Care2's Digital Engagement Blog

According to the 2015 Nonprofit Communications Trends Report, by NonprofitMarketingGuide.com, nonprofits are becoming more confident and more intentional about reaching out to target audiences, raising money, and retaining donors through engagement. For the first time since 2011, nonprofits have significantly increased the frequency for both email and direct mail appeals.

Each organization has a unique approach to how they how they fund their digital strategy, build digital teams, and set their digital strategy goals. We want to know about it!

Dunham and Company released an Online Fundraising Scorecard that looked at 151 nonprofits online fundraising activities. The report either gave a big "F" or a mediocre rating to most of the nonprofits in the report. Out of 151 nonprofits, only 24 of them scored 76% or above. 

Is your nonprofit investing the right amount of money, resources, and strategy into digital? Probably not. Heck, even the NYT admitted in a leaked report that they are struggling with their digital strategy.

After working on over 400 nonprofit email recruitment campaigns, and helping clients plan successful recruitment strategies, I’ve realized that most nonprofits don't send nearly enough standalone fundraising appeals. I've seen clients make their money back on their investments with Care2 in as little as three months, or as long as four years. There are obviously lots of variables involved with raising money online – and ultimately in various direct response channels – however we now as an industry have enough data to know what’s possible for most organizations, and this article will hopefully give some insight into how to get the most out of your email fundraising program. 

Even though the U.S. economy is still recovering, the majority of Americans (60%) still give to charity, according to the Next Generation of American Giving study by Blackbaud. The study looked at giving habits and trends across four generations of donors – Matures (68+), Boomers (49-67), Gen X (33-48) and Gen Y (18-32). Unfortunately the economy has taken its toll on charitable giving as donations have remained flat. This trend is not expected to change anytime in the near future, said the survey.