It’ll be a few more weeks until the definitive, multi-channel results on 2019 End of Year Giving (EYOG) for the sector are published by the Blackbaud Institute and The Fundraising Effectiveness Project.  However, digital fundraisers take note.

Late last week in a post (“Everything you wanted to know about 2019 EOY fundraising but were afraid to ask” from Karen Hopper over at M+R the digital consulting firm issued this warning “broad changes to digital fundraising had a sharp impact in December, and nonprofits that are behind on the trends are going to find it more and more difficult to keep up.”

In summarizing year-over-year data for 24 groups Karen noted:

• Email revenue [for 2019] was down 3.5% year over year for the median organization, while average gift was down 6%.
• While not for certain, it does appear that these groups avoided the dent made in 2019’s year-end giving by the Tax Reform Act of 2019. The median group in the M+R review saw end of year revenue up 8%, but (perhapsbecause of the new tax law “average gift was down 3% for the median group and more for other groups.
• The portion of revenue directly attributed to email is falling: in 2018, 23% of all November and December online revenue could be attributed directly to email, but in 2019, that figure falls to 19%—a median decrease of 15%. 

Karen’s conclusion: “The long and short is that email is still a valuable tool in the belt of the online fundraiser—but supporting your messaging in other channels is more important than ever.”

Importance of Other Channels and Events

For those readers into #GivingTuesday you’ll want to read Karen’s detailed take on the timing and results of that event. (Spoiler alert: more and more groups are getting out there way ahead of the actual GivingTuesday.)

You’ll also want to learn more about the growing importance on the use of mobile phones in building website traffic.  And, significantly, of the use of SMS blasts vs email appeals.  According to the M+R Benchmarks study, the clickthrough rate on a blast fundraising SMS message is 13%, compared to email, where clickthrough rate on fundraising messages is only 0.44%.

               More Words of Warning on Deliverability

A year ago, in January Nick and I sounded the warning about coming trouble where deliverability of email is concerned.  The two-part series–Part 1: Some Basics here and Part 2: Impact of Mad Lib Fundraising  here.

Karen continues the warning about the serious and growing problem of email deliverability. You might check out these tips from M+R for tidying up your email list here.

An Agitator raise to Karen and the folks at M+R for keeping their eye on the digital ball throughout the year.

Roger

URGENT PS:  Many Agitator readers depend heavily on direct mail, not digital.  Last week we issued an ALERT concerning a coming postage hike UNLESS the sector takes action. A simple letter (on paper, in an envelope, with a stamp) directly  from your organization to the Postal Rate Commission will work wonders.  BUT…it must be postmarked not later than January 31.

There are sample letters and mailing instructions in this ALERT.  Thank you for taking action.