By Heather Mansfield, Editor-in-chief of Nonprofit Tech for Good and producer of the Global NGO Technology Report and the Global Trends in Giving Report


Fundraising Stats

  • The average online gift in 2018 was $96.40 USD (Blackbaud Luminate Online Report).
  • 8.5% of overall fundraising in 2018 came from online giving (Charitable Giving Report).
  • 54% of donors worldwide prefer to give via credit or debit card. 11% via direct mail/post. 10% via bank/wire transfer. 9% via PayPal. 4% via mobile app/wallet. 1% via text message (Global Trends in Giving Report).
  • The number of new donors giving to charity declined by 7.3% in 2018. The number of new retained donors dropped 14.9% (Fundraising Effectiveness Project).
  • The typical return donor made a second donation around 349 days after their first donation. However, 19% of donors return within the first 90 days (The State of Modern Philanthropy Report).
  • 29% of annual donation volume occurs from #GivingTuesday through the end of the year (The State of Modern Philanthropy Report).
  • 53% of nonprofit staff who are extremely or somewhat satisfied in their current roles donate to the organization where they work (World-Changing Work Report).
  • In 2018, Americans gave $427.7 billion USD to charity. 77% of the total was made by individuals, 18% by foundations, and 5% by corporations (Giving USA Report).
  • Individual giving Decreased from 70% in 2017 to 68% in 2018. Religious organizations (-3.9%) and educational organizations (-3.7%) experienced the largest drop in giving (Giving USA Report).
  • 92% of donors say it is important that NGOs, nonprofits, and charities make a concerted effort to protect their contact and financial information from data breaches (Global Trends in Giving Report).

International Giving

  • 31% of donors worldwide giving to NGOs, nonprofits, and charities located outside of their country of residence (Global Trends in Giving Report).
  • Donating money has increased in 2017 among those donors from developed nations (from 40% in 2016 to 42%), but has declined among developing countries (from 25% in 2016 to 24%)
  • The top countries where individuals give the most often (not necessarily the most money) are (1) Myanmar, (2) The United States, (3) New Zealand, (4) Australia, and ; (5) Ireland (Charities Aid Foundation World Giving Index).

Email Fundraising

Recurring Giving

  • Monthly giving revenue grew by an average of 18.37% in 2018 (Blackbaud Luminate Online Report).
  • Monthly donors give $35.46 per month – or $425 a year (Blackbaud Luminate Online Report).
  • Only 14% of organizations prompt one-time donors to upgrade to a recurring gift during the donation process (NextAfter).
  • 91% of organizations stopped acknowledging recurring gifts by month three (NextAfter).
  • A pop-up asking a one-time donor to upgrade to become a monthly donor results in a 64% increase in monthly donations (NextAfter).
  • One-time donors that upgrade to become monthly donors tend to do so around four months after their one-time donation (The State of Modern Philanthropy Report).

Mobile Giving

Tribute Gifts

  • 33% of donors give tribute gifts to family and friends. Donors are most interested in giving tribute gifts as memorials (43%), birthday gifts (25%), and on religious holidays (10%) (Global Trends in Giving Report).

Matching Gifts

  • An estimated $2-3 billion USD is donated through matching gift programs annually, however, an additional $4-7 billion USD in matching gift funds goes unclaimed every year (Double the Donation).
  • 12% of total corporate cash contributions to nonprofits are made through matching gift programs (Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose).
  • 1 in 3 donors indicate they’d give a larger gift if matching is applied to their donation (The Big Give Research Initiative).

Peer-to-Peer Fundraising

Crowdfunding

  • On average, a donor can raise $568 USD through an individual crowdfunding page (DonorPerfect).
  • An average donation to a crowdfunding campaign is $66 USD (DonorPerfect).
  • Over 50% of people who receive an email about a crowdfunding campaign donate (DonorPerfect).

#GivingTuesday

Emerging Trends

Giving by Gender

  • 70% of giving circles are majority women. For women, giving is based on empathy for others. For men, giving is often more about self-interest (Women’s Philanthropy Institute).
  • 61% of first-time donors are women and 59% of return donors are also women. (The State of Modern Philanthropy Report).
  • The top five causes for women are children and youth (15%), animals and wildlife (13%), health and wellness (10%), human and social services (8%), and hunger and homelessness (8%)  (Global Trends in Giving Report).
  • The top five causes for men are children and youth (15%), health and wellness (11%), human and social services (9%), faith and spirituality (8%), and hunger and homelessness (8%) (Global Trends in Giving Report).

Giving by Generation

  • Baby Boomers give an average of $1,212 USD annually (NeonCRM). Their top five causes are health and wellness (13%), children and youth (12%), human and social services (10%), animals and wildlife (9%), and faith and spirituality (9%) (Global Trends in Giving Report).
  • Gen Xers give an average of $732 USD annually (NeonCRM). Their top five causes are children and youth (17%), animals and wildlife (11%), health and wellness (10%), human and social services (8%), and hunger and homelessness (7%) (Global Trends in Giving Report).
  • Millennials give an average of $481 USD annually (NeonCRM). Their top five causes are children and youth (16%), animals and wildlife (13%), health and wellness (9%), hunger and
    homelessness (8%), and education (7%) (Global Trends in Giving Report).

Giving and Volunteerism

Social Media Stats

  • 29% of online donors say that social media is the communication tool that most inspires them to give [email 27%, website, 18%, print, 12%, TV ad 6%] (Global Trends in Giving Report).
  • 87% of donors who first donate from a social referral source make their second donation from a social referral source (The State of Modern Philanthropy Report).
  • For every 1,000 email addresses, nonprofits had an average of 806 Facebook fans, 286 Twitter followers, and 101 Instagram followers
  • (M+R Benchmarks Report).
  • 71% of nonprofits worldwide agree that social media is effective for online fundraising (Global NGO Technology Report).
  • 34% of nonprofits worldwide have paid for social ads (Global NGO Technology Report).
  • On average, nonprofits spend $67 USD on social media ads to acquire a donor (M+R Benchmarks Report).
  • Social Media drives 57% of traffic to fundraising campaign pages (Classy).

Facebook

  • For every $100 in online revenue, $1.77 is raised through Facebook Charitable Giving Tools (M+R Benchmarks Report).
  • 88% of donors who have given through Facebook Charitable Giving Tools say they are likely to do it again in the future (Global Trends in Giving Report).
  • 93% of NGOs worldwide have a Facebook Page. 25% post once daily on Facebook, 23% post once every other day, 19% post once weekly, 18% post twice or more daily, and 15% post less than once weekly (Global NGO Technology Report).
  • Small nonprofits have an average if 8,722 Facebook Followers. Medium have 32,092. Large have 109,158 (Global NGO Technology Report).
  • Facebook posts only reach an average of 4% of a nonprofit page’s fans (M+R Benchmarks Report).
  • The Engagement Score (engaged users divided by total page fans) for an average Facebook post is 0.31%. Video posts have the highest Engagement Score at 0.33% (M+R Benchmarks Report).
  • 41% of NGOs have used Facebook to report live from a special event or to showcase their organization’s work (Global NGO Technology Report).

Twitter

  • 17% of nonprofits worldwide have participated in or hosted a Tweet Chat (Global NGO Technology Report).
  • 77% of nonprofits worldwide have a Twitter Profile. 24% tweet two to five tweets daily, 21% less than one tweet weekly, 18% tweet once daily, 18% tweet one tweet every other day, 12% tweet once weekly, and 7% tweet five or more tweets daily (Global NGO Technology Report).
  • Small nonprofits have an average of 4,241 Twitter Followers. Medium have 17,737. Large have 39,496 (Global NGO Technology Report).

Instagram

  • 50% of NGOs worldwide have an Instagram Profile. 30% share less than once weekly, 24% share once weekly, 21% share once every other day, 17% share once daily, and 8% share twice or more daily (Global NGO Technology Report).
  • Small nonprofits have an average of 1,837 Instagram Followers. Medium have 7,675. Large have 19,365 (Global NGO Technology Report).

LinkedIn

  • 56% of NGO worldwide have a LinkedIn Page. 68% post less than once weekly, 15% post once weekly, 8% post once every other day, 6% post once daily, and 3% post twice or more daily (Global NGO Technology Report).
  • Small nonprofits have an average of 785 LinkedIn Followers. Medium have 2,837. Large have 10,107 (Global NGO Technology Report).

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