Giving in 2016 – survey findings from Dini Spheris

Dini Spheris just issued the results of a survey conducted earlier this year among philanthropic leaders in Houston.  The following infographic summarizes their findings.

source: Dini Speris

Bookmark this — infographic resources

All of us have a lot of information to share with each other and we’re finding that after someone understands a concept, a question is likely to follow.  So we’re learning to assemble clusters of related information that gives a broad picture of a single subject area.  Infographics are the go-to resource to fulfill this need.

 

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know that I’m a huge fan of Canva.com.  And just recently they introduced some free infographic templates in their suite of layouts.

 

 

Now, let’s just say up front that the templates they offer are purely for illustration, this isn’t a chart building tool. B ut the way Canva works is you can build your chart in the tool of your choice then import the image into the layout. See?

 

Here’s a good reference article from the Canva blog to get started building infographics.  If you want to compare notes, give me a call!  I’m still a novice but have been attempting to improve my designs for a while now and am always willing to trade tips for successful infographics!

 

Break down the characteristics of a million dollar donor

A recent blog post from the Million Dollar list caught my eye.

 

 

 

This information is probably not what I’d expect, so I feel compelled to update my set of internal beliefs about philanthropic behavior.

Best of the best – development officer traits

One of my brilliant colleagues shared this gem with me recently.  We’re all aware of the crucial impact of talented fundraisers to an organization’s bottom line.  And as my daddy always used to say:  the best indicator of the number of major gifts coming in tomorrow is the number of asks that occurred today.

Development officers have to be knowledgeable, driven and strategic.  Recently the Education Advisory Board completed a little research to determine those professional traits that the absolute best development officers possess.

Click on the image above to read more about the EAB’s research methodology.

It makes me pause to consider how we in Development Services can better contribute to development officer success by being the best of the best in our own domain?

Nurturing creativity

From Fast Data – how to stay creative when you feel stuck–

 

Social science and fundraising

I recent saw this compelling infographic on the re:charity website titled 4 Science of Giving Studies Fundraisers can Learn From.

See for yourself!

Prospect researchers and development officers view the world differently

Inspired by a clever blog post I read here about the way that copywriters and artistic directors have distinctly different points of view, I created this knock-off version for our own industry.  Let me just say in advance that I’m not trying to offend anyone.  It’s supposed to be humorous.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to the contributing panel – Dawn Theaker and Michele Armstrong for the Prospect Research side. MJ Parker and Mike Delzotti for the Development Officer side.  Thanks y’all!

 

Social media user demographics for 2015

AdWeek just published their 2015-2016 forecast for social media platform user composition by age range.  Here are the results for the largest platforms, spanning nearly 180 million individuals.

Plan for content and social campaigns that resonate with your audience demographics!

Infographic: Carlos Monteiro

 

Design guidelines for building infographics

As our constituent information becomes more complex and we find ourselves attempting to generate meaningful reports that include dissections of geography, donor segment, engagement level, wealth, lifetime value, giving history, communication channel, etc., the resulting information is muddled and difficult to interpret.

How can we decide what we should be doing if we don’t fully appreciate our constituents’ actions in the correct context?

Infographics are an advanced form of data visualization that help readers digest large amounts of complex information.

 

Edahn Small, creative director at the Hypothesis Group recently published this article outlining five principles to keep in mind when designing an infographic.

As our colleagues continue to seek to understand more about the complex layers of information in our data bases, visual communication methods are the best approach for those of us attempting to deliver that understanding.  While there is nothing formulaic or simple about infographics, those of us attempting to adopt this style of communication are always looking for pointers. So click on the image above to read Edahn Small’s article.

Maximizing communications impact through segmentation

According to a survey conducted in 2014 by Bloomerang and the Nonprofit Marketing Guide (infographic results shown  below) nonprofits either approach segmenting aggressively or not at all.

So why segment?  Here are a few easy answers–

1. Send more finely crafted communications to a particular audience (alumni, parents of current students, donors over the age of 68, constituents who donated to last year’s GivingTuesday campaign, etc.)
2. Save money on postage.  If your budget permits only 10,000 pieces of mail, segmenting can help narrow the recipient pool to better align the audience with the messaging content.
3. Deliver information in accordance with your constituent’s preferences (by channel and frequency).

This article discusses relevant findings from the survey and ways to apply these findings to improve fundraising effectiveness.