Online-fundraising revenue climbed 14 percent last year thanks to continued growth in email-driven donations and monthly recurring gifts, according to a new study of 133 nonprofits by the marketing firm M+R.
Revenue from email fundraising grew by 15 percent — a result of nonprofits sending more messages to larger lists of supporters. “A lot of it is about volume,” said Will Valverde, vice president of M+R. He noted that email revenue was up despite a drop in open and click-through rates.
Charities’ email lists grew by a median of 10 percent between January 1, 2016, and January 1, 2017. The median number of emails nonprofits sent to subscribers last year jumped to 69 — a 10 percent increase from 2015 — and a median of 24 of those messages were fundraising solicitations, as opposed to advocacy promotions, newsletters, or other content.
Email revenue accounted for 26 percent of all money raised online for participating nonprofits in 2016, according to the report.
High Volume
Online fundraising still represents only a sliver of most nonprofits’ total support, but it is becoming a bigger share of donations as more charities ramp up digital solicitations.
Nonprofits are learning that “the more you ask, the more you get,” Mr. Valverde said, even if that means sending many emails to boost fundraising dollars.
The large amount of emails that organizations must send to get a donation is a “very depressing thing,” he said. Groups raised $36 for every 1,000 fundraising emails delivered in 2016 and they only got one donation for each 2,000 solicitation emails delivered, according to the study.
Still, nonprofits are less shy about sending lots of messages, because they’ve learned that increasing the volume of emails does not necessarily lead to more people unsubscribing, Mr. Valverde said.
Monthly Giving
Revenue from monthly gifts jumped 23 percent in 2016, accounting for 16 percent of all online revenue.
Nonprofits are pushing monthly giving because it’s reliable money, Mr. Valverde said, adding that he’s seen many campaigns promoting recurring gifts in recent years.
Many donors also like that option because it’s convenient and allows them to break up donations into small chunks, he said. “A lot of donors are increasingly saying ‘I don’t want to make a single $150 gift, but I’m happy to make a $12 gift every month — that is something I can afford.’ "
Digital-Ad Growth
About 100 of the 133 nonprofits surveyed by M+R invested in digital advertising, and spending among those groups increased 69 percent in 2016. About 46 percent of the digital ads were used to attract new donors.
While it’s difficult to gauge the return on investment for those ads, Mr. Valverde said, many groups are putting money into online promotions because they think acquiring digital donors will be paramount for fundraising in the future.
Other findings include:
- The total number of online gifts grew by 15 percent in 2016, and one-time gifts were up 13 percent.
- Some 1.2 percent of charities’ website visitors made a donation; 1.1 percent joined an email list.
- The median number of Facebook fans for nonprofits is 77,000. Organizations have a median of 23,000 Twitter followers and 3,545 Instagram followers.
