Donor Acquisition Is Hard
Acquiring new donors is always a critical goal for donor-supported organizations. And it’s usually an expensive one. Arizona State University estimates raising a dollar from donors already on your file costs 20 cents or less. But raising that same dollar in acquisition costs up to $1.50.
Non-profit/ministry research experts Grey Matter Research joined with fundraising experts BBS & Associates for our New Donor Study. We gathered feedback from a national sample of 602 Christian donors who are open to supporting a charity or ministry they have never supported before. Many of them already did this in the prior 12 months, so they are both current and potential new donors
Understanding Potential New Donors
Our New Donor Study examines what factors these supporters consider in evaluating a new (to them) organization, which causes they invest in (and which they avoid), what tends to trigger a gift, and the role of faith in their giving.
Just a quick sample of what we learned about new donors:
- Four out of ten new donors feel the typical first ask they see is for an amount that is higher than what they consider to be reasonable.
- The most common barriers to acquiring new donors all have to do with credibility and trust.
- Two out of three new donors have at least one way ministries and organizations can make their donor experience more positive or more meaningful. There’s a lot of possible improvement out there. Most of it has to do with communication.
- Most Christians are open to considering at least one overtly Christian cause: evangelism, missions, teaching/preaching/discipleship, or media. However, rarely will they consider all of these. For example, it’s common to be open to supporting overseas missions but not domestic evangelism, or domestic evangelism but not Christian media. Just because it’s Christian doesn’t mean Christians are open to supporting it.
- There are four major factors that encourage donors to support an organization for the first time. (We’ll tell you what they are in the report.)
Okay, So How Do I Get It?
The New Donor Study from Grey Matter Research and BBS & Associates is free for the asking. Just e-mail ron@greymatterresearch.com and we’ll be happy to send it along.
What Else Would You Like to Know?
And while you’re at it, feel free to start a conversation about the questions that keep you up at night. We help ministries, non-profits, and the agencies that serve them understand how their brand is perceived, where their communications are missing the mark, how connected their donors feel, why donors stopped giving, and many other questions. We provide the insight that helps you make wiser, more effective decisions.