Strengthening Your Online Presence: Now is the Time

Until now, increases in revenue per donor compensated for donor declines, allowing overall revenue to continue to grow. In the most recent quarter in the analysis, however, continued revenue per donor growth could not make up for the donor decreases nor prevent overall revenue from declining. For most organizations, overall donor declines have been due primarily to a decrease in new-donor acquisition. New donors declined 2.3 percent from Q1 2007 to Q1 2008, on top of a 5.3 percent drop over the same period one year before. Additionally, telephone fundraising is growing more difficult in the wake of “do not call” regulation and the substitution of cell phones for land lines. In this context, nonprofits must find more economic ways to source new donors and enhance their lifetime value.