NPTtv Summary: A Chat With Nora Ortiz Frederick

Note: This is a summary of a story from the newest webcast of The NonProfit Times TV. To view the video of this story in full, follow the links in this post.

Religious donors are one of the biggest contributors in the country and, as a result, religious charities are receive some of the biggest contributions.  However, this doesn't mean that religious donors only give to these types of organizations.  Nora Ortiz Frederick, Associate Director of Stewardship and Development at the Archdiocese of Anchorage, recently talked with The NonProfit Times TV about how secular charities can attract this important donor base.

According to Frederick, for every dollar that a religious donor gives to a religious charity, they give 86 cents to a non-religious organization. She goes on to say that as long as this individual feels that contributing to a particular secular charity will help them act on some of their deeply held beliefs, they will be "more than happy" to donate.  So how, exactly, can these organizations convince them of this?

Luckily, Ms. Frederick has some tips to help secular nonprofits get on the right track to accomplish the goal of getting religious donors. First of all, she says that it’s important to treat religious donors as just another segment of the population. With this in mind, secular organizations need to figure out ways on how they can market themselves that would appeal to religious donors. She uses the example of Christian donors, who make up about 86% of that group, and how a non profit should try to see how their organization might be viewed as a ministry to them. She also suggests that they should let donors list their place of worship in their relational database, as this will make them feel like that the organization is open to their beliefs.

To view the full interview with Nora Ortiz Frederick, visit the NPTtv website.