6 Fundraising Trends You Need to Watch

Ask 10 fundraisers what they think the next big trend is and you’ll probably get 10 different answers. But fundraising trends, like all other trends, need diligent monitoring — reviewing return-on-investment, staying relevant in a changing landscape, and making sure the trends you’re following fit your organization.

Here are 6 critical industry trends that require diligent monitoring:

1. Digital channel saturation.
   Email marketing, as an example, is overly saturated by nonprofits. Due to the sheer volume of charities doing email, it is bordering on white noise to most donors. Other channels are becoming similarly saturated. Make sure to invest resources in the channels you choose. It’s not enough to do just email marketing. Now, you have to be even more strategic when using this channel in order to cut through the noise.
2. Multichannel attribution.
   An important conversation in the coming months and years will be understanding and balancing the desire to know the gift attribution versus the price and effort of implementing the attribution of revenue the “right way.”
3. Data quality and governance.
   Today, very few charities are appealing to their donors through only one channel. Every nonprofit must now consider data quality and governance issues. These concerns were once thought to be unnecessary for nonprofits, because they operated in a single direct-mail channel with only occasional emails.
4. Generational giving shifts.
   The World War II generation is nearly gone, sadly, and now Baby Boomers are stepping in to support fundraising in a more significant way. This shift impacts everything from the language nonprofits use, to the size of gifts that should be expected, to the channel in which they communicate, and more. This will require many nonprofits to seek in-market donor research, something in which TrueSense Marketing is actively invested. Click here to read our donor research studies.
5. Managing new constituent engagements.
   Another challenge nonprofits are facing today is how to convert constituents from events, peer-to-peer, volunteering, and other younger donors into long-term, committed donors. These individuals typically have poor retention and do not engage with nonprofits in traditional ways.
6. Technology.
   As ever more sophistication and complexity is added to the media channel mix for fundraising, the types and volumes of data continue to grow exponentially. But this is not usually a core competency at most nonprofits. How will nonprofits maneuver to “future-proof” themselves?