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Donor Survey 2007
Overview
This memo outlines the major findings of an online donor survey conducted by Spitfire Strategies for The Linchpin Campaign, a project of the Center for Community Change, from January 9th to March 16th, 2007. One-hundred and eighty-nine individual donors responded and the results posted here are based on the 108 that completed the entire survey. Following the key findings are a series of insights for community organizers to help guide their efforts to communicate successfully with major donors as well as several thinking points for donors.
Overall, the survey indicates that community organizing has matured in the nonprofit sector, shed many of its contentious stereotypes from the past and has begun attracting considerable financial support. Overall, survey respondents are overwhelmingly supportive of community organizing. They identify the difficulty in measuring the impact of community organizing and lack of the big-picture outcomes that community organizing has the potential to achieve. Download the Donor Survey 2007 Summary Report>>
Key Findings
- Donors are opening their wallets to community organizing.
- Individual donors have very favorable opinions of community organizing.
- Donors see the benefits of short-term community organizing, but are not seeing the bigger picture.
- Donors believe that it is difficult to measure the effects of community organizing.
- Donors are motivated to give by outcomes – they want to make the world a better place.
- Donors want more direct contact with community organizers.
Recommendations for Organizers
- Reach out to donors already giving at low levels; they are most likely to give more.
- Talk to donors about their values and goals.
- Create aspirational moments of envy. Show them what is possible by reminding them of past victories.
- Talk with donors about measurable impacts.
- Develop “experiential” ways to connect with donors.
Recommendations for Donors
- Community organizing is the backbone of all successful social movements, and indeed the only way they are sustained over time. As an active donor, you can bring the same momentum to your causes that [customize for target] brought to the [customize for target] movement.
- Visit community organizers to see for yourself how you can create lasting change when you dedicate at least a third of your giving to community organizing.
- The issues you care about today can become enduring movements in the years to come — like Earth Day, the Voting Rights Act and a Living Wage — when you make community organizing a focal point of your portfolio.
