Nonprofit Performance, Fund-Raising Effectiveness, and Strategies for Engaging African Americans in Philanthropy

Abstract

During the past two decades, the field of philanthropy has grown in its knowledge base, knowledge sharing, and sophistication in reaching out to and cultivating donors and volunteers. The growing literature focusing on African American philanthropy has contributed to that knowledge base. Throughout much of the research conducted, African Americans are found to be an untapped philanthropic resource who have yet to be leveraged. Yet previous studies provide mixed results on giving and volunteering profiles and the impact of certain solicitation strategies. In this study, the authors use survey data from the Atlanta metro region to do what no other study on African American philanthropy has done. Using multivariate analysis, the authors match fundraising strategies to sociodemographic characteristics to create a development taxonomy to assist nonprofits in effectively engaging this group of potential donors. Nonprofit organizations can use these development taxonomies and empirical findings to enhance their fund-raising operations and improve nonprofit performance.