Online giving grows 14 percent

June 14, 2010

Online giving grew 14 percent in 2009, with nonprofits posting getting more gifts online and growing their email files, a new study says.

Overall, 69 percent of 499 nonprofits studied raised more online in 2009 than 2008, while 31 percent saw online fundraising decline, says the Convio Online Marketing Nonprofit Benchmark Index Study.

Among nonprofits that grew their online fundraising in 2009, 92 percent generated more online gifts, while just 43 percent saw an increase in the average gift amount.

Online giving to small nonprofits grew fastest, with online revenue growing 26 percent and online gifts growing 32 percent for nonprofits with fewer than 10,000 email addresses on file, says the study, which analyzed data compiled from nonprofits with at least 24 months of data.

While 60 percent of nonprofits grew their website traffic from 2008 to 2009, web traffic grew only 6 percent, compared to double-digit growth in previous years.

Thirty-eight percent of a nonprofit's success in building large email files could be directly attributed to the volume of traffic to its website, the study says.

• Email this page