The team at NonprofitMarketingGuide.com has just released their fifth annual Nonprofit Communications Trends Report, and the 2015 survey results contain a few surprises.
- 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. Everyone has been talking about the importance of donor retention for years now, but –until this year – we didn’t see it reflected in the priority communications goals for nonprofits. 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
Despite conventional wisdom that frequency of print communications was probably falling and email was probably increasing, our data for the last four years showed that both were actually flat – people were sending at the same frequency they always had. But in 2015, 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 – use by nonprofits is growing faster than any other social media platform.
Click here for more details on these and other nonprofit communications trends for 2015.
Image courtesy of Nonprofit Marketing Guide.com
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Kivi Leroux Miller is the force behind Nonprofit Marketing Guide.com and author of “The Nonprofit Marketing Guide: High-Impact, Low-Cost Ways to Build Support for Your Good Cause” and “Content Marketing for Nonprofits: A Communications Map for Engaging Your Community, Becoming a Favorite Cause, and Raising More Money.”