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Haven’t gotten around to reading our 2015 Nonprofit Communications Trends Report yet? I know how it is. My reading pile is sky high too.
Here are three surprises in this year’s report.
Donor Retention is Finally a Priority
For the first time in five years, donor retention has jumped ahead of donor acquisition as a major communications goal. It seems as though everyone has been talking about the importance of donor retention for years now, but we did not see that reflected in the priority communications goals for nonprofits — until this year. Donor retention jumped from 4th to 2nd place in the list of top communications goals, and donor acquisition fell from 1st place to 4th.
Frequency of Appeals – in Both Email and Print – Will Go Up
Over the last four years, despite conventional wisdom that frequency of print communications was probably falling and email was probably increasing, our data showed that both were actually flat (people were sending at the same frequency they always had). However, in 2015, for the first time, we see a significant increase in the planned frequency of both print and email appeals. In other words, nonprofits are asking for money and other support more often. At the same time, their print and email newsletter frequency remains about the same as in previous years.
Instagram Use by Nonprofits is Growing Quickly
Facebook and Twitter are still the king and queen of nonprofit social media, followed by YouTube and LinkedIn. But this year we saw Instagram make a huge leap into 5th place on the social media priority list, jumping over Google+ and Pinterest. While Instagram use is still relatively small compared to the other major sites – 40% of nonprofits in the survey said they won’t use it at all – its use by nonprofits is growing faster than any other social media platform.
