Expanding Your Circle of Giving to Include the Hispanic Market
Untapped Audience
As the diversification of the U.S. continues at a rapid rate, so too does philanthropy, which creates the need for multicultural fundraising that resonates with all donors. With a population buying power of $1.9 trillion, the potential for investment in expanding your circle of giving into the Hispanic market is tremendous.
United States Hispanic Population (2021)
By 2060, the Hispanic population is estimated to be 28% of the total U.S. population.
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As one of the fastest-growing groups with a high purchasing power and their charitable giving nature, the U.S. Hispanic population represents an evergrowing opportunity to engage and build donor-giving programs.
A national household survey conducted by the Lily Foundation reported that approximately 67% of Hispanic Americans surveyed gave a charitable gift, and 61% of those gifts were given to help strangers in a given year.
And although the Hispanic population demonstrates a high propensity to give, it has also been reported that they are not asked for donations as frequently in comparison to the White population.
As in the commercial industry where companies have reaped the benefits from Hispanic-targeted marketing campaigns, there is an untapped opportunity for nonprofits to authentically engage with the Hispanic population and convert them into loyal, long-term donors.
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Hispanics control $1.9 trillion in buying power, but they are less likely to be solicited by fundraisers.
Understanding the Hispanic Community
Hispanic cultural competency is essential in building trust with the Hispanic community. As a highly contextual culture, Hispanics are predominantly collectivists who commonly set their individualistic needs aside in favor of the collective harmonious existence and needs of their community.
Understanding the identity, core values, and characteristics of the Hispanic population is key in building trust and culturally relevant fundraising campaigns.
Identity
Hispanic Americans feel strong personal connections to both their cultural heritage and American identity.
Core Values
U.S. Hispanics identify with four key cultural values: family, faith, food, and music.
Language
Not all Hispanics speak Spanish, and those who do might not speak Spanish everywhere.
Media Consumption
The Hispanic audience selected smartphones followed by laptops and smart TVs as their top Internet connection devices.
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Data shows that the Hispanic audience adopts new technologies rapidly. Overall, their media consumption and digital behaviors involve staying connected to their community, current events, friends or brands, which speaks to the overwhelming opportunity for nonprofit organizations to reach, engage with, and acquire Hispanic donors.
78% of U.S. Hispanic households have at least one video streaming service.
60% of Hispanics are Digital Natives. Hispanics watch 20% more digital video than U.S. average.
100% of the 50+ age segment listen to local radio.
60% 78% 20% 100%
Working Together to Build Your Omnichannel Hispanic Program
Edge Direct and the Neuro-Fundraising® Lab conducted market research to better understand the cultural, language, and media preferences of the Hispanic community.
Our strategy to cultivate and identify Hispanic donors is exclusively data-driven across all channels. To nurture existing Hispanic donors, we help our clients create hyper-personalized experiences with culturally relevant and engaging direct-response campaigns. To grow a Hispanic omnichannel program, we use a mix of cooperative databases, rental lists, and donor lists from other likeminded organizations to build customized dynamic data models that identify high-ranking prospective Hispanic donors by language preference to receive a campaign in either English or Spanish.
Audience Growth Strategy
To truly connect with the Hispanic community, nonprofits must incorporate cultural nuances and core values into campaign creative and omnichannel strategies. From our experience, we recommend considering:
Language Preference
Grammar
Tense Consistency
Proper Tonality
Relevent Imagery & Storytelling
Content Strategy
This is an example of focusing on your constituent experience. Relevant messages get seen, heard, read, and retained; less relevant ones do not. That’s why it is important to know the right donor journey for each donor.
We recommend a data-driven approach based on one-to-one marketing. A message that is customized to the recipient is far more likely to hit that relevant intersection of right person, right message, right timing, and right channels. And, yes, it’s essential that it’s a strategy of channels – plural. Building a true omnichannel platform helps reach donors to build brand awareness and make memorable asks. This is especially true for Hispanic donors who are more likely to use streaming, mobile, and radio.
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Supporting Hispanic Direct Mail with Digital
It is important to align your direct mail campaigns with your emails, online ads, and addressable media using similar imagery and messaging to build synergy and keep donors going in the right direction. U.S. Hispanics generally spend more time on social media, and are easy to engage with on YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok as these are their preferred social platforms.
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The Value of an Omnichannel Strategy
Like the English market, the Hispanic audience engages with your mission across channels. Your donors are watching television while scrolling through Facebook or opening your direct mail piece while listening to the radio. At Edge Direct, we have continued to test and prove that the “surround-sound” effect of targeting potential and current Hispanic donors across multiple channels lifts response and overall giving.
Overall, co-targeting has yielded positive results and has lifted English-language acquisition response by more than 62% for those we could reach online and 127% for Spanish-language acquisition.
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One-to-One Digital Marketing
Connected TV
Edge Direct serves Connected TV (CTV) video ads to our target audiences, and then remarkets with display ads to viewers who did not donate. All creative is integrated within the program and is mirrored throughout. This strategy continues to drive awareness and incremental revenue, as well as lift the performance of other online tactics.
Programmatic Audio
Programmatic audio delivers a message to a targeted audience by inserting ads during the delivery of digital audio content. Weekly listening is at an all-time high (96% of Hispanic adults), and individuals often listen to digital audio without any other media competing for their attention and without the ability to easily block audio ads.
PSAs and Earned Media
Specific respectable celebrities are hand-selected to speak to the organization’s mission to continue building trust and affinity with the Hispanic market. Pairing celebrity endorsements with patient stories reinforces the impact of the mission within the Hispanic community and continues to raise brand awareness and credibility for the organization.
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Direct Response Television
Direct response television (DRTV), in connection with an omnichannel approach, allows us to target the diverse Hispanic demographic of bilingual, Spanish-dominant, and English-dominant communities. Once Hispanics are emotionally captivated by DRTV spots, are more likely to become sustainers and are more loyal than other donor audiences. Therefore, DRTV is crucial in driving conversions and informing the Hispanic audience about your mission.
Conclusion
The Hispanic population is the fastest-growing demographic in the U.S. Their culture is vibrant and joyous, and the opportunity to connect with them through your mission’s impact is an exciting growth opportunity for all nonprofits.
It is important to remember that a successful Hispanic fundraising program requires time, investment, and, most importantly, a culturally competent fundraising partner to guide your organization. Edge Direct can help your organization navigate the nuances of the various cultures within the U.S. Hispanic community and help you craft your creative to resonate strongly. The key is to relentlessly measure results to optimize audiences and channels over time and monitor long-term program success.
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To learn how to optimize your fundraising to Hispanic donors to maximize revenue, please contact Marketing@EdgeDirect.com.
