Wired, Wealthy, and Visiting Your Website

A major new study on online fundraising came out last week, focusing on the opportunity to engage major donors online.

Titled “The Wired Wealthy: Using the Internet to Connect with Your Middle and Major Donors,” the report seeks to answer the following question:

What role, if any, can the Internet play in cultivating, securing, and stewarding major donors?

The study-conducted by Convio, Sea Change Strategies, and Edge Research and focusing on wired donors who make four-figure or higher gifts to one or more charities-concludes that most non-profits “are not making the best possible use of their Web and email efforts to connect with this critically important audience.”

The report offers statistics about the Wired Wealthy’s:

• Giving patterns—80 percent had made a gift online in the last two years.
  
• Use of a charity’s website before making a first-time gift—66 percent visit the site.
  
• Internet usage—averaging 18 hours online each week.
  
• Web habits—a significant majority bank, pay bills, and read news online.
  
• Online content consumption—more than half use YouTube, and a quarter at least occasionally read blogs.
  
• Email preferences—they believe they receive too much from non-profits, but are receptive to e-solicitations.
  

The study’s recommendations for non-profit professionals?

1. Don’t panic … but don’t assume doing nothing is an option.
   
2. Segment your list.
   
3. Power to the people—make donor control your new mantra.
   
4. Let the message drive the technology and not the reverse.
   
5. Pay special attention to video.
   
6. Make listening an every day tactic.
   

There’s lots more (actually, 70 pages more) on Convio’s website.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy includes two articles about the study-Online Giving Appeals to the Wealthy, Study Finds and Let Donors Control How Much E-Mail They Receive, Report Urges-in its April 4 edition.

And on a related topic (note, shameless self-promotion to follow) ...

When this research report was released last week, we were finalizing a new mStoner whitepaper, “Developing an Internet Strategy for Your Capital Campaign.”

Because this research was topical to our own paper and provided some really good data about online content consumption by larger donors, I spent some time reviewing the study’s data and conclusions. Our whitepaper, which will be posted on mStoner.com later this week, includes several references to the “Wired Wealthy” findings.

Posted by Hilery Livengood
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Categories: Content and writing / Fundraising