April 23, 2008
Fundraising in a Dicey Economy
What will ongoing economic uncertainty mean for organizations dependent upon donor involvement for survival?
Here are some thoughts from Paulette Maehara, the president and chief executive of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (via TargetMarketing and Ethan Boldt).
She sees three hopeful signs for non-profits amid the ongoing political campaigns:
1. Donor Dollars are There
The last two presidential cycles didn’t bring any more campaign money than normal from donors, comments Maehara. “However, this presidential campaign is raising 10 times more money in the primaries than has ever been raised before.”
2. The Political Donor/Charitable Donor Link
“There is a lot of crossover between political and charitable donors,” reminds Maehara, who says that if they’re not giving to charities but giving to politics, sometimes that’s the platform to get them to start donating to other causes.
3. Plenty of First-Timers
The campaign of Barack Obama, in particular, has ushered in a whole new generation of donors—who nonprofits will hope to approach soon. “There are a lot of younger donors, first-time givers. That is not the typical demographic for these charitable organizations,” admits Maehara, who says that it will be exciting to watch how nonprofits solicit donations from this new generation and to find out how big of an impact it could have in these uncertain times.
Of course, it's doubtful that Christian ministries are going to find a lot of new donor prospects among the young throngs chanting "O-bama!" and fainting. But it is somewhat encouraging to know that the "under-30" demographic can be persuaded to donate to anything.