The Importance of Research in Non-Profit

To perform successful research it is important to have a research plan.  A research plan begins with having an objective or a goal and then seeking a strategy to best meet that objective.  After you seek a successful strategy, you need to execute the research with a specific research method.  There are a number of methods to choose from; quantitative, empirical, experimental, qualitative and historical are all research methods that you can use to conduct research.  After you have chosen a research method and executed the research, you have to look at the results.  The results of your research will give you a greater insight into the topic you are studying, and give you the knowledge you need to complete your research.

For any business to be successful it is essential that they perform various amounts of research.  In the case of non-profits it is extremely important to conduct research, because they are constantly trying to bring in more money and in order to do this they must know what demographics to reach.  A recent study was done to identify the donors in non-profit corporations by age and demographics.  The findings of the report “Heart of the Donor, Insights into Donor Motivation and Behavior for the 2st century,” concluded that boomers and older donors  are the most valuable givers and more likely to respond to mail solicitation.  This study used the quantitative research method, where they used a survey to figure out what demographic was the most popular.  The researchers came to the conclusion that boomers and older donors were more likely to donate by analyzing the research that they had conducted. 

“The survey reveals that people who typically don’t give to charities will respond to calls for help following a disaster, such as the recent Hatiatian earthquake.  Of those who gave aid to victims, 30 percent said they hadn’t given any money to a nonprofit in the previous year, including 16 percent of respondents that survey described as “determined non-givers.”- Bruce Trachtenberg.  These findings showed another side of donors, they are more likely to respond after a disaster.  These findings can be extremely useful to a non-profit employee, you learn more about the audience and when they are more likely to donate. Overall this article showed a different side of donors that non-profit corporations may not have known before.  It is important for non-profits to understand the importance of research, and understand what demographics they need to reach in order to run a successful business.

In my opinion non-profit organizations should focus a good portion of their time on research.  Large corporate companies do not rely on donations to keep their business running, but non-profit's rely solely on their donors.  In order to be successful they must learn more about their audience and figure out what it is that draws their attention.  To keep a successful non-profit business running they need to spend a good portion of their time and money on research, in the end they will be saving money and reaching a more direct demographic.