Study: Online-Acquired Donors Switch To Mail, Not Vice-Versa

Study: Online-Acquired Donors Switch To Mail, Not Vice-Versa: "Study: Online-Acquired Donors Switch To Mail, Not Vice-Versa

Multichannel giving has become popular for fundraisers as a way to build constituent support. But, the large majority of donors on file give through only one channel and use only direct mail as their vehicle for donations. The only donors who do significant multichannel giving are new donors acquired online, who switch in large numbers to direct mail giving in subsequent years.

That's among the findings of the 2011 donorCentrics Internet and Multichannel Giving Benchmarking Report for Target Analytics, a Blackbaud company based in Cambridge. Mass. Authored by Helen Flannery and Rob Harris, the report shows “ It is the ability of online-acquired donors to become multichannel donors -- that is, to start giving through direct mail -- that significantly boosts the retention and long-term value of this group of donors far beyond what they would be if online giving were the only channel available.”"