Digital Engagement Teams 2018 Report Final

takeaway
insights
when digital leads we win is engagement just a word?

This year’s research found that digital teams We loved finding that more organizations are
who influence decisions on new campaigns, doing grassroots organizing and offline actions,
are represented on senior management teams, but broadcast campaigns still rule. The vast
and receive leadership support run higher majority of respondents don’t measure
impact digital programs. Yet half of engagement and lack dedicated staff + budget
respondents’ organizations continue to miss to lead it, showing engagement is still more of a
major digital opportunities. concept than a deeply valued reality.
distributed digital skills we still struggle with structure

lead to better programs Three quarters of digital teams have been
restructured once or more in the past 3 years,
Digital competencies continue to be built yet only 10% find their structure to be highly
across departments, a good thing. While effective. That’s a lot of painful change leading
centralized and hybrid teams remain neck to uncertain results. Cross-departmental
and neck as the structure in most tensions have shifted, showing up today where
respondents, we found that teams with the innovation is happening most often in our
highest performance digital programs are advocacy organizations.
overwhelmingly using the hybrid model.
Austen Levihn-Coon & Jason Mogus 2018 Creative Commons Atribution-NonCommercial

report
dataset
80 39%
respondents medium and large orgs
We heard from 80 people who are 18% of respondents were from medium
responsible for digital engagement at orgs with 21-50 staff. 21% were from
advocacy-oriented nonprofits. large orgs with 51-200 staff.
2017 40%
data collected small organizations
Respondents filled in a 38 question 40% of respondents were from orgs with
online survey in October, 2017. We under 20 staff. Small orgs who do not do
regularly compare responses to our last advocacy or had fewer than 5 staff were
digital teams survey with data from 2014. removed from the dataset.
4 16%
countries very large organizations
58% of respondents were from the US, 16% of respondents were from very large
24% from Canada, 11% from Australia orgs with 200+ staff. Some responses that
and the rest from the UK. follow are broken down by org size.

selected report
respondents

section 1:
digital teams
what do our teams

look like today?

1. Digital teams still mostly live in communications,
though a lot less than before
Q: What department are you a member of?

Communications still most commonly owns digital, with 38% of
teams residing here. Program/campaign was the next most
common at 15%, and 13% run a standalone digital department.
An additional question asked what senior manager digital

leaders report to, and 45% report directly to an ED or CEO, though
this is most common in small (58%) and large orgs (58%).
Data from our 2014 report shows a 60% decrease in the number
of teams now situated in comms. 44% more teams report
directly to the ED today than what we found in 2014.
insight
The dramatic drop of teams situated in the comms silo reflects a shifting understanding of digital’s unique
value, though we still don’t know where to put it. Organizing? Program? Engagement? Standalone? It depends.

2. The most common digital roles have stayed
remarkably the same
Q: What staff positions currently exist at your

org and in what capacity?
Digital directors and data/CRM managers are the most common
full time staff roles. Social media, writer, online campaigner,
designer, and project manager fill out most teams’ core roles.
Today’s teams most commonly outsource designers,

videographers, and tech developers.
Numbers from our 2014 report were remarkably similar, with the
notable changes being a doubling of full time Data/CRM
managers, 11% more digital strategy directors and 6% fewer tech
developers on today’s teams.
insight
The consistency of key roles over such a turbulent 3 years reflects well on our sector’s adaptability. The
doubling of CRM staff should bode well for engagement tracking (though see next section for the bad news).

3. Today’s most desired digital roles are all
about social and data
Q: If you could hire one more full time role for

your digital team, what would it be?
Social media manager continues to top our hiring wish lists.
Online campaigners and data/CRM managers are just behind.
Designers are also high on the list, as are a new entrant this
year, dedicated videographers.
In 2014 writers were the most desired new full time role,
followed by tech developers and UX professionals. These roles
have all dropped from the top 5 this year.
insight
Social media is one of the biggest ways for digital departments to flex their muscles inside orgs today. We
are excited to see more online campaigners soon as this strategic role tends to add more punch to teams.

4. Digital teams continue to grow,
more evenly this time
Q: Is the number of FTE’s with responsibility for
digital work growing?
70% of respondents’ digital teams have grown in the past three
years with the most significant increases seen at medium, large,
and very large orgs. 15% of teams grew “substantially”.
Most small org teams (68%) have 1-2 digital staff. Most medium
org teams (50%) and large org teams (42%) have 3-5 staff. Most
very large orgs teams (27%) have 11-20 full time digital staff.
Our 2014 report showed similar levels of team growth (63%) but
most of that was concentrated in very large orgs. Organizations
across all sizes are now growing more consistently.
insight
The numbers prove digital continues to be a strong growth area inside advocacy organizations of all
sizes.

5. The vast majority of digital staff are still
straight and white
Q: What percentage of your digital staff are

people of color or LGBTQ?
59% of teams have fewer than 25% POC or LGBTQ staff on their
digital teams. 34% of teams have less than 10%. Teams at large
and very large orgs tend to be the most diverse.
We did not ask a staff gender make-up question. Sorry!
An additional question asked how high a priority diversity and

inclusion are in hiring and campaigning, and found a majority,
51%, “have prioritized it as extremely important.” Only 8% said
they ”talk about it but nothing changes.”
insight
Our orgs are increasingly prioritizing diversity and inclusion but unsurprisingly this is not yet showing up in
most digital teams. We all (including your two white cis co-authors) need to do a substantially better job here.

section 2:
supporter engagement
is engagement
just a word?

6. Supporter engagement lacks a
home
Q: Does your org have a department dedicated

to managing supporter engagement?
Only 10% of respondents have a department solely focused
on engagement.
14% run engagement from within communications and

12% within fundraising. About a quarter, 23%, share the
responsibility for engagement among multiple
departments.
A plurality of 29% of respondents have no department

whatsoever responsible for engagement.
insight
It’s tough to improve engagement practices if it’s not clear who owns them. This lack of leadership and
structural confusion around engagement leadership limits adoption of many best practices.

7. The vast majority are missing opportunities to
understand and activate their best supporters
Q: Does your org track supporters along a ladder

of engagement (or other similar framework)?
Three quarters of organizations do not track supporters’
progress using a sophisticated framework such as a ladder
or pyramid of engagement. Only 26% regularly track engaged
supporters.
Almost a third do not measure supporter engagement at all.
An additional question showed only 22% of organizations

consistently track engagement across departments, a key
element of effective multi-channel communication.
insight
This is disappointing. Orgs that don’t know what their supporters are doing or who their leaders are will miss
opportunities to build grassroots leadership and amplify the force of their campaigns.

8. Broadcast campaigns continue to
dominate
Q: What philosophy best describes how your org

campaigns?
73% of respondents still primarily “send our supporters
stuff telling them how to contribute”.
17% report a directed-network or open distributed model

where they “provide guidance and tools to supporters on
what campaigns they run and support local leaders in
running their own”.
Only 10% of respondents regularly survey supporters to

collect input on what they should campaign on.
insight
While many orgs report using new approaches sporadically, staff-driven campaigns are sadly still king.
Engaging supporters in campaign design and execution is an approach that hasn’t yet been widely adopted.

9. Bright spot! Most are now asking supporters to
take offline actions, regularly
Q: How often do you ask supporters to take an offline action?

85% of respondents ask supporters to take an offline
action at least once per year. Over half ask for real-world
engagement monthly.
Only 15% don’t typically ask supporters to engage in

offline actions.
An additional question found 2/3 of respondents are now

doing grassroots organizing or in-person campaigning,
with 25% reporting they “do this well”.
insight
Online actions are most successful when coupled with real world actions and face to face relationship
building. This is amazing and huge progress from the largely faux grassroots campaigns of the recent past.

10. Beyond the rhetoric, engagement
still isn’t a priority
Q: Is the budget for supporter engagement appropriate to achieve your goals?
64% reported their dedicated engagement budget

isn’t sufficient to do what is expected of them, or is
actually non-existent.
Almost the same amount, 59%, don’t expect a budget

increase for 2018.
An additional question asked for staff count

dedicated to engagement, and found 43% have zero
staff managing engagement, and a quarter (24%)
have only a skeleton crew of 1-2.
insight
If we pursue what we value, these numbers show we don’t value engagement by putting sufficient people or
financial resources on it. Orgs are leaving significant opportunities on the table by not taking advantage of this help.

section 3:
digital structure
why is managing digital

so hard to get right?

11. Hybrid and Centralized teams
still dominate
Q: What model does your digital team operate under?

Hybrid teams and centralized teams are running neck and neck in
today respondents, at 37% each. A new team structure,
“intentional independent” now represents 13% of teams.
Hybrid teams are the most popular structure in small (50%),

medium (41%), and large (33%) orgs. Centralized teams still
dominate very large orgs at 47%, with hybrid trailing at 29%.
In 2014 centralized and hybrid were also nearly tied for first, at
40% and 38% respectively. Thankfully “avoidant independent” and
informal (ie. no team) have mostly disappeared today.
insight
Centralized teams, which tend to suffer from overload, have remained surprisingly resilient, though the hybrid
model is now fully proven. Intentionally separate teams that share power well are a welcome new trend.

12. Centralized teams report lower digital
program impact
Q: When compared to peers and industry best

practices, how effective is your digital program?
Only 10% reported their digital program is “highly effective”
compared to peers and industry best practices.
On digital structure, a separate question found only 10% of

teams work extremely well. 42% report their structures are
broken and do not work.
Interestingly, teams using the centralized model tended to

report a less effective digital program. Of today’s highest
performing teams, 50% are using the hybrid model and 25%
are intentional independent.
insight
We have long advocated that Hybrid teams that distribute leadership are better suited to the pace and opportunities
of digital innovation. The data now proves non-centralized teams run considerably more effective digital programs.

13. Cross-departmental tensions are now
found in new places
Q: How effective at internal collaboration are

you with other departments that share key
functions necessary for your success?
Digital teams today are humming along with their
comms department peers, a big change from 2014
where this relationship was a major source of tension.
Collaboration challenges today are more common

between digital and organizing, and between digital and
campaign/program. Effective collaboration with
fundraising remains a continual challenge.
insight
It’s great that PR and digital people have found their way together, but tensions with organizing and campaign/
program have grown. This reflects the rub where the most innovation + impact lies today. Keep trying!

14. We restructure our teams, a lot.
And it’s only sort of working
Q: Have your digital or communications teams been re-structured in the past 3 years?
Three quarters of teams have been restructured

recently, with almost a third having gone through a
restructuring more than once. Only 22% of teams
haven’t changed since 2014.
Despite all this re-engineering, an additional question

found that only 11% of teams report the way their org
manages digital to work very well. 49% find their
structures work “somewhat well”, which leaves an
unfortunate 41% stuck in structures that create
significant problems and don’t work.
insight
Restructurings are stressful on people and orgs, and it’s painful to see so many struggle to find optimum digital
structures. With all the opportunities digital offers, we should be loudly dissatisfied with ongoing dysfunctions.

15. Digital’s influence continues to grow, and
it’s leading to better performance
Q: How involved is the digital team in decision-

making around new campaigns or initiatives?
Digital is being incorporated into the campaign planning
process more and more, with 17% of teams leading new
campaign development, and 36% being involved throughout
campaign or new initiative development processes.
Importantly, 50% of teams who report running highly effective

digital programs lead new campaign processes, and a further
33% of today’s top performers are involved throughout the
decision-making process. No high performing teams are
merely “informed” of new ideas.
insight
The data now proves that digital teams who lead or shape decisions around innovation perform substantially
better than those who are left out. This should be a wake up call to all Campaigns and Executive Directors.

16. Yet digital isn’t at the top of most orgs, and
senior leadership suffers as a result
Q: Is digital represented at the senior-most

management level of your org?
42% of orgs do not have someone with digital experience at the
senior-most level of management. The larger the org, the less
likely someone with digital experience is on the executive team.
Among our high performing group, a full 75% had digital

represented directly on the senior management team.
An additional question asked how management perceives digital’s

strategic value, and 50% report they “miss major opportunities”.
9% have unrealistic expectations on the value of digital.
insight
Leaders will continue to miss (or over-estimate) big opportunities from digital to transform campaigns and
orgs until they add more digital leads to senior management. The data proves digital deserves a seat.

17. And we don’t invest in leadership development
to help us get to the top
Q: Is your professional development budget to

support growth of yourself & your team sufficient?
56% of respondents have an insufficient or non-existent budget for
professional development.
An additional question asked about coaching or other leadership

development opportunities for digital directors. Only 37% of
respondents have access to this support. Another third report
inconsistent opportunities, while the bottom third are left out of
professional development entirely.
insight
With the never-ending pace of change in digital, unless an org supports training it may continue to be left
behind. And we won’t see more digital leaders rise to the top of orgs without more investment in leadership.

section 4:
emerging practices
what if digital isn’t really

about digital after all?
For the final five questions we asked about a number of emerging frameworks for how
digital engagement and innovation in general are managed. The results surprised us.

18. Lean startup techniques have made great
inroads
Q: Does your organization employ lean startup

approaches to test and optimize?
A/B tests, data-driven decision making, and failing fast are all
products of the Lean Startup Methodology for testing and
optimization of innovation and new ideas.
47% of respondents report they are now using these tactics,

though only 5% say they do them well. Another 23% are looking
into applying this approach.
insight
These techniques, borrowed from the startup world, are strongly correlated with successful innovation leaders.
We are excited to see more widespread adoption in our sector and hope they soon become standard.

19. A product management approach is becoming
more widely adopted
Q: Do you employ a product management

approach to digital innovation or service delivery?
Product management is a new model for non-profits where they
dedicate a highly-skilled leader whose sole focus is to manage
and optimize complex software and technology platforms. This
often means removing responsibility for tech from digital teams.
30% of orgs now use this approach to manage their digital

assets, and over half of the orgs with 200+ employees are doing
so. Another 24% are looking into it.
An additional question asked about adoption of “labs” but found

only 20% of orgs using them, again led by very large orgs.
insight
Non-profits manage technology in a far less sophisticated and intentional manner than other sectors, and
thus miss chances for efficiency + impact. It’s good to see this more focused model becoming popular.

20. Distributed organizing is being adopted
fast
Q: Does your org employ distributed organizing

for volunteers to lead?
Distributed organizing helps greatly amplify staff power by
engaging members as organizers of campaigns, allowing
volunteers to play a key role in delivering activities.
Mid-sized orgs are adopting distributed organizing faster than

others. Half of orgs with between 20-200 staff are now doing
distributed organizing in some form.
35% of orgs with under 20 staff, and 38% of orgs with over 200
staff are currently using distributed organizing. 18% are looking
into it.
insight
Distributed organizing is another well-proven way to help modern campaigns build power and win bigger
change. It’s great to see adoption growing, especially among more nimble mid-sized orgs.

21. Peer-to-peer fundraising is most widely
adopted by large orgs
Q: Does your org employ peer-to-peer

fundraising?
Peer-to-peer fundraising is a form of engagement that’s been
around for almost two decades, yet it continues to power many
of today’s most successful new crowdfunding campaigns.
A quarter (26%) of all respondents use this tactic, but orgs with
200+ staff are twice as likely to do so than small or mid-sized
orgs. 46% of very large orgs use peer-to-peer fundraising, with
only 18% of mid-sized and large orgs.
insight
Running regular peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns can bring huge financial and engagement rewards, but
the story has to be just right, and they require staff resources. Smaller orgs should take another look.

22. Peer-to-peer texting is taking off, primarily
within larger orgs
Q: Do you employ peer-to-peer texting tools like

Relay or Hustle?
Peer-to-peer texting helps engage and mobilize volunteers to
take action in elections or other time sensitive campaigns faster
than phone calls and much more effectively than email.
Large orgs are again leading the pack with adoption, with 40% of
large and very large orgs using this today. Only 17% of mid-sized
orgs and 10% of smaller orgs are using this powerful tool.
insight
The mobilization value is clear, but the high cost of entry and time intensive nature of p2p texting has
limited adoption to larger orgs. Smaller orgs should look into this new way of engaging volunteers.

recommendations
for better digital teams
01 02
make engagement real don’t restructure on the fly
Start by helping the top realize they can’t Landing a progressive digital model that
win big change without real people-power. works for your whole org isn’t easy. Employ
Make it happen by using widely-proven a grounded, multi-month process that
engagement techniques, track and report starts with listening inside and out, and be
impact. Your cause, staff, and supporters bold with making the changes asked for,
will thank you for it. including breaking apart existing fiefdoms.
03 04
take diversity more seriously get leadership support
These times demand new thinking and new Don’t wait for senior execs to find you: get
forms of power building from NGO’s, and better at management, strategy, coaching,
we won’t get there listening to the same and communications. Lead your org where
old voices. Make sure your teams reflect it needs to go, and get help to become the
the communities you organize, and kind of open leader the world needs now.
empower new voices to make new choices The path to making our orgs more effective
on issues, framing, and engagement. is clear, we just need to take it.

who made
this report
austen levihn-coon jason mogus

empowered digital consulting netchange consulting
Austen supports the world’s leading non- A digital pioneer for two decades, Jason is a
profits to scale social change. Formerly the trusted advisor to campaigners and senior
Chief Innovation Officer at Fission Strategy, leaders around the world. He co-wrote the
he recently joined the team at Planned “Networked Change” report, three digital
Parenthood as the Digital Organizing Director. teams reports, and founded Web of Change.
The co-authors would also like to acknowledge the contribution of Jenn Sturm, who
contributed significant effort into the report design, promotion and insights.

let’s stay
in touch!
austen jason
levihn-coon mogus
austen@empowered.digital jason@netchange.co
512 934 4966 +1 604 844 7672

@AustenLC @mogusmoves

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takeaway

when digital leads we win is engagement just a word?

distributed digital skills we still struggle with structure

Austen Levihn-Coon & Jason Mogus 2018 Creative Commons Atribution-NonCommercial

Austen Levihn-Coon & Jason Mogus 2018 Creative Commons Atribution-NonCommercial

Austen Levihn-Coon & Jason Mogus 2018 Creative Commons Atribution-NonCommercial

what do our teams

Austen Levihn-Coon & Jason Mogus 2018 Creative Commons Atribution-NonCommercial

Q: What department are you a member of?

An additional question asked what senior manager digital

Austen Levihn-Coon & Jason Mogus 2018 Creative Commons Atribution-NonCommercial

Q: What staff positions currently exist at your

Today’s teams most commonly outsource designers,

Austen Levihn-Coon & Jason Mogus 2018 Creative Commons Atribution-NonCommercial

Q: If you could hire one more full time role for

Austen Levihn-Coon & Jason Mogus 2018 Creative Commons Atribution-NonCommercial

Austen Levihn-Coon & Jason Mogus 2018 Creative Commons Atribution-NonCommercial

Q: What percentage of your digital staff are

We did not ask a staff gender make-up question. Sorry!

An additional question asked how high a priority diversity and

Austen Levihn-Coon & Jason Mogus 2018 Creative Commons Atribution-NonCommercial

Austen Levihn-Coon & Jason Mogus 2018 Creative Commons Atribution-NonCommercial

Q: Does your org have a department dedicated

14% run engagement from within communications and

A plurality of 29% of respondents have no department

Austen Levihn-Coon & Jason Mogus 2018 Creative Commons Atribution-NonCommercial

Q: Does your org track supporters along a ladder

Almost a third do not measure supporter engagement at all.

An additional question showed only 22% of organizations

Austen Levihn-Coon & Jason Mogus 2018 Creative Commons Atribution-NonCommercial

Q: What philosophy best describes how your org

17% report a directed-network or open distributed model

Only 10% of respondents regularly survey supporters to

Austen Levihn-Coon & Jason Mogus 2018 Creative Commons Atribution-NonCommercial

Q: How often do you ask supporters to take an offline action?

Only 15% don’t typically ask supporters to engage in

An additional question found 2/3 of respondents are now

Austen Levihn-Coon & Jason Mogus 2018 Creative Commons Atribution-NonCommercial

Q: Is the budget for supporter engagement appropriate to achieve your goals?

64% reported their dedicated engagement budget

Almost the same amount, 59%, don’t expect a budget

An additional question asked for staff count

Austen Levihn-Coon & Jason Mogus 2018 Creative Commons Atribution-NonCommercial

why is managing digital

Austen Levihn-Coon & Jason Mogus 2018 Creative Commons Atribution-NonCommercial

Q: What model does your digital team operate under?

Hybrid teams are the most popular structure in small (50%),

Austen Levihn-Coon & Jason Mogus 2018 Creative Commons Atribution-NonCommercial

Q: When compared to peers and industry best

On digital structure, a separate question found only 10% of

Interestingly, teams using the centralized model tended to

Austen Levihn-Coon & Jason Mogus 2018 Creative Commons Atribution-NonCommercial

Q: How effective at internal collaboration are

Collaboration challenges today are more common

Austen Levihn-Coon & Jason Mogus 2018 Creative Commons Atribution-NonCommercial

Three quarters of teams have been restructured

Despite all this re-engineering, an additional question

Austen Levihn-Coon & Jason Mogus 2018 Creative Commons Atribution-NonCommercial

Q: How involved is the digital team in decision-

Importantly, 50% of teams who report running highly effective

Austen Levihn-Coon & Jason Mogus 2018 Creative Commons Atribution-NonCommercial

Q: Is digital represented at the senior-most

Among our high performing group, a full 75% had digital

An additional question asked how management perceives digital’s