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).
29% of annual donation volume to nonprofits occurs from #GivingTuesday through the end of the year.
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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
- Email messaging drives 13% of all online revenue (M+R Benchmarks Report).
- For every 1,000 fundraising messages delivered via email, nonprofits raise $45 USD (M+R Benchmarks Report).
- Nonprofits sent an average of 59 email messages per subscriber in 2018 (M+R Benchmarks Report).
- Nonprofits lose 20.18% of their email revenue ($92.8 million) due to spam filters (EveryAction).
- 63% of nonprofits worldwide regularly send email updates and fundraising appeals (Global NGO Technology Report).
- 68% of online donors most trust email addresses and websites that use the .org domain (Global Trends in Giving Report).
For every 1,000 fundraising messages delivered, nonprofits raise $45 USD. However, nonprofits lose 20.18% of their revenue due to spam filters.
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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
- 24% of online donations in 2018 were made via a mobile device (Charitable Giving Report).
- 77% of donors who first donate from a mobile device make their second donation from a mobile device (The State of Modern Philanthropy Report).
- 15% of nonprofits worldwide regularly send text messages to donors and supporters (Global NGO Technology Report).
- Small nonprofits have an average of 2,284 text message subscribers. Medium have 17,076. Large have 22,299 (Global NGO Technology Report).
- The average text-to-donate gift is $106 (MobileCause).
- 84% text-to-pledge gifts are fulfilled (MobileCause).
77% of donors who first donate from a mobile device make their second donation from a mobile device.
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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).
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.
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Peer-to-Peer Fundraising
- 33% of nonprofits worldwide using a peer-to-peer fundraising platform (Global NGO Technology Report).
- 47% of peer-to-peer donors are first-time donors to an organization (Cathexis Partners).
- For every share on social media, a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign raises an average of $13USD (CrowdRise).
- One-time fundraisers raise, on average, $222 USD. $501 USD is raised by return fundraisers (The State of Modern Philanthropy Report).
- 14% of peer-to-peer fundraisers became fundraisers again for the same organization (The State of Modern Philanthropy Report).
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).
On average, a donor can raise $568 USD through an individual crowdfunding page while the average donation to a crowdfunding campaign is $66 USD.
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#GivingTuesday
- The average online gift on #GivingTuesday was $105 USD (Giving Tuesday).
- In 2018, online donors made 29% of their #GivingTuesday gifts via a mobile device (Charitable Giving Report).
- On average, nonprofits gain 4X the number of new donors on #GivingTuesday that they do on a typical day (The State of Modern Philanthropy Report).
Emerging Trends
- It is estimated that 1% of nonprofits or NGOs now accept Bitcoin (Global NGO Technology Report).
- 66% of donors worldwide would use a mobile app that allows two-tap giving and earns badges and redeemable points. This app does not exist (Global Trends in Giving Report).
- 58% of gamers have donated to charity by buying video games through initiatives like HumbleBundle. 17% have donated while playing (Charities Aid Foundation).
- 19% of donors would give by scanning their smartphone at a digital billboard on public transport or at an airport (Global Trends in Giving Report).
- 9% of donors would use voice-command giving through their home personal assistant or car radio (Global Trends in Giving Report).
58% of gamers have donated to charity by buying video games through initiatives like @HumbleBundle. 17% have donated while playing.
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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).
Baby Boomers give an average of $1,212 USD, Gen Xers $732 USD, and Millennials $481 USD. Children and youth is the number one cause for all three generations.
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Giving and Volunteerism
- 67% of donors volunteer locally, 72% sign online petitions, and 56% attend fundraising events (Global Trends in Giving Report).
- 85% of volunteers donate to the nonprofits that they volunteer for (Global Trends in Giving Report).
- The estimated value of a volunteer work hour is $25.43 USD (Independent Sector).
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).
34% of nonprofits worldwide have paid for social ads. On average, nonprofits spend $67 USD on social media ads to acquire a donor.
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- 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).
- 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).
Small nonprofits have an average of 4,241 Twitter Followers. Medium have 17,737. Large have 39,496.
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- 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).
- 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).
71% of nonprofits worldwide agree that social media is effective for online fundraising.
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