Two weeks ago The Agitator reported on Convio’s online benchmarking study, which was based on data from nearly 600 clients of that online fundraising and engagement firm.

Today we’re commenting on the 2011 eNonprofit Benchmarks Study from M+R Strategic Services and NTEN, which includes data collected from 40 US-based nonprofit organizations. A far smaller — but nicely representative — sample, with some good analysis and food for thought nonetheless. These groups raised $114 million online in 2010.

Right away, I’m left scratching my head. Convio reports a 40% increase in online fundraising revenue in 2010 over 2009, while M&R reports only a 14% increase for its sample (10% excluding International groups — read: relief appeals). Convio reports a response rate of 0.16% for online fundraising appeals; M&R reports half that … 0.08%. These two groups should have a coffee!

Interesting factoids from M&R:

• Median email list growth for 2010 was 20%;
• Annual email list churn is 18% (including 8% Unsubscribes);
• Average study participant sent 3.6 emails per subscriber per month (6 in December);
• Open rates for email fundraising appeals fell 19%; by 7% for advocacy messages;
• Median online gift was $60 (compared to median for Convio of $83);
• For every 1000 subscribers on email lists, there are an average of 110 Facebook fan page users and 19 Twitter followers.

A couple of other findings interested me.

With the single exception of environmental groups, all other sectors raise a majority of their online revenue from online sources other than email appeals. Most striking is the health sector, where only 7% of online income comes from email appeals. M&R notes that the health sector raises a lot of money from event-driven sources like races and walk-a-thons, where peer-to-peer contact and web-based donation capture (including social net sites) prevail.

And what about integrated, multi-channel communications?

Of M&R’s study partners, 87% had a direct mail program in place. 100% of the large organizations (over 500,000 deliverable email addresses) surveyed included at least some online supporters – including those who have never donated – in their direct mail efforts. However, 79% of medium organizations and only 38% of small organizations (under 100,000 email addresses) did so.

Related to this, the vast majority of organizations in the study – 79% – reported that online and offline acquisition efforts were budgeted separately!

Silos! Silos! Silos! UGH! UGH! UGH!

More integration — in planning/budgeting and execution — means more money folks!

Thanks for adding to the data pot, M&R Strategic Services and NTEN. You deserve a raise!

Tom

P.S. You can also download a recording of the study release presentation, as well as a slide presentation, here.