Rossi’s Roundup: Bite-sized media, bigger gifts and texting

I hope you each had a wonderful Labor Day weekend and found some time to relax amidst the festivities. Take a deep breath — Q4 is officially here! 

Reflecting on 2023 in this touchpoint a year ago, I shared a report from CNN Business stating that families were spending an additional $709 per month compared to two years prior, and CFOs were feeling more optimistic about avoiding a recession. Let that sink in for a moment ... 

I also want to revisit a great piece from Sean Triner last year, highlighting effective strategies to encourage your donors to upgrade their giving: 

• Get their details right 

• Thank donors promptly, powerfully and personally 

• Do a great job at reporting back on the impact of their giving 

• Use hyper-personalization 

• Have superb donor service 

• Do excellent fundraising (relevant, action-focused) 

• Track what they do 

On an interesting and somewhat humorous note, Nationwide shared their annual “most unusual pet insurance claims of the year.” The Hambone award finalists were four dogs and a parrot, with antics ranging from a dog who broke through a plate glass door alerting his family of the mail carrier’s arrival to another eating 250 jigsaw puzzle pieces. 

Year end is truly right around the corner, and that’s when all the charity rating websites are most frequented by donors. If you would like to know how to maximize your Candid/GuideStar profile for the giving season, you can sign up on Candid for their upcoming free training from 2 - 2:45 p.m. ET (11 - 11:45 a.m. PT) on Wednesday, Oct. 2. I highly recommend you update your organization profile before Oct. 2, then go back and make it more robust with what you might learn at the training.

For more insights, jump over to RKD Group’s LinkedIn articles and grab Ronnie Richard's Thinkers Newsletter on LinkedIn. He shares fundraising and marketing insights inspired by his own experiences as well as blogs from our own strategists and partners. This month, he covered audience-first fundraising, some great insights from The Bridge to Integrated Marketing & Fundraising Conference, the humor of back to school, and kid’s terms that are actually code-switching. 

It’s that time to grab your favorite beverage and dive in. 

1. Want 57% Bigger Gifts? How You Frame the Ask Matters, Research Shows 

New research found that donors gave 57 percent larger gifts when they were asked to donate units of food for refugees compared to when they were simply asked to give cash

The results showed that asking for donations with the large unit size garnered 57 percent larger donations than asking for money — large-unit donors gave $42.35, on average, compared to cash donors, who gave $26.94. However, donations made in the small-unit size averaged $24.25, about 10 percent less than cash. So, picking the right unit size to ask for mattered. 

The researchers also wondered if telling people how much their money could do in unit sizes and then asking for money, rather than units of charitable goods, would impact how much donors gave. It did—and not in a good way. Telling people they could feed a child for $1 a day or for $30 for a month and then asking for a monetary donation resulted in smaller gifts—an average of $3 less with the daily figure and $5 less with the monthly figure. 

2. Bloomerang Report Reveals Digital Wallets Surpass Checks for Charitable Donations 

“In addition to discovering unique preferences among different generations of donors, we’ve also discovered what different generations have in common,” said Bloomerang’s nonprofit content and education specialist, Wendy Mercurio. “For example, trust and connection are crucial to all donors. For those who noted intentionally stopping their support, not feeling connected to a nonprofit and losing trust in how their donation was spent are major factors that led to a halt in donations.”

Key findings from the second edition of the 2024 Generational Giving Report include: 

• Donors of all ages rely on online platforms to learn more about an organization before donating. Prior to making a gift, 85% of donors will research a nonprofit by visiting their website, and 70% will visit their social media profiles. 

• Digital wallet preference has surpassed more traditional giving methods. Digital wallets are the third most popular way for donors to give to nonprofits after giving via debit or credit card and cash, surpassing checks. 
• When asked why they had stopped donating, 44% of donors said they no longer trusted their donations were being used wisely, followed by 39% who said they no longer felt connected to the nonprofit they’d previously supported. 
• Generation Z is the most enthusiastic about attending fundraising events. Despite favoring online methods of communication and giving, Gen Z prefers attending in-person fundraising events more than any other generation.
• Donors have low stewardship expectations. 74% of donors do not expect to be thanked for making a donation, indicating a significant opportunity for fundraising professionals to steward their donors. 
• Gen X and Gen Z are the generations most willing to participate in peer-to-peer fundraising for organizations they support. 62% of Gen X and 56% of Gen Z will fundraise for causes they care about, while members of the Baby Boomer generation are the least likely to fundraise on behalf of an organization. 

3. A big impact with bite-sized social media 

Three seconds. That’s the average time viewers will spend on a social media video before they decide to move on. Facebook reports that their users spend, on average, 1.7 seconds on viewing a post before scrolling to the next.  

Many have pointed to social media as the cause of our shorter attention spans, although movie and television shots have also become shorter. So, which came first: our loss of focus or increasingly fast-paced media? It’s likely a combination of both. In any case, today’s audiences prefer shorter, bite-sized social media content, and Candid’s experimenting with ways to provide it. 

Tips for adding social media microlearning for your nonprofit: 

1.  Include a hook. Whether it’s the first sentence, first three seconds of a video, or first image, you want to make sure it’s attention-grabbing so you can capture your audience’s interest.   
   
   
2. Keep it short. The average user is going to give your video content three seconds.  
   
   
3. Be concise. Use as few words as possible. Remove any elements that make it difficult to swipe through or watch your material, such as irrelevant images or distracting fonts.  
   
   
4. Include interactive elements. Social media platforms offer a range of tools to help engage viewers, such as polls, quizzes, question boxes or links.    
   
   
5. Create content for various ways of learning. A 2011 study found that 65% of the population were visual learners, 30% were verbal learners, and 5% were experiential learners.  

4. Why Direct Mail Is Still an Effective Channel for Nonprofits 

Despite the popularity of online marketing, direct mail offers unique advantages that make it an effective channel to help nonprofits connect with donors, raise funds and promote their causes.

We know it takes an omnichannel experience working together to increase response rates across marketing efforts.   

1. Tangible and Personal Connection: For nonprofits, the tactile, personal touch can translate into stronger donor relationships and increased loyalty. 
   
   
2. Higher Engagement Rates: Studies have shown that direct mail has a higher engagement rate than digital marketing. For organizations targeting a diverse audience, direct mail ensures that your message reaches and resonates with a broader set of potential donors. 
   
   
3. Trust and Credibility: In an era of digital scams and online fraud, nonprofit direct mail is perceived as more trustworthy. 
   
   
4. Targeted and Customized Messaging: Whether it's a personalized appeal to past donors, a special campaign targeting major gift prospects or a general awareness drive, a targeted approach increases the likelihood of a positive response. 
   
   
5. Longer Shelf Life (we all know about Old Direct Mail from prior years!): A well-designed piece of mail can sit on a donor’s desk, kitchen counter or refrigerator for days, weeks, even months—a constant reminder of the nonprofit's mission. 
   
   
6. Integrated Marketing Potential: Direct mail can seamlessly integrate with digital marketing efforts to create a multichannel marketing campaign. 
   
   
7. Measurable Results: You can easily monitor response rates, track donations and evaluate the return on investment for each strategic direct mail campaign. 

By leveraging the unique strengths of direct mail, nonprofits can build stronger relationships with their supporters, drive action and achieve their mission. 

5. The Dramatic Turnaround in Millennials’ Finances 

Soaring home prices and smart investments have helped boost a generation once considered perpetually behind. Millennials are now wealthier than previous generations were at their age. They can’t believe it either. 

The median household net worth of older millennials, born in the 1980s, rose to $130,000 in 2022, from $60,000 in 2019, according to inflation-adjusted data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Median wealth more than quadrupled to $41,000 for Americans born in the 1990s, which includes the generation’s youngest members, born in 1996. In the first quarter of 2024, the collective wealth of millennials and older Gen Z stood at $14.2 trillion, up from $4.5 trillion four years earlier, according to the Federal Reserve. 

The turnaround has been so dramatic that millennials—mocked at times for being perpetually behind in building wealth, buying homes, getting married and having children—now find themselves ahead. In early 2024, millennials and older members of Gen Z had, on average and adjusting for inflation, about 25% more wealth than Gen Xers and baby boomers did at a similar age, according to a St. Louis Fed analysis. 

It’s unclear if millennials are better off overall, given the outsize increases in some of the most burdensome costs, such as childcare, housing, student debt and healthcare. They’re also projected to live longer than Boomers, so they’ll need to make their money last. 

Overall, millennials hold about 9% of U.S. households’ wealth. That might seem small, but net worths tend to swell with age, meaning that increases work out to bigger percentage gains for younger generations that have yet to build up significant wealth. 

Millennials had an average 401(k) account balance of $59,800 in the first quarter of 2024, compared with $27,600 in 2019, according to Fidelity. Good timing helped here, too. Millennials were the first generation to have access to automatic enrollment in workplace plans during their early working years, said Matt Brancato, chief client officer in Vanguard Institutional Investor Group. 

In 2006, 57% of employees aged 25 to 40 were enrolled in workplace retirement plans in which Vanguard was the record-keeper. In 2022, 83% were enrolled. 

6. An Inside Look: Nonprofit Texting Programs  

Top takeaways on using text messaging to enhance donor engagement and fundraising efforts.

The article is a deep dive into nonprofit texting programs with Harper Grubbs, vice president of digital fundraising and transformation of Feed the Children; Hannah Litman, senior digital fundraising manager at Brady United; and Aneesh Gowri, associate vice president at MissionWired. 

Areas covered: 

• Launching a Texting Program: Litman highlights the importance of consistent communication. “Having that weekly text is really keeping people engaged in a great way,” she adds. 

• Balancing Fundraising and Non-Fundraising Texts: Both Litman and Grubbs emphasize the need for value-driven communication.   

• Number of Monthly Texts: “At Brady, we’re sending texts at least once a week at this point. I think it is helpful to not only get people used to that kind of frequency but also to create different fundraising moments throughout the year,” Litman says. 

• Does Send Time Matter? “The immediacy and urgency of texting is just so different. Reaching people at the right time can make a pretty big impact,” Gowri observes. “After 6:00 p.m., folks are a little bit less plugged into work and more plugged into their phones. When you send a fundraising text with a midnight deadline after 6 p.m. compared to 10 a.m., there’s going to be a baked-in sense of urgency there.” 

• MMS vs. SMS (Multimedia Messaging Service vs. Short Message Service): Litman uses MMS for detailed content and follows up with shorter SMS messages to grab their attention. 

• Opt-Outs: “What we've seen is that opt-out rates are actually really low. Our overall opt-out rate was less than half a percent,” Grubbs shares.  

Looking Ahead: “Texting is going to continue to grow and be a pillar of our fundraising program,” Litman suggests. “Remaining agile is always how you're going to be successful and not being locked into an idea just because you thought it was right.” She emphasizes the need for ongoing testing and adaptation. “Make sure you're optimizing your donation forms for mobile devices," Grubbs adds. “We leaned probably too heavily on the cultivation side and were afraid to ask for money a little bit this past year. We’re now moving in a different direction and trying to be a bit more balanced this year.” 

7. Why Is It Hard To Give My Money Away? A Donor’s Perspective 

Upfront: This is a long read from a donor’s perspective. Robert Holley has quite an opinion, and I’ll let you schedule time in your day to go read it all. Below are excerpts from Robert in the post. 

My goal is to encourage organizations to look at giving from the donor’s perspective. To this end, I’ll recount obstacles that I’ve faced in trying to make donations—including when I wish to give money to charities through my estate planning. 

To be clear, the following stories really happened. And, to repeat my key point, my goal is to encourage charities to look at the process from the donor’s point of view by identifying how to create a slippery slope from the initial interest to the actual gift. 

Five things that nonprofits should consider doing to facilitate donations: 

• Consideration 1: The Mechanics of Giving 
• Consideration 2: The Mechanics of Solicitation 
• Consideration 3: Donor Motivations 
• Consideration 4: Time (Don’t Rush It) 
• Consideration 5: Special Issues with Donating Stock, Bonds, and Mutual Funds 

 A Few Additional Comments 

1. Promotions 
   
2. Public Recognition 
3. Thanks to Donors 
4. Frequent Solicitations 
5. Small Gifts with the Solicitation 

To summarize, nonprofits should look at the giving process through the eyes of the donor. You want to make it as easy as possible for them to slide down the slippery slope from the intention to making the actual gift. Someone at your organization (on the development team, for example) should also monitor changes in tax laws and general economic conditions to aid donors if they have questions. 

8. Economic Headlines 

Our media thrives on creating buzz, so it’s no surprise there was quite a stir when the government revealed that the job market from early 2023 to early this year wasn't as strong as it initially appeared. According to the Labor Department, employers may have added 818,000 fewer jobs in the 12 months leading up to March. However, this new report is just the beginning of an annual process where the Labor Department revises older payroll data using more comprehensive, but less timely, state unemployment-tax records. This is only a preliminary estimate, and the official numbers will be updated in February. 

Then came the tense anticipation as everyone waited for Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to emerge from the Jackson Hole, WY, meeting and hint at a possible interest rate cut in September. “We do not seek or welcome further cooling in labor market conditions,” Powell said in a speech at the central bank’s annual gathering in the Grand Teton National Park on Friday. “The time has come for policy to adjust.” 

Fed policymakers typically meet for two days at a time. Here are the dates when their coming gatherings are set to conclude and market forecasts, based on the CME FedWatch tool: 

• Sept. 18: Futures prices imply a more than 67% chance the Fed cuts rates by 25 bps. Other bets are for a 50 bps cut. 
• Nov. 7: After this meeting, traders see roughly equal chances that rates stand at 4.75% to 5% or 25 bps lower than that. A smaller probability is ascribed to a range of 4.25% to 4.5%. 
• Dec. 18: The most likely rate after this meeting is 4.25% to 4.5%, but a range of outcomes are seen as possible. 

Americans’ economic mood brightens—a bit. New data shows a small—but real—uptick in sentiment; it comes as mortgage rates and gas prices are down while inflation continues to cool. “Sentiment is drifting up,” said Joanne Hsu, who oversees the University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment Index. That closely watched measure has risen 2.3% since July, the university said Friday, driven by an uptick in people’s expectations of how the economy will fare in coming months. Consumers are still much less buoyant on the economy than they were before the pandemic. But a variety of factors seems to be driving an improvement in American moods, including lower gasoline prices, a decline in mortgage rates ahead of an expected Federal Reserve interest-rate cut in September, and a buoyant stock market. 

Meanwhile, Americans continue to spend. The Commerce Department on Friday reported that consumer spending rose 0.5% from June to July. That put it up 5.3% from a year earlier—or 2.7% after adjusting for inflation. The Commerce Department on Thursday revised gross domestic product growth for the second quarter higher, largely on the strength of consumer spending. Economists expect third-quarter spending will remain solid, and several revised their third-quarter GDP estimates upward on Friday. 

Stanford University professor Neale Mahoney and researcher Ryan Cummings argue that inflation has a sort of half-life when it comes to sentiment readings. People focus on the level of prices they are paying now versus what they remember paying, rather than year-over-year changes. Memories of what prices were before the pandemic—the Commerce Department’s price measure is up 18.3% since December 2019—are only slowly fading. 

9. Visit the RKD Resources Website Page for some great insights

Blog updates:

• It’s time to modernize your fundraising creative for performance
• Beyond Google: Navigating SEO in the age of AI, voice assistants and TikTok 
• Bridge Conference 2024: 4 key takeaways for nonprofits 
• Rossi’s Roundup: Go for gold with insights around DAFs, the FEP report and the economy 
• 17 digital wins your nonprofit can implement today

RKD Group: Thinkers Monthly LinkedIn Update:

• Bro, it’s all about the audience 
• A new recipe for growth: The GivingPulse Field Guide 
• Not just for kids: What board games can teach us about fundraising 
• Sometimes you just need to pause and celebrate 

Podcast updates:

• Thinkers: Overcoming overwhelm and scarcity mindset with Mallory Erickson 
• Thinkers: Revolutionizing creative: Matt DiBenedetti’s audience-first approach at RKD Group 
• Thinkers: From IT to AI: Transforming nonprofit fundraising with Cherian Koshy 
• Thinkers: The evolution of We Are For Good with Jon McCoy 
• Chat: Meet Vivian Borja from Food For The Poor

eBooks and Research: 

• GivingPulse Field Guide in cooperation with GivingTuesday 
• The 2024 Nonprofit Marketer's Compass 
• Solid Gold: The Nonprofit Marketer's Guide to Trust 
• Listen Up: The Nonprofit Marketer's Guide to What Donors Want 

I hope your organization had a successful close to Q3 and is gearing up for a fantastic Q4!  As we enter the largest fundraising quarter of the year, it's essential to have every channel in place to cut through the noise, stand out amidst the election buzz and stay competitive.  Please let me know how we can help you.