Wired Wealthy: The Rich Like YouTube?

Convio, SeaChange Strategies, and Edge Research recently released "The Wired Wealthy: Using the Internet to Connect with Your Middle and Major Donors", a fascinating look at how middle and major donors use the Web and donate online. The study surveyed donors with with email addresses who had given more than $1,000 online during an 18-month period.  The report breaks the surveyed population into three smaller groups: the "all business" donors, the "casual connectors", and the "relationship seekers", or folks who really want to build affinity with an organization online. This "emotionally connected" group made up 29% of the surveyed population, a big target for your organization to reach out to online.

Other interesting demographic notes about these high net-worth individuals (HNWI):

• 84% earn more than $100,000 annually
• 87% have a college education
• The average age is 51 years old
• 18 hours per week spent online
• 90% make purchases online
• 52% use YouTube; 16% use LinkedIn, 9% use Facebook

Your organization should download this report and decide how these HNWI survey results and figures will change your strategy. A few things can immediately change:

• Your Major Gifts group needs to communicate with these donors online, not just through dead-tree media and phone calls
• Use video on your site, preferably your homepage
• Site logins, segmented newsletters and appeals, and personalized messages should be standard issue for your website and messages with anyone who gives over $1,000
• Set your site giving levels with $1,000 or higher tiers (57% of those organizations who participated in the survey said they have received gifts at this level and above).

Ultimately, you should treat all your donors with respect and try to personalize communications. However, if you've often just siphoned off big donors from your CRM and separated them from the online world, then think again. The wealthy are wired, indeed.