Online fundraising continues to shine, but there’s more to the story. According to Giving USA, charitable giving grew to an estimated $316.23 billion dollars in 2012.

That seems like a massive number, but Dan Pallotta likes to point out that charitable giving has remained at roughly two percent of GDP for the past 40 years.  Looking at it through that lens helps put charitable giving into perspective. No growth.

To some (including me), the bright spot exists online. According to the Online Marketing Benchmark Study for Nonprofits [Download Now!] and the Charitable Giving Report, online fundraising saw double-digit growth for the fourth consecutive year [Tweet it!]. This fact is backed up again by a recent study of 115,000 nonprofits done by The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Double-digit growth for four years in a row is a pretty amazing fact, but how could it be when nonprofit website traffic and email appeal response rates are on the decline?

Sally Heaven points out that “The Sustainer Bump” has impacted online fundraising positively with revenue from recurring and repeat-donors growing by 27 percent and 20 percent, respectively [Tweet it!]. Those are numbers to get excited about!

Paying attention to sustainer giving, website traffic, email response rates and other key metrics is an important part of creating a successful online fundraising program. They’re critical if you, like me, believe that online fundraising is where the future is headed.

If you used the calculation for compound annual growth rate (CAGR) online fundraising will have grown by 176.4% in 10 years while overall fundraising will only have grown by 18.4% [Tweet it!]. That might help the skeptic.

2013 Online Marketing Benchmark Study for Nonprofits by Blackbaud

Check out the full INFOGRAPHIC based on the Blackbaud Online Marketing Benchmark Study for Nonprofits [Download Now!].

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Frank Barry

Frank Barry, director of new growth ventures at Blackbaud and blogger at npENGAGE, helps nonprofits use the Internet for digital communication, social media, and fundraising so they can focus changing the world. He’s worked with a diverse group of organizations including LIVESTRONG, United Methodist Church, American Heart Association, Big Brothers Big Sisters, ChildFund Int’l, InTouch Ministries, Heifer Int’l, University of Notre Dame and University of Richmond. Along with writing for industry publications like Mashable and Social Media Today, Frank facilitates discussions, presents solo sessions and organizes panels for industry conferences such as NTC, SXSW, BBCon and numerous others. When he’s out and about he enjoys talking to interesting people about how they are changing the world – check out his interviews. Say Hi on Twitter – @franswaa or Google+