Entries in Nonprofit Benchmark Studies (13)

Wednesday
21Oct2009

New Study Reveals Nonprofits Still Need to Adapt Online Communications Best Practices

DateWednesday, October 21, 2009 at 03:18PM | by AuthorAllyson Kapin

After studying over 50 international nonprofit organization's email lists and response rates, the 2009 eCampaigning Review Study revealed that 60% of nonprofits present a compelling argument for supporters to take action, yet close to 70% of the organizations did not send a follow up email within one month. 37% of nonprofits did not even bother to send a thank you email. This surprised members of the nonprofit community because both thanking supporters and updating them after taking an action online is part of Online Advocacy 101. Both email strategies should be a part of any online communications cycle.

The study conducted by Advocacy Online, Duane Raymond of Fairsay and consultant Jess Day also noted that 50% of organizations' online lists had 40% or more inactive supporters. Only 9% had a strategy for reactivating dormant supporters. Yikes. What can we glean from this study? Nonprofits need to:

1. Segment their lists more and write separate emails that resonate with different levels and types of supporters.
In July, Frogloop posted an article on Five Symptoms that May Indicate that your Nonprofit Is Suffering from List Decay and suggested nonprofit’s consider asking themselves the following: How can members help the nonprofit and advance the mission besides signing petitions or donating money? Are their offline events they can sign up to attend? Can they volunteer? Write a letter to the editor?

2. Survey their list at least once a year and ask supporters what issues do they think the organization should take on?
The key is to make online members feel like their opinions count and that your organization cares. Also ask members what motivates them to take action and donate money.

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Sunday
28Jun2009

Fundraising Dips In First Quarter Of 2009

DateSunday, June 28, 2009 at 07:44PM | by AuthorAllyson Kapin

The struggling economy hit nonprofits hard in the first quarter of 2009. According to the latest Target Analytics Index of National Fundraising Performance, the number of new donors dropped by almost 13%, as compared to 2008. The study analyzed 79 nonprofit organizations and their fundraising campaigns via direct mail, online fundraising, telemarketing, and canvassing.

The study also showed that for the first time since Target Analytics released its initial study in 2002, overall revenue per donor declined by 2.1%. Prior to this study, the Index of the National Fundraising Performance had only been showing a gradual decline in donor numbers since the US Gulf Coast hurricanes of 2005. However, things rapidly changed from Q4 2008 to Q1 in 2009. The decline in donors accelerated even faster due to the recession and a 13% decrease in new donors.

While these numbers may seem alarming, it’s common to see a decrease in donations and donors in Q1 since it’s the slowest fundraising period in a calendar year. In addition, nonprofits are competing for donors attention in a dismal economy, which many fundraisers have not had to face before. Furthermore, this is the first time in 8 years that we have a Democrat in the White House who is very supportive of major issues such as health care reform, ending the war in Iraq, etc so fundraising asks are not as “fight the right” focused as they were during the Bush administration. By the way, if you have not checked out Frogloop's recent article on converting new activists into donors, now would be a good time to do so since it’s packed with great tips and resources.

Other key metrics from the study include:

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Thursday
14May2009

Highlights from the 2009 eNonprofit Benchmarks Study

DateThursday, May 14, 2009 at 02:15PM | by AuthorAllyson Kapin

M&R and NTEN just released an impressive benchmarks study that analyzed 32 nonprofits online advocacy and online fundraising programs in 2007 and 2008. The Nonprofit eBenchmarks study also analyzed specific list segments, such as donors vs. non-donors, geographically targeted audiences, surveys and tell-a-friend emails. Here are the highlights.

Email:
While more than 35 percent of American adults now have a profile on at least one social networking site – the best way to reach supporters is still email. However, as online programs have matured, the decline in the performance of email has slowed. Email open rates declined 1% while a past study found a 3% decrease between 2006 and 2007. Don’t be too alarmed though. Open rates can be an unreliable metric due to spam filters, preview panes, image blocking which have little to do with whether someone is actually opening (or reading) an email.

Other interesting findings include:

  • For email newsletters, open rates and click-through rates fell slightly (1-2%) in 2008, though the changes were not strictly statistically significant.
  • Email lists are continuing to grow, though the rate of growth was 17% in 2008. This is down from 19% in 2007 and 21% in 2006.
  • The average subscriber on each email list received about 3.5 messages per month. However, since many organizations are segmenting their lists and targeting messages some people may be receiving 10 emails monthly from an organization while others may only receive two or three.
  • Emails sent to activists who had recently taken action on a given issue received 3x the response rate of regular full-list actions.
  • The annual churn rate, or the rate at which an email list “goes bad” in a year, held steady at 19% between 2007 and 2008.
  • For most organizations, almost one-third of all online actions are taken by the most active subscribers who comprise about 7% of the list.

Online Fundraising

  • While online giving was up in 2008, as the economy tanked, year-over-year returns flattened and those who did donate gave less in the fourth quarter.

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Saturday
09May2009

On Frogloop’s Radar

DateSaturday, May 9, 2009 at 08:41PM | by AuthorAllyson Kapin

New Benchmarks Study Coming Out May 14th

Mark your calendar. M+R Strategic Services and NTEN are releasing the updated eNonprofit Benchmarks Study for 2009. The new study is packed with solid analysis of the latest online messaging, fundraising, and advocacy data from 32 leading nonprofit organizations.

They will be doing an overview of the study on May 14th and will give you the low down on updated, industry-wide metrics and discuss how the financial crisis is affecting online fundraising as well as helpful tips to fine tune your online communications strategies. Sign up here to participate in a webcast of the release.

New Organizing Institute’s Summer New Media Training

Want to find out about the latest new media tools and how to use them to launch hard-hitting online advocacy and fundraising campaigns? Check out the New Organizing Institute’s (NOI) New Media Training happening June 25-26 in Washington, DC.

NOI’s New Media Training offers an introductory track for all you newbies and a more advanced track for you seasoned pros. Topics covered will range from writing emails, online fundraising, and social networking (introductory) to making the most of your CRM, fighting list stagnation, and creating an innovative online strategy.

NOI is also offering some scholarships. They will go fast, so definitely apply soon.

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Tuesday
28Apr2009

10 Things Every Nonprofit Should Know About Social Media and Online Communications

DateTuesday, April 28, 2009 at 03:23PM | by AuthorAllyson Kapin

Last week I spoke on a couple of great panels at the Politics Online Conference about technology, social media and how Congress is trying to adapt to the ever-changing world wide web aka the “series of tubes” as former Senator Ted Stevens so hilariously described it. From grassroots advocacy staffers to Hill staffers and PR folks, the same questions arose during each panel session – what are the top social media tools we should be using to spread our message and how do we effectively use social media. All great questions! Let’s get down to my top 10 list of things every nonprofit should know about social media and online communications.

1. Google Analytics:
Google Analytics, a free and powerful website stats software, lets you dig into your website data so you can find out all sorts of useful info such as who your audience is and what keywords they are searching for to find your website. Katie Harbath of DCI who joined me on the panel “Every Question I Was too Embarrassed to Ask about Technology” said that this is one of the best resources of data when you begin to search for people to build your social media community. Agreed!

2. Enewsletters Still Work
Enewsletters are still a valuable form of communications for most organizations. During the panel “What Effect Will the New Administration’s Use of Tech Have on Congress?”, Rob Pierson, Online Communications Director for Congressman Mike Honda and soon to be New Media Director for the House Democratic Caucus, said that sending enewsletters to your online list is the best bang for your buck when you have limited time and resources. Enewsletters can easily generate a lot more clicks then social media outlets such as posting a video to YouTube. Furthermore, according to the latest benchmarks study by Convio, enewsletters are one of the most “cost-effective ways to build relationships with new constituents, increase engagement, and educate supporters about your organization’s mission.”

3. Twitter
Twitter, oh such a trendsetter these days between Oprah, Ashton Kutcher and CNN. The entire world seems to be fixated on Twitter and for good reason. Twitter is a great way to spread your message and brand your campaign, while building a community. As I have mentioned in prior posts, you need to be where your target audiences are. Consider it like an interactive 24-hour news cycle. It’s where people go to gather news, resources and discuss issues. But remember don’t treat it as a one way communication tool to just blast out your latest press releases and action alerts. The Twitter community likes to be engaged.

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Wednesday
25Mar2009

Convio Releases Nonprofit Online Marketing Benchmarks Study

DateWednesday, March 25, 2009 at 10:02PM | by AuthorAllyson Kapin

Allyson Kapin, Editor-In-Chief‘Tis the season for benchmark studies. In that spirit, Convio released their comprehensive online marketing study today that looked at close to 600 nonprofit organizations’ online marketing results and compiled benchmarks for evaluating fundraising, email, advocacy, and marketing success online. Overall, the nonprofit online landscape looks good. Online fundraising, email list growth and website traffic continue to increase. However, in the fourth quarter nonprofits experienced a dip in average gift sizes. While donors continued to donate money, the average gift was smaller. Nonetheless, revenue still grew by 3% in the fourth quarter.

“It's reassuring that despite the economic downturn most of the metrics they looked at, including average gift size, were flat or up compared to 2007,” said Robert Weiner, who provides technology consulting to nonprofit organizations. “Of course, things got a lot worse in the fourth quarter, so these trends might not hold up.”

The study also showed that while year-over-year growth remains positive, the rate of growth is slowing down, which is inevitable. For example, between 2006 and 2007, online donations grew by 26% but between 2007 and 2008 online donations only grew by 14%. Given the slow down, nonprofits should continue to track their own quarterly results and plan accordingly.

“People are still giving. Charities shouldn't be afraid to keep asking. After all, the number one reason people cite for not donating is that they weren't asked”, said Weiner. “On the other hand, I've been seeing that many donors are giving larger gifts but to fewer causes. Charities need to communicate with their constituents about the impact of their work and continue building relationships. Donors hate feeling like cash machines.”

As suspected, large organizations with large lists have not been hit as hard as small to medium sizes in this down economy. “It’s bad news for small organizations, which have few (if any) reserves to fall back on and fewer supporters who can make up shortfalls, said Weiner.

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Monday
23Mar2009

Multi-Channel Approach is Key to Nonprofit Fundraising

DateMonday, March 23, 2009 at 12:14PM | by AuthorAllyson Kapin

Have you ever analyzed your nonprofit organization's online donor list and wondered why many of the people listed aren’t recurring online donors? Your organization is not alone. According to the donorCentric study published by Target Analytics, which gathered data from 25 large nonprofit organizations ranging from CARE to Amnesty International, many nonprofits have mastered raising money from Direct Mail campaigns, but haven’t quite figured out how to replicate their fundraising success online. Interesting key findings based on research and information from over 9.5 million donors include:

  • Online giving continues to grow rapidly even in the absence of major disasters, which fueled the growth of online giving for relief and animal welfare organizations in 2005-2006. For example, 12 of the groups in the study had a median increase in online donors of 39% from 2007 to 2008, while their offline donors decreased a median -3% over the same period.
  • Direct Mail donors -- who are the primary giving source for most organizations –- rarely give online. When mail donors do give online, they tend to give higher average gifts.
  • Direct Mail response rates continue to decline. 12 of the groups had a median increase in online donors of 315% over the past five years, while offline donors declined a median -6% over the same period.
  • Online donations make up a significant portion of new donors and revenue. In 2008 they accounted for a median 16% of all new donors and a median 27% of all new revenue.
  •  Online donors have slightly lower retention rates overall than traditional donors.

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