Donor Engagement Research Articles

Competition is on the rise: To what extent does traditional fundraising performance research apply in competitive environments?

AbstractResearch on fundraising performance links organizational size, professional donor engagement, and legitimacy with fundraising outcomes. But can we assume the same factors will positively impact fundraising performance in light of increasing competition among nonprofits? This study explores whether and how traditional factors known to impact fundraising performance perform in the context of online fundraising tournaments: an environment that is explicitly competitive as those who lose drop out. Our analysis draws on data from 596 US nonprofits that participated in such tournaments. This inquiry addresses increasing competitive pressures placed on nonprofits as they likely cannot avoid competition in the future.

Who donates? Patterns of blood donation and donor characteristics at a university-affiliated hospital-based donor center.

Blood donors are a crucial element of the blood supply chain. Optimal recruitment strategies built upon the robust understanding of local donor behavior and demographics-specifically, the donor characteristics of our university-affiliated hospital-based donor center-improve outreach and retention of donors. This retrospective study analyzed blood donors' genders, ethnicities, and donation frequencies at a university-affiliated hospital-based donor center from 2014-2019, stratified into seven age cohorts. Donor ethnicity demographics were compared to the reported student, employee, and LA County population. Female donors outnumbered male donors in all age cohorts. The majority of donors self-identified (SI) as White (36.7%), Hispanic/Latino (21.6%), or Asian (19.1%). Older donors (age > 25) donated more frequently (4.1 vs. 2.3 donations per donor) than younger donors (age ≤ 25). Repeat donors who donated in multiple years during the study period were more likely to donate multiple times each year than those donors who only donated during 1 year. Our donor demographics more closely reflect the university student and employee demographics than LA County demographics, demonstrating the broad local efforts of recruitment by student groups and donor center recruitment staff. However, non-White populations continue to be underrepresented. The majority of donors only donated once during the study period. Recruitment strategies to increase donor engagement among underrepresented populations and increase the proportion of repeat donors are likely to prove most beneficial.

Bringing Donors Along on the Journey: A Preliminary Investigation of Organisational Strategies in Transitioning from Residential to Family Care for Children

Research suggests that children develop best in families. However, millions of children live in residential care centres worldwide. Many residential centres desire to transition their programs from a residential to a family-based model of care, but face barriers surrounding funding and donor support. Little research exists on how organisations address these concerns. The current article investigated the financial impact of transitioning to a family-based model of care, donor engagement practices used in this process, and changes in donor support resulting from the transition. Twenty-six organisations that had fully or partially transitioned their model completed a brief survey. Data revealed an initial increase in cost per child, but long-term the cost of services decreased. Further, findings suggested that involving donors early and using multiple methods and types of communication led to better long-term donor support. Based on these findings, five recommendations were made for organisations planning to transition their care model.

Key Pillars to Successful Donor Engagement

Key Pillars to Successful Donor Engagement

Making the leap: Expanding a traditional stewardship team into a full-service donor relations and engagement shop

This paper concerns how the University of Alabama at Birmingham expanded a traditional stewardship team into a full-service donor relations and engagement shop. It looks at the importance of meeting the needs of frontline fundraisers and donors in an ever-changing fundraising landscape.

Deepen Donor Engagement Through Storytelling

The Major Gifts ReportVolume 23, Issue 4 p. 5-5 Donor Cultivation Approaches Deepen Donor Engagement Through Storytelling Megan Venzin, Megan VenzinSearch for more papers by this author Megan Venzin, Megan VenzinSearch for more papers by this author First published: 01 March 2021 https://doi.org/10.1002/mgr.31692Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume23, Issue4April 2021Pages 5-5 RelatedInformation

The challenges of donor engagement with faith-based organizations in Cameroon's health sector: a qualitative study.

Substantial global advocacy efforts have been made over the past decade to encourage partnerships and funding of faith-based organizations in international development programmes in efforts to improve social and health outcomes. Whilst there is a wealth of knowledge on religion and development, including its controversies, less attention has been payed to the role that donors might play. The aim of this study was to describe and analyse the engagement between donors and faith-based organizations in Cameroon’s health sector, following the implementation of the Cameroon Health Sector Partnership Strategy (2012). Forty-six in-depth interviews were conducted in selected regions in Cameroon. The findings show that global advocacy efforts to increase partnerships with faith-based organizations have created a space for increasing donor engagement of faith-based organizations following the implementation of the strategy. However, the policy was perceived as top down as it did not take into account some of the existing challenges. The policy arguably accentuated some of the existing tensions between the government and faith-based organizations, fed faith-controversies and complicated the health system landscape. Moreover, it provided donors with a framework for haphazard engagement with faith-based organizations. As such, putting the implications of donor engagement with FBOs on the research map acknowledges the limitations of efforts to collaborate with faith-based organizations and brings to the surface still-remaining blinkers and limited assumptions in donor definitions of faith-based organizations and in ways of collaborating with them.

Donor management and fundraising firm Virtuous acquires RaiseDonors

The marketplace of nonprofit technology and software is increasingly crowded these days, with numerous companies now providing customer relationship management, donation processing, online fundraising, and donor engagement, as well as other services for nonprofits of all types and sizes.

Crypto‐giving and surveillance philanthropy: Exploring the trade‐offs in blockchain innovation for nonprofits

AbstractA blockchain is a smart electronic database, distributed to all users, immutably tracking every transaction that has ever taken place between nodes on a network. The technology is being used by some nonprofits to address various operational challenges, including attaching automated conditions to charitable donations facilitated by programmable “crypto‐giving” platforms. Drawing from analysis of technical documents provided by active crypto‐giving projects, this review considers how these platforms enable radical shifts in sectoral power relations through “surveillance philanthropy”. This algorithmic surveillance ensures project funding fully reflects the interests of donors, while potentially restricting nonprofits in meeting the dynamic and complex needs of project beneficiaries. The paper considers the benefit trade‐offs from crypto‐giving platforms in three areas of utilization: (a) new forms of donor engagement and fundraising, (b) new tools for organizational governance, and (c) novel provision of development assistance. Despite the possible efficiency and transparency benefits of crypto‐giving platforms, more research and practitioner engagement is required to ensure the sector's funding is secure and sustainable, without entailing significant risks for proposed beneficiaries.

Steps for Building a Successful Donor Strategy

The Major Gifts ReportVolume 22, Issue 11 p. 7-7 Donor Engagement Steps for Building a Successful Donor Strategy First published: 02 October 2020 https://doi.org/10.1002/mgr.31597Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume22, Issue11November 2020Pages 7-7 RelatedInformation

Charityhowto.com webinar explores donor engagement with LinkedIn

The nonprofit resources website Charityhowto.com webinar explores donor engagement with LinkedIn will host a webinar titled How To Connect, Engage And Expand Your Donor Pool With LinkedIn: A Step By Step Guide, on Oct. 14 at 1:00 p.m. EST.

Webinar focuses on virtual donor engagement strategies

The nonprofit resources website Charityhowto.com will host a webinar titled Virtual Donor Engagement: How to Connect With and Engage Your Donors Through Virtual Experiences on Oct. 6 and Oct. 15 at 3:00 p.m. EST.

New giving platform aims for security, building trust among younger donors

As the coronavirus pandemic brings the national economy to a crawl, donations to American charities have slowed as well. Fundraising in an environment that largely precludes social engagement is difficult for many nonprofits to manage, and makes online engagement of donors even more important. However, with data showing younger donors are skeptical of the safety of their personal information when making online donations, charities are even more hamstrung.

Think Outside the Box to Engage Reluctant and Busy Donors

Successful FundraisingVolume 28, Issue 9 p. 7-7 Donor Engagement Think Outside the Box to Engage Reluctant and Busy Donors First published: 06 August 2020 https://doi.org/10.1002/sfr.31559Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume28, Issue9September 2020Pages 7-7 RelatedInformation

Engaging donors on crowdfunding platform in Disaster Relief Operations (DRO) using gamification: A Civic Voluntary Model (CVM) approach

Natural disasters have caused significant financial and economic losses. One prominent way to combat these losses is crowdfunding. Donation-based crowdfunding platforms have been the backbone for disaster relief operations (DRO), but the engagement of donors with these platforms needs significant attention. This study aims to understand how gamification is used as a tool for understanding the behaviour of donors on crowdfunding platforms for DRO. The study uses the Civic Voluntary Model (CVM) to propose the conceptual framework and collects empirical data from 321 respondents to test the hypothesis. The study uses information quality and voluntariness as moderating variables and the model also controls for ownership of the crowdfunding platform and previous experience of donation. The results confirm that gamification positively impacts the behaviour of donors, which then leads to higher participation in crowdfunding channels. Both information quality and voluntary behaviour of donors have significant moderating effects that help in understanding the behaviour of donors and their participation in crowdfunding platforms. The results indicate that previous experience of making donations does not have a significant impact on the behaviour and actions of donors. The study thus brings a fresh perspective to using game mechanics along with understanding the quality of information on crowdfunding platforms to attract and sustain donations in DRO.

Localising Humanitarianism, Peace Making, and Diplomacy: The Challenges Facing Muslim INGOs

Since the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016, the concept of localisation has dominated the narrative of international donor engagement. Traditionally, this is something that Muslim charities have supposedly been doing. Yet Muslim charities are conspicuous by their absence in the global debate despite the fact that over the last 20 years, there has been an explosion in the number of International Islamic Development organisations or charities. The localisation debate highlights a weakness for the Muslim charities in terms of operations on the ground. Muslim International Non Governmental Organisations (INGOs) appear to be struggling to articulate a modus operandi for operation. As a consequence, Muslim charities respond in a schizophrenic manner brought about by a lack of information on how Muslim organisations work in the field of charity and also an internal understanding of how Muslim charities should operate. This article discusses the need for a paradigm shift for Muslim INGOs within the localisation debate in terms of how they operate, identify, and work with local partners.

Webinar looks at donor engagement during crises

Webinar looks at donor engagement during crises

Importance and Challenges of International Service-Learning

Service-learning is an important component of a college education as it helps students demonstrate a positive impact on their community using their classroom knowledge. Through business writing, a Purdue English course, we were able to learn about how to market effectively to a college audience and were able to implement these learnings in our partnership with Code for Nepal. Code for Nepal is an organization that works to improve the digital literacy of women and other minority groups within Nepal. Their most impactful work was creating a document encompassing key information regarding food, water, and shelter after the 2015 earthquake. As part of our work with them, we hosted a Coffee and Donuts event to raise donor and volunteer engagement across college campuses in the United States. The skills developed through this course and partnership were invaluable, and I have been able to implement many of them to host other student activity-related events on campus. Not only do service-learning projects make a positive impact on the organization that we partner with, but they also allow students to further refine the skills learned in the classroom. Through this article, I would like to share more about the skills developed in business writing at Purdue, how we worked alongside Code for Nepal, as well as the impact it has made on the rest of my college experience.

Make Certain Your Case for Support Is Powerful and Compelling

Successful FundraisingVolume 28, Issue 1 p. 4-4 Donor Engagement Make Certain Your Case for Support Is Powerful and Compelling First published: 10 December 2019 https://doi.org/10.1002/sfr.31349Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume28, Issue1January 2020Pages 4-4 RelatedInformation

Unapologetically faith based: The nature of donor engagement in the context of South African faith-based organisations

The funding of faith-based organisations (FBOs) is often complex and at times unsustainable because of many factors that may render the FBO and its valuable work in serving the most marginalised vulnerable to fickle donor funding. Not least amongst such factors are that of the ‘faith factor’ – namely, the ways in which the religious dimension of an FBO works – which may be seen as too religious for secular donors such as corporates, government and other international funders. While there is a growing body of literature concerning the effects of donor funding on the work of FBOs, there has been no empirical study conducted in South Africa that specifically explores the issue of donor funding and relationships. This article, therefore, seeks to explore the nature of donor funding in South Africa with regard to the FBO sector, its challenges, sustainability and the role of faith identity regarding the relationship between donors and FBOs.