Quality of Charity Materials Affects Donor Decisions, Study Finds

Title: Donor Loyalty Study: A Deep Dive Into Donor Behaviors and Attitudes

Organizations: Abila commissioned Finn Partners to conduct the study.

Summary: The survey of 1,136 U.S. donors looked at how they view their giving and their reactions to the information in the materials they receive from charities.

According to the report, the top three reasons respondents donated to a charity were a deep passion for the cause, belief that the nonprofit is depending on their gift, and knowing someone affected by the charity’s mission.

The study also found that donors have strong opinions about the content nonprofits provide them. It includes insights from donors across all adult age segments, categorized as millennials, Generation Xers, baby boomers, and matures.

Among the findings:

• Of respondents who said they volunteer, nearly 75 percent said they are more likely to donate money.
• When it comes to the materials they receive from charities, nearly 75 percent of respondents said they might stop giving to an organization based on content that is vague, dull, irrelevant, or inconvenient. Most of those polled said they preferred short, easy-to-understand content.
• More than half said they want charities they support to communicate with them at least once a month, but millennials prefer hearing from a charity they support at least twice a month.
• Roughly 70 percent of respondents said they feel more engaged with a nonprofit when the content they get is personalized. But the same proportion also said sloppy or inaccurate personalization such as misspelled names, incorrect ages, or irrelevant information rubs them the wrong way.