Drew Daniels
Many factors help determine which fundraising methods are appropriate for non-profit organizations. Knowing these factors helps the organization become strategic in developing their fundraising tactics. It’s important for non-profit organizations to respond to changing variables to overcome the obstacles of obtaining funds. Assuming people are not able to give is a huge mistake made by many organizations. But before we can understand why or why people are not giving in large capacities, we have to recognize and understand the importance of patterns Fund developers must be aware of trends and examine these statistics in demographics and psychographics. “Information on national patterns of giving by profile groups has improved our understanding of why people are generous or not.” (Burlingame 76) Not only must non-profits organizations in the arts sector analyze the patrons coming through the door, they must begin to research potential donors and patterns of different demographics outside the norm. Removing stereotypes of minority groups is where many organizations can start. Locating these groups helps fundraisers become aware of different trends when it comes to giving. Not all people who want to give support look alike, as was the circumstance in past times.
Non-profit organizations must also look at diversifying their fiscal contributions. Utilizing the proper tools such as available data can help build a solid base for seeking future donors. Understanding patterns and the current state of mind of these minority demographics can show motivations and reasons why they give.
Donating makes people feel good. Even though there are many personal gains someone can gain from donating funds, the benefits alone do not begin to define the reason people actually take the time and money to give.
“Our findings confirm the importance of social trust and suggest that when residents of a community generally trust others, they are more willing to support the public good and, thus, increase their charitable contribution to community foundations, whose missions are to address community problems.” (Brown 406) People tend to give to organizations they are connected to. Pending the need of the community, it’s important for non-profit organizations to ensure their mission and values perpetuate the current needs of the community. Mission statements and goals must not only provide a roadmap for the organization but also a roadmap leading donors to give. People donate to causes and not just to organizations.
According to the study conducted by Brown, the level of social trust in the community affects gifts to community foundations. Social trust is one of the most important motivators when it comes to giving because people feel obligated to help their community. “When residents of a community generally trust others, charitable contributions to community foundations increase. This result extends our understanding of the relationship between trust and community foundation growth.” (Brown 407) Location is another motivating factor when it comes to donation that is constant regardless of certain demographics. Even in wealthy neighborhoods, community residents will only donate to non-profit organizations pending their connection. Their mere presence in the neighborhood means nothing without connections or ties. The same rule applies to low income neighborhoods. Fund developers must cultivate relationships within their community as this is a correlation to how supportive the community will be of the organization when it comes to fundraising efforts. The study also found that per capita gifts to community foundations increase in communities where community foundations have operated for a long time. According to the study, these findings are consistent with both life cycle and legitimacy factors in the development of nonprofit organizations.
Because of different geographic reasons and the genetic makeup of the ‘Melting Pot’ we call America, it’s very important for fund developers to understand the statistics and demographics specific to their area. Burlingame stated more than 90 percent of contributions are raised and spent locally, giving patterns examined in their local social and economic contexts can provide additional insight as to what fuels people to donate. “This nation is so diverse and so locally oriented that nation patters of giving tell us only part of what we need to know.” (Burlingame 77) When it comes to analyzing trends we have to make sure we to put everything in perspective. It’s imperative to recognize where the information is coming from and why the study was done. When examining this information it is vital to understand all the factors such as the non-controlled variables. If not, the information gathered can be misleading and often not support or add validity.
Different dynamics of the household represents a person’s ability to give can sometimes be misleading. “Analysis of donor behavior by demographic characteristics or donor profiles is presumably guided by assumptions about household resources that after the ability to give and habitual giving patterns.” (Burlingame 77) Only so much information can be derived from the trends but we still must analyze and know the numbers.
Numerous studies have been conducted and found women to be more involved when it comes to volunteering and donating to the non-profit sector. Gender equality must be looked at and examined when it comes to obtaining potential donations. Women are working and earning money just like their male counterparts. We have to observe everyone on an equivalent level, where everyone has the promise and ability to give. According to the study done by Women’s Philanthropy Institute at the Indiana University Center on Philanthropy, women have been an overlooked or untapped resource to fund social change when it comes to donations.
According to the study done by the Women’s Philanthropy Institute, women are almost 10% more likely to give than men; comparing divorced females to divorced men, women are 21% more likely to give than men; comparing widowers to widows, women are 6% less likely to give than men. Also discovered in this recent study, never married males are the least likely to give to charity than all other groups. Never married women and divorced/separated women give significantly more than their male counterparts. These statistics really support the notion gender equality is more important today. “ This richer portrait of giving by women supports the premise that gender matters in philanthropy. Society has changed drastically over the past years and more defining characteristics such financial stability is a main contributing factor shedding lights to stereotypes.
Not only are gender relationships shifting, but also examples of relationships to race are constantly changing. With more minorities becoming affluent with philanthropy and even more becoming educated such as the young African American community. “African American giving behavior is undervalued and underrepresented in research on philanthropy. Extant research (in contrast to that conducted in other cultures) is not only limited, but provides little insight into future trends. The African American population is undergoing rapid change.” (Jackson 243) With education and income situations increasing, the giving patterns of African Americans are changing and expected to even grow more overtime.
According to researchers, past patterns of church attendance now declining, particularly among the young, it may be instructive to examine the impact on giving of this phenomenon and what if anything may now be motivating the young to support nonprofit work in their community. The study by International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing discovered that while the church is not as important an institution in giving as it once was, it still dominates how African Americans give to other groups. Most of contributions giving by minorities were allocated for church. In large part these minorities group seek security and comforting from church.
After reading over the study conducted, researchers found out younger African Americans giving behaviors have changed from prior history of giving. “African Americans and whites are equally likely to make charitable contributions, and the sizes of their contributions are essentially the same.” (Jackson 247) With changes in civil rights and government, many African Americans, just like women, are beginning to obtain higher professional positions. This gives them the allocated avenues to actually become active participants in giving. Cultivating starts the minute someone walks through the door. Everyone can be a potential donor, no matter how big or small the give is. Besides creating memorial experiences and displaying “beautiful” art, we must create an experience that draws people to donate. “Donors are not in the habit of contributing in response to institutional needs.” (Weinstein 1) In order to get the donations, non-profit organizations must establish themselves as a viable organization. Donors are not willing to make contributions to pay to keep the lights on; they want to pay to support advancement of current programming and key community outreach activities.
Improving our financial stability in the arts can only get better by understanding the importance of where potential funding can come from. Many organizations fail just because they don’t ask for funds. Asking is the first step in obtaining donations from patrons and loyal supporters. Assuming people will donate to the arts because of the generosity of their hearts is a blueprint for failure.
As art administrators, we know there are many factors that go into putting on decent works. There are overhead costs needed to be able to survive. Not only survive for one work but from season to season. As an intricate pulse of entertainment and relaxation for people, we have to be able to generate funds to aid in our own growth as a sector. Entertaining is not enough. Examining information like demographics effects on giving should be the starting point of our knowledge base. This includes taking a new look at existing potential donor groups such as women and young African American and building effective strategies on new giving trends.
Bibliography
Brown, E. E. "Social Capital and Philanthropy: An Analysis of the Impact of Social Capital on Individual Giving and Volunteering." Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 36.1 85-99. (2007)
Dwight Burlingame, ed. Critical Issues in Fund Raising. John Wiley and Sons, 1997.
Jackson, Tysus T. D. "Young African Americans: A New Generation of Giving Behavior." International journal of nonprofit and voluntary sector marketing 6.3 (2001): 243-53.
Schervish, Paul P. G. "Social Participation and Charitable Giving: A Multivariate Analysis." Voluntas (Manchester, England) 8.3 (1997): 235-60.
Weinstein, Stanley. The Complete Guide to Fundraising. John Wiley and Sons, 2009.
Women’s Philanthropy Institute. "Women Give 2010: New Research about Women and Giving." (2010) <http://www.philanthropy.iupui.edu/womengive/docs/womengive2010report.pdf>.
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