2013 proved to be quite positive for the United States fundraising environment, having been the year that saw the largest year-over-year increase in charitable giving since the recession. Overall giving increased by 4.9 per cent and online giving grew by a significant 13.5 per cent.
“Online giving has been growing at double-digit rates for many years now. In 2012, online giving was up 10.7 per cent, so this is the continuation of a trend,” observes Steven MacLaughlin, Director of Idea Lab. “The simple reason is because online giving is the fastest-growing source of fundraising for nonprofits. As more and more donors choose to give online, as opposed to cash or cheque, this trend will only continue to grow.”
Online giving
Smaller organizations tend to lead the pack when it comes to online giving. In fact, although large organizations experienced the most growth in terms of overall giving, small organizations experienced the largest increase in online giving.
“This is primarily because these organizations don’t have large direct mail programs or budgets like many large nonprofits,” says MacLaughlin. In other words, small nonprofits have had to rely on using online giving as a more cost-effective channel for fundraising. “When it comes to online giving, having less resources isn’t a barrier to being successful like it is with many other channels,” he concludes.
International giving
Giving to international organizations grew to 13.2 per cent in the past year. This is a significant turnaround from 2011 and 2012, where the year-over-year results were negative.
“International organizations are now back to pre-disaster fundraising levels. When disasters happen, the first response channel of choice for donors is to give online,” notes MacLaughlin. “So far, we have not seen any spikes that have been larger than the response to the Haiti earthquake in 2010.”
International organizations fared better this past year because the reports analyze year-over-year performance. In other words, 2011 and 2012 garnered negative results in comparison to the spike in 2010.
“Because 2013 was a relatively normal year, the trends look better,” says MacLaughlin.
For more information, please see Blackbaud’s 2013 Charitable Giving Report. Blackbaud has also released a fact sheet that highlights and provides context around the key findings.
Blackbaud is planning on releasing a Canadian version of the very popular Blackbaud Index soon—details will be provided as soon as they are available.
Michelle Jondreau is a communications professional with an avid interest in all things HR. On top of that, she hails from the non-profit world and as such has a keen understanding of sector trends and issues. Follow her @majondreau.
