As much fun as it is to do online fundraising, nonprofits have to face the hard truth that offline fundraising is their best bet for long-term, sustainable income.
That is the message that Blackbaud keeps hammering on to make sure that nonprofits don't think that online giving is the holy grail of fundraising.
If you haven't read Blackbaud's 2011 Multichannel Fundraising Report, you really need to. Frank Barry of Blackbaud's Netwitsthinktank blog just wrote again about the sobering details of that report. To quote Frank:
"...one of the most striking findings in our 2011 donorCentrics Internet and Multichannel Giving Benchmarking Report was that, in aggregate, online-acquired donors still have much higher cumulative value over the long term than traditional, mail-acquired donors."However, this only holds true when the online donor has been converted to offline giving. Otherwise, online donors tend to be one-hit wonders that leave the nonprofits in the unenviable position of having to constantly find new supporters to replace them."
Too many organizations have internalized the first part about "higher cumulative value" of online donors and quickly forgotten the part about "one-hit wonders."
There is no silver bullet in fundraising. It takes hard work, consistent effort, and a multichannel approach. Converting first time donors to long-time donors still means cultivating them offline. Very few charities succeed with only online giving. Most must ply all the possibilities -- not just multichannel marketing but multiple baskets of income.
Online fundraising is an investment in the future and a way to engage first time, often young, donors. The payoff is in the future when the post office might be a dinosaur and everyone is totally wired. Meanwhile, combining the new and the traditional is the best bet for success.
How is your oganization using all the channels and buckets to support your organization? Do you have a lesson or two to share?
Read more:
- How to Keep Donors Coming Back After the First Gift
- Unraveling the Data about Multichannel Donors
- Why You Should Mail Thank You Letters to Online Donors
Photo: Aaron Cobbett/Getty Images
Comments
I absolutely agree that nonprofits need to focus on multi-channel marketing and that direct mail should be in every fundraisers toolkit for a long time, but I had some issues with the report itself.
The report was based on data from only 28 nonprofits and stated that those nonprofits had “robust direct mail programs” in place with the typical organization “receiving more than ¾ of their gifts through direct mail”; I’d be very curious to know whether or not they had an equally robust ONLINE program or if they just chose to focus more of their attention on their lucrative direct mail programs.
Those could be plausible explanations for the results that would NOT require nonprofits to immediately move their online donors offline, but rather build UP, and focus on, online processes to make sure those donors stay online and happy. In other words, focusing more on offline acquisition could DRIVE ONLINE DONORS OFFLINE. No one addresses this possibility, which to me makes a LOT more sense.
@Julie, you bring up a great question and some good points here. Thanks for your insight.
I agree that building up a great online cultivation program should be part of the plan for any nonprofit who is raising money online. I don’t at all think the entire focus (for ever) should be on driving online giving only to move people offline.
However, I do think organizations should take their strengths into consideration. If direct mail is what you’re good at then use that skill while you build up your online capabilities. Over time as fundraising becomes more and more digital organizations will need to adapt their strategies.
Thanks again for your insight!!