Historically a primary indicator of charitable giving is consumer confidence. According to the Gallup Daily Poll, we should be looking up. Gallup reports that over the last four weeks the mood of America's consumers has continued to improve. Additionally Gallup has found that daily consumer spending is on the rise (even if only slightly), which is a hopeful indication that perhaps there will be a growth movement in consumer spending. To keep up with the consumer mood check out the Gallup Daily site: http://www.gallup.com/poll/107827/Gallup-Daily-Consumer-Mood.aspx.
Be ready! Take a look at your file and pay close attention to trends that include:
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Look at trends in engagement. What are your response rates? Holding steady, recovering and increasing, looking typical based on historical activity?
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Look at average gift. Same drill - holding steady, recovering,..???
Keep affinity alive and keep those constituents engaged with other strategies/techniques so that as consumer confidence grows and capacity rebounds your organization will be ready..
Richard is.. drinking from a glass that is half full and inching up all the time.
Q1 has come and gone and I am getting back in to the blog groove. What made me jump off and jump back on? To tell the truth I think it was the purchase of an Iphone - I never had a Facebook account, but I got the Iphone, created an account, and now every so often I can post my status "Richard is....." Interesting stuff - so what does this mean in the world of constituent engagement? We as fundraisers need to continue to listen, process, and assess what our constituents are telling us and then act in a meaningful way en masse and by the ones. Our constituents seem to expect no less. As someone who is passionate about several causes, I am going to begin to engage with them a little more deeply and report out on how they engage with me.
For the time being "Richard is... blogging"