5 Trends of Wealthy Donors

Every fundraiser would love to attract more high-net-worth donors. But you can't engage, cultivate and sustain connections with wealthy donors unless you understand them.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch and the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University have been tracking that data every other year since 2006. Here are some of the key findings in the most recently released 2010 Study of High Net-Worth Philanthropy:

1. High net-worth households continued to support charitable organizations at levels seen in 2005 and 2007 — 98.2 percent of high net-worth households donated to charity in 2009. Nearly 66 percent of wealthy donors still supported the same organizations or causes year after year, and 94.5 percent have confidence in nonprofit organizations to achieve their missions.
2. Average donations from wealthy donors dropped 34.9 percent from 2007 to 2009, with the largest decrease in giving to health organizations.
3. Wealthy donors reported that they give when they believe their gifts will make a difference, when they feel financially secure and when they know the organization is efficient in its use of donations. Another major factor when considering donating is the organization's communications about the percentage of funding going to programming versus administration.
4. Wealthy donors expect effectiveness and transparency from nonprofits.
5. The top three reasons why donors reported they stopped giving to a particular charity are they were too frequently solicited or asked an inappropriate amount, they decided to support other causes, and their household circumstances changed.

To view the entire survey and its findings, click here.