Segmentation

Amy Heller has found the answer to the question on every charity executive and board member's mind: How do nonprofits engage the next generation of donors?

"It's about making philanthropy fun, social, relevant and transparent to donors," says Heller.

WGIRLS, which works to provide underprivileged women and children with a quality education, financial independence and self-sufficiency, was started by Heller and a group of other professional women in New York who initially came together to socialize, with a bent on doing something good for their community.

Here are three online fundraising and communications best practices provided by Taryn Rosenkranz.

MUNCIE -- Local non-profit fundraising staff, get your pencils and pads and write this down. You've been missing out on a large number of people, right here in Delaware County, who want to give to your organizations. In fact, they can't wait to give to your agencies. All you have to do is ask.Who are these hidden gems in our community? Women. That's right, half of the area's population."The biggest external contributor to female giving is that they're just not asked," said Andrea Pactor, associate director from the Women's Philanthropy Institute. "Up until now, philanthropy has been seen as

Analyzing trends in the fundraising world is important on many levels. It lets you know what's happening in the industry, what that may mean for the future and how it compares to the past. Studying trends also lets you know where you stand compared to other organizations, allowing you to pinpoint what your organization is doing well and what it needs to work on.

Women at every income level give to charity more often than men do—and they tend to donate more money on average than their male counterparts, according to a study released Thursday.

The study, conducted by researchers at the Women’s Philanthropy Institute at the Indiana University Center on Philanthropy, analyzed charitable-giving data from 8,000 American households.

In order to reactivate lapsed donors, you must first know who your lapsed donors are, how long they have been gone and why they left. Then use analytics and reactivation models to get the best lapsed donors back.

The most recent Donor Confidence Report by marketing research firm Campbell Rinker shows that donor confidence is the lowest since 2008.

It’s impossible to target personalized messages and relevant communications to your donors if you first don’t know who they really are. But “how do you find out who your donors are?” Austin asked. The answer is crucial for identifying affluent donors for major-gifts campaigns and planned-giving prospects, as well as unearthing the proper marketing messages, corporate relationships — “Corporations want to work with organizations that have an overlapping market,” Austin said — and more.

"Hipsters" are a generation of highly educated professionals in their 20s and 30s who make increasingly disposable incomes. They were born under the watchful eyes of focus groups, and Google started as they began high school. Hipsters are your newest crop of donors, but how do you reach them?

Women in Philanthropy awarded $47,000 in grants to community organizations Thursday evening, more than four times what the group contributed last year.

Eight nonprofit organizations were chosen for grants: The Naomi Project, Mercy Medicine’s Healthy Smiles Program, Lighthouse Ministries, McLeod Health Foundation, Mercy in Me Free Medical Clinic of Cheraw, the Pee Dee Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Assault, the Senior Citizens Association’s Home Care Services and Camp RAE.