Introducing the Blackbaud Index of Charitable Giving

I’m really excited about the launch of the Blackbaud Index of Charitable Giving. This is a project that Blackbaud’s Chief Scientist Chuck Longfield has been heading up for the past few months. Special thanks to Jim O’Shaughnessy and Casey Empey with our Target Analytics division and our public relations manager Melanie Mathos for pulling this all together.

There are many industry reports currently available, but what was missing in the nonprofit sector was a more timely view of what’s happening. Blackbaud has a very broad set of clients and we are fortunate enough to have a respected group of experts to analyze the data.

Index Overview
The Blackbaud Index of Charitable Giving is the most comprehensive and timely fundraising index available. It is updated monthly and represents 1,400 organizations with combined annual revenue of $2.2 billion. Blackbaud will continue to grow and update the Index on a monthly basis and we expect the number of nonprofits in the Index to increase over time.

The Index includes revenue from all sources of fundraising activities: direct mail, telemarketing, face-to-face fundraising, email, online, mobile giving, small- and large-scale events, and major and deferred giving. The Index methodology is available to read online as well.

Current Index Findings
The Blackbaud Index of Charitable Giving found that overall revenue increased by 12.1% for the 3 months ending April 2010 as compared to the same period in 2009. Roger Craver, Editor in Chief of The Agitator and Founder of DonorTrends, has reviewed the index and has provided some insights into what it might be saying. You can read Roger’s comments online here.

Giving by Size of Organization
One major aspect of the Index is a look across organizations of different sizes. The Blackbaud Index of Charitable Giving includes large organizations (more than $10 million in annual revenue), medium sized organizations (between $1 million and $10 million in annual revenue), and smaller organizations (less than $1 million in annual revenue). Over time we’ll add organizations and provide breakdowns across sectors including Arts, Culture, and Humanities; Education; Environment and Animals; Healthcare; Human Services; International Affairs; Public and Society Benefit; and Religion.

Online Giving Index
You might be wondering about how online giving fits into the Index. In July, Blackbaud will be adding online giving to the Index based on data from over 2,000 nonprofit organizations. We’ve been testing and refining the data analysis for a while now. This is going to be the largest and most up-to-date analysis of online giving done in the nonprofit sector.

Please take some time to checkout the Blackbaud Index of Charitable Giving now and over time.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Steve MacLaughlin

Steve MacLaughlin is the Vice President of Data & Analytics at Blackbaud and bestselling author of Data Driven Nonprofits.

MacLaughlin has been featured as a fundraising and nonprofit expert in many mainstream publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, USA Today, The NonProfit Times, Bloomberg, and has appeared on NPR.

He is a frequent speaker at events including the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), Association for Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP), American Marketing Association (AMA), Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), Direct Marketing Fundraisers Association (DMFA), Giving Institute Summer Symposium, National Association of Independent School (NAIS), Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN), Institute of Fundraising National Convention, Civil Society Conference, Resource Alliance’s Fundraising Online, and a keynote speaker at such events as the Crescendo Practical Planned Giving Conference.

Steve serves on the Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN) Board of Directors and supports its focus on both the growth and professionalism of the nonprofit technology field as well as building knowledge and information sharing capacity throughout the sector.

He is a frequent blogger, published author of a chapter in the book People to People Fundraising: Social Networking and Web 2.0 for Charities, and is a co-editor of the book Internet Management for Nonprofits: Strategies, Tools & Trade Secrets. His latest book, Data Driven Nonprofits, became a bestseller in 2016.

Steve earned both his undergraduate degree and a Master of Science degree in Interactive Media from Indiana University.