Weirding Word®

Successful Nonprofits Use Multiple Channels to Raise Funds

The New York Times reports that a recent study conducted by Target Analytics shows that online donors usually give only once via the Internet, later giving through traditional challenges.

Researchers analyzed donor activity in 24 nonprofit organizations and online giving data in half of those, finding continued giving via the Internet was rare. Although online donors give at a higher rate and in larger amounts, they don't sustain online activity. Roughly 12% of online donors repeated their giving via the Internet. At the same time, online giving is on the rise.

Fundraisers speculated that the one-time giving practice could be due to a number of factors, including the:

• tendency of donors to give via traditional mail;
• fact that national and natural disasters spark waves of giving in response to urgent need; and
• relatively new world of online fundraising, which nonprofits haven't yet mastered.

What it all comes down to is diversifying fundraising - combining online, direct mail, phone appeals, corporate and foundation relations, major gifts and other strategies - is essential to long-term sustainability. And, nonprofits must learn how to harness and leverage the increase in online donations.

Read the full story at NYT and download the report at Target Analytics.

Gaea Honeycutt
blog@weirdingword.com


Weirding Word®, a division of G.L. Honeycutt Consulting, LLC, is a virtual publication department that provides editing, freelance writing, and publication and web design services.

Copyright 2007-2009 Gaea L. Honeycutt. All rights reserved.

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Gaea Honeycutt
blog@weirdingword.com

Weirding Word®, a division of G.L. Honeycutt Consulting, LLC, is a virtual publication department that provides editing, freelance writing, and publication and web design services.

Copyright 2008 Gaea L. Honeycutt. All rights reserved.