2015 Nonprofit Benchmarks Report

The numbers are in, and they look good! 

M+R and NTEN’s 2015 Nonprofit Benchmarks Report returns for the ninth year, the ultimate guide to nonprofit industry standards for online fundraising, advocacy, and list building. The data from the nonprofits we survey is big. So big, it couldn’t be contained by two measly dimensions, and had to be released in 3D. But the really exciting thing is that we’ve crunched numbers from a whopping 84 organizations this year (last year we worked with 53 organizations), which means more data, more insight, and more takeaways about nonprofit fundraising, list building, and advocacy to share with all of you.

We’ve also added three new sectors to our line up, which means we have data from organizations working in environmental, international, rights, wildlife/animal welfare, hunger/poverty, cultural, and health fields (also: other).

What did the findings reveal?

Here’s what you need to know about nonprofit online fundraising and advocacy last year:

1. Online revenue is up! Online revenue increased by 13 percent from 2013 to 2014 for the groups in our study thanks to a 32% increase in monthly giving and 16.6% increase in web traffic.
2. More gifts in smaller amounts. Nonprofits are reaching more people but their average donation is smaller. The average online one-time gift was $104 and monthly gifts were $23 for participants in our study last year. For every 1,000 web visitors, participants raised $610 — that’s 61 cents per visitor, down 12 percent from the year before.
3. Forty bucks and 29 actions. If you’re like the groups in our study, that’s how much money you’ll raise and the number of actions your supporters will take for every 1,000 fundraising and advocacy messages you send.
4. Audiences on social media are growing faster than email — but email still reaches a lot more supporters. For every 1,000 email subscribers, our participants had 285 Facebook fans and 112 Twitter followers.
5. About three quarters of nonprofits are investing in paid marketing online, including paid search, retargeting, and text and display ads. And many organizations are investing big bucks — 16% of respondents spent $100,000 or more in paid search alone last year.

> Download the 2015 Nonprofit Benchmarks Study (and share it with your peers!)

Also, if the 3D report is a bit too much on the eyes for you, please download the report in 2D!

You can also check out the infographic that details key findings from the report, and create your very own infographic with your benchmarks. Also, check out the article that appeared in Mashable: Leading nonprofits are raising more money online than ever before.