WealthEngine

Now that spring is here and you find yourselves busy planning for upcoming events and special galas, we hope you will better utilize your subscription to FindWealth Online and maximize your fundraising potential. There is no time like the present to jump in and learn a new trick or two in FindWealth Online.

WealthEngine Institute is the educational, research and networking arm of the WealthEngine organization.  Membership is free, and we provide a wealth of resources for fundraisers, researchers and nonprofit managers. To date we have nearly 3,000 members and stay connected via a monthly newsletter and private LinkedIn group. 

WealthEngine and StratusLIVE have a long established partnership that offers a complete solution to help fundraising professionals identify, profile, and track their best donors for every fundraising campaign.

With WealthEngine data integrated directly into StratusLIVE for Fundraisers, nonprofit professionals can easily identify, research, and segment donors and prospects based on wealth indicators without leaving the StratusLIVE software environment.

Congratulations to Elizabeth Schiffmann on her new role as WealthEngine’s Client Service Manager.  Elizabeth is responsible for leading our client services team, which focuses on delivering excellent service, product education, tips and support to our 4,000+ clients.

Elizabeth joined WealthEngine in 2008 as a client service representative, helping nonprofits with their wealth screenings, FindWealth Online usage, and strategizing on how to reach their fundraising goals.  In 2010, she moved into a marketing role that allowed her to combine her strong product knowledge and communications skills. Needless to say, she is well versed on all of WealthEngine’s products and is attuned to the diverse needs of our clients.

One thing is clear - choosing the right medium is important but the right content is critical.

In order to build the right mix, luxury marketers are leveraging predictive analytics to better understand their customers, allowing the knowledge about their  wealth, demographics, and lifestyle affinities to help shape the content and channels in which it is delivered.

Read on for some insightful information about content driven marketing and the best way to achieve success.

A couple weeks ago, M+R Strategic Services and NTEN released their 2013 eNonprofit Benchmarks Study.  If you’re unfamiliar with this report, it’s chock full of data about nonprofit email campaigns, online advocacy and fundraising activities.  This year, the study surveyed 55 nonprofits of varying sizes – the largest collection yet.

A quick breakdown of the pool:

• 1.6 Billion email messages that were sent to
• Over 45 Million subscribers; as well as
• 6.5 Million online gifts totaling
• $438 Million raised; and
• 7.3 Million advocacy actions

Impressed?  You’re not alone! We recommend reading the entire study; there are quite a few gems.  Coupled with many of these findings are small boxes labeled “Speculator’s Corner”, where the authors’ add context to and further explain the results.

Approximately 75% of non-profit organizations are small, community-based charities.  If you’re one of these, you know the challenges of meeting your fundraising goals: limited budget, flat giving, the economy, a small staff – and more.  These issues can lead to inefficiencies in getting your messages out to an engaged group of people.

To succeed at fundraising, it is necessary to stay informed and abreast of current issues, know what’s working and what’s not, and try new things.  Despite the challenges.

But how?

What’s your non-profit organization’s plan to engage Millennials? It’s the question now that all non-profit organizations are trying to answer, as many work to diversify funding streams and strengthen the engagement of their Millennial groups (16-34 years old), who can become current donors and volunteers as well as the donors and volunteers of tomorrow.

According to the U.N. Department of Economic Social Affairs, in 2011, Millennials aged 16-34 outnumbered Boomers aged 47-65 by 79 million to 76 million. By 2030, they predict there will be 78 million Millennials and only 56 million Boomers.

The last couple of days at the AFP conference have been incredible.  It’s great to see so many fundraising professionals getting rejuvenated, invigorated, excited and hearing all of the great ideas that are coming from the different speakers and sessions.  We’ve had so many wonderful conversations at the WealthEngine booth and are really looking forward to following up and being a part of some great stories happening in the fundraising world.

What I’ve loved most are those moments that begin when someone walks up and says, “OK, WealthEngine, what do you do?” We give the brief synopsis and then ask, “What do you need?”  Everyone has a unique, and wonderful, opportunity – some of have small donor lists and need more information and others have large lists and don’t know where to start.

Which Is the Better Investment?

• If you endow a charity with $1 million in today’s climate they might earn 3% or $30,000 per year.
• If you spend $1 million on combined direct mail, internet and DRTV programs, 3 years later you would produce just under $750,000 from the direct mail program alone and the amount would grow each year thereafter.

We all know that acquisition is something we must do.  In fact, according to AFP’s 2011 Fundraising Effectiveness Project (FEP) Report, 59% of donors do not renew their gifts to the average charity.  In order to raise the same amount as last year, then, each charity must acquire new donors to make up for those no longer donating.