Nonprofit Trends Found In The Acceleration Report
3.5 min to read ✭ After the Nonprofit Acceleration Report came out, we wanted to get some more insights from our partners to gather even more learnings for nonprofits to fundraise into the future.
Nonprofit Trends Found In The Acceleration Report
This year marks a first for Community Boost! We have created a Nonprofit Acceleration Report surveying 439 nonprofits who attended The Nonprofit Marketing Summit in March 2022. We asked about their approach to digital marketing in 2022 to get a pulse on nonprofit trends and where they are succeeding and growing in digital strategies.
In this report, we’ve pulled together the top insights from the survey to share the trends in digital marketing for nonprofits and predict the biggest growth drivers for organizations moving forward. Furthermore, we wanted to reach out to some of our nonprofit marketing expert partners to get even more insight into the report and what nonprofits can take away from these learnings.
We asked two questions:
What is one statistic or trend that surprised or stood out to you in the report?
What do you think this will mean for nonprofits as they move forward and what is one piece of advice you can give that would help with adapting to these trends?
Here’s what they said:
Rally Corp Inc.
James Martin ❘ CEO of Rally Corp Inc.
What is one statistic or trend that surprised or stood out to you in the report?
Mass texting doesn’t seem to be key for most organizations, probably because it’s still seen as a bit too intrusive for your supporters. But, as more organizations continue to try this out and consumers get used to it, it’s likely to become more commonplace. A good way to try it is to allow supporters to “opt-in” for key updates about events or other news and slowly ease their way into expectations from your nonprofit.
What do you think this will mean for nonprofits as they move forward and what is one piece of advice you can give that would help with adapting to these trends?
I am surprised at how few organizations use text messaging as a means to build long-term relationships with donors. Especially, when you consider how effective it is.
I believe that is in part because texting is still often thought of as mass marketing. Donor engagement is not exclusively one-way messaging, and texting is no different. It’s not bombarding them with information, and it’s not contacting them only to ask for donations.
Donor engagement is making meaningful connections with your donors, communicating in ways that hold their attention, and inviting them to actively participate in your work. That is why human-centered text messaging is so important to building long-term relationships.
Read 4 Ways to Increase Recurring Donations with Texting
RallyCorp offers mobile communications and fundraising tools for causes & charities that help raise more money with less effort.
GiveButter
Floyd Jones ❘ Community & Partnerships Lead
What is one statistic or trend that surprised or stood out to you in the report?
46% of nonprofit leaders say that time is their biggest obstacle
What do you think this will mean for nonprofits as they move forward and what is one piece of advice you can give that would help with adapting to these trends?
Time is always scarce, and managing our time isn’t going to get easier. But one key thing is focusing on prioritization. Everything is important, but not everything is urgent. Decide what needs to be done NOW and what things can only be done by YOU. And focus on those things FIRST. For everything else – automate or develop a routine.
Find tools that can automate your workflow and make your life easier. Set up email automation, schedule social media posts, and make a plan for when you will conduct donor stewardship. All of this advance planning on the front end will save you time, energy, and money on the backend.
Givebutter is a modern and donor-friendly fundraising platform offering tools that anyone can start using in minutes. Plus, it’s completely free.
Julia Campbell
What is one statistic or trend that surprised or stood out to you in the report?
I was surprised, but also pleased, to see that almost half, 43%, of respondents, predicted a 4-14% increase in revenue. It looks like many nonprofits are expecting 2022 to be a year of massive growth, with investments in digital advertising on social media and search paving the way. With the uncertainty in the economy plus spiking inflation, I have been worried that nonprofits will hesitate to fundraise or to invest in donor acquisition – even though their services are more vital and needed than ever.
What do you think this will mean for nonprofits as they move forward and what is one piece of advice you can give that would help with adapting to these trends?
With the explosive growth in online giving during the pandemic, digital is the place to be for causes and social impact organizations. However, the time of reaching your audience without a budget for advertising is over – let alone the hurdle of engaging brand new audiences. Even small nonprofits need to consider a budget for digital advertising.
Link to my Online Fundraising Campaign planner: https://jcsocialmarketing.com/online-fundraising-planning/
Julia Campbell is the author of Storytelling in the Digital Age: A Guide for Nonprofits and How to Build and Mobilize a Social Media Community for Your Nonprofit in 90 Days. She is helping nonprofits build movements with their marketing campaigns.
Neon One
Tim Sarrantonio ❘ Director of Corporate Brand
What is one statistic or trend that surprised or stood out to you in the report?
The feedback that time is the most valuable asset that people wish they had more of was what stood out to me. Not because it was surprising but because of all the promise that technology has given us, the reality is that we now have more things to manage and juggle in order to connect with donors in meaningful ways. Time is our most valuable asset and it is important for us to say no to things if they are not aiming toward our primary goals.
What do you think this will mean for nonprofits as they move forward and what is one piece of advice you can give that would help with adapting to these trends?
No is your yes! Using data to inform your decisions on where to put marketing effort and spend will be critical to developing a set of key performance indicators (KPIs) around both lagging donor behavior (e.g. how much they gave) and leading behavior (e.g. which copy is having higher engagement rates) will ensure that a fundraiser is having clear paths to success. There’s a difference between shiny objects and experimentation, so focus on what your organization knows it can be awesome at and then feel comfortable testing things out. Everything else? Dump it.
As our 2022 report on donor behavior found, time is our most valuable asset and it is important for us to say no to things if they are not aiming toward our primary goals.
