Blackbaud Index for March 2013 | npENGAGE

Blackbaud Index for March 2013 | npENGAGE: The Blackbaud Index provideds the most up-to-date information on charitable giving today. Tracking approximately $10 billion in US-based charitable giving, the Index is updated on the first of each month and is based on year-over-year percent changes. Featuring overall and online giving, the Index can be viewed by size and subsets of the nonprofit industry.

The Great Give: New fundraiser targets $500,000 for county nonprofits - CapitalGazette.com: Annapolis

The Great Give: New fundraiser targets $500,000 for county nonprofits - CapitalGazette.com: Annapolis: The Community Foundation of Anne Arundel County is recruiting nonprofit organizations such as the Food Bank in its effort to raise $500,000 for 100 of the county’s nonprofits. The Great Give is designed so donors give to selected charities over a 24-hour period in May.

Participating groups will use an online platform to solicit money from 7 p.m. on May 15 to 7 p.m. on May 16. Preliminary training for participants will be Wednesday from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Severna Park Community Center.

#GivingTuesday Sparks Big Spike in Donations - Prospecting - The Chronicle of Philanthropy- Connecting the nonprofit world with news, jobs, and ideas

#GivingTuesday Sparks Big Spike in Donations - Prospecting - The Chronicle of Philanthropy- Connecting the nonprofit world with news, jobs, and ideas: The amount of online donations processed by Blackbaud, a processor of online gifts, shot up 53 percent to $10-million on Tuesday, compared with the same day last year.

Network for Good, another processor of online gifts, also reported a spike. The total number of donations more than doubled, to 113 percent, on #GivingTuesday versus the Tuesday after Thanksgiving 2011. The amount collected Tuesday was also 55 percent more than the amount of donations collected on Monday.

A Receipt Is Not a Thank You: Online Donors vs Online Buyers

A Receipt Is Not a Thank You: Online Donors vs Online Buyers: So, why do nonprofits not worry about their online thank yous as much as their mailed thank yous? Why do thank you letters seem to warrant time and attention while the attitude toward online thank yous seems so nonchalant? This seems especially odd given that we also know that attrition for first time donors, especially online, is extremely high. Those donors are worth a lot, but only if we keep them.

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.”"

Alexandria is tops in charitable giving - wtop.com

Alexandria is tops in charitable giving - wtop.com: "Here are the most generous large cities (total populations of more than 100,000) through August 2009 based on per capita giving:

1. Alexandria, Va.
2. Cambridge, Mass.
3. Minneapolis, Minn.
4. Arlington, Va.
5. Seattle
6. St. Louis
7. Austin, Texas
8. Bellevue, Wash.
9. Washington
10. Pittsburgh"

The NonProfit Times - The Leading Business Publication For Nonprofit Management

The NonProfit Times - The Leading Business Publication For Nonprofit Management: "Email Open Rates, Click-Throughs, Average Gifts All Drop

Online gift amounts declined by an average $15 for all organizations, but local and state-based organizations really took it on the chin, with online gifts dropping an average $51, according to a study released today.

The segment nearly doubled the average overall growth for number of gifts, but the precipitous drop in average gift is a “big concern,” according to Marc Ruben, co-author of and vice president at M+R Strategic Services, in Washington, D.C."

NYT: Study Shows First-Time Online

NYT: Study Shows First-Time Online: "Study Shows First-Time Online Donors Often Do Not Return
By STEPHANIE STROM

Published: March 18, 2009

People who go online to donate to charity for the first time often do not return to the Internet to make later gifts, according to a new study examining the experience of 24 nonprofit groups.

The findings suggest that while the Internet can be a valuable fund-raising tool for charities, particularly in soliciting gifts after disasters like Hurricane Katrina, it is not a replacement for direct mail or other forms of fund-raising."

70% of Americans Plan to Give During the Holidays, Survey Finds - Philanthropy.com

70% of Americans Plan to Give During the Holidays, Survey Finds - Philanthropy.com: "70% of Americans Plan to Give During the Holidays, Survey Finds

By Cassie J. Moore

Despite the bad economy, almost seven out of 10 adults plan to donate the same amount online as they did in the 2007 holiday season, according to a study released today."

New Rules of Attraction - Philanthropy.com

From the Chronicle
New Rules of Attraction - Philanthropy.com: "New Rules of Attraction

As traditional fund-raising methods falter, charities look for new ways to appeal to online donors

By Holly Hall

This week the Nature Conservancy will kick off a campaign to ask online donors to give $1 apiece to help the charity plant a billion trees in Brazil's rain forest. But conservancy officials have no idea if the electronic drive will meet its goal of raising $1-million."

Huntington animal shelter competes for $1M -- Newsday.com

Huntington animal shelter competes for $1M -- Newsday.com: "A Web site for animal lovers feels the same way and is conducting an online voting competition to help one lucky animal shelter win a $1 million dollar 'extreme' makeover. And a shelter from Huntington is near the top of the pack right now.

Beyond the money given to the grand prize winner, www.zootoo.com, will provide funding for 19 other animal shelter across the country to make architectural improvements to their properties. The facilities that get the most votes will be judged on their physical needs, and also on their programs that benefit the community, to determine the million-dollar winner."

Capitalizing on the Impulse to Give - Chronicle.com

Capitalizing on the Impulse to Give - Chronicle.com: "Capitalizing on the Impulse to Give Nonprofit organizations started collecting donations online in earnest about six years ago, and the number of them reporting success has doubled since then, says a survey released today by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. E-mail solicitations to donors are also enticing more people to give, with the reported response rate growing from 15 percent to almost 28 percent since 2000."