The REAL stats regarding nonprofits; An Interview with Brady Josephson

In this episode of Nonprofit Architect, Travis discusses with Brady Josephson, an entrepreneur working with "Next After". They focus on core precepts of online fundraising, noting results from studies that show the wrong approaches of many nonprofit organizations to raising funds online.

Listen in now and be informed

Conversation Highlights

[00:41] Brady explains that the concept behind "Next After" is basically to collect data, run experiments to essentially figure out what works in fundraising, and make that information accessible to nonprofit organizations

[02:20] Donors lie

[09:20] Takeaway #1: The Value Proposition Question; why should I give to you, as opposed to another organization, or not at all?

[09:34] Takeaway #2: four perspectives from which a nonprofit organization should answer the value proposition question (Appeal, Credibility, Clarity, and Exclusivity)

[13:02] Every different organization has strengths and weaknesses

[13:16] Takeaway #3: As an NPO, having something more quantifiable or tangible encourages generosity

[15:45] When building a scalable fundraising infrastructure, of which email is one of the strategies, you always need to start work much sooner than you think

[16:47] Takeaway #4: Offline donors are worth 90% more if they get emails

[17:34] Mystery Shopper Studies conducted involved signing up to receive emails from non-profit organizations over some time, to have an idea of the E-mail methods used by a majority of them.

[20:22]Brady reveals that based on the results of their studies, most non-profits are not thanking their donors

[21:31] Takeaway #5: The first 30-45-day window is one of the most critical times to continue engagement with a new donor, if not they may not make a second gift in 6-14 months, at which point they're gone.

[24:58] Brady's advice to startup NPAs: The Culture of Fund-raising & Being proactive

[29:48] He discusses the three metrics of online fundraising (Traffic, Conversation Rate, and Average gift), with the results of some studies relating these metrics to NPAs.

[31:03] Google Ad grant gives up to 10,000$ worth of free advertising, with terms. This was discussed in detail in a previous episode (Interview with Preston Cone; Facebook Ads, email copy and secrets behind the Google Ad Grant)

Remarkable Quotes:

[13:21] "Tangibility leads to generosity"

[22:07] "The lifecycle of a donor"

[26:39] "Bold is definitely better."

 

Contact Brady

Website: www.nextafter.com

LinkedIn: Brady Josephson

Twitter: @bradyjosephson

Brady Josephson is a charity nerd, entrepreneur, digital marketer, professor, and writer. He’s on a mission to see more people giving and more causes thriving. At NextAfter, Brady focuses on business development and partnerships, content creation, and marketing.

Before coming to NextAfter, Brady worked for the company he started, The Josephson Group, which founded Shift, a digital agency, and Nonprofit Supply Co., a Google Ad Grant advertising service.

His work and writing have been featured in CBC, Christianity Today, NPR, and The Chronicle of Philanthropy among others. He has also been a speaker and presenter at conferences in Canada, the US, and Europe including Social Media for Nonprofits, AFP Congress, CyberGrants Conference, RaiseNow Inspire, and BBCON. Learn more about Brady’s speaking here.

He is also an adjunct professor at North Park University’s School of Business and Nonprofit Management, contributes to The Huffington Post, is the creator of The Good Journey Pod podcast, and is founding editor of re: charity — a top nonprofit and fundraising blog.

Brady began his career at Spark Ventures, a start-up non-profit doing development work in Zambia, after receiving his Masters in Nonprofit Administration. He oversaw fundraising and marketing there before moving to Opportunity International, the world’s largest Christian microfinance organization, where he worked in digital fundraising and then served as National Marketing Director in Canada.

Brady then helped start a digital agency working with nonprofits that eventually merged with Chimp, a technology company offering an online platform for charitable giving, where Brady worked in business development and client strategy before launching out on his own.

Brady Josephson

brady@nextafter.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradyjosephson/ Twitter @bradyjosephson https://www.nextafter.com/ https://www.facebook.com/NextAfterInc https://twitter.com/NextAfter_ https://www.linkedin.com/company/next-after/