61 cents.

How do I know that? I’ve just read the superb M+R Benchmarks 2015 report, supported by the Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN). M+R studied the online fundraising performance of 84 organisations across the spectrum — environment, poverty, animal welfare, health, culture, international — to give the rest of us a treasury of data and insight.

From their analysis (be patient, the link is coming):

• For every 1,000 fundraising messages delivered to supporters, groups in the study raised $40.
• For every 1,000 advocacy messages delivered to supporters, these groups averaged 29 actions.
• For every 1,000 email subscribers, these participants had 285 Facebook fans and 112 Twitter followers.
• For groups in the study, online revenue increased by 13% from 2013 to 2014.
• And, groups in the study raised $612 for every 1,000 website visitors they welcomed (that’s where the 61 cents comes from); and on average, 7.6 of those thousand visitors became donors (that’s a conversion rate of 0.76%).

Most of this data is available by sector, so there’s no excuse for not benchmarking your nonprofit’s performance against your peers.

There’s lots of nuance in the data. Email lists grew 11% (environment groups up 32%). Overall, open rates were up 5% for fundraising messages; but response rates, averaging 0.06%, were down 12%. Take the time to read M+R’s analysis of what it all means (be patient, the link is coming).

For example, what sector do you think is the star performer of email fundraising?

The Cultural sector …

• 20% open rate (vs 14% for industry)
• 0.10% email fundraising response rate (vs 0.06% for industry)
• $141 raised per 1,000 fundraising messages (vs $40 for the industry).

Well done, Kulcha!

On the other hand, health organisations are the industry laggards when it comes to online fundraising.

And finally, the number that made me happiest …

Online monthly giving grew by 32% in 2014, compared to just 9% for one-time giving. Monthly giving now accounts for 17% of all online giving.

Don’t you just love monthly giving?!

OK, I’ve made you wait long enough … here’s the study. Believe me, it’s chock-a-block full of data, by sector and by type of message — messages sent, churn rates, response rates, unsubscribes, gift size, you name it.

Thanks M+R and NTEN. Super service to our sector.

Tom