by Kivi Leroux Miller The 2011 Nonprofit Communications Trends Report is officially available! Thanks to the 780 nonprofits who completed the survey last month, making this report possible. It answers many questions that a lot of us simply speculated about before. Here’s one of the charts from the report, which shows how nonprofits ranked 14 different communications tools. If you add the “very important” and “somewhat important” rankings together, you see a somewhat different picture, with Facebook becoming more dominant. I hope you’ll download the report and dig into it, but here are several of my favorite stats from it, in tweet-sized bites. 75% of nonprofits say they’ll email supporters at least monthly. Facebook comes after only websites and email as important … Continue Reading
U.S. Giving in 2009 Exceeds $300 billion, Reflecting Strong Support for Non-Profits
by Robert I. Evans and Avrum D. Lapin The Giving Institute and the Giving USA Foundation today announced actual results of charitable giving in 2009, a report that will undoubtedly attract significant media and other attention in the coming weeks. The report reflects stronger-than-predicted results for non-profits across the United States in 2009, with final estimates of $303 billion . . . making 2009 the third consecutive year showing giving in excess of $300 billion! The report shows that nationally giving remained strong and the generosity of many donors continued at high levels - especially during troubling economic times. Giving USA 2010, published by Giving USA Foundation and researched at the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, provides the most comprehensive overview of … Continue Reading
The NTEN 2010 Conference: Lessons Learned
Two Jewish Agency attendees weigh in on the recent NTEN 2010 Conference. by Florence Broder and Ziva Haller Rubenstein This year’s Nonprofit Technology Conference in Atlanta was a buzz: continuing many of the trends from the SXSW conference, and the seminars and the energy of the participants did not disappoint. Early on, five key areas emerged as critical parts of keeping nonprofit organizations on top of its e-philanthropy initiatives as well as way to be interactive with online communities. 1. Metrics and ROI Most organizations already have a presence on social networks like Facebook and Twitter but that is no longer enough. It’s now time to become more strategic in undertstanding your audience through metrics analysis. Believe it or not, it’s time to go back to basics, that … Continue Reading
The Loss from Lack of a National Jewish Census
Critics Say It Will Be Harder To Spot Trends With No National Jewish Census by Debra Nussbaum Cohen In the coming weeks, some 120 million Americans will fill out their U.S. Census forms, providing the government with information that will be used to track demographic trends and to direct funding where it’s needed. But this time, unlike during three of the last four decennial U.S. Census cycles, there will be no parallel nationwide Jewish census. In 1970, 1990 and 2000 there were National Jewish Population Surveys, whose results shaped the decisions of funders, organizational leaders and communal policy planners and, at least in the case of the 1990 NJPS, led to a large-scale reframing of the Jewish agenda. But this year there will be no survey to track where we’re moving, how we’re … Continue Reading
Ideas Worth Investing In
After a four-year hiatus, Joshua Venture Group (JVGroup) has emerged to rejoin the now burgeoning field of Jewish social entrepreneurship as a leading national support source for cultivating strong leaders and transformative ventures that seek to profoundly impact the American Jewish community. The organization officially re-launched in Fall 2009, announcing its call for applications for the 2010-2012 Dual Investment Program - a two-year intensive program for emerging entrepreneurs to work both individually as venture leaders and collectively as a cohort to develop and refine the professional and organizational skills needed to either start up or scale their ventures. The response to this opportunity was strong, with over 300 individuals inquiring via email and phone, by directly accessing the … Continue Reading
Generational Differences Impact Giving
Generational Differences Impact Giving as Boomers, Gen X and Gen Y Engage Through More Channels than their Mature Counterparts The results of a first-of-its-kind national research study into the charitable giving behaviors and attitudes across Gen Y, Gen X, Boomers and Matures shows that the boomers and Gen X are more spontaneous, influenced by peers, and use multiple channels when giving to charities. Prepared by Convio, Edge Research and Sea Change Strategies the study was designed to learn how different generations learn about, engage with and donate to charitable organizations. The key findings include: Emergence of Gen X and Boomers: More than 60 percent of the potential donor universe consists of Gen X (age 30-45) and Boomer donors (age 46-64). Multichannel: For the next generation … Continue Reading
Imagining the Internet
from Mashable: The Future of the Non-Profit Internet Earlier this month, Pew Internet released its annual Future of the Internet report. The survey of 900 leaders forecasts the future direction of online media. In turn non-profit strategists can glean insights into the future, and how to steer their individual programs. This year’s research report dove into five critical areas. Here’s what non-profits need to take away from the Pew report for their efforts: Google Changes the Way We Think; The Internet Changes Language; The Pundits Don’t Know What They’re Talking About; The Internet Will Remain End-to-End - Sort Of; Anonymity and Privacy Will Continue to Be Big Issues. ... “The report’s findings reflect the notion that the tools are not going to change much in the … Continue Reading
New York as America’s Jewish Capital City
by Steven Windmueller, Ph.D. New York is rapidly losing its economic position within the changing global economy, which has significant implications for American Jews, as well. The Jews of New York longer reflect religiously or demographically the “state” of American Jewry. Other major communities in this nation today rival New York in terms of institutional Jewish growth and as centers of creative energy and institutional innovation. The “Manhattan Syndrome” nurtured the idea that all significant Jewish life and events were New York-centered; this notion is now being challenged, as a result of the communication’s revolution, the emergence of competing national and regional markets, the growing cultural and religious diversities that exist among American Jews, and the loss … Continue Reading
The Fundraising Challenges of 2010
No one can say for sure what 2010 will bring. Will there be an economic recovery? Will direct mail continue to be the king of individual giving results? Will a greater percentage of donors turn to the Web as their preference for giving? Here from Network for Good are 5 Trends they anticipate will affect your fundraising in the months to come: You may see a greater number of donations with a smaller average gift size. As much as the media talks of a possible economic rebound, prospective supporters will still be wary of donating to new causes. Email outreach will continue its upward trend, meaning more email in subscribers' inboxes. Recurring gifts will be a huge portion of online giving. As in the past, year-end gifts will account for a substantial percentage of total annual … Continue Reading
Marketing Predictions 2010
With 2009 happily over, we can now focus on a new decade - hopefully one that brings us healthily back from the brink of economic implosion fueled by greed, avarice and very poor judgment. So with a modestly optimistic eye gazing out at the year ahead, here are my marketing predictions for 2010. We will see more nonprofits leveraging social media to capture more donors and their (at least initial) smaller gifts. Smart nonprofits will recognize that social media is not a solution for the stagnant or slipping major gifts category but that it should grow alongside and with traditional fundraising aimed at donors with greater capacity. The old adage to plant a lot of seeds makes good sense in this still-difficult fundraising climate. You never know which little shoot will grow into a big, sturdy … Continue Reading
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