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Kicking off the Development Track's Super Seminar at the 1995 Annual IUGM
Convention in Norfolk, VA, was George Barna, president of Barna Research
Group. Barna first spoke about things which influence donors to give. Topping
the list was the issue of trust. Organizations with integrity, longevity,
and those having a demonstrable impact are judged by donors to be trustworthy.
Other motivations, cited by Barna, included: a donor's personal experience
or that of a family member in receiving help from an organization; the
quality of the organization's performance and leadership; and whether the
organization is endorsed by someone a donor trusts. Personal benefit to
the donor also should not be ruled out in motivations to give according
to Barna.
Although not explicit, donors
giving may express a variety of self-interests. "They look at a reduction
of crime, the safety of their neighborhood, and the cleanliness of their
city, " says Barna. Finally, donors give to organizations who make
it easy for them to give; that is, organizations who do their marketing
homework and know what appeals to their donors. According to Barna, "This
is not all money that is given to good works...by chance. This money
ends up in your mailbox for a reason."
Donors giving above national
norms fall into the following categories: married, male, college grads,
age 35-50, $50,000+ annual income, volunteers to non-profit organizations,
regular church attenders, and evangelical Christians. Evangelicals, according
to Barna, give an estimated 70% more than the national average---above
and beyond their church giving. People who give less than national norms
include the Baby Bust generation, senior citizens, single adults, women,
high school graduates or lower education, $30,000 annual income and lower,
non-volunteers, those who don't give to a church, and Catholics.
Barna also stressed the changing
cultural context of the donor in American society. Values such as unconditional
integrity are now being replaced by situational ethics, trust with skepticism,
discernment with pluralism, community with individualism, and citizenship
with consumership. Time, according to Barna, is the "new currency"
in America. VCRs, voice mail, faxes ---are appealing because of their time-saving
qualities. And confidence levels for our institutions are declining
on a consistent basis. "All these trends boil down to this: Americans
want control over everything that happens in their lives.
Whether they are clients or
donors, they are not going to want to give up control, no matter what happens---no
matter how you structure your communications, no matter how you try to
structure your relationships with them---they have to maintain some semblance
of control," declared Barna. "Even with these many radical changes,"
he concluded, "spiritual life is still the greatest single predictor
of the likelihood of donating. We looked at values, at demographics, and
attitudes--- and that is what always came out on top."
George Barna is the author
of 17 books including Frog in the Kettle, The Power of Vision,
and Marketing the Church. The findings on donor motivation were
based on Barna's most recent research, The Mind of the Donor
and The Heart of the Donor studies commissioned by the Russ Reid
Company. The Barna Group, a marketing research firm, has worked
with organizations such as World Vision, Focus on the Family, the Billy
Graham Evangelistic Association and Disney.
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