We are beginning to think about engagement in terms of is it social or is it mobile? If our nonprofit goes social and mobile, we believe we will connect with the new generations of donors. It must be true since that is all that we hear about.

It takes much more than the latest technology flavor of the year to reach Generation X or Y or Baby Boomers for that matter. It takes a passion to understand and be empathetic.

We all long to be known, remembered and served. That said, a number of our  donors influence others and are influenced in ways that we don’t quite understand. Donors are connecting and sharing in ways that allow them to learn, discover, share and make decisions that are different than anything we have seen before.

So why wouldn’t being on Facebook and Twitter along with having a mobile application clinch our future relevance for our mission? The answer lies in seeing the donor journey as an ecosystem not a specific isolated channel.

We need, and our donors want, a holistic experience where all the pieces play nice together. What good does it do to have a bad donor experience because my credit card was charged twice to be helped by a pleasant call center representative? One bad experience and then a good one but I don’t hear from you except when you want me to buy again. Really?

What is different now is that the whole generational range (Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y, etc.) of donors are connected. In our previous example, the frustrated donor posted a comment on Facebook when their credit card got charged twice. That is what their friends saw and remembered. All the devices they are on are more than just devices, they are becoming an extension of who they are. While this is data, 48% of 18 to 34 year olds checked Facebook when they get up and 28% did so before they got out of bed.

What is important is that the ecosystem is held together by the connected donor who needs it to be consistent. While there are generational differences, the commonality is the constant connectivity across multiple devices. This is bigger than a demographic as so many are embracing a digital lifestyle.

This transcends age, income, ethnicity, and education. The connected donor does not surf the web like other donors. They live in a totally social world (online) and use all of their devices as a window to how they live. They do not learn like their non-digital counterparts. They fully embrace many communities which cut across demographics.

The generation of connected donors is vastly different than any segment you have addressed in the past. What you know about “direct response” will not help you here. “Open rates” may mean nothing any longer. What you think the connected donor may want and what they really value are probably worlds apart. They are always on and to reach them takes a different approach all together.

We tend to think about size of a market differently than think about connected donors that cut across traditional markets. We tend to think about how to reach Baby Boomers or how to reach Gen Y’s or how to reach Millennials. What does it mean when you layer in how to engage connected donors who cut across all those generations? The unconnected donor segment (across all generations) is shrinking and the connected donor is rapidly growing.

Since markets are shifting, think about your strategies. Are they being refreshed fast enough? Are you investing in small, fast tests to engage in new ways with the connected donor? On a daily basis, nonprofit leaders need to place more emphasis on the connected donor. This includes leading the charge to learn new skills, structure staff differently, and invest more in marketing technology.

Which side of the changing demographics do you want to on? The shrinking side or the growing side?