Web Is Good at Acquiring Donors, Not Retaining Them

The research also found that for donors already on file, evidence of past multichannel giving was not predictive of future retention or long-term value. Traditional direct marketing segmentation variables such as frequency, gift amount and how recently a gift was given were far more predictive.

Other key findings about online donors:

• The majority of gifts are still received through direct mail, although it has become increasingly common for new donors to give their first gift online.
• Online-acquired donors are significantly younger and tend to have higher household incomes than mail-acquired donors.
• Online-acquired donors tend to give much larger gifts, but have slightly lower retention rates than mail-acquired counterparts.
• In aggregate, online-acquired donors have much higher cumulative value over the long term than traditional mail-acquired donors. However, long-term value varies depending on the donor's origin gift level, and the substantially higher gift amounts given by online-acquired donors can mask issues with retention.

The data presented in the report came from the most recent transactional data available for the 28 organizations participating in Target Analytics' donorCentrics online benchmarking service in 2010. Organizations that participate in these online benchmarking groups are prominent national nonprofits covering a range of sectors, including animal welfare, the environment, health, human services, international relief and societal benefit.

Thirty-year-old Blackbaud provides software and services designed specifically for nonprofit organizations, enabling them to improve operational efficiency, build strong relationships and raise more money to support their missions.