Target Analytics Report Finds Online Giving Growing, Integrated Marketing Key to Retention

Key findings from the 2008 donorCentrics Internet Giving Benchmarking Analysis include:

• Online giving still represents a relatively small portion of donors and revenue at most organizations, but it is growing rapidly and is becoming an important source for new donor acquisition.

• Online donors are younger and have higher incomes than traditional direct mail donors. These are important constituents that nonprofits very much want to attract and keep, given the older average donor age in many files.

• Online donors give larger gifts and, as a result, have a higher overall long-term value than donors to more traditional giving channels like direct mail, but they are less loyal in terms of repeat giving. Higher average gifts mask the lower retention rates of online donors, which may present an opportunity for improvement at many organizations.

• The online giving channel must be an integrated part of an entire direct marketing program because although offline donors do not generally migrate to online giving, online donors do migrate to offline channels in large numbers. In addition, online donors tend to downgrade when they move offline, further evidence that online donors are not cultivated to their full potential.

To access the full report, or to register for a web seminar being held on April 16, 2009 to review the findings and discuss future studies, please visit www.blackbaud.com/donorCentricsInternet.