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Please note: Our offices will be closed on July 16 and 17 for Employee Appreciation Days.
Summer hours are in effect: Our offices close at NOON on Fridays from May 17th to July 12th
Please note: Our offices will be closed on July 16 and 17 for Employee Appreciation Days.
Three “top jobs” that nonprofits will need to fulfill their missions in the future have been identified by business magazine, Fast Company: 1) chief culture officer (CCO), 2) data scientist and 3) user experience (UX) designer.
A CCO manages an organization’s relationship with the community, implements internal wellness and health initiatives and devises policies to combat employee burnout, according to the magazine. Data scientists help nonprofits identify trends and critical information that can guide their program and service decisions. And UX designers improve the on- and offline processes that clients use (or don’t use) to access a nonprofit’s programs and services.
Online nonprofit revenue in 2016 grew by 14%, and email marketing revenue grew by 15%, according to a new study by nonprofit consultants M+R. Based on input from 133 nonprofits, “Benchmarks 2017” found that web traffic, email list size, Facebook fans, and Twitter and Instagram followers were all on the rise in 2016, while most individual email metrics were down. For example, the emails opened per number delivered fell 7% overall, for an average just under 15%.
For fundraising messages, the response rate was only 0.05%, an 8% drop from 2015. In other words, a nonprofit had to deliver 2,000 fundraising emails to generate a single donation. For every 1,000 fundraising emails delivered, nonprofits raised $36.
The M+R study also found that respondents increased their spending — including paid search, display and social media advertising spending.
The bottom line is that email marketing can be an effective fundraising tool. Two components for success are targeting your audience and building your email list of prospective supporters.
Recognition, trust and support — both monetary and otherwise — are among the critical factors that make nonprofit employees happy and, thus, create a superior nonprofit employer, according to The NonProfit Times “2017 Best Nonprofits To Work For” report.
Among the eight categories considered, the largest disparity overall between organizations that made the “Best Nonprofits” list and those that didn’t was found within “pay and benefits” (an 18-point differential) and “leadership and planning” (a 16-point differential). Across the 50 nonprofits recognized, the key drivers for employees included confidence and trust in the organization’s leadership and overall satisfaction with the organization’s benefits package.
Another statement where the “Best Nonprofits” diverged from others was “This organization gives enough recognition for work that is well done.” About 84% of respondents at the recognized organizations responded positively to that statement, compared to only 66% for nonprofits that didn’t make the list.
Donors from households with net assets of $1 million or more — or those that bring home at least $200,000 annually — on average made donations totaling $25,509 in 2015 compared to an average of $2,124 from the general population, according to the 2016 U.S. Trust® Study of High Net Worth Philanthropy. And, on average, these high net worth households gave to eight different nonprofits. Also, wealthy donors who volunteered gave 56% more, on average, than those who didn’t volunteer. And 83% of wealthy donors plan to give as much or more in the next three years.
Large organizations such as United Way and the American Red Cross are turning to online appeals to reach Millennial donors who are “rewriting the rules of fundraising,” Adweek reports. One of the biggest challenges is engaging these donors through new fundraising channels. The not-for-profits are responding by ramping up efforts in crowdfunding, mobile and other digital modes of giving. United Way, for example, raised $570,000 for its “Restore Baltimore” campaign via crowdfunding.
According to this year’s Nonprofit Employment Practices Survey™ from Nonprofit HR and GuideStar, the ability to pay competitive wages ranks as the top staffing challenge faced by nonprofits for the fifth consecutive year. Since 2014, the second largest challenge has been finding qualified staff.
Organizations have the most trouble retaining employees in direct services (positions that work directly with clients), followed by fundraising development. And these are areas where the most job growth is expected in the coming year, suggesting the possibility of more staffing problems going forward. The survey report asserts that the increasing number of “entities that are blending purpose and profit” (for example, Ben & Jerry’s and Patagonia) means job seekers have more opportunities to engage in mission-driven work than ever before.