This report is the product of a large-scale online survey effort (“the Values Survey”) conducted in October 2006 as part of the larger MUPs Value and Impact Study, a two-year study of the values and motivations driving performing arts attendance and donation. The overall purpose of the Values Survey was to build new customer segmentation models for performing arts ticket buyers and donors, to aid in future marketing and fundraising efforts. This report presents the donor segmentation model. The ticket buyer segmentation model was released in January 2007.

Historically, arts presenters’ fundraising efforts have been informed by two sources of information: 1) transaction data (i.e., gift amount, response stimuli), and 2) the personal knowledge and experience of development staff in dealing with the specific donor. Occasionally, third-party data from various consumer databases is appended to donor files in an effort to assess giving potential, although this data is typically inferential and limited to wealth indicators. The depth of a staff member’s personal knowledge about a specific donor is usually related to past or potential gift amounts (i.e., big donors/prospects get personal attention). In many cases staff are well aware of what motivates a given donor, and this anecdotal information is extremely valuable. Without this personal knowledge, however, targeting donors with tailored messages that are likely to cause them to respond at higher rates becomes more difficult.

Values, beliefs, aspirations and motivations drive purchase and donation behaviors. Until now, performing arts presenters have lacked a field-specific segmentation model for contributors, although sophisticated modeling strategies have been employed by higher education fundraisers for many years.

The primary focus of the Values Survey was to elicit attitudinal information – values, beliefs, preferences and tastes – that relate specifically to attending and supporting performing arts presentations. For the first time, attitudinal data collected through survey research was matched to actual purchase and donation behavior (using email address as a match variable), in order to evaluate a wide range of attitudinal variables on the extent to which they predict donation behavior or purchase of different types of performances.

The study produced two new segmentation models, one for ticket buyers and another for donors, based on an extensive multi-site online survey conducted in 2006. A cluster analysis was conducted on a total of 51 attitudinal variables, resulting in a 10-segment ticket buyer model, including Mavericks, Remixers, Networked Students and Serenity-Seekers. A second cluster analysis was performed on donor data to arrive at a 5-segment donor model, including Intrinsics, Networkers, Co-Creators, Marquee Donors, and Youth Focused.

http://www.wolfbrown.com/mups_downloads/MUP_Donor_Segmentation_Report.pdf