Between January 24, 2012 and February 21, 2012, over 3500 nonprofit practitioners representing a variety of verticals and operating budgets responded to an online survey about their use of online social networks.
The majority of nonprofit are still not raising a dime on social networks like Facebook. 46% said that they were fundraising, with the top category (33% of all responders) prioritizing Individual Giving – soliciting Facebook supporters for individual donations (e.g. one-time gifts, memberships, and monthly gifts).
I was particularly interested to hear that nonprofits said that the average value of a Facebook "Like" over 12 months following acquisition was about $214.81. This includes money raised from both online and offline channels such as revenue from individual donations, membership, events, merchandise, etc.
Event fundraising was the second highest category with 20% of all responders. Causes was third with 17%, and Personal Fundraising (e.g. peer-to-peer fundraising linked to a mission-focused theme rather than a face-to-face event) was fourth with 11%.
42% of respondents indicate that they will increase their staffing for commercial social networks in 2012, 55% say they will keep staffing the same, and just 3% indicate they will reduce staffing. These statistics are almost identical to the survey results from 2011.
Now that you have a sense of how other nonprofits are utilizing social media, how do these survey findings correlate to your nonprofit?