Percent of College-Educated Donors by Nonprofit Sector

Three-quarters of donors to arts organizations (performing arts, museums and gardens) have a four-year degree or more. Excluding donors to educational institutions, arts donors represent the highest educated group of donors.

Only 26% of the general US population has attained a bachelor’s degree or higher. In comparison, a little more than half of the US donor population (55%) have four-year degrees or more. A similar proportion of donors to faith-based organization (54%) have at least a bachelor’s degree as well.

Donors to international relief-and-development organizations and to health/hospital organizations are only slightly less educated, with 52% having a four-year degree or more.

The findings show how well-educated donors are in general and how education levels vary slightly by nonprofit sector. Armed with such information, nonprofit organizations can better tailor their communications with donors to reflect their higher levels of education. The results were compiled using data from 45 recent studies conducted by Campbell Rinker representing about 13,000 respondents.

To view a graph relevant to this story, CLICK HERE.

What Request Medium do Donors Respond to Best?

Another compilation of recent donor surveys conducted nationwide indicates a strong preference among donors concerning how they respond to donation requests. The clear winner, not surprisingly, is direct mail. Four out of 10 donors (42%) donated to a direct mail appeal in the last 12 months.

Other top mediums donors responded to include workplace campaigns (33%) and personal, face-to-face requests (32%). About a quarter of the donors surveyed (23%) gave to a request over the phone during the past year.

In terms of broadcast media, about 14% of the donors interviewed gave to a TV ad during the last 12 months and another 12% gave in response to a radio ad.

Only 3% said they gave a gift in response to an online request in the past year.

These results were compiled using data from three recent national studies conducted by Campbell Rinker, representing about 1,700 respondents.

To view a graph relevant to this story, CLICK HERE.

CLICK HERE to subscribe to this newsletter.

DonorSpeakT is a free publication of Campbell Rinker, a market research firm dedicated to helping organizations obtain accurate feedback from their constituents through surveys, focus groups, personal interviews, donor file analysis and advanced statistical modeling.