Executive summary
This study examines three key strategies for winning donor mindshare in an increasingly busy and saturated landscape.
Advancement leaders must work harder than ever before to win donor mindshare. The proliferation of nonprofits in North America and the accelerating pace of solicitations have created a frenetic fundraising environment for colleges and universities.
New digital fundraising platforms further complicate their work.
With so much noise drowning out their appeals, advancement leaders find themselves competing in an attention economy for which they are ill-equipped. Their annual giving offices work harder every single year, only to see declining participation returns.
This resource is part of the Improving Alumni Participation Roadmap. Access the Roadmap for stepwise guidance with additional tools and research.
“The long-term trend continues to move towards giving to fewer causes, with 42% of the survey’s oldest donors supporting 11 or more charities versus only 22% of middle-age donors.”
Penelope Burk
The Burk Donor Survey 2014
The scarcity of alumni attention has created an ”attention economy” that rewrites the rules for engagement and fundraising. Advancement leaders in this attention economy can no longer rely on appeals to donor loyalty. They must synchronize multiple channels beyond direct mail and phone, craft segmented cases for support, empower ambassadors, and engineer an element of “virality” into their campaigns to capture the interest of an increasingly distracted alumni base.
Make it easy to giveAlmost-givers, who sit on…