Giving Trends with Jacob O'Connor

06/21/21 • 27 min

Small Nonprofit: Fundraising Tips, Leadership Strategies, and Community-Centric Solutions

How have donors been giving this past year? And what’s the outlook for the future of giving? On today’s podcast episode, Jacob O’Connor, Vice President of Engagement at CanadaHelps, comes to share with us the latest giving trends published in CanadaHelps’ 2021 Giving Report.

Jacob’s highlights of 2021 giving trends

Charities are adopting digital giving rapidly. During the pandemic, online giving grew 86% while overall giving decreased by 10%. While many charities needed to put a stop to their in-person fundraising efforts, they are seeing significant growth to their online giving. There is huge potential for charities that have not yet adopted online giving to make that shift.
Young donors are giving to causes they deeply care about. Young donors who don’t necessarily have a very high income have stepped up in major ways during this pandemic. Not only are they giving to individual charities, they are also donating to cause based funds that will benefit a larger number of charities.
Because of the diversification of donors, important issues and sectors are being supported in more significant ways. For instance, we’re seeing an increase for individual donation to Indigenous charities and arts and cultural sector

Favourite Quotes from Today’s Episode

Post your favourite quote on social media to share with us!

“Young people are really engaged with the issues that are top of mind right now, and that's playing out across the board in all the given trends.”

“From a financial perspective, the shift from big checks to community-based giving is much more sustainable and less volatile, when you have 1000 donors versus one funder as your source of funding.”

Resources from this Episode

The Good Partnership

Connect with Jacob on LinkedIn

Read The 2021 Giving Report by CanadaHelps

Liked this episode? Have an idea? Send us a text HERE :)

Take just two minutes to find out where you stand with our burnout check quiz: burnoutcheck.paperform.co
Get clarity with 10 simple questions. Your answers will reveal how burned out you are, and more importantly, what to do next.

Support the show

Jacob’s highlights of 2021 giving trends

Charities are adopting digital giving rapidly. During the pandemic, online giving grew 86% while overall giving decreased by 10%. While many charities needed to put a stop to their in-person fundraising efforts, they are seeing significant growth to their online giving. There is huge potential for charities that have not yet adopted online giving to make that shift.
Young donors are giving to causes they deeply care about. Young donors who don’t necessarily have a very high income have stepped up in major ways during this pandemic. Not only are they giving to individual charities, they are also donating to cause based funds that will benefit a larger number of charities.
Because of the diversification of donors, important issues and sectors are being supported in more significant ways. For instance, we’re seeing an increase for individual donation to Indigenous charities and arts and cultural sector

Favourite Quotes from Today’s Episode

Post your favourite quote on social media to share with us!

“Young people are really engaged with the issues that are top of mind right now, and that's playing out across the board in all the given trends.”

Resources from this Episode

The Good Partnership

Connect with Jacob on LinkedIn

Read The 2021 Giving Report by CanadaHelps

Liked this episode? Have an idea? Send us a text HERE :)

Support the show

Previous Episode

creating our future with André Pawan Vashist

How can we actively create the future we want to see beyond the COVID-19 pandemic? On today’s podcast, André Pawan Vashist, ecosystem facilitator, system solution designer, and seasoned nonprofit leader, shares with us his insights on how to move from a transactional way of thinking and doing to bringing about transformational changes in our sector and in our society as a whole.

André’s insights on how we move beyond the COVID-19 pandemic

Move beyond transactional based processes. Recognize the limit of the transactional processes (like a grant application for funding) in our system and assess how they can better reflect relationships and perspectives from different communities.
Actively learn different ways of knowing and thinking. To bring about transformational changes, We must learn not only the different ways of doing but also the different ways of knowing. In the episode, Audre gives the example of learning from Indigenous communities and how they view ways of knowing.
Hold space to heal our intersectional identities. We see through experiences from our different lived experiences and identify. It is important to not only recognize the different identities and perspectives that co-exist, but also celebrate that identities are intrinsically intersectional.
Increase transparency and openness. Say goodbye to job postings that don’t disclose salary range. Question the lack of transparency and what kind of structure and value they try to uphold that no longer fit into the equitable world we want to see.

Favourite Quotes from Today’s Episode

Post your favourite quote on social media to share with us!

“To go from transactional to transformation - in the middle of that is our relationships”

“Revisit what it means to be an actor in society and not having to always be structured within a hierarchical organizational structure, it's okay to have those structures because they’re foundational in terms of holding space and resources, but they also interact in terms of transformation that requires actors moving in between those spaces"

Resources from this Episode

The Good Partnership

Connect with André

Liked this episode? Have an idea? Send us a text HERE :)

Support the show

Next Episode

Finding your voice with Lucia Cesaroni

Do you get butterflies in your stomach before making a big pitch or presentation? To end the season off, we invited Lucia Cesaroni, world renowned opera singer and voice consultant, to share with us how to find our own voice and project it with confidence and ease.

Myths that Lucia wants us to walk away from

“I get nervous before presenting because I am not good at it.” Everyone gets nervous. We’re biologically wired to get nerves before a big presentation. Our brain perceives the presentation as a threat. Our nerves are a signal that our brain is trying to protect us from danger.
“I am not an extrovert and so I am not good at presenting.” Despite the fact that we’re often informed by the assumption extroverted people are better at public speaking, finding your own voice and projecting your voice is not related to introversion or extroversion.

Lucia’s tips on preparing the body and mind for presenting

Do some breathing exercises to find your own voice modulation. We often subconsciously model our voice after our role models or what society projects as our role models, without realizing that we have a tonal range and voice modulation that we can explore and leverage according to different situations. Tune into the breathing exercises that Lucia shares on the podcast to explore the different possibilities of your own voice.
Stretch to take up more space. When you stretch, you will find that your body naturally sits up a little straighter and taller. When you take up more space, your voice will project with more confidence and the receiver of your voice will feel your presence.
Take time before responding. Whether you are making a big speech, or responding to comments in an intense meeting, make sure you take pauses. Take a second to bring back awareness to your body and breathing. Take a second to feel your grounding, whether you’re sitting or standing.

Favourite Quotes from Today’s Episode

Post your favourite quote on social media to share with us!

“When our brain, mostly incorrectly, perceives a high pressure situation as a threat, adrenaline rises, certain chemicals are released. What we need to do is to learn to reroute that process, and that requires body awareness, vocal awareness and mental focus, mindful preparedness, and coping strategies.”

“When we are confronted with a challenging situation, we have to focus on body first and brain second.”

Resources from this Episode

The Good Partnership

Find Lucia at Cesaroni Consulting

Liked this episode? Have an idea? Send us a text HERE :)

Support the show