1

Engaging the Next Generation of Donors

Individual donors remain a crucial part of arts and cultural organizations' contributed income base — and an area of concern. In ABA’s October 2023 fundraising benchmark, a majority of organizations reported that individual giving made up at least one-third of their fundraising for the year — and for nearly half of respondents it made up 50% or more. Yet, for a majority of those same organizations, less than 20% of donors were new. And in our business model benchmark survey, fielded to a set of global organization leaders in fall of 2023, almost all respondents (91%) expressed concern about the ability to engage the next generation of large individual donors.

With the need for individual donors from younger generations growing even more acute, organizations must consider how they are framing the impact these philanthropists can have through the arts. In our signature research initiative on donor motivations, we saw the great potential of the “community donor,” those who want to be part of and have impact on their community. We are excited to continue our work with members on how they can express what they stand for as organizations beyond just the level of their art forms, but also as part of a greater community or movement.

While attracting new donors is essential, there is still an opportunity within our current base: encouraging them to cement their legacy with an organization through planned giving. At many arts and cultural organizations, legacy donation mechanisms are available but not always advertised as directly or widespread as they could be. Planned giving is a powerful and often underutilized lever for arts and cultural institutions, and we anticipate many leaders asking us to support them in making the most out of legacy gift programs this year.

2

Preparing for Advances (and Threats) in Technology

Many arts and cultural managers are asking what the role of artificial intelligence will be in the nonprofit sector. 

For some, the new developments in this technology provide opportunities for artistic experimentation. Projects like the Sensorium Ex Opera have incorporated AI to pose philosophical questions within art: “what does it mean to have a voice? How are our voices expressed and understood – physically, socially, culturally, democratically? Who truly has a voice in society and how can different voices all be part of societal narratives and stories?” 

There is, however, a larger question of the impact new technologies will have on how every industry operates from a business perspective, the cultural sector included. With AI, there is a technological revolution of a scale that is hard to yet comprehend, and with such huge possibilities and ramifications, it is difficult to know where to look — which makes a shared learning approach even more valuable to amplify voices who are figuring out new opportunities and solutions early.

While there are many opportunities within technology, there are also threats. Cybersecurity remains a critical priority for the arts and culture sector, made clear by several high profile hacking incidents in the past year. With our audiences’ and donors’ trust — and artworks themselves — at stake, it is crucial that organizations invest in protection of their most precious digital assets.

3

Focusing on Audience Growth

In the initial post-pandemic months, arts and cultural organizations’ focus was on getting audiences back into the habit of attendance. Four years out from the onset of COVID-19, there is a sense that all who would have returned have returned. Institutions now must refocus on the long-term audience decline we were experiencing before the pandemic even began, and think even more intently on ways to attract new audiences. 

One way to do so is by leveraging the more emotional nature of our work. A case study that remains ever relevant in answering this question is one we shared in our signature research initiative on audience loyalty: the Utah Symphony’s experience and success in shifting towards emotion-based marketing. The data in our audience study showed us that, despite our work being emotional on its own, only about a third of our audience is sufficiently motivated by the performance or art form alone — not enough to sustain an organization. By orienting their marketing efforts about how people feel at a performance (and not just what’s being performed), the Utah Symphony was able to achieve notable increases in revenue and reactivated ticket buyers.

In our newest study, Driving Attendance Post-Pandemic, we look at strategies of the most effective marketers at arts and cultural organizations. One early finding of our research is the power of micro-influencers. Partnering with individuals who have influence in niche communities can help us test our appeal and identify new areas in which we can expand our program offerings.

4

Capitalizing on New-To-File Visitors and Attendees

Of course, once new audience members and visitors are in our doors for the first time, we must act intentionally to get them to return. For some organizations, 2023 was a landmark year for new-to-file ticket holders. Several ABA member ballets reported record numbers of new ticket buyers for performances of ‘The Nutcracker’ last year. How can institutions capitalize on these increases?

In an ABA Executive Benchmark fielded in August of last year, we asked respondents to evaluate their success in retaining new-to-file visitors. About half of the 45 responding organizations said that their retention initiatives had been successful. Of those, the most popular tactics were return discounts and first-time membership/subscription discounts. These programs are important entryways for new customers, but it is crucial for institutions to have structures in place to track how new-to-file buyers then move through the organization.

Many ABA members share an interest in this topic, and as a result we have received several relevant custom research requests. The first most common area of focus for these research questions is effective evaluation and use of CRM technology. Arts and cultural organizations are looking for highly integrated systems to develop a full picture of individuals who interact with them as ticket buyers, donors, program attendees, and more. They then must align on how to use these platforms internally. Our research has helped institutions around the world to identify the software that works best for them — and is most manageable with limited time and resources.

The second, broader topic we hear increased interest in from our membership is how the “traditional” customer journey has and will continue to evolve. For so long, arts and cultural organizations have followed a similar script: single ticket buyer → multi-ticket buyer → subscriber → donor → major donor → board member. This just isn’t the case anymore. Several ABA members have engaged us to help them take different approaches to understanding how their constituents interact with them, allowing teams at these institutions to creatively deepen relationships with their new and existing communities. For many organizations, the biggest opportunity to deepen that relationship is by crafting a high-quality and meaningful visit experience — especially for first-time attendees.

5

Creating an Accessible, Customer-Centric Experience

Another key topic in the audience space is the visitor experience. There have been many developments in recent months to ensure that arts and cultural organizations are places where all can feel welcome and comfortable. From San Francisco Ballet to Royal Opera House, we saw countless sensory-friendly and relaxed productions of ‘The Nutcracker’ this past year — a performance format supportive of neurodivergent audience members that has been used across all genres.

At museums, improvements to accessibility are being urgently called for. Strategies to create spaces that are welcoming for all arise frequently in our members’ research questions. From best practices for implementing alt-text on digital image assets to building an interpretation strategy that scaffolds learning opportunities for visitors of all backgrounds, there is a clear desire among visual arts institutions to create a welcoming and informative environment for every kind of person who enters the doors.