WealthEngine Best Practices in Higher Education for Prospect ...

Emerging Trend: Social Media for
Fundraising and Research in Higher
Education
Social media was manifested among colleges and universities
more than a decade ago and has since embedded itself
as a critical piece of fundraising activity and alumni engagement.
Savvy institutions are applying multichannel social
media research and cultivation approaches to enhance their
understanding of donors and prospects, especially to pinpoint
solicitation timing, affiliation and validate gift capacity.
Some of the most popular multichannel approaches include
the use of web-based sites for blogging, social networking,
video sharing and other interactive, community building
forums.
A survey of more than 22,000 donors (17,600 from the US)
by Cygnus Applied Research, Inc. found that 69% of respondents
have at least one social media account but that the
majority (57%) of those account holders do not follow any
charities despite identifying themselves as active donors.
Showing promise, 19% of those surveyed with social media
accounts have made a first-time gift after following a nonprofit
online. There is great value to using social media for
fundraising, especially among younger populations. Of the
donors under the age of 35 in the survey, 88% had a
Facebook account and it is increasingly common for donors
over 35 to have at least one account as well 1 .
Development officers and prospect researchers alike use
social media to uncover and validate lifestyle, demographic
and family/friend details that can become key identifiers of a
person’s interest and ability to support the institution. In an
effort to uncover best practices, WealthEngine conducted a
survey in June and July 2011 on fundraising and the use of
social media. With nearly 1,300 completed surveys, educational
institutions represented the largest pool of responders
(530), corresponding to 41% of those surveyed.
Social Media Defined
Social media (or social networking) includes all forms
of online publishing and discussion, including but
not limited to: blogs, wikis, file-sharing, user-generated
video and audio, social networks and other
social networking applications.
The four most popular social media networks for fundraising/prospect
research include Facebook, Twitter,
LinkedIn and YouTube.
Survey Findings
Respondents shared their workflow for conducting prospect
research and the point of entry for social media. On average,
the majority spends 30-80% of their time on fee-based
online services like WealthEngine, Lexis Nexis, and other providers.
They then may use search engines like Google or Bing
to research a prospect; moving on to a single-source free
site, such as local news or a tax accessor and finally migrating
to social networking sites like LinkedIn or Facebook.
Figure Int.1: Common workflow for prospect research and the application of
social media.
Most large institutions use social media on a regular basis
for their research; while 36.6% of education respondents
use it daily or more frequently for various purposes:
Once a week
Several times a day
Once a day
Once a month
Less than once a month
Never
Not sure
6.8%
5.7%
12.9%
11.6%
19.7%
16.9%
26.5%
0.0% 20.0% 40.0%
Figure Int.2: Usage of social media as a resource as indicated by 530 education
survey respondents
1 Cyngus Applied Research, Inc. (2011). The Cygnus Donor Survey… Where Philanthropy is Headed in 2011 by Penelope Burk. Retrieved from
www.cygresearch.com.
Best Practices for Prospect Research in Higher Education Fundraising - 2nd Ed. | 1