{"id":11320,"date":"2012-08-06T11:17:28","date_gmt":"2012-08-06T15:17:28","guid":{"rendered":"\/news_blogs\/john\/?p=11320"},"modified":"2023-12-22T09:55:27","modified_gmt":"2023-12-22T14:55:27","slug":"the-quickest-way-to-increase-donations-to-your-charity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cccc.org\/news_blogs\/john\/2012\/08\/06\/the-quickest-way-to-increase-donations-to-your-charity\/","title":{"rendered":"The Quickest Way to Increase Donations to Your Charity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I’m writing a chapter on fundraising accountability and evaluation<\/strong> for a new course to be offered in the fall by CCCC, Advancing Stewardship II<\/em><\/a>, and I’ve discovered some research that could help your ministry right away. I was surprised to find how easy it could be to almost immediately increase your donations<\/strong>! The course will have many fundraising ideas, but here is the quickest way and, as a bonus, a second way that is pretty easy and quick as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Quickest Way to Raise New Donations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Linda Parsons, an assistant professor at the George Mason University School of Management, found that providing accountability information results in real value to a charity. After surveying charities and their donors, she reports:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Using a field-based experiment, this study finds that some donors are more likely to respond to a fundraising appeal if it includes positive financial accounting information. Donors who have previously donated to an organization are almost three times as likely to make a charitable contribution<\/em> if the NFP [not for profit] directly provides them with summary financial reports (instead of expecting the donors to incur the costs to obtain the information themselves)\u2026 This field-based experiment demonstrates that summary financial information can directly affect contributions from individuals. (I added the emphasis.) (1)<\/sup><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Parson’s research is backed up by other research done by Penelope Burk, who found that 46 percent of donors who were asked, \u201cWhy do you stop giving?\u201d responded that they would stop giving to a charity they once supported for reasons that are tied to insufficient or poor quality information concerning their gifts at work.(2)<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What’s even better is that a 2001 Wise Giving Alliance survey of 2,003 adult Americans found that 50% of donors prefer to get accountability reports from charities directly.(3)<\/sup> This means that they want to hear directly from you, giving you the chance to determine how the information is presented and interpreted!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These research reports all suggest that the donors who are most likely to be positively affected by accountability reports<\/strong> are the same ones who are already supporting your ministry. This is an easy group to reach, and they are already sold on supporting your ministry, so the quickest way to increase donations may be to focus on your current givers and give them the accountability information they want. In return, they will likely increase their support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Donors Want in Accountability Reports<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Stephanie Williams surveyed 2,000 donors<\/a> not too long ago to determine what accountability information donors wanted and found that the answer depends on how old they are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n