Target Analytics released its 2011 Benchmark Study of Internet and Multi-Channel Giving yesterday.

I suspect their findings will be like playing Mozart to a cow … expecting appreciation and receiving only blank stares. But, more on that in a minute.

In a nutshell, here’s what Target Analytics found in their benchmarking of the online/offline — and supposedly integrated — world experienced by the largest direct response nonprofits in America, involving 15+ million donors and more than  $1.1 billion in revenue:

• Although direct mail remains the dominant channel for new donor acquisitions…it has become increasingly common for new donors to give their first gift online.
• Online acquired donors give almost double the amount ($62) as mail-acquired donors ($32), regardless of age or income.
• In aggregate, online-acquired donors have much higher cumulative value over the long term than traditional mail-acquired donors.
• Every year, large proportions of online-acquired donors switch from online giving to offline sources – primarily to direct mail. (I want to come back to that in a moment!)
• Without the ability to become multichannel givers by renewing support via direct mail, online donors would be worth far less.”
• The internet is a successful acquisition channel but has not proven to be an effective one for retention.

You’d have to be a complete idiot to not understand why this is happening. The average nonprofit, particularly the big ones in this study, really don’t have the slightest clue about ‘integration’.

I’m absolutely sure their mantra is, “get ‘em in the door, then send ‘em as many postal appeals as possible.” Pathetic.

I’ve long suspected that too many of us find too many excuses for avoiding the multi-channel integration challenge. I don’t know whether it’s sloth, incompetence, lunch with printers, or just fear that the income from a donor won’t end in ‘my’ bucket. What I do know from this Target Analytics study is that ignorance and sloth are ruinous.

The writing is on the wall, it’s in the data and, frankly, it’s staring us in the face.

As this report so clearly indicates, we’re not seizing the opportunity and it will come back to haunt us all.

Is there a ghost in your future?  Are you really trying?

Roger