Major Donors, Mid Majors & Online Giving

Given that I'm more familiar with General Donors, among whom even Gen X and Y donors report only haven given online to the tune of 25% or so, I was a bit surprised to read this summary of a Convio report. Major Donors apparently give online, big-time:

* 51 percent of those surveyed said they prefer giving online, and 46
percent said that five years from now they will be making a greater portion of
their charitable gifts online.
* 40 percent of those surveyed said that most charity Web sites made them
feel personally connected to their cause or mission.
* 74 percent of those surveyed said it was appropriate for the charity to
send an e-mail reminding them to renew an annual gift.
* 74 percent of those surveyed said an e-mail from the charity about how
their donation was spent and what happened as a result would make them more
likely to give again.
* 65 percent of those surveyed said they always open and glance at e-mails
from causes they support.

No doubt General Donors will eventually get there, and - again given the Consumer Electronics Tech Adoption Cycle - get there sooner rather than later. We need to invest such that we can be ready to maximize the opportunity.

More urgently, we need to be thinking about our Mid Major Donors, many of whom fit the lower end of the profile from the Convio study. Our Mid Major Donor performance plummeted in FY08. Now, it was the first year that we didn't have a MMD manager. But, even when we did, that individual only managed maybe 15%-20% of the MMDs. And the methods used were distinctively offline.

So ... what to do? Looking for good ideas here. We have a number of online strategies in our previously-linked 3 year plan. But should any be specifically designed for MMDs?

(H/T Debbie L at BKV)