Blackbaud Luminate Online Benchmark Report · You deepened your relationships with existing donors this past year. We saw donation revenue from established donors grow by 6.90% in

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Blackbaud Luminate Online® Benchmark Report2019

A Guide to Evaluating Your Organization’s Performance for the Year Ahead


Overview 3

About this Study 4

Key Findings 5

Vertical Highlights 7

Online Giving 33

Email Lists 44

Email Performance 54

Raiser’s Edge® and Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT® 69

Canadian Trends 72

Conclusion 76

Contents


OverviewWe’re happy to bring you the Blackbaud Luminate Online Benchmark Report for its

lucky 13th annual publication. We do this work to help detect and surface trends

in online fundraising and email engagement. These benchmarks for email list,

engagement, and fundraising can help you evaluate the health of your programs

and discover potential areas for growth.

We include insight into performance metrics from nearly 900 organizations to help

them gauge how they’re performing relative to their peers.

Even under the same categorization, we understand that organizations are different

in terms of maturity of programs, innovation, and audiences. While comparing to

other verticals and industry metrics may be helpful for a brief snapshot, ultimately,

the best benchmarks are your own. We hope this report inspires you to benchmark

your organization’s year-over-year performance and use this information to grow

support for your mission.

New this Year

• Welcome series

• Canadian trends

• Raiser’s Edge and Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT statistics

PRIMARY CONTRIBUTORS

Katie Walters

Product Marketing Manager

Kathryn Hall

Senior Product Marketing Manager

We want to acknowledge and sincerely

thank the people who made this publication

possible: Amy Chase, Chelsea Cowan,

David Donegan, Katherine Horner, Steven Lee,

Rebecca Sundquist, Rheagan Timmerman,

Ashley Thompson, and Bob Quinlan.

Chapter Authors Erik Leaver, Julia Lenz, Joseph Marilla,

and Amy Morrison

Vertical Authors Rosita Bradham, Nichols Condon,

Liz Copeland, Lauren Crawford, Jennifer

Cressotti, Mary Grace Davis, Kent Gilliam,

Chris Harris, Sarah Hines, Becky Kimball,

Taylor Konyk, Jennifer Peters, and Lee Rowland

About this StudyThis Report includes aggregate data from July 1, 2016–June 30,

2019, from 891 mature Blackbaud Luminate Online customers—all

with at least three years of consecutive usage data. Collectively

over the last fiscal year, these organizations raised over $1.5 billion

dollars online, handled almost 23 million transactions, and sent

more than 4.4 billion emails.

This large data sample comes directly from our Blackbaud

Luminate Online cloud-based platform, giving us a direct and

unique view of online engagement across the nonprofit industry.

We base each year-over-year measurement on a consistent set of

organizations in each metric. Metrics found in this Report cannot

be compared with the same metrics found in prior Reports as the

specific organizations included will differ. Although we include

some commentary with the statistics, we prefer to primarily cover

“what is” rather than “why.” We try to spotlight the trends and

where things are moving.

Organization ClassificationWe use self-classified National Taxonomy of Exempt Entity (NTEE)

verticals as our categorization guideline. Canadian organizations

have been included directly in the mix with their U.S. counterparts

for a majority of the Report, but we are proud to offer a Canadian

chapter this year, as well. Organizations that raise 90% or more of

their reported funds through peer-to-peer events using Blackbaud

TeamRaiser® have been excluded from this study, but are likely

included in our other annual publication, the Blackbaud Peer-to-

Peer Fundraising Study. Organizations classified as Associations

and Memberships have been included in the data for median

amounts, but we will not be including breakouts for this vertical.

Medians and QuartilesAll values in this Report are expressed as medians. We use medians

instead of averages to provide a more accurate view of the

benchmarks. This method helps de-emphasize outliers. Medians

represent the middle value between the largest and smallest in a

set of numbers, so they are less likely to be influenced by extremely

high or low results for some organizations.

For some results, we also show quartiles. A quartile is the data point

halfway between the bottom and median or median and top.

They’re not averages; they’re the metrics that fall on the dividing

line between quarters of the list.

2019 Blackbaud Luminate Online Benchmark Report / 5

The feel-good story of FY2019: Sustainer revenue growth

of 13.6% year over year (YOY) helped more organizations

create a solid base of support for their missions.

Overall online fundraising grew at a more modest rate,

with revenue up only 3.11% in 2019.

We continue to see a shift in the revenue mix at

nonprofits from one-time gifts to monthly/sustainer

gifts. In 2019, sustainer giving represented 11.56% of

total fundraising, a 13.95% increase.

You deepened your relationships with existing donors

this past year. We saw donation revenue from

established donors grow by 6.90% in FY2019—with a

7.91% increase in number of gifts from established donors.

New donors were more scarce. We saw the number of

first-time donors go down by 4.99%, with a proportionate

5.61% reduction in revenue from new donors.

We saw a correlation once again between sustainer

revenue growth and overall fundraising growth.

Verticals like Arts, Culture, and Humanities and Hospital

Foundations and Hospitals with the highest rates of

sustainer revenue growth, achieved overall revenue

growth at least double that of the industry.

You sent email judiciously in 2019. While email lists

grew by almost 7.97%, the number of emails sent

declined by .84%. In recent years, more email volume

has led to worse email performance. We see this as

an indicator of email-sending organizations striving to

find a new balance.

With the moderation in email sending, we saw email

performance stabilize compared to dramatic drop-offs

of prior years. Open rates declined only slightly, while

click rates grew by double digits, and conversion rates

stayed steady.

(continued)

Key Findings

2019 Blackbaud Luminate Online Benchmark Report / 6

Oh, Canada! For almost every benchmark studied,

Canadian organizations outshone the industry

medians. This is the first year we broke out Canadian

nonprofits from overall industry figures, and wowza!

Canadian charities grew online fundraising by 9.23%

compared to 3.11%, increased email lists by 12.41%

compared to 7.97%, and rocked sustainer revenue, with

25.52% growth compared to 13.66%.

Do you use Raiser’s Edge with Blackbaud Luminate

Online? Your cohort outperformed many of the

industry medians. Organizations with Raiser’s Edge or

Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT grew online fundraising

by 3.62% YOY, compared to 3.11% for the industry.

Organizations using Raiser’s Edge/Blackbaud Raiser’s

Edge NXT also showed standout ability to secure repeat

and sustainer gifts. This cohort grew the number of gifts

from repeat donors by 10.24% and expanded sustainer

revenue by 19.20% YOY.

We analyzed performance of “welcome series” emails

for the first time this year. Not surprisingly, welcome

series emails tend to outperform routine campaigns,

confirming conventional wisdom that it’s smart to

communicate with people soon after they take an

action in support of your organization. These emails

garner a solid 19.32% open rate (versus 15.56% for

routine emails) and 1.55% click rate (compared to

1.25%). Unless you’re in Canada, in which case you all

read a full 34.35% of welcome series emails!

Each usable email on your list was worth $14.90 in

annual revenue. This stat can help justify investments

in organically growing your list and programs

to nurture and grow relationships with existing

supporters.

Key Findings (continued)


Vertical Highlights

CHAPTER 1


Additional Vertical Benchmarks represent the actual figures

(not a percent change). We included some we thought were

most useful. You can see more vertical measurements in the

benchmark tables throughout the rest of this Report.

• Revenue per Usable Email shows the value of each valid

email address in your list. This stat can help justify invest-

ments in organically growing your list and programs to

nurture and grow relationships with existing supporters.

• Percent of Email List that Donates measures the proportion

of people on your email list who donated in the last year. It’s

one gauge of how engaged your email list is.

• Similarly, Sustainer Revenue as a Percent of Total measures

what proportion of your total revenue comes from monthly

sustainer gifts. This is a nice steady revenue stream.

How to Use this Information

In the Vertical Trends section, we look only at the year-over-

year (YOY) movement in important benchmarks. We line up

performance of one vertical (a group of similar nonprofits) next

to results for the overall nonprofit industry.

• “Directional” information (YOY percent change) often

proves more useful to organizations than the absolute

numbers. While one organization might grow online

fundraising from $100,000 to $120,000, and another from

$1,000,000 to $1,200,000, the gain for both represents 20%.

• The Giving Trends section highlights growth in a few key

financial metrics for this vertical compared to nonprofits as

a whole.

• We selected the stats for Email Engagement Trends to

highlight possible relationships between email list growth,

changes in number of emails sent, and the response of

supporters to these emails (in terms of opens, clicks,

and conversions).

The Animal Welfare vertical features rescues, shelters,

advocacy groups, and others working to give every animal

a loving home. They are relying on established fundraising

efforts mixed with new, creative cause programs to drive

revenue and engagement in their missions.

Animal Welfare

BY: KENT GILLIAM Customer Success Manager, Senior


Giving TrendsThe tortoise wins the race! In 2019, Animal Welfare organizations demonstrated their continued commitment to long-term donor relationships with a focus on sustained giving.

• More than a quarter (28.19%) of annual online revenue comes from sustaining donors, which reveals some expertise in donor stewardship in the Animal Welfare vertical.

• This year marks another year with double-digit (10.49%) growth in sustainer revenue.

Email Engagement TrendsAnimal Welfare organizations bucked trends in 2019 and received mixed results with sending fewer fundraising emails.

• In 2019, Animal Welfare organizations sent fewer overall emails (-5.88%)—a much greater drop than the industry. While this resulted in growth in donation email open rates (4.95%) and click rate (10.45%), conversion rates plunged by 16.67%.

• With 16.97% of email list donating, Animal Welfare is engaging more of their constituents than the industry.

Animal Welfare

REVENUE

Total Online Revenue (YOY% Change) 0.95% 3.11%

Revenue per Usable Email $11.84 $14.90

Percent of Email List that Donates 16.97% 14.40%

SUSTAINERS

Sustainer Revenue (YOY% Change) 10.49% 13.66%

Sustainer Revenue as a % of Total 28.19% 11.56%

Sustainer Revenue as a % of Total (YOY Change) 17.49% 13.95%

EMAIL ENGAGEMENT TRENDS (YOY% Change)

Email List Growth (YOY Change) 8.17% 7.97%

Number of Emails Sent (YOY Change) -5.88% -0.97%

Number of Fundraising Emails Sent (YOY Change) -0.67% 5.64%

Fundraising Email Open Rate 12.96% 14.12%

Fundraising Email Click Rate 0.64% 0.77%

Welcome Series Email Open Rate 20.92% 19.32%

Welcome Series Email Click Rate 1.81% 1.55%

This Vertical Industry

In this vertical, we find organizations that bring the performing arts to the

public like symphonies, operas, ballets, theaters, and museums. We also find

foundations that support the arts, libraries, centers for the arts, historical

preservation societies, zoos, parks, and gardens. Larger arts and cultural

organizations have a broader, often national, fundraising footprint. Smaller

organizations draw on the local or regional community for their support.

While many Arts, Culture, and Humanities organizations are just beginning

to explore complex digital engagement strategies, these organizations

instead delivered very strong results in 2019.

BY: ROSITA BRADHAM Customer Success Manager, Principal

Arts, Culture, and Humanities


Giving Trends• Across the study, Arts, Culture, and Humanities

organizations showed the most rapid growth in online fundraising at 15.43% over last year, outpacing the industry median of 3.11%.

• While “give monthly” hasn’t been a traditional call to action for this sector, it’s catching up to the industry. Sustainer donations represent 9.28% of annual fundraising revenue for Arts, Culture, and Humanities organizations, compared to 11.56% of revenue for the industry.

• Sustainer giving showed strong gains, with 35.57% revenue growth this past year compared to the industry median of 13.66%.

Email Engagement Trends• Supporters respond strongly to welcome series emails,

opening 26.93% of messages sent, the second highest open rate among all verticals.

• Email lists steadily grew at 8.92%, slightly faster than the industry average of 7.97%.

• Arts, Culture, and Humanities organizations have room to grow and work to do when it comes to members of their email list who donate, with 9.83% of lists donating, compared to an industry median of 15.40%.

REVENUE

Total Online Revenue (YOY% Change) 15.43% 3.11%



SUSTAINERS

Sustainer Revenue (YOY% Change) 35.57% 13.66%





Number of Emails Sent (YOY Change) 0.37% -0.97%








This vertical, comprised of organizations that provide domestic and

international humanitarian relief and development assistance, can run

hot and cold depending upon the intensity and/or frequency of natural

disasters and humanitarian crises. We have seen three years in a row of

relatively modest growth in this sector, despite no shortage of natural

disasters. This could be an indicator that boom and bust cycles are

leveling out and that crisis donation revenue is also going to large and

small organizations in other sectors, like Food Banks, Animal Welfare

groups, and Public/Society Benefit nonprofits.

BY: JENNIFER PETERS

Customer Success Manager, Senior

Disaster and International Aid


Giving Trends• Total online revenue grew by a modest 3.97%.

• Organizations in this vertical have built robust sustainer programs, with 17.13% of total fundraising coming from monthly gifts.

• This group has a higher-than-average value email list, with each usable email address worth $18.22 (vs. the median of $14.90).

Email Engagement Trends• Email lists grew at 9.13%, exceeding the industry median.

• One indication that this was a less intense year for the industry is that the percent of the email list that donates is 11.28%, which is below the industry median of 15.40%.

• This group sent 5.53% more fundraising solicitations than the previous year, and their open rates decreased by 3.245%. This may be a good indicator that it is time to conduct a few A/B tests for subject lines. For a deeper dive, these organization may want to consider if there are opportunities for stronger segmentation practices.

• Click rates for donation emails increased by 28.25%, making this vertical the second highest increase of all verticals. This not only represents engaging, targeted content, but this could also indicate that these organizations have built trust among supporters over the years.

REVENUE

Total Online Revenue (YOY Change) 3.97% 3.11%



SUSTAINERS

Sustainer Revenue (YOY Change) 13.56% 13.66%






Number of Fundraising Emails Sent (YOY Change) 5.53% 5.64%







The Environment and Wildlife vertical encompasses globally and locally

focused organizations who are working to preserve and protect nature,

wildlife, parks, and reserves and to address urgent environmental

challenges. After a few years of strong online revenue growth, these

organizations saw a decline in FY2019 compared to modest growth

across the industry. Sustainer revenue—a long-time focus for this

vertical—remains strong and growing. Above average email list growth

for this vertical is driven in part by robust advocacy programs which

should help ensure an engaged constituent base for years to come.

BY: LIZ COPELAND Customer Success Manager, Principal

Environment and Wildlife


Giving Trends• Total online revenue declined by 1.33%, representing

the only vertical with lower fundraising in 2019.

• Sustainer revenue grew by 16.88%. Sustainers now comprise 17.73% of total revenue for organizations in this vertical.

• Revenue per usable email address ($8.01) is almost half of the industry median, which may reflect the large email lists in this vertical that include advocates who have not yet converted to donors.

Email Engagement Trends• While this vertical sent slightly more emails (1.79%)

than last year, we saw the mix of type of emails sent swing strongly away from fundraising emails toward more stewardship emails or informational emails.

• Click rates for fundraising emails grew by an enormous 26.87% from the prior year for this vertical. The decline in fundraising emails sent paired with the excellent click rate growth may indicate a focus on email quality over quantity with content that encourages constituent engagement.

REVENUE

Total Online Total Online Revenue (YOY Change) -1.33% 3.11%



SUSTAINERS














Within the Faith Communities vertical, we include organizations with

missions arising out of their faith and religious identity. Most are

comprised of ministry and mission organizations and communities of

faith. While Faith Communities encompass a broad variety of religious

beliefs, they all seek to deepen and grow a vibrant community of faith

that serves the world.

BY: LAUREN CRAWFORD Customer Success Manager, Senior

Faith Communities


Giving Trends• Faith Communities received $24.61 in annual revenue per

usable email, one of the highest returns of any vertical.

• Faith Communities are also well above the industry standard for sustainer revenue with 33.38% of all online revenue coming from sustainers. The concept of monthly giving aligns well with Faith Communities, as many have a strong tradition of giving regularly to the church, missions, or social benefit programs.

• Online giving grew by 8.01%, well above the industry growth rate of 3.11%.

Email Engagement Trends• While email lists continued to grow, the 6.31% growth

rate was below the industry median of 7.97% YOY growth. It’s critical that Faith Communities focus on reaching new individuals with robust engagement and multichannel communication.

• While donation solicitations declined by -12.32%, email engagement grew. Both open rates and click rates increased and were well above the industry median.

• Maturity in complex digital strategy is steering Faith Communities to send more targeted emails resulting in better engagement, open rates, and click-through rates. Faith Communities tend to see more engagement from their supporters. This is illustrated in their high Welcome Series Email Open Rate, which outperformed any other vertical.

REVENUE




SUSTAINERS













Faith Communities

This vertical is comprised of food banks and food distribution

centers throughout the United States and Canada. Food Banks

empower communities through education, workforce development,

and hunger relief. As a result, supporters develop close relationships

with organizations in the Food Banks vertical as volunteers and

advocates in addition to financial contributions. With federal budget

proposals calling for continued cuts to food assistance over the

next five years, outreach strategies for this vertical have shifted to

focus on advocacy as well as fundraising.

BY: TAYLOR KONYK Customer Success Manager, Team Lead

Food Banks


Giving Trends• Food Banks received $27.54 in annual revenue

per usable email address, one of the strongest performances among all verticals, and nearly double the industry median of $14.90. Only the Public Broadcasting Stations vertical performed better ($32.14).

• Food Banks received 19.41% of online revenue from monthly donations (the industry median is 11.56%).

• Likewise, online fundraising revenue grew steadily by 4.29%, outperforming the industry median of 3.11%.

Email Engagement Trends• Email lists grew by a strong 13.76% (highest across all

verticals) compared to an industry growth rate of 7.97%.

• Email lists turned in strong performances, with 21.78% supporters donating in 2019, placing Food Banks among the top verticals for this metric.

• This vertical sent -1.23% fewer emails this year compared to an industry drop -0.97%.

REVENUE




SUSTAINERS













Food Banks

This vertical includes organizations dedicated to medical research,

patient care and assistance, and political advocacy for a broad

spectrum of diseases and disorders. It’s the largest group of nonprofits

within this study. We exclude from this study organizations that raise

90% or more of their revenue through peer-to-peer fundraising, yet it’s

still a big part of fundraising for most of these organizations.

BY: BECKY KIMBALL Customer Success Manager, Senior Principal

Health Services and Research


Giving Trends• Online revenue in this vertical grew by a lower-than-

industry-average rate of 2.61%. This benchmark report has documented slow and negative growth in the Health Services and Research vertical for several years. To understand some of the shifting social and demographic factors behind this trend, review 16 Years of Charitable Giving Research by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.

• Sustainer revenue grew by 14.50% in FY2019.

• While only 2.03% of total annual fundraising comes from sustainer gifts compared to the industry average of 11.56%, this sector saw steady expansion in this area. Sustainer revenue as a percent of total fundraising grew by 14.19%.

Email Engagement Trends• 36.47% of people on these email lists donated in 2019—

that’s over two times the industry average of 15.40%.

• The annual revenue received for each usable email address was $11.02, below the industry average.

• Welcome series open and click rates are both above the industry average, at 21.82% and 2.05% respectively.

REVENUE




SUSTAINERS














The Higher Education vertical is made up of public and private colleges

and universities throughout the United States and Canada, including

their associated foundations, alumni associations, and athletic

organizations. It also includes scholarship-granting organizations and

foundations. The Higher Education vertical is generally less focused on

sustainers and more on constituent engagement—in the form of event

participation, volunteerism, and involvement in campus initiatives.

Email list acquisition is also less of a concern for Higher Education

institutions, as these organizations organically grow their constituent

lists with each incoming and graduating class.

BY: MARY GRACE DAVIS, Customer Success Manager, Senior Principal

CHRIS HARRIS, Customer Success Manager, Senior Principal

Higher Education


Giving Trends• In 2019, the average online transaction in the Higher

Education vertical was almost $200, over $50 more than the closest vertical. Higher Education is one of the only verticals to show growth in this metric. This may be at least partially attributed to the fact that the donor base for this vertical has a built-in affinity for the institution.

• There has traditionally been less focus on sustainer giving programs in the Higher Education vertical. Sustainer revenue comprises only 7.15% of total online revenue. With an average sustainer transaction of $40.61, this could be an area for revenue growth for Higher Education.

Email Engagement Trends• Welcome series open and click rates in the Higher

Education vertical are stronger than industry average. This could be attributed to the built-in loyalty of the institutions’ constituencies.

• The Higher Education vertical fundraising emails have among the lowest open, click, and conversion rates in the industry. Higher education institutions have an opportunity to increase the donor conversion rate by focusing on list hygiene and list segmentation. This would allow Higher Education institutions to send only to those in their constituent base who have exhibited prior interest and engagement.

REVENUE




SUSTAINERS













Higher Education

Within the Hospital Foundations and Hospitals vertical, we find

organizations that range from children’s hospitals and general medical

centers to specialized cancer centers in the United States and Canada.

Changes in the healthcare landscape—reduced payments for services,

higher deductibles and default rates, and an aging population—have

created a need to raise more donated funds to offset declining revenues

on the clinical side. Many large health systems that are merging are also

looking to become more efficient at prospecting and fundraising, and

they see the use of technology as a means of helping them achieve that.

The vertical continues to expand their fundraising strategies to enhance

programs including principal giving, grateful patient and families,

crowdfunding, and sustainer giving. In addition, there is an increased

focus on cultivating a culture of philanthropy for board members,

hospital team members, and volunteers.

BY: SARAH HINES, Customer Success Manager, Senior

BECKY KIMBALL, Customer Success Manager, Senior

Hospital Foundations and Hospitals


Giving Trends• The continued story with this vertical is the growth

in sustainer revenue. Hospital Foundations and Hospitals saw 31.09% growth in sustainer revenue, more than double the industry growth average.

• With only 4.33% of total fundraising revenue coming from sustainer gifts, this vertical has plenty of potential to expand in this area.

• Total Online Revenue (YOY Change) of 6.79% is over double the industry average.

Email Engagement Trends• Email lists grew by 13.05%, almost twice the industry

rate of 7.97%.

• Hospital Foundations and Hospitals received $20.08 in annual revenue for every usable email address in their email list.

• Welcome Series Email Open Rates were above the industry average at 26.34%, but there is potential to increase click rates, which at 1.55% are right at the industry average.

REVENUE




SUSTAINERS














Organizations in the Human and Social Services vertical focus

on supporting and empowering the communities they serve.

These organizations work tirelessly each day to support children,

families, the elderly, and those who are disabled. Many of these

organizations address immediate and tangible needs, such as

homelessness, affordable housing, and child welfare.

BY: JENNIFER CRESSOTTI Customer Success Manager, Team Lead

Human and Social Services


Giving Trends• Total online revenue saw a modest increase of 2.11% over

last year, slightly lower than the industry median.

• Revenue per usable email is at a respectable $15.01. With 15.34% of email lists donating to these organizations, this vertical is on trend with the industry median.

• This vertical receives only 6.17% of online revenue from sustainers, well below the industry median. Human and Social Services organizations could find revenue growth in this area by focusing on loyalty, retention, and converting one-time donors into sustainers.

Email Engagement Trends• Overall, the Human and Social Services vertical sent 5.17%

fewer emails than last year; yet it significantly increased the number of fundraising emails, with 31.86% more than the previous year.

• Open and click rates for these fundraising emails are lower than the industry medians. This may indicate that this vertical is suffering from ask overload.

• Email lists grew at a slower rate, 6.32%. Pair this modest growth with an increase in repeat transactions, and it may indicate a shift toward stewardship and cultivation, rather than acquisition.

REVENUE




SUSTAINERS














This vertical is comprised of publicly supported television and radio stations

in the United States. Although the public perception can be that Public

Broadcasting Stations are mostly government funded, the reality is the

percentage of a station’s budget that is government funded varies based on the

station’s size. The landscape of how a Public Broadcasting Station is funded is

continually changing based on the political climate (federal/state funding). All

stations, no matter the size, rely on fundraising to fill in the gaps. Most Public

Broadcasting Stations have a strong tradition of “membership” development,

and as a result, many have industry-leading sustainer programs.

Public Broadcasting Stations are mindful of the threat of government

funding cuts and are also concerned about engaging an increasingly

younger constituent base. It will continue to be vital to pay attention

to trends amongst peers and the industry standards highlighted

in the below benchmarking statistics.

BY: NICHOLS CONDON, Customer Success Manager, Principal

LEE ROWLAND, Customer Success Manager, Senior

Public Broadcasting Stations


Giving Trends• Online giving grew by 7.43%, well ahead of the industry

median of 3.11% growth.

• Sustainer revenue was up by 12.21% from the prior year. Public Broadcasting Stations consistently excel in this vital area and are considered leaders in this space.

• Public Broadcasting Stations received 59.88% of their online revenue from sustainer gifts, vastly outperforming the industry median of 11.56% —and this keeps growing.

Email Engagement Trends• Over 28% of the email list donated in 2018, and each

email address was worth $32.14 annually, which is more than double the industry median of $14.90. Engaging donors truly has a strong ROI.

• Email list size grew by a modest 4.81% from the prior year.

• Number of emails sent grew by a marginal 0.9%. However, the number of fundraising emails sent grew by 18.8%. This indicates a shift in focus on a specific fundraising ask versus general constituent engagement.

• Email engagement donation email open rates fell by 7.49% and conversion rates plunged by 27.27%.

REVENUE




SUSTAINERS














In the Public/Society Benefit vertical, we find a wide variety

of organizations with the primary goal of influencing laws,

regulations, and social norms within their mission area.

Organizations in this vertical must be nimble in an ever-changing

environment influenced by ups and downs in the social and

political climates. The task of converting volunteers and activists

to donors while retaining and stewarding those who contribute

continues to be an important challenge.

BY: KATIE WALTERS Product Marketing Manager

Public/Society Benefit


Giving Trends• With 18.93% of annual online revenue coming from

sustainers, Public/Society Benefit organizations greatly outperform the industry median (12.56%) for recurring revenue.

• The number of first-time donors decreased from last year by 6.19%, while revenue from established donors grew at nearly the same rate, 6.43%. This could represent a shift from donor acquisition to stewardship.

• The percentage of the email list that donates grew slightly to 4.28%. Supporters to organizations in this vertical often volunteer and advocate; the value of their contributions are not strictly monetary.

Email Engagement Trends• Email lists grew at a slow pace of 4.96%, compared to

the industry average of 7.97%—representing one of the lowest performers in the verticals included in this study.

• Organizations in this vertical cut back their donation solicitation emails by 5.79% and saw a correlating 4.56% growth in donation email open rates and 20.94% growth in click through rates pushing it to 0.79%, just past the industry median.

• In addition to the considerable non-monetary value of supporters to organizations in this vertical, revenue per usable email address increased by 1.49% this year.

REVENUE




SUSTAINERS















Online Giving

CHAPTER 2

BY: AMY MORRISON Strategic Renewals Account Executive


Online giving held modest gains in 2019 with a YOY growth of 3.11%. Across the twelve verticals tracked in

this Report, eight verticals outperformed the overall average—led by Arts, Culture, and Humanities with 15.43%

and Faith Communities at 8.01%. And while the other four verticals were behind the trend, only Environment

and Wildlife saw revenue decline (-1.33%) from the prior year. You can see the full breakdown by vertical in the

Fundraising Revenue by Vertical chart.

Part of the steady growth can be attributed to more, slightly smaller gifts. Overall, the industry saw a median

gift of $99.31, down 3.23% in size from the prior year. The number of gifts received however, grew for all verticals,

with an industry median of 4.80% growth in gift volume. Despite the slight decline, average gift size is still robust.

While fewer than half of the verticals outperformed the industry average, many of those were well above the

average—specifically Higher Education at $198.78 and Human and Social Services at $147.84. See all the specifics

in the Average Transaction by Vertical and Transaction Type table.

Yet, the most striking trend of all is the 13.66% YOY growth in median sustainer revenue. Considering the

more modest overall online growth in 2019, this continued double-digit sustainer increase is compelling. More

exciting—over half of the verticals tracked exceeded this benchmark in 2019—with Arts, Culture, and Humanities

at 35.57% YOY growth and Hospital Foundations and Hospitals at 31.09% YOY growth. For details, check out the

Sustainer Revenue by Vertical chart.

Given this remarkable sustainer performance, we are delighted to report that the new industry standard for

Sustainer Revenue as a percentage of total online giving is now 11.56%. These organizations showed an impressive

13.95% improvement over 2018. This is a remarkable achievement in a year of overall modest growth, as this larger

bedrock of recurring revenue will be a much-needed, reliable source of revenue that will improve organizational

resiliency to fluctuations in online giving performance.


Online Fundraising Revenue Mix by Gift Type

In these charts, we look at the type of gifts

that make up the overall online giving mix.

Each online gift is either first-time or repeat,

and each gift is also either sustainer or

non-sustainer. First-time transactions are

from new constituents, while repeat gifts

are from established constituents. Sustainer

transactions are from recurring (monthly)

gifts that might be from new or established

(repeat) donors.

The percent change metrics refer to how

the balance has shifted over the last year.

Revenue from First-Time vs Repeat

Transactions

Sustainer vs Non-Sustainer

Revenue

-7.93%First-Time Gifts

3.98%Repeat Gifts

-0.99%Non-Sustainer

13.95%Sustainer

12% Sustainer

89% Non-Sustainer

36% First-Time Gifts

64% Repeat Gifts

YOY % Revenue Growth

YOY % Revenue Growth


-10% -5% 0% 5% 10% 15%

Online Fundraising Revenue Growth by Transaction Type(Total Online Transaction Revenue Year-Over-Year Change)

Total Fundraising

First-Time Donations

Repeat Donations

Sustainer Donations

3.11%

-5.61%

6.90%

13.66%


$0.0M $0.5M $1.0M $1.5M $2.0M $2.5M $3.0M

Fundraising Revenue by VerticalFundraising Revenue by Vertical (Total Online Transaction Revenue)

$380,166

$704,907

$1,006,111

$560,329

$993,818

$1,580,757

$669,201

$643,702

$689,839

$363,397

$208,168

$2,072,746

15.43%

0.95%

-1.33%

3.97%

8.01%

4.29%

2.61%

6.50%

6.79%

2.11%

7.43%

3.77%

Animal Welfare




Faith Communities

Food Banks


Higher Education





INDUSTRY

(Year-Over-Year Change)

(Indicates 25–75% Range)

3.11% $620,660

$0.0M $0.5M $1.0M $1.5M $2.0M $2.5M $3.0M

Fundraising Revenue by Vertical


$0M $5M $10M $15M $20M $25M

Fundraising Revenue by HousefileFundraising Revenue by Email List Size (Total Online Transaction Revenue)

$394,097

$234,211

$1,025,522

$1,140,772

$2,200,938

$3,853,755

$12,150,431

3.63%

2.46%

4.25%

1.36%

5.28%

-0.20%

3.70%

<10K

10,000–49,999

50,000–99,999

100,000–249,999

250,000–499,999

500,000–999,999

1,000,000+

(Year-Over-Year Change)Housefile Size



Average Transaction by Transaction Type(Online Transaction Revenue/Count of Online Transactions)

Overall


Repeat Donations

Non-Sustainer Donations

Sustainer Donations

Average Transaction

$0 $30 $60 $90 $120 $150

$99.31

$113.85

$101.59

$147.63

$35.67

-1.17%

-3.23%

0.62%

0.0%

-2.36%



Average Transaction by Vertical and Transaction Type(Online Transaction Revenue/Count of Online Transactions)

VERTICAL

Animal Welfare $60.62 $75.64 $57.82 $95.89 $26.33

Arts, Culture, and Humanities $115.09 $157.43 $107.16 $185.52 $31.75

Disaster and International Aid $95.83 $161.09 $85.18 $211.55 $35.41

Environment and Wildlife $61.53 $83.07 $56.71 $117.13 $23.10

Faith Communities $95.96 $133.65 $86.96 $179.98 $45.73

Food Banks $104.00 $123.17 $100.61 $172.67 $41.92

Health Services and Research $94.80 $88.89 $107.74 $105.76 $38.19

Higher Education $198.78 $200.46 $196.88 $258.22 $40.61

Hospital Foundations and Hospitals $125.01 $122.15 $134.40 $157.37 $33.58

Human and Social Services $147.84 $148.36 $141.79 $189.91 $43.18

Public Broadcasting Stations $19.13 $57.85 $17.73 $107.53 $12.35

Public/Society Benefit $81.06 $121.10 $71.99 $172.50 $33.95

INDUSTRY $99.31 $113.85 $101.59 $147.63 $35.67

Median Transaction


Repeat Donations

Sustainer Donations

Non-Sustainer Donations


Sustainer Revenue: Year-Over-Year Change(Total Online Revenue from Transactions that Are Recurring)

Sustainer Revenue: Year-Over-Year Change

$0K $50K $100K $150K $200K $250K $300K

$11,115

-0.86%Low % Change

13.66%Median % Change

37.19%High % Change

$57,895 $248,486


Sustainer Revenue by Vertical (Total Online Revenue from Transactions that Are Recurring)

$0.0M $0.5M $1.0M $1.5M $2.0M

Sustainer Revenue by Vertical

$10,567

$135,209

$178,767

$98,338

$307,768

$272,082

$23,638

$77,076

$30,368

$16,789

$35,785

$1,469,386

35.57%

10.49%

16.88%

13.56%

18.03%

13.69%

14.50%

12.85%

31.09%

14.04%

12.21%

2.03%

Animal Welfare




Faith Communities

Food Banks


Higher Education





INDUSTRY


13.66%


$0.0M $0.5M $1.0M $1.5M $2.0M

Sustainer Revenue by Vertical

$57,895


Sustainer Revenue by Email List Size(Total Online Revenue from Transactions that Are Recurring)

$0.0M $0.5M $1.0M $1.5M $2.0M $2.5M

Sustainer Revenue Email List Size

$31,287

$15,622

$95,600

$97,716

$212,755

$875,427

$857,848

13.01%

14.99%

9.41%

16.86%

16.92%

14.19%

17.34%

< 10,000

10,000–49,999

50,000–99,999

100,000–249,999

250,000–499,999

500,000–999,999

1,000,000+

Housefile Size



Email Lists

CHAPTER 3

BY: ERIK LEAVER Customer Success Manager, Senior


Organizations have a tricky balance to maintain with their email lists. For nearly two decades, online fundraising was

simply seen as a numbers game, and bigger was better. However, shifts in the email service provider industry now

demand that your constituents demonstrate engagement by opening and clicking emails. If there isn’t demonstrated

engagement, your messages will end up in the spam folder. Bigger no longer means better if your messages cannot

reach your supporters.

This year, we saw the average email list size increase by 7.97%. The good news here is that we observed a 1.2%

increase in the percentage of email lists that donate. This indicates organizations are better engaging their

constituents and turning them into donors. It also may suggest that organizations are aware that engagement is

critical and are using more targeted methods to recruit new quality constituents to their email list.

And while, overall, the annual revenue per usable email has decreased for all organizations by 3.5% to $14.90, we saw

a massive 22.5% increase in the value per email in organizations with an email list size under 10,000. These smaller

organizations have smaller email list growth than average, .7% vs. 7.97%, but may be leveraging deeper personal

relationships with their donors to keep them engaged and increase their value. Their success here points to the great

value of personalization and cultivating current donors, a lesson that organizations of all sizes can benefit from.


Constituents with Email Addresses: Year-Over-Year Change(Size of Housefile Based on Number of Constituents with Email Addresses as of Fiscal Year-End)

Constituents with Email Addresses: Year-Over-Year Change

0K 50K 100K 150K 200K

16,775

1.18%Low % Change


16.13%High % Change

53,955 169,434


Constituents with Email Addresses by Vertical(Number of Constituents with Email Addresses as of Fiscal Year-End)

0K 100K 200K 300K 400K 500K

Constituents with Email Addresses by Vertical

41,706

101,994

59,402

105,876

55,304

80,312

82,258

71,852

43,317

28,585

72,356

64,260

8.92%

8.17%

9.40%

9.13%

6.31%

13.76%

6.66%

8.66%

13.05%

6.32%

4.81%

4.96%

7.97%


53,955


Animal Welfare




Faith Communities

Food Banks


Higher Education





INDUSTRY

0K 100K 200K 300K 400K 500K

Constituents with Email Addresses by Vertical


Email List Growth by Email List Size(Number of Constituents with Email Addresses by Email List Size)

<10K

10,000–49,999

50,000–99,999

100,000–249,999

250,000–499,999

500,000–999,999

1,000,000+

Email List Size YOY Change, Median

0% 3% 6% 9% 12% 15%

Email List Growth by Email List Size

8.66%

0.70%

10.58%

11.22%

9.29%

8.32%

8.89%


Percent of Email List that Donates by Vertical(Constituents Who Donate/Constituents with Email)

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Percent of Housefile that Donates

9.83%

16.97%

11.28%

6.88%

15.16%

21.78%

36.47%

6.81%

21.46%

15.34%

4.28%

28.39%

0.82%

-0.22%

0.66%

0.00%

2.42%

0.40%

1.13%

5.61%

5.30%

0.82%

3.26%

4.53%


1.23%15.40%


Animal Welfare




Faith Communities

Food Banks


Higher Education





INDUSTRY

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Percent of Housefile that Donates


Percent of Email List that Donates by Organization Size (Constituents Who Donate/Constituents with Email)

<10K

10,000–49,999

50,000–99,999

100,000–249,999

250,000–499,999

500,000–999,999

1,000,000+

Organization Size

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Percent of Housefile that Donates by Organization Size

18.72%

17.70%

17.35%

11.38%

9.53%

8.57%

10.54%

2.39%

0.65%

1.17%

0.96%

1.96%

0.94%

0.00%




Annual Revenue Per Usable Email: Year-Over-Year Change(Total Online Revenue/Constituents with Usable Email Address)

Revenue Per Usable Email: Year-Over-Year Change

$0 $5 $10 $15 $20 $25 $30 $35

$5.75

-3.54%Median % Change

-21.68%Low % Change

14.95%High % Change

$14.90 $28.46


Annual Revenue Per Usable Email Address by Vertical (Total Online Revenue/Constituents with Usable Email Address)

$0 $20 $40 $60 $80

Revenue Per Usable Email Address by Vertical

$14.07

$11.84

$18.22

$8.01

$24.61

$27.54

$11.02

$13.73

$20.08

$15.01

$6.61

$32.14

9.53%

-4.47%

-9.85%

-0.15%

0.90%

-8.60%

-3.30%

0.33%

-7.31%

-1.87%

9.23%

1.49%


$14.90


Animal Welfare




Faith Communities

Food Banks


Higher Education





INDUSTRY

$0 $20 $40 $60 $80

Revenue Per Usable Email Address by Vertical

-3.54%


Annual Revenue Per Usable Email Address by Email List Size(Total Online Revenue/Constituents with Usable Email Address)

<10K

10,000–49,999

50,000–99,999

100,000–249,999

250,000–499,999

500,000–999,999

1,000,000+

Email List Size

$0 $30 $60 $90 $120 $150

Revenue Per Usable Email Address by Housefile Size

$16.39

$47.34

$15.18

$7.89

$6.19

$4.33

$3.66

-4.64%

22.55%

-4.74%

-9.29%

-2.65%

-5.15%

-9.48%



Email Performance

CHAPTER 4

BY: ERIK LEAVER Customer Success Manager, Senior


The story of 2019 is that organizations may finally be adapting to the drastic industry changes that began transforming

the email deliverability landscape beginning in 2016. Organizations are sending less email and are focusing on

engagement as their primary metric. While email lists grew by almost 7.97%, the number of emails sent declined by .84%.

This trend is seen most distinctly in organizations with email lists over 500,000. This may indicate that these

organizations are more sophisticated in their understanding of email deliverability best practices and list hygiene, better

staffed to manage the additional work of re-engagement campaigns and segmenting by engagement, or a combination

of both.

With the moderation in email sending, email performance stabilized compared to dramatic drop-offs of prior years. Open

rates declined only slightly, while click rates grew by double digits and conversion rates stayed steady.

While the volume of email sent declined slightly, there were notable changes in the types of emails being sent. Email

newsletters declined by 4.49%, and “Other” remained relatively unchanged at 0.48%, but there was a 5.56% increase in

fundraising email.

This increase in fundraising emails corresponded with a slight decrease in fundraising open rates year over year, but

strong gains in email click rates with a 21% increase year over year. However, flat conversion rates for fundraising emails

may indicate that the mobile giving experience needs to be enhanced, especially now as traffic to websites from mobile

devices exceeds that of desktops.

A new enhancement to this year’s Blackbaud Luminate Online Benchmark Report is data on email welcome series. Welcome

series are the first step in engaging your constituents and building a long-term relationship with them. Welcome series

typically perform better than all other emails, as they are a reaction to a recent engagement—an email signup, event,

volunteer activity, or a donation—and this is proven with this year’s data. Open rates for welcome series emails were 20–

30% greater than those for fundraising emails, e-newsletters and “other” email types.


Total Emails Sent: Year-Over-Year Change(Total Number of Emails Delivered to Recipients)

Total Emails Sent

0M 1M 2M 3M 4M 5M

430,930

-23.15%Low % Change


25.92%High % Change

1,498,665 4,615,391


Total Emails Sent: Median Percent Change by Vertical(Total Number of Emails Delivered to Recipients, Year-Over-Year Change, Median)

Total Emails Sent: Median Percent Change by Vertical

-10% -5% 0% 5% 10% 15%

10.37%

1.72%

0.89%

-1.53%

9.75%

3.31%

-6.13%

14.45%

12.84%

6.30%

5.81%

-6.91%

Animal Welfare




Faith Communities

Food Banks


Higher Education





INDUSTRY

Total Emails Sent: Median Percent Change by Vertical

-10% -5% 0% 5% 10% 15%

0.84%


Total Emails Sent: Median Percent Change by Email List Size(Total Number of Emails Delivered to Recipients, Year-Over-Year Change, Median)

<10K

10,000–49,999

50,000–99,999

100,000–249,999

250,000–499,999

500,000–999,999

1,000,000+

Housefile Size

Total Emails Sent: Median Percent Change by Email List Size

-25% -20% -15% -10% -5% 0% 5% 10%

3.38%

5.46%

3.53%

0.33%

-0.57%

-17.62%

-18.08%


VERTICAL

Animal Welfare -0.67% 4.95% 10.45% -16.67%

Arts, Culture, and Humanities -19.57% -9.87% 6.02% -26.19%

Disaster and International Aid 5.53% -3.24% 28.25% 0.00%

Environment and Wildlife -14.33% -2.52% 26.87% 0.00%

Faith Communities -12.32% 3.20% 24.96% 0.00%

Food Banks 15.79% -12.77% 30.57% 0.00%

Health Services and Research 2.51% -2.77% 26.26% 0.00%

Higher Education 2.34% -12.30% 10.81% 0.00%

Hospital Foundations and Hospitals 18.05% -2.15% 15.26% 0.00%

Human and Social Services 31.86% -6.90% 12.00% 0.00%

Public Broadcasting Stations 18.80% -7.49% 12.20% -27.27%

Public/Society Benefit -5.79% 4.56% 20.94% 0.00%

INDUSTRY 5.64% -2.73% 21.01% 0.00%

Total Emails Sent% Change

Open Rate % Change

Click Rate % Change

Conversion Rate % Change

Fundraising Email Engagement Rates: Year-Over-Year Change (Based on Emails Delivered Where Email Campaign Type=“Fundraising Appeal”)


VERTICAL

Animal Welfare 12.96% 0.64% 0.07%

Arts, Culture, and Humanities 18.32% 0.73% 0.06%

Disaster and International Aid 14.36% 0.65% 0.05%

Environment and Wildlife 15.98% 0.76% 0.05%

Faith Communities 19.54% 1.24% 0.05%

Food Banks 11.10% 0.80% 0.06%

Health Services and Research 13.18% 0.75% 0.02%

Higher Education 13.62% 0.49% 0.01%

Hospital Foundations and Hospitals 19.19% 1.02% 0.04%

Human and Social Services 12.16% 0.74% 0.03%

Public Broadcasting Stations 16.49% 0.72% 0.08%

Public/Society Benefit 15.31% 0.79% 0.03%

INDUSTRY 14.12% 0.77% 0.04%

Open Rate Click Rate Conversion Rate

Fundraising Email Engagement Rates by Vertical


VERTICAL

Animal Welfare -6.48% -2.20% 5.96%

Arts, Culture, and Humanities 14.53% -7.37% 5.13%

Disaster and International Aid 0.17% 2.75% 16.54%

Environment and Wildlife -6.36% -5.70% 9.52%

Faith Communities -18.17% 8.22% 23.32%

Food Banks -25.61% 0.98% 26.09%

Health Services and Research -4.84% 2.07% 22.03%

Higher Education 15.20% -5.37% 0.44%

Hospital Foundations and Hospitals 2.62% 0.10% 7.69%

Human and Social Services 2.97% -4.78% 13.66%

Public Broadcasting Stations -9.51% -2.50% 4.76%

Public/Society Benefit -7.62% 6.00% 17.65%

INDUSTRY -4.49% -0.65% 12.76%

Email Newsletter Engagement Rates: Year-Over-Year Change(Based on Emails Delivered Where Email Campaign Type=“Newsletter”)

Total Emails Sent (% Change)

Open Rate (% Change)

Click Rate (% Change)


VERTICAL

Animal Welfare 13.83% 1.44%

Arts, Culture, and Humanities 20.07% 2.15%

Disaster and International Aid 17.18% 0.97%

Environment and Wildlife 15.27% 2.09%

Faith Communities 20.37% 2.12%

Food Banks 11.57% 1.35%

Health Services and Research 13.31% 1.36%

Higher Education 13.37% 1.30%

Hospital Foundations and Hospitals 20.47% 1.74%

Human and Social Services 12.36% 1.13%

Public Broadcasting Stations 16.50% 1.25%

Public/Society Benefit 16.97% 1.42%

INDUSTRY 14.98% 1.47%

Open Rate Click Rate

Email Newsletter Engagement Rates by Vertical


HOUSEFILE SIZE

<10K 17.11% 1.90%

10,000–49,999 16.62% 1.49%

50,000–99,999 14.24% 1.60%

100,000–249,999 14.27% 1.52%

250,000–499,999 14.25% 0.96%

500,000–999,999 13.13% 1.02%

1,000,000+ 12.43% 1.16%


Email Newsletter Engagement Rates by Email List Size


VERTICAL

Animal Welfare -5.40% -1.09% 12.96%

Arts, Culture, and Humanities -3.07% -7.20% 7.46%

Disaster and International Aid -25.17% -1.56% 28.61%

Environment and Wildlife 8.86% -6.28% 12.54%

Faith Communities 2.05% 6.51% 20.83%

Food Banks 1.81% 1.40% 22.02%

Health Services and Research -5.89% -0.63% 17.46%

Higher Education 15.85% -3.20% 7.35%

Hospital Foundations and Hospitals 15.51% -2.49% 14.71%

Human and Social Services -2.60% -2.20% 9.68%

Public Broadcasting Stations 18.05% -6.71% 5.45%

Public/Society Benefit -14.11% 1.69% 15.86%

INDUSTRY 0.48% -1.51% 14.63%

“Other” Email Engagement Rates: Year-Over-Year Change (Based on Emails Delivered Where Email Campaign Type Is Not “Advocacy Appeal” or “Fundraising Appeal” or “Newsletter”)

Total Emails Sent % Change

Open Rate % Change

Click Rate % Change


VERTICAL






Food Banks 12.01% 1.49%







INDUSTRY 15.56% 1.25%


“Other” Email Engagement Rates by Vertical(Based on Emails Delivered Where Email Campaign Type Is Not “Advocacy Appeal” or “Fundraising Appeal” or “Newsletter”)


EMAIL LIST SIZE

<10K 16.88% 1.40%

10,000–49,999 17.07% 1.39%

50,000–99,999 15.74% 1.16%

100,000–249,999 14.35% 1.16%

250,000–499,999 15.40% 1.16%

500,000–999,999 11.98% 0.67%

1,000,000+ 14.83% 1.00%


“Other” Email Engagement Rates by Email List Size(Based on Emails Delivered Where Email Campaign Type Is Not “Advocacy Appeal” or “Fundraising Appeal” or “Newsletter”)


Welcome Series Email Engagement Rates by Vertical(Based on Emails Delivered Where Email Campaign Type Contains “Welcome” in the Campaign Name)

VERTICAL






Food Banks 23.96% 1.31%







INDUSTRY 19.32% 1.55%



EMAIL LIST SIZE

<10K 19.37% 1.19%

10,000–49,999 16.78% 1.55%

50,000–99,999 26.34% 2.70%

100,000–249,999 25.91% 1.90%

250,000–499,999 17.42% 1.55%

500,000–999,999 8.97% 0.77%

1,000,000+ 14.69% 1.11%


Welcome Series Email Engagement Rates by Email List Size(Based on Emails Delivered Where Email Campaign Type Contains “Welcome” in the Campaign Name)

Raiser’s Edge and Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT

CHAPTER 5

BY: JULIA LENZ Product Marketing Manager, Blackbaud Luminate Online


New this year, we are excited to offer yet another view of our Blackbaud Luminate Online benchmark

data. We looked at the Blackbaud Luminate Online universe and grouped together all the customers

that own either Raiser’s Edge or Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT plus Blackbaud Luminate Online. These

organizations make up a significant portion of our customer base.

This detailed data offers some valuable insight about how organizations using our most popular CRM

in combination with our powerful online marketing solution are performing compared to the rest of

the customer base.

We all know there is power in integrating your offline and online data and that it can assist with

creating more targeted and effective communications. Now, we have hard numbers to prove that

story. And what a story it tells! In nearly every metric, Raiser’s Edge/Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT

customers outperform the total population of Blackbaud Luminate Online-only customers.

CARNEGIE MUSEUMS OF PITTSBURGH

Using Blackbaud solutions, Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh grew their mid-level donors

($1,000–$25,000/year) by 20% within five years. They also introduced an automatic renewal

program that 11% of members—totaling nearly $30,000 per month—use with a one-time

annual payment or with ongoing monthly payments.

The only way we’ve been able to meet our goals is through the freedom our board gave us to access tools like Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT. Without it, we would not have accomplished them.

— Alison Hermance, Director of Communications and Marketing, Wildcare


Highlights:• For revenue-focused numbers, Raiser’s Edge/

Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT customers saw higher year-over-year online revenue growth, realized $0.77 more annual revenue per usable email address, and had a greater portion of their email list donate in 2019.

• The largest difference comes in sustainer programs, where organizations with Raiser’s Edge/Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT and Blackbaud Luminate Online had 33.72% greater growth in sustainer revenue. What a great impact to those customers’ bottom line!

• The Raiser’s Edge/Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT customers also are doing a great job of growing their email lists. They grew at a 23.77% higher rate than the total Blackbaud Luminate Online base.

The concept makes sense: you get a total picture of your constituents by combining offline and online data from Raiser’s Edge/Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT and Blackbaud Luminate Online. That, in turn, helps you understand how and what your supporters want to hear from you. The total data picture identifies more people who want to hear your message, allowing you to create more emails they will open and raise more funds.

REVENUE




SUSTAINERS




EMAIL ENGAGEMENT TRENDS

Email List (YOY Change) 10.12% 7.97%







Raiser’s Edge/Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT + Blackbaud Luminate Online Customers

All Blackbaud Luminate

Online Customers

Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT


Canadian Trends

CHAPTER 6

BY: JOSEPH MARILLA Demand Generation Marketing Manager


Finally, eh?2019 is the inaugural year for Canadian data as part of the Blackbaud Luminate Online Benchmark Report, and we couldn’t be more excited to share them with you. We’ve crunched the data from over 60 Canadian organizations across verticals from Animal Welfare, Aid, Healthcare, Education, and more to provide you a roundup of insights you can keep top of mind as you plan for year-end fundraising and 2020.

In 30 Years of Giving in Canada, the Rideau Hall Foundation and Imagine Canada compiled fundraising data from 1985 to 2014. The study finds that the number of tax filers claiming donations has declined by roughly 30% since 1990, while the average amount claimed by each tax filer has roughly doubled. Canadian charities are relying on a smaller number of donors to make bank.

To adapt to this change, Canadian charitable organizations have worked to:

• Grow their constituent lists

• Deepen engagement with existing supporters

• Communicate the value of their programs clearly and consistently

REVENUE




SUSTAINERS




EMAIL ENGAGEMENT TRENDS

Email List (YOY Change) 12.41% 7.97%







Canadian Blackbaud Luminate Online

Customers

All Blackbaud Luminate

Online Customers

Canadian Trends


Online Fundraising Revenue Mix by Gift Type These charts show the type of gifts that make up the

overall online giving mix in Canada. Each online gift is

either first-time or repeat, and each gift is also either

sustainer or non-sustainer. First-time transactions are from

new constituents, while repeat gifts are from established

constituents. Sustainer transactions are from recurring

(monthly) gifts that might be from new or established

(repeat) donors. The percent change metrics refer to how

the types of gifts has shifted over the last year.

• This was a challenging year for attracting new donors.

The healthy 9.23% overall fundraising increase enjoyed

by Canadian organizations came thanks to cultivating

repeat donors and sustainers. This helps explain the big

shifts in the “giving mix” illustrated on this page.

• Canadian organizations achieved substantial success

growing revenue from loyal repeat donors and sustaining

givers in FY 2019. Revenue from repeat donors grew

19.81% YOY and sustainer revenue grew by a whopping

25.52% YOY! This shifted the overall giving mix toward

more value coming from repeat and sustainer revenue,

as illustrated on the left.

Where Is Canadian Fundraising in 2019?

Revenue from First-Time vs Repeat

Transactions

Sustainer vs Non-Sustainer

Revenue

5% Sustainer (+17.55%)

95% Non-Sustainer

(-0.50%)

49.5% First-Time Gifts

(-10.03%)

50.5% Repeat Gifts

(+8.60%)


Email Engagement TrendsThe introduction of CASL in 2014 seemed like it would be a major

headache for organizations in Canada. However, according to

fightspam.gc.ca, CASL has resulted in improvements for both

consumers and organizations. Canadians now receive less spam

and have seen a decrease in email overall (spam or legitimate).

Expectedly, this shift has extended to fundraising-focused

organizations causing them to be more disciplined in their email

strategy. As a result, open and click-through rates of marketing

emails have risen, and bounce rates have dropped. And we’re

seeing similar trends in our data:

• The number of emails sent decreased slightly, which suggests

a desire to not “over-email” constituents and communicate and

steward effectively with fewer emails.

• The number of fundraising emails increased by 5.64%, with

a corresponding drop of 6.25% in conversion rate for these

emails.

• Organizations appear to have focused successfully on

supporter acquisition strategies, as we saw email lists

grow 12.41% year over year.

• With each usable email address worth $21.97 in annual

revenue, the return on investment for cultivating your

email list can be significant. Increase segmentation and

personalization in your communications to deepen your

relationship with constituents and encourage sustainer

and repeat gifts.

• The open rate for welcome series emails was an

impressive 34.35%. Users who explicitly opt in to receive

communication want to hear from you. Welcome series

work and are invaluable to drive early and vital engagement

with new-to-file users. Ensure that you have a welcome

series configured that communicates mission and impact,

building a relationship that sets your organization up for a

successful fundraising relationship in the future.

Where Is Canadian Fundraising in 2019?

Conclusion

CHAPTER 7

BY: KATIE WALTERS, Product Marketing Manager KATHRYN HALL, Senior Product Marketing Manager


ConclusionAs technology evolves at a dizzying rate, our expectations of how we’ll interact with our gadgets, with institutions,

and even with each other change, too. Interactions in the commercial world train us to expect similar experiences

with our charitable organizations. For instance, as supporters become accustomed to buying movie tickets and shoes

on their phones with ApplePay, they also want to “pay with their face” or fingerprint when donating. Subscription

models like Netflix and Spotify in the entertainment space train digital users to expect a monthly subscription model

for their charitable giving, too. Nonprofits that offer the expected experiences (lower friction on payments and

sustainer giving to allow “subscribing” to the cause) benefit from being on trend.

As we become accustomed to endless streams of status updates, news, information, videos, and images, there’s an

elevated need for omni-channel mission-impact stewardship. Targeted ads in the commercial world and “suggested

for you” content sets the stage for your supporters to expect information that feels specially cultivated for them.

Engagement and personalization remain critical: finding ways to engage email readers helps convert them to donors;

finding ways to engage your one-time givers may turn them into monthly donors; engaging your recurring donors will

keep them active in your organization.

We hope this Report can help arm you with the data you need to benchmark your performance and guide your

fundraising and communication strategies this year and beyond as you take on the ever-changing challenge of digital

marketing and fundraising.


event registration fees, and donation form giving when

defining their online revenue. Making valid comparisons is

difficult when the data is volunteered or when sources are

self-selected or normalized to look better.

As much as we would have liked to include every Blackbaud

customer in this year’s study, our objective is to provide the

best and most accurate insight into how the industry fared in

fiscal year 2018–2019. As such, we excluded organizations that

did not have at least 36 months of data in Blackbaud Luminate

Online, as organizations migrating to a new solution tend to

perform differently than those with an established program.

Because of this exclusion, the number and composition of

organizations in our study will always vary slightly depending

on when they join Blackbaud and when they deploy additional

modules.

Methodology

Study ParticipantsTo be included in the reported data, organizations must have used

Blackbaud Luminate Online consistently for a minimum of three

years through June 2019, with the exception of Welcome Series,

which was the one-year period from July 2018 to June 2019. Data

from other Blackbaud online fundraising tools was not included in

this analysis.

Using the email list and transaction data directly from nonprofit

organizations using Blackbaud Luminate Online allows us to avoid

two major sources of research bias common in many studies:

The first, called referral bias, occurs when groups that

volunteer to participate in a study often perform differently

than non-volunteers.

The second, called measurement bias, occurs from comparing

organizations’ results from different sources and measuring

them in different ways. This is commonly seen when different

organizations selectively include or exclude various sources

of online fundraising data, such as e-commerce, ticket sales,


In this year’s Report, we prepared a summary of metrics

by the following views:

NTEE Assigned Vertical (with some consolidation): Shows how

organizations with similar missions compare to one another

Organization Size–Valid Email Address Bands: Allows us to

see if growth or contraction is being led by large or small

organizations based on the size of the email file

We provided more consolidated views on key reporting metrics,

such as email types and donation types. These will help

organizations better understand and assess what email and

donation performance metrics really mean.

Methodology

Some Useful DefinitionsThe organizations included in this year’s Report are grouped

by self-selected NTEE vertical designations, with the exception

of Canadian nonprofits, which were classified by mission most

closely matching the vertical industries studied. We reviewed

online fundraising by focusing on multiple types of donations

that have their own influence on the overall metrics.

They are:

Email List: The full list of supporters with email addresses

Usable Email: A valid email address that accepts messages

Total Fundraising: Every online financial transaction

First-Time Donations: Donations flagged as a person’s first

online transaction with the respective organization

Sustainer Donations: Monthly recurring transactions

Repeat Donations: Donations not flagged as a person’s first

online transaction with the respective organization


Study Universe This study observes mature Blackbaud Luminate Online

users who showed consistent activity for a full three years

(July 2016 through June 2019). We apply this three-year rule

for each type of activity within Blackbaud Luminate Online.

For example, to be included, fundraising organizations must

have had at least three full years of monthly fundraising

revenue to represent mature fundraisers on Blackbaud

Luminate Online.

Methodology

Industry VerticalsOrganizations with at least 36 complete months of data in

Blackbaud Luminate Online were combined into groups that

we believed to be similar based on a common organizational

mission or vertical within the nonprofit sector. In the NTEE

verticals, similar cohorts are combined with other organizations

that are believed to perform similarly. In other cases, the mission

was so narrow that the resulting sample was too small to be

statistically significant. Verticals that did not have at least 10

similar organizations with a common mission were excluded

from this study. Associations and Memberships are included in

calculating industry medians, but their data was excluded from

vertical highlights in this year’s Report.

We do not include all verticals in all metrics. A vertical would

be excluded if a very small sample size of customers in that

vertical met the criteria.


Summary of Observed Universes

Measure Group Definition of “Mature”

Email List Organization with operating Blackbaud Luminate Online site for 36 months, July 2016–June 2019

Total Transactions Organization with online transaction activity within each month for the 36 months, July 2016–June 2019

First Transactions Organization with first-time donors giving within each month for the 36 months, July 2016–June 2019

Repeat Transactions Organization with repeat donors giving within each month for the 36 months, July 2016–June 2019

Sustainer Transactions Organization with sustainer donations within each month for the 36 months, July 2016–June 2019

All Email Organization with any emails sent in each fiscal year period, July 2016–June 2019

Advocacy Email Organization with advocacy email activity in each fiscal year period, July 2016–June 2019

Fundraising Email Organization with fundraising emails sent in each fiscal year period, July 2016–June 2019

eNewsletter Email Organization with eNewsletters sent in each fiscal year period, July 2016–June 2019

Other Email Organization with unclassified emails sent in each fiscal year period, July 2016–June 2019

Welcome Series Email Organization with welcome series emails sent during the one-year period, July 2018–June 2019

Canadian Organization with a billing or mailing address in Canada or with a name representing Canadian originRaiser’s Edge/Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT Organization with Blackbaud Luminate Online and Raiser’s Edge or Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT


Where to Go from Here

This report is for informational purposes only. Blackbaud makes no warranties, expressed or implied, in this summary. The information contained within represents the current views of the authors on the topics discussed as of the date of this publication; it is the intellectual property of Blackbaud, Inc. and may not be reproduced without permission. All Blackbaud product names appearing herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Blackbaud, Inc. The names of companies or products not owned by Blackbaud may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

About Blackbaud

Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB) is the world’s leading cloud software company powering social good. Serving the entire social good community—nonprofits, foundations, companies, education institutions, healthcare organizations and individual change agents—Blackbaud connects and empowers organizations to increase their impact through cloud software, services, expertise, and data intelligence. The Blackbaud portfolio is tailored to the unique needs of vertical markets, with solutions for fundraising and relationship management, marketing and engagement, financial management, grant and award management, organizational and program management, social responsibility, payment services, and analytics. Serving the industry for more than three decades, Blackbaud is headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina, and has operations in the United States, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.blackbaud.com . ©January 2020, Blackbaud, Inc.

Benchmark Yourself! Use our interactive online tool to see how your organization stacks

up to others in your vertical and the industry.

Join a webinar. Hear from industry insiders and organizations about how they’re using these metrics

to drive their digital strategy on one of our Blackbaud Luminate Online Benchmark webinars.

Talk data with us! Our team of experts can work with you to create your own personalized

benchmark review that provides a more in-depth analysis of your program’s performance.

Contact your customer success manager or email us at [email protected].

Documents

Blackbaud Luminate Online Benchmark Report · You deepened your relationships with existing donors this past year. We saw donation revenue from established donors grow by 6.90% in