The Erie Community Foundation Donor Survey
Dr. Phylis Mansfield, Associate Professor, Penn State University
Kevin E. Moore, VP of Stewardship & Regional Affiliates, ECF
Executive Summary
Working with Dr. Phylis Mansfield, professor of Marketing at Penn State Behrend, ECF staff worked to design, implement and study a first ever survey of our donor population. Using the database of current donors, names were pulled to receive the survey instrument. There were approximately 187 surveys mailed to individual donors (agencies were surveyed in 2007) and 88 completed surveys were returned to Penn State Behrend for processing. This yielded a high response rate of 47%. This rate is well above average for most consumer-type surveys. We were unable to find national data to compare response rates for other philanthropic-related studies, although a national philanthropy survey is being developed and should be implemented within a year.
It is important to note that while the mean scores are helpful in interpreting results, the frequencies within the cells are of great value as well. There may be instances where combining two of the upper or lower range scores makes sense in better understanding the overall donor population.
We explored several areas of donor interaction with the Foundation from methods of communication to reasons for donor support. Overall we found that donors were very satisfied with the level of customer service, expertise and communication (oral and written) from the ECF staff. Donors responded by clearly stating that they have “confidence in the ECF” and when asked why they give, the top response was to “strengthen my local community.” Donors also told us that they admire us and that we have a track record of “sound investment and performance.”
An interesting finding was the role that friends and news articles play in referring donors to ECF. These were the top influences on how our donors first learned about ECF. It was followed very closely by referrals from board members. This strongly reinforces the current board efforts to focus on donor acquisition and asset development. Professional advisors were somewhat important to donor referrals and least effective were events and media according to our surveyed donors.
We also asked donors to tell us about us about the types of information sources they depend on from ECF. The top source of information noted was the annual report, closely followed by regular mailings, performance information on nonprofits, meetings with staff, and our newsletter.
There was not a strong reliance on our web site which is not a surprise given the donor population surveyed. These donors are, on average, older donors with established ECF relationships and as such do not need to rely on the web for their information. As we unveil our new website this fall, we believe that it will increasingly become the most used source of information in the ECF toolkit. It will be increasingly important to communicate these changes to our existing donors and provide training workshops to help them more comfortably navigate the new foundation web site.
A surprise in the data came from the finding that 51% of the respondents channel 0-24% of their giving through ECF. Given our overall 47% response rate from established donors, we can assume that more work can be done with our existing donors to encourage them to more fully utilize the foundation for their charitable giving.
As with all organizations, there are some areas where we can focus our improvement efforts including better educating the professional community (attorneys, accountants, financial advisors and planners) about our role in community philanthropy. In general, professional advisors (accountants, financial advisors, lawyers, etc.) were not listed as a highly significant source of information for our donors, but they are a gateway to executing charitable giving. We may want to consider more frequent and more effective communication to the professional advisor community going forward.
Overall, existing donors are very satisfied with the amount of information and its frequency, staff responsiveness and competence as well as overall customer service provided by ECF professionals. A helpful piece of advice regarding “listening” came from verbal comments section. Several comments were made to encourage us to stay true to the mission, listen to our customers and not just push forward with our own agenda.
They have a strong need to support issues and causes that are important to them. They feel happy to help others and they want to strengthen their community, but are not interested in being publicly recognized for doing so. Public recognition was the lowest rated factor motivating our donors to give.
Many have a firm belief in a moral obligation to help others. Our donors can be characterized as intensely civic-minded with a clear belief in our community and the foundation’s ability to help them navigate the philanthropic waters.
In the end, 89% of those survey indicated that their level of satisfaction was either “good” or “excellent” and 91.7% of respondents would select ECF again.
