Tip #3: Focus on Female Donors

By Laurence A. Pagnoni, MPA

This is part three of a four part series on year-end giving tips.

To read Tip #1, click here.

To read Tip #2, click here.

Many nonprofits receive 40 percent or more of their annual fundraising in the final weeks of the year. Start planning now – don’t wait until it’s too late.

I have a few really hot “tips” for you about year-end giving, but first, here’s the data supporting the “tips.” By sharing these first, my “tips” will be self-evident.

  • Charitable gifts were up 3% last year, and wealthy individuals were responsible for most of the increase.
  • Baby Boomers are today’s major donors. They comprise only 34% of all donors, but are giving 43% of the money.
  • 64% of all charitable gifts are made by women, and older women are more likely to give and give more than their male counterparts.
  • 89% of high net-worth individuals volunteer with nonprofits.

With these four statistics in mind, here we go…

Hot Tip #3

Are pictures of girls and women in your promotional materials positioned in a way that invites the attention of new female donors? I suggest that you gather testimony from existing female donors about why they give and post them at your website. Feature their stories by making two-minute videos in which they share what draws them to your work. Given the statistics above, I would urge your year-end drive to be sensitive to this approach.

We welcome your comments about this post on the LAPA blog.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Related Posts

Fundraiser Retention

How To Improve Fundraiser Retention

That disturbingly high turnover rates and low morale plague fundraising professionals is nothing new. Research going back almost two decades shows this to be true.

One study in particular found that the “average fundraiser stays on a job only 16 months.”

In fact, just last year, author Rob Webb called on us to act on fundraising turnover right here in NonProfit Pro.

The past research on turnover was best summarized by our colleague Penelope Burke as follows:

Read More »

The Secret to Why Donors Give

There are many reasons we in the fundraising industry tell one another about why donors give.  They are moved by your mission, they know a board or staff member, they’ve given for years, to name a few.  I doubt that all of them are true, and I especially doubt that they are all true at the same point in the giving calculus for each donor.

Read More »

Are You Endowment Ready?

Nonprofit endowments are donations pooled together and invested in the stock market. At the end of the year, a portion of this money goes to the charity, but the principal amount remains in the market. Many smaller nonprofits may think of endowments as a pipe dream, but any size organization can start an endowment fund.

Read More »