For visual learners, the infographic below is just the ticket — assuming you’re interested in what’s ahead in fundraising worldwide. It illustrates some of the high (or low, depending on your outlook) points from the annual State of the Industry Survey.
A staple since 20o4, the survey collects and analyzes data from nonprofit professionals in nine countries — this year, more than 1,500 of them — to create an inside look into what’s keeping the sector up at night. Currently, from Australia to the United States and points between, fundraising insomniacs are fussing over the four same issues:
- Increased demand for services
- Flat or decreased fundraising
- Greater scrutiny from donors
- Consistently changing technology landscape
If the infographic piques your interest, I encourage you to click over to the full report. In the meantime, here’s some of what caught my attention as I perused the written report.
Nonprofits with two or fewer full-time fundraising staff members tended to be less optimistic than organizations with more fundraising staff.
Organizations that reported using several solicitation methods to drive donations reported higher levels of optimism in their ability to increase individual contributions in the next year. (For more on the importance of pursuing multiple strategies simultaneously, see my post on the topic.)
In the “oldie but still goodie” category, there are these gems:
The most frequently reported methods for discovering new donors are using personal contacts from staff, volunteers or board members, and prospecting special event attendees.
Organizations successful in retaining existing donors reported constant, ongoing communication with donors as their most effective retention strategy.
Results indicated a positive relationship between prompt acknowledgement of a donation and donor retention rates.
Now you get the picture.
