In a recent white paper, “Fundraising Operations: Making Every Dollar Count,” several nonprofit executives from top Canadian charities gathered for a lively roundtable discussion about challenges, best practices and efficiencies in fundraising operations. This infographic features a visual representation of the participants comments, along with supporting industry statistics and research.

1. WOULD DEFINITELY
OR PROBABLY RENEW
THEIR GIVING.
67% WOULD MAKE
A LARGER GIFT.
52% WOULD CONTINUE TO GIVE
INDEFINITELY ASSUMING
THEY RECEIVED THESE
CONSIDERATIONS EACH
TIME THEY GAVE.
What would donors do if the nonprofit acknowledged their
first gift promptly, in a meaningful way, and reported their progress in
measurable terms before asking for another gift?
67%
SOURCE: PENELOPE BURK, “THE BURK DONOR SURVEY,” 2014
“There are many similar
[fundraising] events making
it more cluttered.”
Steve Merker, Vice President of Business
Development, The Princess Margaret
Cancer Foundation
$531
#2
44% VOLUNTEERED
THEIR TIME
FUNDRAISING
OPERATIONS:
FACTS, FIGURES & INSIGHTS
CANADA
THE FUNDRAISING LANDSCAPE IS GETTING CROWDED
CANADIANS ARE LEADERS IN GENEROSITY
FUNDRAISERS STRUGGLE WITH MANAGING DATA
AND KEEPING UP WITH TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES
SAY THEY ARE
APPROACHED
“FAR TOO MUCH”
26%
60% 75% 57%
SAY “A LITTLE
TOO MUCH”
29% SAY “JUST THE
RIGHT AMOUNT”
38%
ARE DONORS HAPPY WITH THE VOLUME OF CONTACT?
DIRECT MAIL STILL ROCKS
IMPROVING OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY IS A
CONSTANT AND CHALLENGING GOAL
75%
50%
75% OF DONORS SAY THEY
ARE MORE LIKELY THAN THEY
WERE FIVE YEARS AGO TO STOP
GIVING OR REDUCE SUPPORT TO
ORGANIZATIONS WHOSE COST
OF FUNDRAISING IS TOO HIGH.
GENERATIONAL AND OTHER DIFFERENCES AMONG DONORS
REQUIRE DIFFERENT APPROACHES
60% believe that responsible
and trustworthy decisions are
made by nonprofits.
75% are confident in the
nonprofit sector overall.
57% agree that charities in
Canada are well-managed.
MILLENNIALS
60%DONATE
AVERAGEOF $481
82%
MATURES
70%
BABY BOOMERS
65%
GEN X’ERS
58%
MILLENNIALS
DIFFERENCES
AMONG GROUPS
DONATING MONEY
TO CHARITIES
OF DONORS SAY PERSONALIZATION OF
THANK-YOU IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN SPEED
THANK
YOU
RETENTION IS A STRUGGLE FOR FUNDRAISERS
IN A HIGH-SPEED WORLD, DON’T KEEP DONORS WAITING
BLOGS AND SOCIAL MEDIA: WHERE YOUR STORY IS SPREAD
96%
CHARITABLE
CAUSES
EACH YEAR
FACEBOOK
TWITTER
YOUTUBE
LINKEDIN
INSTAGRAM
76%
46%
32%
20%
96%
62%
OF NONPROFIT
COMMUNICATORS
LIST SOCIAL MEDIA
AMONG THEIR TOP 4
COMMUNICATIONS TOOLS 55%
OF THOSE WHO ENGAGE
WITH CAUSES VIA SOCIAL
MEDIA ARE MOTIVATED
TO TAKE FURTHER ACTION
SOCIALMEDIA
SOURCE: STATISTICS CANADA
SOURCE: IMAGINE CANADA
SOURCE: IMAGINE CANADA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATION OF FUNDRAISING PROFESSIONALS
SOURCE: THE WORLD GIVING INDEX
SOURCE: ASSOCIATION OF FUNDRAISING PROFESSIONALS, “2013 FUNDRAISING EFFECTIVENESS SURVEY REPORT”
SOURCE: ASSOCIATION OF FUNDRAISING PROFESSIONALS SURVEY, “WHAT CANADIAN DONORS WANT”
SOURCE: PENELOPE BURK, “THE BURK DONOR SURVEY,” 2014
SOURCE: HAPPIFY
SOURCE: DONOR VOICE, “THE SEVEN KEY DRIVERS
OF DONOR COMMITMENT IDEA BANK”
SOURCE: HARRIS POLL, 2014
SOURCE: NONPROFIT COMMUNICATIONS TRENDS, 2015 REPORT
SOURCE: WAGGENER EDSTROM
SOURCE: NONPROFIT COMMUNICATIONS TRENDS, 2015 REPORT
in the world
170,000+
85,000+
72%
Donations
HOW CANADIANS DIVIDE THEIR DONATIONS
SHARING THE LOVE
49%
35%
16%
ORGA
NIZATIONSTHATSUPPORTTHELOCALCOM
M
U
NITY
NATION
A
L
CHARITIES
INTERNATIONA
L
GROUPS
ANNUAL AVERAGE
OF DONATIONS
PER DONOR
NUMBER OF NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN CANADA
NUMBER OF GOVERNMENT-REGISTERED CHARITIES
16% of Canadian
donors support more
than six organizations
65% donate to
between two and five
organizations
19% of Canadian
donors support a
single charity
16% 19%65%
“I have at least seven
databases that I have to work
with, and that is really the
time-consuming challenge.”
John Andresen, Director of Annual Giving,
Alzheimer Society of Canada
“How much money to invest in
having the operation up to speed
with new technology, and trying
to integrate everything, is the
biggest challenge.”
Daniella Sretenovic, Associate Director of Individual
Gifts, March of Dimes Canada
IN A STUDY OF 200 NONPROFITS
30%
80%
25%
20%
20%
80% acknowledge inefficiencies
such as time-consuming methods
and isolated data sets.
30% still rely on spreadsheets
or other documents to
manage donors.
25% of those using a CRM*
system have problems linking
to other systems.
20% say outdated and inefficient
donor tracking and engagement
methods are big pain points.
20% classify their donor
management processes as
"highly efficient."
SOURCE: GUIDESTAR, “TRUSTING TECHNOLOGY TO OVERCOME MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES IN YOUR NONPROFIT”
“There’s nothing else like the mail
to tell your story.”
Patricia Vidov, Director of Operations,
Operation Smile Canada
“Direct mail is certainly one of
our largest acquisition channels;
at least it’s our most viable.”
Ericka Tovey, Director of Donor Marketing
and Relations, Canadian Diabetes Association36%OF NONPROFITS WILL SEND DIRECT
MAIL APPEALS AT LEAST QUARTERLY
32%OF ONLINE DONORS RENEW
THEIR GIVING OFFLINE
SOURCE: NONPROFIT COMMUNICATIONS TRENDS REPORT SOURCE: DONORCENTRICS INTERNET AND MULTICHANNEL GIVING REPORT
“Peoples’ expectations are huge
when it comes to what you’re
doing operationally.”
Mary Lynne Stewart, National Director of Fund
Development and Communications, March of
Dimes Canada
“We send out surveys and we
try to get their stories, engage
them more, so there’s this really
personal touch. ... It’s a challenge,
doing everything with everybody
in different channels.”
Daniella Sretenovic, Associate Director of
Individual Gifts, March of Dimes Canada
“One of our biggest challenges
is the speediness of getting the
donations into our system, to be
able to effectively receipt.”
Ericka Tovey, Director of Donor Marketing
and Relations, Canadian Diabetes Association
“We have the tools in place to
do donations processing at any
frequency. Speed ends up being
a balance between the cost of
faster execution and the desired
turnaround time.”
Patrick Durbano, Director of Business
Development, CDS Global
30% A PROMPT THANK-YOU
OF DONORS WANT
SOURCE: DONOR VOICE, “THE SEVEN KEY DRIVERS OF DONOR COMMITMENT IDEA BANK”
“Our challenge with online
donors is retention. Our
second-gift rate with direct mail
is about 30 percent. With online,
it’s less than 4 percent.”
Ericka Tovey, Director of Donor Marketing
and Relations, Canadian Diabetes Association
27.3%
NONPROFIT INDUSTRY’S
OVERALL RETENTION RATE
OF FIRST-YEAR DONORS
“Social media is a really good
channel. I think it needs to be
integrated, and that’s what we
try to do, but it’s another chance
to tell your story.”
Mary Lynne Stewart, National Director of
Fund Development and Communications,
March of Dimes Canada
“Blogs from volunteers, blogs from
students who go on missions and
the donor stories – that’s like gold,
because it can make a potential
donor feel like they’re really
connected to what we do.”
Patricia Vidov, Director of Operations,
Operation Smile Canada
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA
NONPROFIT COMMUNICATIONS
PROFESSIONALS LIST THESE
AMONG THEIR FAVORITE THREE
In this dynamic fundraising era, fundraising operations professionals must be ready for
change and stay on top of trends in the donor landscape. Follow the conversation of our
panel of professionals in the CDS Global white paper, “Fundraising Operations: Making
Every Dollar Count,” and see how top nonprofit executives are structuring their operations
for fundraising success.
visit us at www.cdsglobal.ca/nonprofits
70%OF CANADIANS DONATE TO NONPROFITS EACH YEAR
Several nonprofit executives gathered for a lively discussion about challenges, best
practices and efficiencies in fundraising operations. Here are some visual highlights of
their conversation from our report, “Fundraising Operations: Making Every Dollar Count.”
IN A SURVEY OF CANADIAN DONORS
TOP COMMUNICATIONS PRIORITIES
FOR NONPROFITS
ACQUISITION
53% RANK IT
IN TOP 3 GOALS
#1
RETENTION
30% RANK IT
IN TOP 3 GOALS
#4
RETENTION
53% RANK IT
IN TOP 3 GOALS
#2
ACQUISITION
50% RANK IT
IN TOP 3 GOALS
#4
20152014
SOURCE: NONPROFIT COMMUNICATIONS TRENDS, 2015 REPORT
RETENTION HAS OVERTAKEN ACQUISITION AS A
TOP PRIORITY FOR NONPROFIT FUNDRAISERS
*Customer Relationship Management
SOURCE: THE WORLD GIVING INDEX
SOURCE: ASSOCIATION OF FUNDRAISING PROFESSIONALS SURVEY, “WHAT CANADIAN DONORS WANT”
“We have donors who are
75 years old, and they have a
certain expectation about
turnaround time. ... We also
have younger generations who
go online and expect a different
type of communication.”
Daniella Sretenovic, Associate Director of
Individual Gifts, March of Dimes Canada
SOURCE: TARGET ANALYTICS, “REACTIVATING LAPSED DONORS”