Donor Demographics

The most recent Donor Confidence Report by marketing research firm Campbell Rinker shows that donor confidence is the lowest since 2008.

There's much debate underway regarding the effectiveness of traditional fundraising sources. We're hearing a lot about social media, the importance of websites, emerging technologies and the transitioning of direct mail to electronic media.

Wealthy black Americans are more likely to donate to educational institutions, religious organizations, and human-services groups than other affluent people, according to a new study.

Black donors who make at least $250,000 or who have $1-million in assets also tend to give anonymously and to nonprofits they know well, says Marguerite Griffin, national director of philanthropic services at Northern Trust Corporation, a financial-services firm in Chicago, which conducted the survey.

It’s impossible to target personalized messages and relevant communications to your donors if you first don’t know who they really are. But “how do you find out who your donors are?” Austin asked. The answer is crucial for identifying affluent donors for major-gifts campaigns and planned-giving prospects, as well as unearthing the proper marketing messages, corporate relationships — “Corporations want to work with organizations that have an overlapping market,” Austin said — and more.

"Hipsters" are a generation of highly educated professionals in their 20s and 30s who make increasingly disposable incomes. They were born under the watchful eyes of focus groups, and Google started as they began high school. Hipsters are your newest crop of donors, but how do you reach them?

In one of the final sessions of the New York Nonprofit Conference, the presenters described three ways fundraisers can "think about taking calculated risks in these times" using analytics.

The demographic sands are shifting — there will be an increasing number of older donors with more disposable income as the baby boomer generation matures, and those donors are going to have to use technology to support their nonprofit organizations of choice. With the likely long-term demise of checks as a method of payment, nonprofits are going to need to make sure their technology is incredibly easy to use so anyone can utilize it.

C-level executives Angel Aloma, Danny McGregor and Atul Tandon, along with moderator Tom Harrison, discussed the biggest issues concerning fundraisers at the DMA Nonprofit Federation New York Nonprofit Conference.

C-level executives Angel Aloma, Danny McGregor and Atul Tandon, along with moderator Tom Harrison, discussed the biggest issues concerning fundraisers at the DMA Nonprofit Federation New York Nonprofit Conference.

Baby Boomers and older donors are the most valuable givers and mainly give through the mail to nonprofits, which should focus their fundraising spending on the donors and giving channels that generate the biggest return now and perform the best, a new study says.

And donors prefer to give to charities that spend money on good management and fundraising, says Heart of the Donor: Insights into Donor Motivation and Behavior for the 21^st Century.