It’s been a bumpy road for cryptocurrency over the past year. In 2021, cryptocurrency did not seem to have any limit to its heights but in 2022, the crash came. Many predicted it was the end of crypto. But 2023 has been an interesting year with the price of Bitcoin rising again. The Giving Block, a full-service crypto exchange solution provider, predicts that over $1B in cryptocurrencies will have been donated by 2027. Boston Consulting Group forecasts that the crypto market will grow significantly by 2030. 

What does this mean for the fundraising world? Opportunity! It’s a chance to raise additional funds, engage new donors who may not have been interested in philanthropy anymore, and find new ways of fundraising. It’s volatility and risks. But there are ways to mitigate and manage risk. 

By Elisa Shoenberger

Asking for a major or transformative gift is a little bit like asking someone to marry you. You’ve (likely) been dating one another for a while and know quite a bit about your respective interests. Maybe you’ve discussed marriage; perhaps you haven’t. Ideally, you have an idea that the other person will actually say “yes.”

But timing is everything. You probably don’t want to ask your beloved to marry you when they are dealing with their dying father or in front of a crowd of people if they’ve told you that public proposals are not their thing. Maybe you want to ask their father and/or mother for their hand in marriage. The way you approach the proposal may say a lot about the response.

By Elisa Shoenberger

Most of us have eaten cheese in our lives. Some of us may have grown up with American cheese, string cheese, and cheddar cheese. Maybe you’ve tried mozzarella, spreadable goat cheese, and a bleu cheese. While all of those cheeses are delicious, it can be a little intimidating to walk into the cheese aisle or a cheese shop. Suddenly there are tens, even hundreds of cheeses in all different colors and shapes. So how do you figure out what goes best on a salad or on a steak?

That’s what it might feel like when you’ve met with prospects in your portfolio. You know something about them; maybe you even requested an Aspire Snap Bio on them before meeting them. But what do you do next? How do you cultivate them towards a major gift in the next few years or so? How do you fit the cheese to the cracker or side?

Remember the first time you got behind the wheel of a car? Maybe you had taken your learner’s permit test or not; maybe you had watched your parents closely as they drove. But when facing the wheel, pedals, and all those buttons for the first time, it might have been really daunting. I was frustrated the first time I got behind the wheel; no matter what I did, I could not get the car to go. I soon realized that no one had told me to push the brake while starting the car!

Naturally, if someone is getting a donor profile for the first time, it can be a bit daunting. There are lots of sections; some filled with charts and graphs while others have lots of information. And what’s with the “likely” and “possibly” speculation?

NeonOne set out to understand what individual giving looks like in the post-pandemic world. By reviewing many sources including academic journals, industry reports, blogs, and more, they have synthesized six questions:

• Who are our donors?
• What do our donors support?
• When do our donors give?
• Where are our donors?
• Why do our donors give?
• How do our donors give?

In Neon One’s Donors: Understanding The Future of Individual Giving – Part 1, we focused on the first three questions. In this Part 2, we are focusing on the last three questions.

What is this Report?

The report is an annual report that looks at global giving focusing on three areas: helping strangers, donating money to charity and volunteering time. The report has surveyed 1.95 million people since 2009. For 2022, CAF included data from 119 countries, which was 90%+ of the total adult population on the earth.

What is this Report?

NeonOne set out to understand what individual giving looks like in the post-pandemic world. By reviewing many sources including academic journals, industry reports, blogs, and more, they have synthesized six questions:

• Who are our donors?
• What do our donors support?
• When do our donors give?
• Where are our donors?
• Why do our donors give?
• How do our donors give?

Due to the length of the report, Aspire will focus on the first three questions. The second part will be published in 2023.

What is this Report?

The Boston Consulting Group’s 22nd annual report looks at global wealth as well as the field of wealth management. Ultra-high net worth individuals are those individuals with assets over $100M.

What are key findings from the article?

• Global wealth expanded by 10.6% in 2021. It’s the fastest rate in a decade with $26 trillion in new wealth. BCG credits gains were made in corporate profits and real assets. The company noted the resiliency of wealth growth despite the pandemic and the Great Recession.

• However, BCG warns of destabilizing factors of global inflation and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Their models suggest that there would be a short-term decrease in wealth but then an average rate of growth at 5.3% through 2026. The company also expects inflation to stay high in 2022 but decrease in 2023.

• Asia-Pacific and Oceania (but not Japan) is projected to have the largest growth of 8.4% through 2026. Middle East and Africa would be next with 5.4% and then North America at 4.1%. Western Europe would drop to 4%.

• Sustainable investing is growing fast. Investors are keen on net-zero, which means that the amount of greenhouse gases produced, and gasses taken from the atmosphere are zero. Companies have a goal of becoming net zero by 2050 but investors want changes now. BCG believes that by 2026 the asset class of sustainable investing will rise be 8%-17%, a rise from 4%-11% today. Wealth managers will have to consider climate data when making recommendations for investments.

• The report noted: “Responsible investing—which loosely considers environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors—is not the same as sustainable investing.”  The report defines sustainable investing as including investing in companies with top sustainable sectors. Broader sustainable investing excludes investments that fail to sustain measures like net zero by 2050. It excludes things detrimental to the world such as weapons and war manufacturing.

• Cryptocurrency will grow 4 to 5 times bigger before 2030. BCG makes this prediction despite the recent turmoil in the sector. Although cryptocurrencies are 90% of the space, there is a growing interest in NFTs, crypto custody and insurance, mutual funds, crypto options and futures and more. BCG thinks there will be regulations in the future. Blockchain-based decentralized finance, known as DeFi, attracted more than $200 billion in assets since April 2022. Major financial institutions such as Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase have hired people in crypto-related jobs since 2018.

• Digital wealth management (WM) companies have grown significantly, attracting $14.5 billion in 2021. Digital WM uses financial technology, sometimes automation, to provide wealth management services to its customers, usually completely remotely. These are younger companies, many formed in the past 15 years. Examples include Marstone, Yield Stone, and StashAway.

What can I do as a result?

• While investors are becoming more interested in sustainability and net-zero, prospective donors might become interested in how your organization is implementing/considering these areas. Even if you aren’t a nonprofit with an environmental focus, these concerns about environmental impact are going to expand in future areas, not just the world of wealth management.

• While extremely volatile, crypto is likely here to stay. While many think we are seeing the final hemorrhaging of the cryptocurrency, it’s significant that BCG thinks it will continue. How prepared is your organization to accept it? Or has your organization made a choice not to accept it due to ethical concerns, such as environmental cost, etc.? As noted in previous blog posts, the industry is new and there will be startups that will fail and others succeed, just as we have seen with other industries.

• But cryptocurrencies and NFTs are not all there is to crypto. Decentralized finance is likely to grow, and a new class of prospects may come out of that industry with money to donate.

• With the increase in digital wealth management, more people have access to invest in private equity, private debt and pre-Initial Public Offering (IPO) participation that was originally limited to top investors. Digital WM can bundle these investments with multiple individuals. This means that more prospects may have investments, but may be using digital services instead of traditional wealth management firms.

Additional Resources

• Boston Consulting Group Global Wealth 2022 l Boston Consulting Group
• The Cryptocurrency Merry-Go-Round: Are you on? l Aspire Research Group 2021
• When Clients Take the Lead: Global Wealth 2021 l Boston Consulting Group 2021
• Are NFTs the next best fundraising opportunity? And what are they, anyway? l Aspire Research Group 2021
• The Trend That Keeps Trending: Cryptocurrency l Aspire Research Group 2022
• Aspire Research Cryptocurrency Resources l Aspire Research Group

What is this Report?

This annual Women Give report focuses on different aspects of women’s philanthropy. This year’s report looks at gender, philanthropy, and racial justice. It includes survey data given to a sample population of 2,073 in May 2021.

What are the Key Findings from the Article?

• Women have played important roles in racial justice movements and social change movements for centuries. Black women, in particular, have played significant roles in many movements but have not gotten the credit they deserve, due to both racism and sexism.
• Philanthropy is expansive; it’s not about giving money to organizations. It can include direct giving to individuals, families, communities, mutual aid as a whole, support for Minority-owned businesses, Minority institutions like Black churches, etc. The report defines three categories of giving: direct support to families and individuals impacted by racial justice; grassroots organizations like Black Lives Matter, Bail funds; and Large Established organizations like the Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Urban League.
• While corporations were lauded for giving to racial justice, The Washington Post showed that 90% of the $50 billion committed to racial justice were not grants. They tended to be loans or investments, which would benefit the corporations.
• About 1 in 7 US households gave money to racial justice causes in 2020. 42% of households support racial justice broadly, but only 14% give money to racial justice causes. There is room to grow!
• Twenty-three and half percent of households supported racial justice in the US. Support took many forms including giving money, reaching out to elected officials, donating to political candidates who support their views, volunteerism and more.
• The average racial justice donor is more likely to be younger, a woman of color, have a college degree, identify as LGBTQ+, unmarried, and working. The survey findings support the social identification theory – people are more likely to give to groups that they identify with. However, the report notes that it does not quite hold up for LGBTQ+ and race, but they may give to marginalized communities since they have been marginalized themselves.

What Can I Do as a Result?

• Remember that support does not have to be strictly donations to nonprofits. People give in many ways, which may not fit into the traditional view of philanthropy. When talking or learning about prospects, keep an ear open for volunteerism, political activism, mutual aid, religious giving, etc. Find easy and effective ways to collect and record this information in your donor database.
• Don’t forget to appeal to women and people of color. Do you know how your organization’s communications look when viewed through the eyes of women and people of color? How are you listening and responding to these populations’ needs and desires?
• Can your organization see women and people of color? Can you sort and filter for single women in your donor database? Can you create opt-in opportunities for people of color to be recorded as such in your donor database? This might look like gifts to a specific program fund or participation in certain events that demonstrate identification with or affinity for people of color.
• As the report noted, there’s room to grow with support for social justice. Organizations or programs classified in this area might want to see how they can best approach these demographic groups to expand their work and meet their philanthropic goals.

Additional Resources

• Women Give 2022: Racial Justice, Gender and Generosity l Women’s Philanthropic Institute 2022
• Women Give: The Women & Girls Index: Measuring Giving To Women’s And Girls’ Causes (December 2020) l Aspire Research Group 2020
• Book Review: Gender Matters: A Guide to Growing Women’s Philanthropy l Prospect Research Institute 2019
• Inclusive Fundraising Raises Money – That’s Why Gender Matters! | Interview with Kalthleen Loehr | Prospect Research #ChatBytes | 2019
• There are no major donors! And other surprising insights from Penelope Burk | Prospect Research Institute 2019

What is this Report?

The report is an annual report of Fidelity Charitable donor advised giving for the prior year. It explores both giving to Fidelity Charitable donor advised accounts as well as giving from donor advised funds to charities.

What are key findings from the article?

• Fidelity Charitable donors gave $10.3 billion in 2021, a 41 percent increase from pre-pandemic levels. It’s a 13 percent increase from 2020. Grants went to over 187,000 organizations.
• People gave $331 million in cryptocurrency to their donor advised funds in 2021. That’s up from $28 million in 2020! Sixty-six percent of all donations to DAFs were not-cash, including non-publicly traded assets and publicly traded securities.
• Fifty-one percent of DAFs have balances under $25K. Thirty-eight percent have balances between $25K and $250K. Eleven percent have more than $250K on their balance sheets.
• Ninety-one percent of DAFs made at least one grant in 2021. Sixty-four percent gave the grant to charities to be used “where needed most.” Forty-eight percent were re-grants; 27 percent were scheduled grants to the same organization; and 25 percent were grants to new organizations, suggesting stability in giving.
• Four percent of donors were anonymous. Fourteen percent only included the Giving Account name while 82 percent included donor name and address.
• Religion remains number one for distribution of grant dollars, followed by human services and education. Human services decreased slightly from 2020 giving. However, the organization that has received the most DAF grants was Doctors without Borders, again number 1, followed by St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and then the American National Red Cross. Some grant levels are returning to pre-pandemic levels.
• Three billion dollars was allocated to impact investments, up from $1.8 billion in 2020.
• Donors also made $11.7M of recoverable grants to charities. It’s like a loan where charities had to achieve certain milestones “before returning the funds to Fidelity Charitable for future recommendations.”

What can I do as a result?

• Make sure you advertise that your organization accepts gifts from DAFs. A campaign to target donor advised funds might be another option. There’s a lot of money flowing in and out of donor advised funds. Plus, we know that recurring donations are a real boon to nonprofits. With 75 percent of donations from DAFs going to charities that had already received prior gifts, there’s a real opportunity of turning a one-time gift into a recurring one!
• Thank your donor advised fund donors. The report confirms that only 4 percent are completely anonymous. Send thank you’s and make phone calls to this segment, provided they have not asked you not to contact them. Just because they give through a gift vehicle, that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t appreciate that special touch. It might make the difference between that one-time gift and a yearly one.
• Advertise if your organization can convert non-cash assets. With 66 percent of all donations to DAFs as non-cash assets, people are looking for a way to donate these hard-to-convert items. If your organization can deal with these assets, you should let people know. That way, they could come to you instead of creating a DAF.
• While DAFs have their controversies, they are here to stay. The time to get ready to accept donor advised funds is now.

Additional Resources

• Fidelity Charitable 2022 Giving Report l Fidelity Charitable 2022
• The Cryptocurrency Merry-Go-Round: Are you on? l Aspire Research 2021
• Donor Advised Funds: Research and the Big Picture| iWave Webinar with Jen Filla | 2020 | 1 hour
• Donor Advised Funds: Two Surprising Global Facts | Jennifer Filla Blog | 2021