The NonProfit Times recently conducted a survey which shows that twice as many donors research a charity online after receiving a direct mail solicitation than they did three years ago.
The NonProfit Times had Opinion Research Corporation (ORC) repeat a study that it did three years ago for The NPT. ORC asked 1,000 adults, “When you receive a mail solicitation from a charity, which of the following places on the Internet do you look at before deciding whether to give money?” The options were these – look up the organization on the Internet; visit the organization’s website; visit independent rating organizations; visit online discussion groups and/or blogs.
The 25% of individuals who looked up organizations online three years ago jumped to 44% this year. The adults who went to the organization’s website doubled from 19% to 37% now. Finally, the number of people who did not look up organizations online declined from 61% to 47% now. (The 13% who chose the “Don’t Know/None of these” option three years ago decreased to 10% this year.)
“It’s another clear priority certainly to any nonprofit that’s doing direct mail,” said Rick Christ, the managing partner in npadvisors.com, indicating that when a non-profit has a good website, they can satisfy almost half of their donors and visitors. “That’s a really powerful thing that says, your own Web site is more important in supporting a direct mail package than it’s ever been,” he said.
However, Christ pointed out that a non-profit’s website should support direct mail, not replace it. “I don’t see online donations being yet so second nature to people, or as convenient as writing a check,” he said. Even today, there are still 47% of people who do not go online to research an organization. However, as it is impossible to know who those people are, it is important that each direct mail package still has a reply envelope.
Nick Allen of Donordigital said, “Direct mail is the way most people hear about most organizations, short of a disaster, that causes them to do things.” It is when people get mail from an unfamiliar organization that they do online research. And with all these people headed online, it is important that the organization’s website is easy and enjoyable to use.
It is not just the young people who go online before donating. Yes, demographic between 18 and 24 years old doubled, with 64% going online as opposed to the 31% three years ago. However, among the people over 65 years old, the percentage almost tripled, going from 8 to 21 percent.
“A third of respondents younger than 34 years old said they don't go online compared to 50 percent three years ago. Among older demographics, going online before writing a check ranged -- 42 percent among 35- to 44-year-olds, 51 percent among 45-54, to 48 percent for [those] 55-64) but all were down from 60 to 70 percent in 2005.”
One of the most important features of an organization’s website is transparency, said Holly Ross of NTEN, a membership organization for nonprofit technology officers. It is very important that the donor can trust the organization from the beginning. Trust is gained by having all the information available and easy to find on the charity’s website.
It is important that the charity integrates its website and its direct mailings. Christ suggests including a link in the direct mailing that takes the donor to a portion of the website related to that specific mailing; a place where the donor can have his basic questions answered and where he can look up the organization’s financial data. “Try to resolve all the issues there so people can see the benefit of giving right there on the spot,” he said.
Finally, an organization should try to use similar language and graphics on its direct mailings, emails, and on its website. Allen suggests including an image of the direct mailing, either a graphic or words, so that people visiting the website will find something related to what they just received in the mail.
As the years go by, websites will become even more important as online activities continue to increase. Charities should take care to build pleasing and informative websites that complement the organization’s direct mailings and other forms of solicitation.
Information taken from: Mark Hrywna. “Web Triggers Direct Mail Response.” The NonProfit Times. www.nptimes.com.
--Ashley High is a Research Assistant at Christian Foundation Grants (www.christianfoundationgrants.com) which is subscription database of foundations that provide grants to faith based organizations. iDonate.com is a website (www.iDonate.com) that allows ministries to receive non cash gifts online.