5 Fundraising Paradigm Shifts in 2015
But that time has passed. Now, challenges are at every turn, from rising costs to rising donor expectations. Going forward, nonprofits with clear missions and sophisticated fundraising abilities will prevail. Many of them will grow and absorb smaller groups. For good or ill, this will lead to increasing ...
3. Corporatization. The trend has been growing for some time for nonprofits to take a more businesslike approach to raising funds. A core principle of the business model is consolidation for efficiency. So it seems inevitable that some smaller organizations will be absorbed by bigger ones.
However, it won't be all mergers and acquisitions by a long shot. Being big has its advantages, but nimbleness is not one of them. There are a lot of small to medium nonprofits that do incredible work either in niches or local areas. Their donors are loyal and generous, and their communities depend on them. And their size gives them the flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances. This can be a huge advantage.
But for all organizations, big or small, in 2015 ...
4. Donor relationships will get real. Acquisition continues to get harder and more expensive. But investing in growth is a fact of life. Just as important, more attention is finally being paid to the importance of donor retention (thank you Roger!). Fortunately, data collection and analysis are getting more sophisticated too, so plenty of information will be available to those who dig it out and use it wisely.
One more major challenge, which will be a direct result of innovations and increased focus on donor needs, is that ...
5. Creative will matter more. The push to have more content in more places — in the mail, online, across ever-expanding social media, in cause-marketing partnerships, and on and on — has kept creative teams hopping. The media landscape continues to change so fast, the jury is still out on the long-term dollar value of all this activity. But that hasn't slowed the demand for more and more messaging.
- Categories:
- Creative
- Direct Response
- Companies:
- People Magazine
Willis Turner believes great writing has the power to change minds, save lives, and make people want to dance and sing. Willis is the creative director at Huntsinger & Jeffer. He worked as a lead writer and creative director in the traditional advertising world for more than 15 years before making the switch to fundraising 20 years ago. In his work with nonprofit organizations and associations, he has written thousands of appeals, renewals and acquisition communications for every medium. He creates direct-response campaigns, and collateral communications materials that get attention, tell powerful stories and persuade people to take action or make a donation.
