More Than Half of Nonprofit Leaders Reported Not Having Donor Engagement Strategies

This year, it has been clear that nonprofits continue to struggle with fundraising. While some data have indicated that “cautious optimism” may be in order, nonprofit leaders are still concerned about everything from donor acquisition to board participation.

Despite these challenges, 56% of nonprofit leaders admitted that their organizations do not create donor engagement strategies, according to a new research report from NonProfit PRO. For those who did have donor engagement strategies, the most common tactics were digital communications, events and face-to-face communications.

To help nonprofits prepare for their year-end fundraising campaigns and beyond, NonProfit PRO, powered by NAPCO Research, is excited to unveil its “2024 Nonprofit Fundraising Study.” The inaugural report includes insights from the same respondents who participated in the “2024 Nonprofit Leadership Impact Study,” which was released earlier this year.

The report takes a close look at how nonprofits did in 2023, evaluating acquisition and retention, year-end giving, digital fundraising and more.

Here are a few of the key takeaways from the study, which was conducted from Feb. 20 to March 7.

Year-over-year fundraising. Compared to 2022, 60% of respondents said their nonprofits raised more in 2023. This is in stark contrast with sector trends in recent years, when fundraising dollars were down.

Online fundraising. According to the report, 40% of respondents said their nonprofits generated 20% or less of their total donations online. They cited several obstacles to digital fundraising, chief among them being difficulties reaching the right audience (31% of respondents reported this).

This table shows that most nonprofits do not leverage digital fundraising for much of their fundraising efforts. In fact, nearly half said they bring in 20% or less of their fundraising revenue this way. | Credit: "2024 Nonprofit Fundraising Study" by NonProfit PRO

Year-end fundraising. Most participants do not rely heavily on year-end campaigns, with only 7% of respondents indicating that their organizations bring in at least half of their revenue from year-end fundraising. Additionally, 30% of respondents said they did not even participate in GivingTuesday in 2023.

Download our inaugural “Nonprofit Fundraising Study” for free to obtain more findings and insights from this inaugural report.