Don’t Miss Out on Gifts from Women Donors
Many nonprofits continue to employ decades-old fundraising strategies that primarily target men — specifically older white men. But those strategies could result in the loss of billions of dollars in donations as women become wealthier and more engaged in philanthropy, reports my colleague Stephanie Beasley.
U.S. women are expected to inherit up to $30 trillion over the next decade, according to the Bank of America Institute. Already, women are changing the philanthropy world by spearheading more group-funding approaches. Funding collectives, largely led and dominated by women, donated more than $3.1 billion from 2017 to 2023, data shows.
It’s clear that nonprofits must do a better job of appealing to these women if they want to tap into that wealth, said Jacqueline Ackerman, interim director of the Women’s Philanthropy Institute at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. The school has published recommendations for how nonprofits can include women donors in their fundraising plans.
Nonprofits are “leaving money on the table” when they don’t engage with women, she said. While some organizations are targeting women, “we still hear from plenty of women donors with horror stories, or we see examples of it not changing everywhere or across the board,” Ackerman said. For instance, women have reported giving gifts and then receiving thank you notes addressed to their husbands, she said.
Ackerman and other experts spoke to the Chronicle about how nonprofits could more effectively solicit donations from women.
Focus on Impact and Engagement
Opportunities to learn more about a cause and how their gifts will improve the circumstances of people’s lives can be appealing to women donors, Ackerman said. A common mistake nonprofits make when they approach couples is to gear their efforts toward the man, she said. Offers like naming a building or a program after the donor or setting up networking opportunities, such as meeting with board members, have historically appealed to men, she said.
“Women actually are turned off by such an offer,” Ackerman said. “They are less interested in what’s in it for them and more interested in what’s in it for the organization and the people impacted.”
Women want to hear stories and data, and they want to know how far their dollar will go, she said.
To that end, it is critical for nonprofits to offer opportunities for donors to engage with the work in a tangible way, said Kathy Rabon, a global board member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and past chair of its global Women’s Impact Initiative. It also is useful to offer women opportunities to volunteer and interact with staff and communities, she said.
For more tips on connecting with women donors, read the rest of Stephanie’s article.
