BIG’s Blog: YouTube It (Re-posted with permission)

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Have you ever heard of the Geico camel?

Me neither … until I did hear of it.

And why had I not heard of it? Because most Americans my age (I’m a baby boomer) don’t watch that much live TV. In fact, other than sports or an occasional awards show, anything that I think might be worthwhile on TV, I will DVR.

So I am pretty immune to television commercials. If I am watching something I DVR’d from broadcast or cable, I am blasting through the ads. In fact, I probably watch more Netflix than anything on regular TV so I just don’t see that many commercials.

Think I’m unique? Don’t bet on it.

Have my media-watching habits changed in the last ten years? You betcha … and so have yours!

We all remember when there were only three broadcast-television networks. If you watched TV, you were watching one of those three networks. This meant that the cultural conversation was fairly homogenous.

Not anymore. In fact, we were never really homogenous . . . but with limited choices, it just seemed that way.  

Media has fragmented to appeal to the real heterogeneous audiences that … in reality … always existed. With few exceptions, there is no single cultural conversation, but rather many niche conversations.

Here is something I have learned if you occasionally have to face one of those “clueless cultural moments” … go to YouTube and type it in.

Anything about anything is on YouTube.

Oh, by the way, is your fundraising organization’s story (or stories)  on YouTube?

The Geico camel is: Click Here

Drip, Drip, Drip.

-Mike

Welcome to BIG’s Blog!  Please feel free to forward this post to your friends and coworkers…and email me a comment at:mike@big-db.com

BIG’s Blog: It’s Relationship (Re-posted with permission)

Monday, April 28, 2014

Fundraisers have always understood, as much as leadership or the board, that their organization needs supporters.

Yet over the last 15 to 20 years, a bothersome, and, some would even say “nagging,” issue has arisen that has many fundraisers puzzled.

The same successful messaging and fundraising methodologies that they have perfected throughout their careers are not engaging baby boomers, much less even younger generations.

Starting with the boomers but also extending to Gen-X and the Millennials, these younger cohorts ARE NOT ENGAGING with many long-standing, established organizations.

Why?

Nilofer Merchant in her 2013 book, 11 Rules For Creating Value In The Social Era, seems to nail it when she writes, “If people give to a cause (mission or ministry), they expect a relationship, not a transaction.”

The “ethos” of these generational cohorts has changed! We are living in the Social Era and, today, that means they expect a relationship. This new ethos has firmly taken hold in the boomer, Gen-X and Millennial generational cohorts.

Commonly used Definition of Ethos- the fundamental character or spirit of a culture; the underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs or practices of a group or society; dominant assumptions of a people or period.
Nilofer Merchant isn’t talking about your grandparents . . . she is talking about you and me.

Drip, Drip, Drip.

~ Mike

Welcome to BIG’s Blog!  Please feel free to forward this post to your friends and coworkers…and email me a comment at: mike@big-db.com

Posted by Mike Browne at 12:30 AM

BIG’s Blog: A Changing World for Fundraising – Re-Posted with Permission

August 22, 2013

At last year’s National Catholic Development Conference, Susan Raymond, Ph.D., from Changing Our World, Inc., gave a fascinating and incredibly timely keynote address on the changing demographic makeup of the United States and its impact on fundraising in the years to come. It certainly was a wake-up call to many of those in attendance that I talked to.

Recently, The Chronicle of Philanthropy ran an article, Raising Money in a Changing World, highlighting many of the same themes in America’s demographic transition. In the article, they highlighted Emmett Carson, the president of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, saying that nonprofits should already be laying the groundwork in learning about the wishes and hopes of new donors. “Charities that don’t recognize demographic trends are going to shrink and ultimately go out of business,” says Carson. “The populations in the past that have supported them so spectacularly will not have the base of support going forward. This is adapt, change or die.”

Pretty strong words, but Susan Raymond said exactly the same thing in detail a year ago.

Here are just a few of the highlights from The Chronicle of Philanthropy article.

White Americans will no longer be the majority. By 2045, people of color will outnumber whites in the U.S.

Women are gaining economic power. 40% of women with children under 18 are the prime breadwinners in their households. And of these, 37% are married and earn more than their husbands. Nearly half of students now enrolled in law and medical schools are women.

Today’s young adults will push philanthropy to change. Those born beginning in the early 1980s are more demanding, seeking concrete results from their gifts (investments). Charities that tap into their desire for hands-on engagement will win.

Baby Boomers are reaching their prime giving years. Boomers are moving into the age when people start getting organized about their philanthropy and Baby Boomers being 76 million strong will begin to impact philanthropy by the end of this decade.

Secularism is on the rise.  This is a tough one for faith-based organizations now that one in five Americans now claims no religious affiliation. Over the last few decades, religious giving has decreased as a share of all giving. And even donors who are driven by faith are showing more flexibility about where their money goes.

It is way more than just being online, but if you are not online…

Join us!

-Mike

http://bigthoughts4u.blogspot.com/2013/08/bigs-blog-changing-world-for-fundraising.html

 

 

BIG’s Blog: We Are All Geeks Now (Re-posted with permission)

April 1, 2013

It used to be in your social circles there were one or two people who were always talking about the cool new technology gadget. They liked the new and always had to have the latest right after it came out.

The rest of us fell into one of two camps; either we were the ones who waited until the “new thing” was bug-free and cheaper before we bought it, or we fell into the camp that actually seemed to pride themselves on being the last to change or, frankly, never change.

But things are changing. Even my full-on Luddite friends, the real laggards who, as recently as a year ago, still enjoyed pulling out their six or seven year old flip phone and telling those assembled, “it only makes phone calls,” are now sporting smart phones and talking about getting an iPad or Kindle Fire like their wife.

Their whole demeanor has changed, and the conversation turns to the latest app. They talk about getting their scores, weather, stock quotes, and restaurant menus right on their phone. Honestly, most of these people are guys, and the older ones at that. I have come to believe that they actually were scared they couldn’t learn how to use the new smart phones and tablets. They remember having to learn software programs at work that were not intuitive and sometimes took months to learn. Someone showed them how easy these new intuitive devices are, and bam… they crossed the line to users.

So what does this mean for fundraisers?

It means my Baby Boomer friends are more and more online. This is changing their behavior in how they get used to consuming news and information and, more to the point, how they are reading fewer and fewer printed publications.

It doesn’t mean that these folks won’t still open your direct mail appeal letters, but it solidifies the reality that those in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s have shifted.

Join us.

-Mike

Welcome to BIG’s Blog!  Please feel free to forward this post to your friends and coworkers…and email me a comment at: mike@big-db.com