Are You Handling Your Fundraising Efforts The Best Way?
by Alex Plachta
The Office Express printing division handles a lot of mailings for non-profit organizations. We primarily work with schools and Catholic organizations but have quite a variety of non-profits in our clientele. I recently read some interesting charitable giving statistics and thought they’d be a good topic to share.
Basically, giving is on the rise. According to The Philanthropy Roundtable, six out of ten American households still participate in some sort of charitable giving, and total giving grew by four percent in 2021. A few other interesting notes were summarized well in this article including:
Younger donors prefer recurring donations – almost 48% of 18-to 29-year-old donors and more than 33% of 30-to 44-year-old donors give monthly.
Nonprofit Source reports that donors who set up some sort of recurring monthly donation give 42% more than one-time givers.
Gen Z and Millennials want to receive updates from nonprofits at least monthly.
Boomers are the most likely to donate to religious organizations.
The average age of the U.S. donor is 64.
Boomers far prefer to donate by mail versus other channels.
Boomers want to know where their money is being used – of the Boomers that stopped donating to a cause, more than 40% said it was due to feeling their money was not being used strategically.
People are generally more philanthropic toward the end of their lives when they tend to have more savings, time, and motivation to help others. Giving peaks at ages 61-75, when 77% of households donate, compared to just over 60% among households headed by someone 26-45 years old. The top contributions by organization type are:
Religious – 27%
Education – 14%
Human Services – 13%
There are some key implications that non-profits should consider based on these statistics. For example, if your cause is attracting younger people, then you’d be wise to seek more frequent but lower dollar amount donations. If you are a religious organization or your cause attracts an older population, then outreach via physical mail might be best. Frequent updates that include a financial breakdown of how donations are being spent are something that appeals to all donors.
Articles like this one from Consumer Reports encourage donors to properly vet the organizations they donate to so they can feel confident that their donations will be used to benefit a specific cause. Most people don’t want to see a large percentage of their donation going to administration and marketing. People want to see transparency from organizations when it comes to charitable donations.
For those in the non-profit arena, how do you handle your fundraising? Do you agree or disagree with these articles? Post your comments here and let us know. Also, if you’re looking to send a physical mailing please reach out to print@oexusa.com. We can help to arrange something really cost-effective to help you keep your marketing costs down!