2011 Nonprofit Fundraising Effectiveness Report

Miratel has been corporate members of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) since early 2010. We were drawn to their unwavering commitment to ethics in the nonprofit fundraising sector and it’s been our experience that they walk the talk at every turn. It’s not just words on a page for them. Knowing the level of integrity they apply and represent, I pay particular attention to the reports they collaborate on and resources they offer.

The AFP are one of 7 professional organizations that combine to form The Nonprofit Research Collaborative and I recently wrote a two-part summary on their latest report released for Summer/Early Fall 2011 (Part 1 and Part 2).

The AFP are also partners in The Fundraising Effectiveness Project (FEP) with the Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy at the Urban Institute. The partnership was founded in 2006 to “help nonprofit organizations measure, compare and maximize their annual growth in giving.”

The FEP recently released the 2011 Fundraising Effectiveness Survey Report.  The report is based on 2,377 surveyed U.S. nonprofit organizations with results compiled for 2009-2010 and “enables participating groups to measure and compare their fundraising gain and loss ratios from year to year, and to compare their performance to that of similar organizations.”  All nonprofit organizations are welcomed to participate so if your organization is not yet involved, it may be a worthwhile survey to participate in.

Key findings of the report include:
·    An overall decrease in 2010 of -1.9% in net growth of gifts was experienced, with $5.54 lost through attrition for every$5.35 raised
·    In contrast there was a gain in donors from 2009 to 2010 representing growth of 1.7%
·    Larger sized organizations ($500,000+)  experienced largest gains in giving with at 8% net gain
·    Medium sized organizations ($100,000-$500,00) gained 2.3%
·    Small sized organizations (<$100,000) had a net loss of -12.2%
·    Areas of largest growth were in contributions made by new donors

The report suggests several strategies for improving steady growth but stresses a priority should be made towards donor retention. A focus on retaining existing donors is important to a nonprofit as the cost of retention is much lower compared to the additional costs associated with acquisition which will improve a nonprofits bottom line and net fundraising gains. Plus the loyalty a nonprofit builds with it donors will be reflected in their giving over time.

A critical element in the success of the FEP has been the cooperation and support of the members of the AFP Donor Software Workgroup who collectively serve more than 50,000 nonprofit clients. The Donor Software Workgroup assisted with the design of the FEP survey, and developed electronic modules that have been incorporated into participating firms software modules that eliminate the need for their nonprofit clients to manually key their fundraising performance data into their software.

The Donor Software Workgroup includes: The Raiser’s Edge (Blackbaud), Donor2/Campus Management Corporation rebranded to Talisma Fundraising, PhilanthrAppeal (FundTrack Software), DonorPerfect Fundraising Software, eTapestry, ROI Solutions, Sage Software and MatchMaker Fundraising Software.

The FEP developed a standard Gain/Loss Growth-in-Giving Performance Report to assist all nonprofits with measuring their growth in giving, and most participating software firms have incorporated this report into their reporting modules.

Reports of this nature are important to nonprofits as they can serve as a baseline to compare results so they can better plan and allocate resources to future fundraising strategies. Along with research reports, AFP offers tools, resources and spearheads other initiatives to help organizations ethically work towards achieving its organizational and fundraising goals.

Full detailed statistics are available in the 2011 Fundraising Effectiveness Survey Report which I encourage you to review.
________________________________________________________________________________________
For nonprofit fundraising, CSR business, digital and other news,please connect with us on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin or subscribe to our RSS feed.

Miratel Solutions is a Toronto call centre, eBusiness, and letter shop mail house specializing in professional fundraising services including telephone fundraising, online fundraising, lottery services, donation caging, donation processing and other donor management services. We are committed to our CSR business values in all contact centre services and mail house operations and advancing the missions of the nonprofits we proudly serve.