Benchmark Report Measures Traditional and Online Fundraising Methods

Being in professional fundraising, I have written about several industry reports relating to traditional and online fundraising and other important nonprofit trends. Reports such as The Nonprofit Research Collaborative (and Part 2), the Blackbaud Index on Charitable and Online Giving, the Millennial Donors Report 2011 (and Part 2) and the 3rd Nonprofit Social Network Benchmark Report 2011 present these trends from different perspectives.

Recently Target Analytics, a Blackbaud company, compiled a report on multi-channel donors who make donations through both traditional methods like direct mail and via newer technological methods such as online giving. The 2011 donorCentrics™ Internet and Multichannel Giving Benchmarking Report covers analysis on 28 self-selected participating national nonprofit organizations.  In general these organizations have larger online programs and dedicated resources compared to other nonprofits similar in size and sector and they have a keen interest in online fundraising.

The 22 page report is extensive in examining the trends of acquiring new donors through multi-channels, the demographics of the supporters, the level of gift(s) made, the trends in switching from online to offline support and the lifespan of the donors.  Multi-channel donors are generally those who have been acquired online and subsequently turn their support offline by giving through direct mail and other traditional methods.  In general, mail acquired donors do not switch their support to online fundraising.

Interesting to note is that loyal supporters generally respond to direct mail nonprofit fundraising initiatives, while online fundraising generally attracts new supports, once engaged, tend to respond better to direct mail asks.  Although online fundraising marketing efforts have been strong in acquiring new support, retention of this support has been an ongoing challenge and proven not to be a reliable channel to renew donor support.

Key findings in the report include:

• 79% percent of gifts are still being received through traditional direct mail fundraising initiatives, while only 10% are received online
• Online fundraising has grown in recent years, as most new donors generally give their first gift to a nonprofit organization online
• Online acquired donors have higher household incomes, make larger gifts and are younger than mail acquired donors
• There is a lower retention rate of online acquired donors compared to those acquired by mail
• Direct mail fundraising programs are the most effective in retaining online donors for future support
• Online acquired donors on average make larger gifts, almost double than their mail acquired donor counter parts
• Once donors move from online to offline donations, their level of contribution tends to be lower than their original gift
• Although mail acquired donors on average give smaller gifts than online acquired donors, over the donor lifespan, their higher retention rates outperform those from online and have a higher cumulative total revenue
• A large number of online acquired donors move to offline support after their first year and by year four and five, about 50% have converted to offline giving

Participating nonprofit organizations include Alzheimer’s Association, ASPCA, Amnesty International, CARE, Humane Society of the United States, National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Oxfam America, U.S. Fund for Unicef, ALSAC/St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, AmeriCares, Covenant House, Environmental Defense Fund, Feeding America, Habitat for Humanity International, March of Dimes, Operation Smile, Planned Parenthood, Project Hope, Save the Children and the Smithsonian Institution to name a few.

Although other acquisition channels such as telephone fundraising, DRTV fundraising, event planning and in-person canvassing represent a smaller portion of total acquisitions, it is important to note that the more diverse the strategy, the better the results.

Online fundraising initiatives and multi-channel giving is growing in popularity amongst nonprofits, however, a majority of the gain still lies in relationship building rather actual giving but I expect that to change with each report release.

The full report is worth a look.
________________________________________________________________________________________
For nonprofit, 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.