Getting Personal

What do an 86 year old grandmother, a 44 year old father of two and a young professional in her 20’s have in common?

Give up?

Not surprising, as the best answer is likely “not much”. 

For many charities though, the simple fact that these different types of people make gifts to their organizations is often reason enough to lump them together and treat them in the same way.

Mass marketing, which is the attempt to appeal to an entire market with one marketing strategy, has long been the standard outside of major gifts programs. Also called undifferentiated marketing, it is no longer sufficient to build loyalty and retain donors in today’s world of increasing competition for the charitable dollar. And generation and gender are only two of myriad differentiating characteristics of donors, that can include geographic location, ethnicity and, perhaps of utmost importance when it comes to charities, motivation for giving.