Unlocking A Gordian Knot

A TREMENDOUS OPPORTUNITY FOR NONPROFITS

There is a tremendous opportunity for charities, schools and other nonprofit organisations in New Zealand to participate as trusted providers of credible information and ultimately cultivate the next generation of major donors and sponsors through the social web.

The social web has been a fantastic place for such groups to harness the long tail of giving. High levels of participation and donor/fundraiser engagement in the U.K., Canada, Australia and the U.S. suggest that online giving is growing.

What’s more, “small-dollar” philanthropy has the potential of reaching its tipping point as an effective way to raise funds and bring new people to the table as it is for bigger ticket items that take much longer to cultivate.

A recent survey consisting of 30 questions that involved 426 respondents belonging to the 30-40 and the above-50 age groups revealed that a high percentage of social media savvy respondents demonstrate a significant opportunity for charities, schools and nonprofits to provide social media tools through their own websites.

Even more telling, a larger percentage of survey respondents said they would participate in charitable giving if the information provided on their websites were highly credible and of strong quality. They would participate if social media came from a trusted source.

•  up to 86% want information from a highly credible or quality source
•  up to 84% from a trusted organisation
•  up to 59% would like to interact with other donors
•  up to 58% want to interact with philanthropic experts
•  up to 52% want to lead a public conversation to support a cause
•  and up to 38% would like to lead discussions of their own

Further, respondents qualified the type of conversations for which they are looking.

• up to 86% organisational impact
• up to 80% success stories
• up to 80% learning more about the organisations they are participating with
• up to 78% want information on causes they care about
• and p to 47% want information on financial accountability

The survey was undertaken by the Society for New Communications Research, a global nonprofit research and education foundation and think tank focused on the advanced study of the latest developments in new media and communications.

Verifying this opportunity for content sources, 71% of 30-49-year-olds directly looked to the charities they support for relevant and up to date information found on their websites, and 63% trust referrals from friends who may know or have heard about the charity, school or nonprofit in question. In comparison, 78% of those 50 and older directly look to their charities and 72% trust friends.

In summary, charities, schools and nonprofits have an excellent opportunity to engage in meaningful online conversations on the Web (that may lead to contributions and other forms of support) with the social media savvy 30-49 and 50-plus age groups – especially those who are still uncultivated.

Unfortunately, conversations across social media are not on the radar of many charities, schools and nonprofits in New Zealand until criticism, a crisis or negative event affects them. Very few realise that social media plays a big role in giving ordinary people the ability to communicate their positive or negative perceptions and provide or withdraw support.

Most nonprofit organisations and social support groups are at a disadvantage because they do not have a monitoring process in place to review what people are saying or writing about them online. They are therefore unprepared to respond directly to criticisms because they have yet to establish their online identity on the social web.

To learn more about what the author of this blog and his company do for nonprofits, please click on this link.