Picture This:
Top Charities Master Visual and Social Media
Presented by:
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research
Conducted by:
Advanced Marketing Research Class
Spring, 2014
Picture This: Top Charities Master Visual and Social Media
Introduction
The Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
recently conducted an in-depth statistically valid study on the usage of social media by
the top charities and nonprofit organizations in the United States. The study was
conducted using the 2013 Philanthropy 400 list.
The Philanthropy 400 is a list that ranks the top 400 charities and nonprofit organizations
in the United States. The list is based on the donations the charities and nonprofits raise
from private support. The rankings reflect cash and product donations as well as stock,
land, and other gifts from individuals, corporations, and foundations. It is designed to
show which charities and nonprofit organizations appeal most to donors.
For complete details on the Philanthropy 400 ranking of charities and nonprofit
organizations, please visit their website at http://www.Philanthropy.com.
In this study, the 2013 list of the Philanthropy 400 was examined. Because the list
includes large nonprofits along with cause-related charities, the decision was made to
exclude the category of colleges and universities from the study in order to focus on the
more popular and traditional definition of charities and nonprofits. The original list of
400 includes 113 colleges and universities.
Besides the more traditional charities that rely on a broad pool of donations from
Americans at all income levels, the list does include organizations that create charitable
funds for donors and those that depend on America’s wealthiest philanthropists. These
groups were included in this study. Our final sample includes 86% or 246 of the
remaining charities after removing colleges and universities.
The research presented here was conducted using two approaches, internet searches and
telephone interviews. First, the homepages of the organizations were inspected to identify
which social media tools were being used and which social media sites were accessible
with direct links from the homepages. If no links were located from the homepage, a
search was done both on and off their site looking for evidence of social media usage.
The second level of research involved nationwide telephone surveys of 129 of those
organizations. All interviews took place in the spring of 2014, under the direction of
researcher Dr. Nora Ganim Barnes.
The data that follows are based on homepage reviews, internet searches and detailed
interviews with administrators of the organizations from top charities in the United
States. The organizations that participated are diverse in many ways including their
missions, size and total private support they receive. Their headquarters span the entire
United States. The information in this study is based on data received from some of the
most well known charities and nonprofits in the country including the YMCA, Habitat for
Humanity, American Red Cross, and the American Cancer Society.
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On the 2013 Philanthropy 400 list, the number 2, 3, and 4 charities listed, Fidelity
Charitable, The Salvation Army, and The Task Force for Global Health, participated in
telephone surveys and are included in the study which features information on 63 of the
top 100 charities identified on the list. This statistically valid study takes an
unprecedented look at the use of social media tools among these savvy motivators.
The 129 social media administrators that responded to telephone interviews were asked a
variety of questions about their charities social media usage. The study looked in-depth at
how social media usage is trending among them. Detailed questions were asked about
staffing their social media efforts, having a written social media policy for employees, as
well as how social media effectiveness is measured within their organizations. Questions
were asked about the organizations usage of many of the most popular platforms and
what the main objective is of these efforts.
Highlights of the study include:

98% of charities are using at least one form of social media.

97% are using some type of video to help inspire their audience.

72% have boards on Pinterest and 50% are posting on Instagram.

72% have a written social media policy for employees.

81% cite awareness as their main objective online.

89% write their own original content for their platforms.

45% use social media
employees/volunteers.

83% monitor the Internet for buzz, posts, conversations and news about their
organization.
tools
to
recruit
and
evaluate
potential
The full report follows.
Infographic available at www.umassd.edu/cmr/socialmediaresearch
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Nine of the charities and nonprofits studied jumped 100 places or more on the
Philanthropy 400 list for 2013 compared with just one year earlier. These include the San
Francisco Museum of Modern Art (moving up 266 spots), the Wounded Warrior Project
(moving up 148 spots) and the American Endowment Foundation (moving up 147 spots).
Charity Name
San Francisco Museum of
Modern Art
Wounded Warrior Project
American Endowment
Foundation
Omaha Community
Foundation
Birthright Israel Foundation
Greater Kansas City
Community Foundation
Climate Works
National Public Radio
Children's Hunger Fund
2013 Rank
2012 Rank
Change
122
149
388
297
266
148
174
321
147
187
214
325
339
138
125
33
135
288
169
155
257
392
272
122
122
104
103
Ninety-eight percent of the charities studied are using at least one form of social media.
Most use several. Eighty-one percent link their social media to their homepages,
providing immediate access to all their outlets. In addition to those graphed below, other
tools used include Vimeo, Flickr, iTunes, MySpace, Scribd and SlideShare. Many
provide RSS, e-newsletters and mobile apps.
For these successful nonprofits, YouTube, web video and video blogs are the tools of
choice for communicating with their constituencies with 97% using some type of video to
help inspire their audience. Facebook enjoys popularity with 92% using it and Twitter is
used by 86% of the charities studied. While these three platforms have strong usage
across many sectors, it is interesting that nearly 3 in 4 of these nonprofits have boards on
Pinterest and half are posting on Instagram.
Studies on social media in the business sector (Inc. 500 and Fortune 500) show much
lower levels of usage of these particular tools even though their usage is increasing
dramatically each year. Clearly, there is a significant boost through visual media and
these causes are maximizing that. Some of the newer tools like Vine and SnapChat are
also being used.
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Does your organization use this social media tool?
100%
90%
97%
92%
86%
72%
80%
57% 57%
70%
52% 50%
60%
41%
50%
40%
30%
9%
20%
9%
3%
10%
0%
A common measure of effectiveness on Facebook is the number of Facebook Fans an
organization has. National Public Radio enjoys over 3.6 million fans on Facebook, over
a million more than the second place US Olympic Committee. The Humane Society, St.
Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, the Wounded Warrior Project the American Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the others listed below, all enjoy over a
million fans on Facebook.
Charity
NPR
United States Olympic Committee
Samaritan's Purse
The Humane Society of the United States
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
The Wounded Warrior Project
Heritage Foundation
American Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals
Autism Speaks
Focus on the Family
Facebook Fans
3,618,240
2,581,471
1,926,844
1,914,244
1,514,052
1,482,617
1,415,972
1,271,316
1,227,633
1,094,620
A new metric was added to Facebook in October, 2012. “People Talking About This” is
the number of unique users who have created a “story” about a page in a seven-day
period. On Facebook, stories are items that display in News Feeds. People Talking
About This is an important metric because it emphasizes interactions beyond an initial
Facebook Like. Pages that create posts that fans enjoy will benefit. When people interact
with pages in ways that generate stories, pages reach an audience beyond their existing
fan base. Again, National Public Radio leads the way with over 500,000 engaging with
the organization on Facebook.
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Charity
NPR
Heritage Foundation
Autism Speaks
Focus on the Family
United Nations Foundation
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
George W. Bush Foundation
Cleveland Clinic Foundation
Talking About
512,789
382,131
189,887
157,602
77,365
59,961
56,190
54,790
51,364
48,739
Twitter followers provide an important metric both internally and externally. Of the
organizations studied, the Metropolitan Opera Association and the Wounded Warrior
Project have the most followers, both with over 96,000.
Charity
Metropolitan Opera Association
The Wounded Warrior Project
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
American Diabetes Association
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Endangered Species Conservation - World
Wildlife Fund
Boston Children’s Hospital
The Humane Society of the United States
Followers
96,900
96,100
68,700
63,600
43,400
39,100
25,300
24,200
Many of the charities studied appear to be a prolific tweeter. The Natural Resource
Defense Council leads the way with over 39,000 tweets. The Heritage Foundation is
second with 37,300.
Charity
Natural Resource Defense Council
Heritage Foundation
KQED
Brookings Institution
American Society for Prevention of Cruelty
to Animals
Human Rights Watch
Humane Society of the US
CARE
Tweets
39,100
37,300
26,900
23,535
20,800
19,800
19,800
18,700
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Administrators were asked if their organization had a written policy governing the use of
social media by their employees. Seventy-two percent of them report having such a
policy. This is an important step in avoiding online crisis and firestorms often started by
employees inadvertently causing havoc on social media.
Charities and nonprofits use social media to increase the awareness of their mission.
Eighty-one percent cited awareness as their main objective online. Generating donations,
soliciting volunteers and hiring employees all followed.
How important is social media to your charity to
achieve the following?
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
81%
40%
35%
17%
Increase
Awareness
Generating
Donations
Soliciting
Volunteers
Hiring New
Employees
Even though generating donations is not the primary intent of their social media use, it is
essential for their organizations to raise money. When asked how useful these new
communications tools are specifically for raising money, 7 out of 10 felt they were useful
while an additional 18% felt they were of limited use. Eleven percent did not feel that
social media was useful for raising money for their organization.
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How would you describe the use of social media for raising money for your
charity?
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
33%
38%
18%
11%
1%
Very
Useful
Somewhat
Useful
Of Limited
Use
Not Very
Useful
Don't Know/
No
Response
Charities and nonprofits were asked about all the different ways they provide content to
their constituencies. Eighty-nine percent of those studied write their own original content
for their platforms. Nearly half report gathering it from other sites. Sixteen percent
purchase content for their platforms. Those doing other things mentioned linking to other
content.
Where do you get the content from your online communications?
89%
100%
80%
60%
46%
40%
16%
7%
20%
0%
Write original
content
Gather it from
other sites
Purchase
Content
Other
When asked how the social media efforts are managed, most had some internal people
involved in these efforts. Thirteen percent had outside agencies that managed the social
media of the organization. Some indicated they used volunteers or that their headquarters
managed all social media.
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How Are Your Social Media Efforts Managed?
100%
69%
80%
60%
40%
40%
13%
10%
20%
0%
Internally
IT/CITS
Internally
Marketing/PR
Outside
Agency
Other
Measuring effectiveness of social media is critical to any organization. Popular metrics
used by these top-performing nonprofits include hits, comments, posts, fans and
followers. Some of the organizations studied use donations and publicity as indicators of
effectiveness.
How do you measure the effectiveness of your social media?
100%
90%
80%
70%
74%
67%
62%
58%
58%
60%
50%
40%
47%
34%
30%
20%
15%
10%
0%
It is clear that charities are prolific users of social media. The next question is: Are they
listening to what’s being said about them online? Eighty-three percent report that they
monitor the Internet for buzz, posts, conversations and news about their organization.
These organizations realize the importance of knowing what conversation might occur
around their cause, their name, their location or constituents. They automate their
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searches using Google Alerts and use platforms like Radiant6, HooteSuite and Google
Analytics to better assess their impact.
Forty-five percent of the organizations studied report using social media tools to recruit
and evaluate potential employees/volunteers. Those groups use Google searches,
LinkedIn as well as Twitter and Facebook to garner information for potential positions.
Top charities have mastered the use of social media to reach out to stakeholders,
campaign on behalf of their organizations and build valuable relationships. They let their
supporters know through YouTube, web and blog videos, Facebook, Twitter and the rest
of the social web, all the good that their charity is doing. They utilize extensive visuals
beyond YouTube, Pinterest and Instagram to tell their story. They provide original
content and make it sharable. These savvy nonprofits are an inspiration to those looking
for social media best practices. For constituents, seeing the cause played out in visual
form is powerful, moving and effective.
Nora Ganim Barnes is a Chancellor Professor of Marketing and Director of the Center for
Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Nora has worked as a
consultant for many national and international firms. Working closely with businesses in the
Northeast US, Nora and her students have provided marketing research assistance to hundreds of
small businesses.
She has published articles in academic and professional journals and proceedings, has contributed
chapters to books, and has been awarded numerous research grants. Her work has been covered
online and in print by Business Week, the NY Times, Washington Post, CNN, Reuters, Wall
Street Journal, Fox News and Computer World among others. She has been named Co-chair of
Research by the Society for New Communications Research.
Nora is a frequent speaker at corporate meetings and keynote at conferences and can be reached
at nbarnes@umassd.edu.
About the Center for Marketing Research
The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research provides high
quality, affordable marketing assistance utilizing Center staff, faculty, students, and expert
practitioners. The Center offers focus groups, market analysis, customer satisfaction studies,
feasibility studies, new product development, branding, promotion/packaging and customized
projects and interdisciplinary studies. The Center also has state-of-the-art online survey
capability.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank those that made this report possible. The charities who
responded to this survey were candid and generous with their comments. Special thanks are also
owed to the students from the Advanced Marketing Research class at University of Massachusetts
Dartmouth for their assistance and dedication to this project.
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