2011 Online Giving Report From Blackbaud

Earlier this year, Blackbaud published their “donorCentrics Index of National Fundraising Performance” which they’ve published for the past few years.

The dataset for 2011 is derived from 79 million transactions, which broke down into:

— 38 million people
— Who gave $2.5 billion dollars
— To 80 different nonprofits
— In 8 sectors (Animal Welfare, Arts and Culture, Environment, Health, Human Services, International Relief, Religion, Social Benefit)

Following are highlights of how some sectors performed:

— The international relief sector has had the largest declines in every key measure. This decline is a result of a return to normal giving patterns after the massive spike of giving in 2010 following the earthquake in Haiti.
— Animal Welfare orgs had declines in in new donor acquisition which is unusual for this sector. However, there was an increase in per donor revenue.
— Health organizations continued to see declining performance in 2011, and have so for most of the past five years. The good news is per donor revenue increased in 2011.
— Arts and culture and religious orgs experienced strong performances in most areas, compared to the drop they had in 2010.
— Human Services and Societal Benefit sectors kicked butt this year in revenue, new donor acquisition, and revenue per donor.

Blackbaud also published an infographic highlighting the following online and direct mail donor trends:

— It’s becoming more common for new donors to give their first gift online.
— Online-acquired donors have a higher cumulative value than mail-acquired donors.
— Large proportions of online-acquired donors switch from online giving to offline sources, primarily to direct mail. In other words, direct mail is still an important part of the mix.
— Without the ability to become multichannel givers by renewing support via direct mail, online donors would be worth far less.