Dietz, Director of Fundraising Strategy for Abila and study co-author. However, we're seeing a number of areas where donors and nonprofit organizations are misaligned, especially around communication frequency," "Donors want the organizations they support to execute well on the fundamentals, and they want organizations to better understand them as individuals: their specific interests, communication preferences, and even the time and way they prefer to give."

Key Findings Include:

• Fundamentals are key for nonprofit organizations: If the fundamentals are not being executed upon by organizations, no amount of strategy will make a difference. Fundamentals include: show donors money is being used wisely, show donors your organization is reputable, show donors your mission is sound, and show donors their contributions make a difference.
• Donors and organizations are misaligned on communication frequency: Nonprofits are 10 times more likely than donors to feel they're not communicating enough, while donors believe the frequency is about right or in many cases too much - in fact many donors would like to see the frequency of some communications channels greatly reduced.
• Critical content is more important than frequency or channel: Rich content is essential for organizations to keep donors engaged. Hearing personal stories, getting updates on accomplishments, and being thanked make donors feel far more involved than the channel used to engage makes them feel.