If you’ve been in the nonprofit industry for a while, you’ve likely heard that “direct mail is dead” or that offline fundraising is on the decline (we’ve got Online Fundraising software that can help you with both).
Why? Because Internet usage continues to skyrocket. Data storage and hardware is cheap. Smartphones are in everyone’s hands and social networking online has become an everyday activity for millions of people. Simply put, the world is going online.
All these elements (and many others) lead one to believe that “going online” is a must. That online fundraising is the way for your organization to break through its fundraising ceiling and raise millions of dollars tomorrow.
But …
Offline still rules …
90%+ of fundraising revenue comes from offline sources. Direct mail and other offline fundraising sources are still the most effective ways to raise money – by a long shot!
Online is a critical piece …
You could argue that if offline fundraising accounts for such a large portion of fundraising revenue in the industry then you should place all your focus there. But that would be slightly short sighted.
Online fundraising continues to grow by leaps and bounds. It’s grown 34.5% to $20+ billion in 2010. And it continues to be the best way to acquire new donors.
What the data tells us …
They key to raising more money is to figure out how to utilize offline and online channels together. When you do them both well you have an opportunity to increase overall giving per donor by up to 3X that of a single channel donor.
Check out the multichannel fundraising infographic below to learn more about how online and offline giving go hand in hand.
Data sources used in above infographic
- 2011 donorCentrics Internet and Multichannel Giving Benchmarking Report
- 2010 Online Giving Report by Blackbaud
2011 Internet and Multichannel Giving
Download the complete Internet and Multichannel Fundraising Report to learn more about how the industry is changing, the turn to online fundraising and the need for a multichannel approach.
This is great – thanks. Just to be clear, when it says “$197 4-Year Revenue” is that what a donor gives each year for four years? Or what they give over the course of four years in aggregate?
Hey John. That’s total average revenue per donor over the 4 years.
Great, easy to absorb data points.
Thanks for stopping by FDR!
Another stellar infographic. Way to go, Frank, Blackbaud, and team!
Thanks Laura!! Appreciate the good vibes 🙂
Thanks for putting this together. Great to see online fundraising growing.
It would be interesting to see what impact online/offline promotion has on online/offline giving. I know that there’s been a lot of times where an offline ad has prompted me to give – which I do online for convenience.
Great infographic, Frank. Thanks for being willing to share. I’ve just posted it at my blog. Here’s the link:
http://www.marionconway.com/2012/01/relationship-between-offline-and-online.html