I would also like to note that there is a shift happening in the traditional giving model. now there are free ways to make giving a part of your donors everyday life. like KarmaKart.com. This income doesn’t even come from the donors but from big retailers in the form of commissions and a good way for donors to give back without really giving anything but a conscious effort to switch methods of shopping.
There are some interesting findings here. I’d love to know whether the author has any insights about the extent to which some of these trends apply to larger nonprofits (say $10M or less)—or don’t.
Anne: I don’t have any data on organizations with budgets larger than $2 million, but my experience says that the positive impact of having a plan is present in larger organizations as well.
Heather, very interesting results. Great that you were able to conduct this analysis. Always useful to have data that backs up what many of us tell nonprofits on a regular basis! A couple of questions - where were these organizations based? Large metro areas? All throughout NC? Be interesting to know. And secondly, it is amazing that we are still having such issues with smaller nonprofits struggling with finding good data management solutions. Did you get a sense as to what’s contributing to that? I’ve not heard of Little Green Light actually, but I would add Neon and Bloomerang as other systems that I’ve seen smaller nonprofits use.
Thanks for your questions! The organizations came from all across the country and concentrated their fundraising at various geographic levels (read more in the report on page 42).
And I did not gather data on the reasons behind organization’s data management challenges. We did collect a long list of databases and user rankings, which can be found on pages 38 and 39 of the report.
BYMarshallCapDev, Capital Development Strategies LLC
I am a Fund Advisor in Milwaukee Wisconsin responsible for managing grant awards to small to medium nonprofits. I have seen a major trend in request for fund development planning and a wide array of consultant work plans. I would love to talk with you about coming to our city to speak with consultants who do this work. I think we need some level of consistency in what makes for an effective and impactful fund development plan.
Really interesting stuff! In addition to the regions served by the 29 nonprofits you studied, can you tell us how they break down in terms of categories (arts, social services, higher education, e.g.)? I’d be amazed if there aren’t wide variations between different kinds of nonprofits. Either way, Heather, I’m confident I speak for many when I say thanks for all this great information.
Jennifer: Good question! The breakdown of issue focus - and impact on giving - is on page 13 of the full report. There’s definitely some differences among the focus areas!
How much should a nonprofit invest in terms of cost or employee time into face to face meetings to increase inidividual contributions by the average $5000?
COMMENTS
BY TJ Tate
ON December 1, 2015 12:59 PM
I would also like to note that there is a shift happening in the traditional giving model. now there are free ways to make giving a part of your donors everyday life. like KarmaKart.com. This income doesn’t even come from the donors but from big retailers in the form of commissions and a good way for donors to give back without really giving anything but a conscious effort to switch methods of shopping.
BY Anne Sherman
ON December 2, 2015 11:01 AM
There are some interesting findings here. I’d love to know whether the author has any insights about the extent to which some of these trends apply to larger nonprofits (say $10M or less)—or don’t.
BY Lara Pimentel
ON December 9, 2015 01:36 PM
Heather, did you find that having a particular planning format increased results?
BY HeatherYandow, Third Space Studio
ON December 10, 2015 05:09 AM
Anne: I don’t have any data on organizations with budgets larger than $2 million, but my experience says that the positive impact of having a plan is present in larger organizations as well.
BY HeatherYandow, Third Space Studio
ON December 10, 2015 05:11 AM
Lara: We did not explore the plan format in this year’s project, but will be digging in to plan components in next year’s research.
BY MarshallCapDev, Capital Development Strategies LLC
ON December 15, 2015 12:40 PM
Heather, very interesting results. Great that you were able to conduct this analysis. Always useful to have data that backs up what many of us tell nonprofits on a regular basis! A couple of questions - where were these organizations based? Large metro areas? All throughout NC? Be interesting to know. And secondly, it is amazing that we are still having such issues with smaller nonprofits struggling with finding good data management solutions. Did you get a sense as to what’s contributing to that? I’ve not heard of Little Green Light actually, but I would add Neon and Bloomerang as other systems that I’ve seen smaller nonprofits use.
BY HeatherYandow, Third Space Studio
ON December 16, 2015 04:37 AM
Thanks for your questions! The organizations came from all across the country and concentrated their fundraising at various geographic levels (read more in the report on page 42).
And I did not gather data on the reasons behind organization’s data management challenges. We did collect a long list of databases and user rankings, which can be found on pages 38 and 39 of the report.
BY MarshallCapDev, Capital Development Strategies LLC
ON December 16, 2015 07:21 AM
Thanks Heather!! Just downloaded the report. Can’t wait to read it. From one fellow nonprofit management “geek” to another - hooray for cool data!
BY Mavis Early
ON December 17, 2015 05:26 AM
Excellent & helpful info. Thanks!
BY Denise
ON December 21, 2015 10:04 AM
I am a Fund Advisor in Milwaukee Wisconsin responsible for managing grant awards to small to medium nonprofits. I have seen a major trend in request for fund development planning and a wide array of consultant work plans. I would love to talk with you about coming to our city to speak with consultants who do this work. I think we need some level of consistency in what makes for an effective and impactful fund development plan.
BY Jennifer Ott
ON December 28, 2015 08:03 AM
Really interesting stuff! In addition to the regions served by the 29 nonprofits you studied, can you tell us how they break down in terms of categories (arts, social services, higher education, e.g.)? I’d be amazed if there aren’t wide variations between different kinds of nonprofits. Either way, Heather, I’m confident I speak for many when I say thanks for all this great information.
BY HeatherYandow, Third Space Studio
ON January 8, 2016 08:56 AM
Denise: So glad you are interested in this work! Please be in touch at heather (at) thirdspacestudio.com with any questions.
BY HeatherYandow, Third Space Studio
ON January 8, 2016 08:57 AM
Jennifer: Good question! The breakdown of issue focus - and impact on giving - is on page 13 of the full report. There’s definitely some differences among the focus areas!
BY jerusha clark
ON May 4, 2018 08:54 AM
this was great! thank you!
BY Jasmine
ON March 16, 2019 07:18 PM
How much should a nonprofit invest in terms of cost or employee time into face to face meetings to increase inidividual contributions by the average $5000?