BIG's Blog: “Boomers” – We are not all the same!

In Newsweek 2006, Jerry Alder wrote an article, Finding and Seeking, addressing the generational changes “Boomers” have brought to religion. The article speaks to this cohort’s desire for freedom of choice when it comes to religion.

He writes, “They are no longer preoccupied with salvation in the next life but rather fulfillment in this one.”

Fortunately, not all boomers were independent types searching out some new experience different from those of their parents. Many boomers wanted to preserve traditions and to pass them on to their offspring (e.g., the homeschooling movement). (Source)

These two article site the challenges that face religious nonprofits today. Almost six years after Finding and Seeking, the question we are still asking ourselves is, “How do religious nonprofits reach out to these individuals?” Is there a place to in our mission that speaks to those who want fulfillment in this world? How will we identify those who “believe in” and want to “carry on” the religious traditions?

The answer is through research, testing and data. There is no quick solution to the challenges religious nonprofits will face as we go through these steps. Now, more than ever, the importance of collaborative efforts in research, testing and data is needed to be successful in reaching out to these individuals. In my upcoming blogs, I will continue to address the changing demographics. If you have any questions or ideas, feel free to share send them with us. (Source)

-Gail

BIG’s Blog: What this Article Means for Nonprofit Fund Raisers – Part Four

In my last blog, I discussed the claims in the Direct Marketing News – Direct Daily article that essentially announced that by 2015, two-thirds of all purchases and half of all transactions will occur on mobile devices. I analyzed the arguments made by the Google executive and concluded that his claims were more than plausible.

So then, what are the implications for nonprofit fund raisers? Think about this for a second. Unless your fund raising organization is exceptional, my guess is that today you are getting a much smaller proportion of your donations through your Web site than through the mail and you are getting exactly ZERO through mobile.

Yet in a mere four years from now, according to the article, a huge share of ALL purchases and transactions will take place over mobile. FOUR YEARS AWAY! Are you feeling like you are sitting in a horse and buggy at a country cross road circa 1910 as you see a line of Ford Model T’s stream by?

It seems almost overwhelming, doesn’t it?

With few exceptions, the vast majority of fund raisers haven’t even figured out how to integrate the use of Web sites, email and social media into their dominant channel direct mail fund raising efforts, and now they learn mobile will probably be one of the key marketing channels in less than four years.

This is not business-as-usual. These are exceptional times.

Whatever you do, don’t let fear paralyze you. This is also an exciting time to be in fund raising! There are resources out there.

Last year, Browne Innovation Group inaugurated a seminar series entitled: "The Coming Transformation of Fund Raising," detailing core elements in developing a new fund raising strategy and, in seven seminars, over 100 organizations attended.

There are also a number of books and other resources we can recommend. Call or email and we will share the list.

I’ll have some final thoughts on the above article in my next blog.

-Mike

Welcome to BIG’s Blog and yes, by all means forward our blog to your friends and co-workers.

BIG's Blog: “It’s all about the Boomers!” (Statistics)

"By 2015, those aged 50 and older will represent 45% of the U.S. population." (AARP)

66% of boomers aged fifty-one to fifty-nine plan on staying mentally active through working without retiring. 49% of baby boomers plan to continue to work part-time until their health does not permit it. Their interests are travel, hobbies and investing time into things to fulfill their life.

According to the article, “Online Baby Boomers: A Demographic Profile, 2009,” there are 64.8 million Baby Boomers online. This equals 37% of all people online in the US.

Boomer women make up 19% of the total population.

What do the statistics above signify to religious nonprofits about their future? It suggests that Boomer women may have disposable income to support your missions now and into the future. If asked to participate, the nonprofits' missions may give Boomer women the opportunities to fulfill their lives.

How a nonprofit reaches out to the Boomer cohort will determine the success of its cultivation. The use of social media to communicate your message is the “wave” of the near future. If 37% of this market currently uses the Internet, they will become more comfortable with all forms of social media. Begin to plan how you will adapt your mission’s needs using social media along with current marketing methods.

-Gail

BIG’s Blog: What this Article Means for Nonprofit Fund Raisers – Part Three

In my last blog, I have been unpacking the importance for fund raisers of the Direct Marketing News – Direct Daily article about a Google executive stating that, by 2015, two-thirds of all purchases and half of all transactions will occur on mobile devices.

The question is: Is this just hype or is it the future?

Well, Mr. Shapiro, the Google executive, builds his case by citing statistics that first, consumers will digest 80% of all visual content through digital by 2015. What is visual content? Visual content is everything you read or look at, whether a physical printed newspaper, magazine or book or the myriad of information delivered via computers, tablets, Kindle-like reading devices or mobile. Second, he cites recent growth figures and tells us that mobile searches grew 500% in the last two years. Obviously, since he is with Google, you can rely on him knowing the numbers on search. Third, he states that mobile today is the third most used media behind telephone (landlines we presume) and the Internet. And finally, Mr. Shapiro cites mobile subscriber numbers worldwide at 5 billion, with 1.9 billion of those mobile devices connected to the Internet. In fact, Mr. Shapiro goes on to tell us that Google predicts mobile subscribers to hit 10 billion within 10 years.

So, can we believe the hype? From our last blog, we discussed why Google is interested in mobile, after all they own and license the mobile operating system called Android. It seems that Google’s strategy is to marry search (Google’s core service) with mobile (Google’s growing Android mobile operating business) to help people find what they want through their mobile devices. These are very sharp business people and they are making some very big investments. I would bet that they are probably right.

So what are the implications for nonprofit fund raisers? I will sum it up in my next blog.

-Mike

Welcome to BIG’s Blog and yes, by all means forward our blog to your friends and co-workers.

BIG's Blog: The next generation

Institutional Donors versus the Baby Boomers and Younger Generations touched upon the changing demographics of the nonprofit constituency. Mike Browne’s audits of faith based nonprofits showed that, in some organizations, Depression and WWII cohorts make up 90% of the donor databases. This is an alarming statistic, especially when you consider how many may be major constituent donors. Think about the time it took to develop the relationship with these constituents.

A question the nonprofit should ask is: How will our cultivation process change to bring on new generations of cohorts? What happens if the cultivation process takes longer with Boomers and younger cohorts? The approached used on Depression or WWII cohorts will not be successful with the next generation of constituents. As nonprofits try to cultivate relationships with the “Me Generation,” how will you bring value to these cohorts to support your mission?

The organization may already see a change in support from family foundations. An annual gift that once was a “given” from the foundation is no longer there. As younger generations of the family sit on the board, funding decisions are likely to change. They will have a different perspective of what is worthy of support – especially in faith based non-profits.

If the nonprofit is seeing a change in giving patters, now is the time to understand why. A strategy session with representatives of present and future cohorts will bring to light the differences in each generation. The knowledge gained from this session can help to develop a cultivation strategy for the next generation of funding opportunities.

-Gail

BIG’s Blog: What this Article Means for Nonprofit Fund Raisers – Part Two

In my last blog, I referenced the article by Juan Martinez from the Direct Marketing News – Direct Daily and told you that it was loaded with important news for nonprofit fund raisers and that I would do my best to unpack the implications.

The title of the article: Most purchases, half of transactions to be mobile by 2015: Google. David Shapiro, director of small business marketing for Google, made the statement at a Direct Marketing Association (DMA) breakfast meeting at Google’s New York offices. His actual statement was, “Two-thirds of all purchases and half of all transactions will occur on mobile devices by 2015.”

This news is astounding. And even if Mr. Shapiro is only partly correct, and let’s even say he is only 25% right, this is still very important news for fund raisers trying to reach new prospects.

Okay, a little analysis up to this point. First, why is a Google executive talking about mobile, which, of course, references mobile phones and more particularly, the mobile smart phones connected to the Internet? Google, of course, has the most used search engine on the planet, but they also own and license the Android operating system for smart phones. Android smart phones compete directly with Apple’s iPhone and other smart phones. Second, the growth of mobile and smart phones is exponential and not just in the United States.

When Mr. Shapiro refers to more and more transactions via mobile, he is really talking about three central features converging in smart phones. Those are computer-like capability, connectedness and portability.

First, as smart phones become more computer-like in their power via applications, people who own smart phones will do more of the things they used to do on their computers in the area of actual work, fun, communications and, of course, this includes search. Second, bandwidth is growing for mobile devices which allow almost all applications that run on computers to run on mobile devices including pulling down video. And third, it is not lost on anyone that it is much easier to haul around a smart phone than a laptop computer, and since mobile devices fit in your pocket or purse, they are always with you.

Mr. Shapiro, in admonishing marketers to pay attention to this trend, says, “Marketers must follow the four B’s: Be relevant, Be found, Be engaging and Be accountable.”

Isn’t that what you try to “Be” with all your communications to constituent donors and prospects? Does this mean that you need to rush out and hire a firm to get your messages on mobile? Maybe so, but let’s wait at least until we have finished analyzing all the implications for fund raisers found in this article.

Look for Part Three of this series coming soon.

-Mike

Welcome to BIG’s Blog and yes, by all means forward our blog to your friends and co-workers.

Major Donor Relationships – long-term or short-range?

In Mike Browne’s recent blog, Institutional Donors versus the Baby Boomers and Younger Generations, Mike presents examples of the changing demographics of the Catholic Church and the attitudes of these individuals. The generational changes will challenge the current cultivation process of major constituents. An organization will need to change its cultivation approach in order to acquire a major gift.

In my upcoming blogs, I will address the generational differences of these constituents as the organization seeks to build major donor relationships for today and into the future.

Build an approach plan that is a “win-win” for both the constituent and the organization. The mission of the organization depends on the success of this relationship.

Numerous stories have been told by major constituent donors where an organization needed funding for a project. Constituents were approached with the needs of the organization. The constituent thought the organization’s need was worth their investment, so they wrote the check. After the organization received the generous gift, the donor received a thank you letter and then failed to hear from the organization until the next time they needed funding. This approach worked with the Depression and WWII-era cohorts. They are institutional givers. But will this approach work in the future?

-Gail

BIG’s Blog: What this Article Means for Nonprofit Fund Raisers – Part One

It was just one article in a group of several articles from the online edition of Direct Marketing News – Direct Daily. I could have missed it, but thankfully I did not. The article was entitled, Most purchases, half of transactions to be mobile by 2015: Google.

As it rates in importance to the professional life of nonprofit fund raisers, this article on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being the most important) is an 18. That’s my tongue-in-cheek way of saying this article is not only worth reading, it is worth reading paragraph-by-paragraph.

A possible comparative example from my own professional life happened in 1996. Had I not been paying attention, it would have adversely affected my professional life for decades. I was attending some kind of venture capital forum in Silicon Valley. Larry Ellison, the CEO of Oracle, the hardware and software database company, was the keynote speaker that kicked off the first day's morning session. Frankly, I don’t remember anything beyond the first four words of his address that morning and in the fog of time, I remember even less about the conference as a whole. But I will never forget the first four words of his morning speech as they echo over time. I have seen their wisdom and insight play out weekly, monthly and yearly since 1996. Those four words were, “The Internet changes everything.”

The article I commend to you above and encourage you to read very carefully is only slightly less momentous in its prognostication of the future insofar as nonprofit fund raisers are concerned.

In my blogs to follow, I will dissect this article as it contains some extremely important news for fund raisers, but more important than just the news are the implications for fund raisers.

Read the article and watch for my blogs to come.

-Mike

Welcome to BIG’s Blog and yes, by all means forward our blog to your friends and co-workers.

BIG’s Blog: The Old Order Is Passing Faster than Expected

Oh, you thought I was talking about Mubarak in Egypt?

No, I'm talking about how fast direct mail net margins are eroding based on forces we all knew were coming; just not this fast!

Frankly, I thought most direct mail fund raising programs could still be profitable ten years from now - albeit much smaller. But, I am thinking five years is a stretch based upon some new information. Some of our latest work, as well as conversations with historically large nonprofit direct mail fund raisers, lead me to conclude that net margins are eroding faster than I believe anyone anticipated.

PROBLEMS:
- Production cost increases

- Postage rate increases

- Declining response rates

- Shrinking pool of prospect names

We’re in uncharted waters here. This IS NOT good news for nonprofits that depend on direct mail. The last ten years have seen the cost to raise a dollar double through direct mail. Look at your own 10+ year direct mail net margin trend lines and tell me you don’t see eroding margins.

Does anyone think this is sustainable?

Yet ... Organizations continue building their mail plans.

Remember, I have been in direct mail marketing for 30+ years. Few individuals and organizations have been responsible for mailing as much mail as I have. I have no vested interest in seeing direct mail die; in fact, I have a deep emotional attachment to direct mail. What I am saying is as real as it gets.

Here is what is important: BUILD AN ALTERNATIVE STRATEGY while your direct mail program is still profitable – if it still is profitable – and nobody can say with certainty if your program has two, five, seven or nine profitable years left as each organization has its own dynamics, although studying your own trend lines would give you a clue. Do you have a fiduciary responsibility to begin asking and raising questions like, “What happens when our direct mail program is not profitable?”

Direct mail as an adjunct to a multi-channel direct marketing strategy is not what I am talking about here. An important note, when I am talking about direct mail programs, I mean direct mail alone accounting for a significant portion of your fund raising budget.

Are there ways to extend your direct mail programs profitability? The answer is yes; and it might buy you another year or two but the truth is that it is akin to rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic – the direct mail ship as you have known it is going down.

The good news is there are alternative strategies out there.

Starting with my next blog, I am going to share an article that hit me like a ton of bricks. It will have the same affect on you.

-Mike

Welcome to BIG’s Blog and yes, by all means forward our blog to your friends and co-workers.

BIG's Blog: Board Development, Part Three: Elevator Pitch Training

One never knows when an opportunity to use your elevator pitch will present itself. But, just developing an elevator pitch is not enough. The pitch needs to flow easily in the conversation; this takes practice.

Once a board member becomes comfortable with the pitch, they will learn to adapt the message for the type of constituent they meet. A good pitch will compel a constituent to ask questions.

There will be board members who are apprehensive about this training. To calm their fears, explain that this training process will teach them a simple way to introduce the organization to others. New board members will appreciate this training. It takes time to feel comfortable to speak about information that is new to an individual.

When an elevator pitch is delivered well, interested constituents ask more questions about the organization. This begins the relationship with the constituent. Sharing the organization's story introduces the constituent to learn more about the organization and its needs.

Help inexperienced board members get excited about their pitch. Help them to show their enthusiasm about your organization. Coach them to think about their Catholic values and how their commitment to your mission supports these values.

-Gail