How 2020 has shaped charitable giving
According to Classy’s latest findings COVID-19, social injustice causes and technology has expanded influence on America’s charitable giving in 2020
On my way back from the HMT stadium, I always find a not so old man selling water filters. Post the lockdown was lifted I have always seen him dressed in whites, selling neatly placed air filters on a newspaper under a banyan tree.
Sometimes he stares at the growing traffic, and some days he reads something from a small book. These days a nimbu and soda seller guy gives him company. From the smiles, I assume that they know each other well.
A few weeks ago I saw a black Santro stopping. The lady got out and handed something to the old man. Initially, he hesitated but the lady insisted. My gut feeling says that she handed him some cash.
Water filters are still there, he still makes a point to sit the whole day with the hope to make some money. The pandemic has thrown us new challenges but my observation says that we ( a small percentage) have slightly become more emphatic and concerned about our surroundings.
2020 has been an enlightening year so far. Just when I thought I had figured out life and it’s working. It has surprised me again. Wonder why people say life is easy to understand.
At one end the pandemic has brought the global economy to a standstill but at the same time, people have gone out of their way to help the people.
I believe somewhere the humanity is alive. And it has nothing to do with Mondelez’s Humaning - real, human connections with purpose.
Bollocks!
COVID-19 has impacted giving behaviour
According to the latest findings from Classy, two in five Americans (39%) say that they definitely or probably will give more to nonprofits in 2020 than they did in 2019. When asked why they would be giving more, a third (33%) responded that societal needs seem greater this year.
Furthermore, though disaster relief ranked as the number one cause that Americans supported in both our 2018 and 2019 surveys, health causes rose to the top this year.
In fact, when asked which causes they felt were in need of the most support this year, nearly half of respondents (46%) selected health. Disaster relief and education claimed the second and third spots, at 34% and 31% respectively.
This differs from the findings in 2018 and 2019 when disaster relief beat out all other categories. It's also worth noting this was the first year that education made the top three.
When asked why their giving plans have changed because of COVID-19, 39% said that some nonprofits need more now than they did before the pandemic, 36% said their income had changed, 33% said they are more passionate about issues now than they were before the pandemic.
The report also highlights that Gen Z, X, and millennials have shown greater interest in donating towards pandemic related causes or organizations.
Baby Boomers between 56-74 age group has been a big disappointment.
Social justice causes motivate donors
2020 will also be remembered as a year that stood tall against the growing social injustice across societies.
“Forty-two percent of survey respondents said they had donated or planned to donate to social justice causes in 2020. However, for the majority of these donors, their contribution to a social justice organization was their first. Over half (58%) said that 2020 was the first year they had ever donated to this type of cause. This serves as an example of how current events play a significant role in turning the tide of fundraising,” says the Why America Gives 2020 report (download link).
Of those who have or plan to donate to social justice causes, 43% said their donation would be in addition to contributions they would or will make to other causes, while 32% said the donation will replace what they would have otherwise given to a different organization/cause.
From a generational standpoint, both Gen X and Gen Z were most likely to say they are making a donation to the fight against social injustice this year (57% and 55%, respectively). Among these Gen X donors, 75% said this was the first year they have donated to this cause.
According to Classy, the latest report serves dual purposes: measuring the year-over-year changes in giving sentiments and behaviors, and analyzing how current events in 2020 have altered giving trends.
“We fielded our consumer survey in September 2020 to capture the latest thoughts among U.S. consumers and compared these results to what we saw in our 2018 and 2019 surveys. These insights help shape our expectations as we begin the holiday giving season and head into a new year.”
Digital giving is preferred by donors
Online donations from individual donors were the method that most respondents (58%) used to raise money in 2018, followed by Mail-in donations from individuals (57%) and Donations from major Donors (56%).
However, in 2019 the parameters of online fundraising have drastically evolved: Website Donations (66%), Fundraising Event Campaigns (59%), and Social Media (59%).
These findings were part of Classy’s report The Modern Nonprofit Professional Experience released earlier this year.
I had shared my insights from the report that surveyed 1,002 individuals 18 and older who are managers and above at a nonprofit organization in the U.S. The survey was fielded in March 2019 using the Qualtrics Insight Platform, and the panel was sourced from Fulcrum by Lucid.
In its latest report Classy shares that when respondents were asked how they would prefer to make donations in the future:
The top two channels were via a website on the computer (37%) and through an app or mobile site on a smartphone or tablet (33%).
The largest proportion of the Gen Z, millennials, and even Gen X generations stated that they’d prefer making donations via an app or mobile site on their smartphone. Baby boomers selected a website on the computer as their top channel, and the Silent Generation preferred mail-in donations.
The takeaway for nonprofit organizations here is that invest in your website, make it seamless across devices (mobile) and make it dead simple for a donor to donate.
A mix of both in-person and online events is the road ahead
The above data shows that in-person donation has seen a drop. With extended lockdowns, it had to happen and this gave rise to virtual fundraising events.
Impressively, almost a third of U.S. consumers (30%) said they have supported or participated in a virtual charity event since the COVID-19 pandemic began, with 60% saying they actually donated and/or raised more virtually than they have at past in-person events.
Men were far more likely than women (44% vs. 16%) to say that they participated in a virtual fundraising event this year.
“While nonprofit professionals might assume that Gen Z and millennials are the target audience for these types of digitally-focused activities, the data shows that almost half of Gen X respondents (48%) have participated in a virtual fundraising event during COVID-19. This generational divide in participation illustrates the importance of engaging older audiences and not just the generations perceived as most tech-savvy,” informs the report.
Moving forward as in for 2021, nonprofit organizations should focus on the owned mediums (preference more to websites and donation pages) and at the same time integrate online and offline ways to reach out to the donor.