Online Fundraisers: Time to Aim Higher

One objective of the effort proved elusive: we were unable to segment donors by psychographic cluster, and we did not have time to offer the nuanced subscription options the wired wealthy study suggests donors want. We plan to roll these enhancements out over the course of 2009. The CI efforts lend concrete experience to the clear message of the study: Any group that ignores middle and major donors in their online efforts could be leaving a lot of money on the table. In these perilous economic times, that could be a costly mistake.

Beth Wallace is vice president for digital marketing at Conservation International. Mark Rovner is a founding principal at Sea Change Strategies. The full Wired Wealthy study report can be downloaded free at www.SeaChangeStrategies.com.