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7 takeaways from the 2020 Nonprofit Conference

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March 2nd, 2020

Each year, MarkeTeam participates in multiple conferences. These are unique and invaluable learning opportunities that provide the opportunity to share ideas, insights and our successes; network with clients, meet with potential clients; and learn more about the latest trends and technologies in the non-profit world.

Here are 7 highlights from this year’s 2020 ANA DC Nonprofit Conference that we believe warrant further consideration:

  1. Leveraging PayPal. MarkeTeam is a firm believer that non-profits’ donation pages should include PayPal as a payment option. PayPal’s popularity has increased over the past few years and may still be the third most popular payment option. PayPal is mobile-friendly; and if you can make the donation process easy and quick, we endorse that approach. One non-profit added PayPal as a payment option last year and now it accounts for 28% of donations!
  1. Ask Tribute contributors to check a box for annual auto renewal. Most Tribute contributors donate once as a “once and done” Memorial or Honor donor. If you receive a substantial amount of Tribute gifts, consider testing this approach to improve retention and revenue.
  1. A diversified email program is best. One session outlined 10 innovative email ideas to send in 2020. We’ve done them all and can confidently endorse all 10! One of our favorites is to deploy “Fun Emails”. These have produced substantial increases in engagement and helped with reputation and deliverability for our non-profit clients with this approach. We also like the “Weekend” send – especially for resends to non-openers or to openers, using a different subject line but same content. The “Evening” send achieves the same goals.

If you have a large network of advocates and supporters and a lot of data coming from multiple places, data points should be connected so you have full insight into each constituent.  

  1. Keep an eye out for more (ever-changing) Facebook privacy changes that could affect your communications. As of March 4, non-profits will be able to respond to a user within 24 hours with any message they want; outside of that 24-hour window, Pages (excluding News pages) are limited in what they can send. Sponsored messages are available. Like all other Facebook changes, we will wait and see how this actually plays out in the coming weeks.
  1. As the political season approaches, be mindful that risk is everywhere, whether in an election year or not. While some organizations might try to manage risk by maintaining volumes by mailing less expensive packages, many organizations are planning on staying in the mail in case the elections result in a positive giving environment.
  1. Teaming up with a commercial partner. Alternative media can take many forms (e.g., newspaper and magazine inserts), but finding suitable partnerships is something to consider.  For example, an animal welfare charity might try inserts with Chewy.com deliveries, or any charity might try leveraging a partnership with an online subscription service in order to tie nicely into sustainer asks. A solid partnership can be a great way to extend your brand, acquire new donors, and advance your mission.
  1. Big data ecosystems need to be connected. If you have a large network of advocates and supporters and a lot of data coming from multiple places, data points should be connected so you have full insight into each constituent. MarkeTeam has one of the largest analytics teams in the industry under one roof. If you need help connecting big data, we can help you!

To see a full list of conferences MarkeTeam will be attending this year, click here.

Blog written by MarkeTeam conference attendees

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