OneCause releases findings from survey of 1,954 nonprofit fundraising professionals
OneCause, a leader in online and event fundraising, released findings from its annual survey of nonprofit professionals, The Fundraising Outlook: 2021 Insights & Planning for Post-Pandemic Engagement. Findings provide insights into some of the year’s biggest challenges, where nonprofits are finding success, and the outlook for 2022 fundraising.
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“Planning for the unknown continues to plague the nonprofit sector, but our findings suggest the power of innovation and new fundraising formats is helping more nonprofits reach their goals,” said Steve Johns, chief executive officer for OneCause. “This year charitable organizations have made great strides in fundraising efficiency with improvements in online giving, new strategies for in-person events, and growth in hybrid. The versatility in fundraising formats is laying the foundation for post-pandemic giving experiences. As nonprofits prepare for 2022, they must remain agile in their strategies, embracing seamless giving experiences and providing options for supporters to engage how and where they feel most comfortable.”
Key findings include:
- Nonprofits are becoming more successful with their pandemic fundraising. Success rates across all types of fundraising are improving, especially with online giving campaigns and events. Almost half of those surveyed generated 20% or more of their annual operating budget from their event and online fundraising efforts.
- Fundraising events are back in a big way for most nonprofits. Ninety percent of organizations held at least one fundraising event in 2021, with 79 percent meeting or surpassing their event fundraising goals. The number of organizations surpassing their goals (28 percent) has more than doubled in the past year.
- Hybrid event experiences grew by 3x over the past year, with 57 percent of nonprofits engaging both online and in-person supporters at their events. A mix of in-person and virtual event experiences will continue in 2022, with 69 percent planning at least one in-person only event, 50 percent hybrid, and 31 percent virtual only.
- Online and event fundraising are helping nonprofits expand their donor base. Approximately 27 percent of nonprofits are reaching more first-time donors and 16 percent are seeing growth in re-engaged lapsed donors. Only 18 percent report a decrease in retention rates.
- Planning around the pandemic continues to be a top challenge for nonprofits. Other top challenges impacting nonprofits this year include donor engagement, donor fatigue, and maintaining year-over-year fundraising growth (especially with recurring giving).
- More than a third of nonprofits plans to create new hybrid experiences to continue engaging virtual supporters post-pandemic. Seventy-five percent will be back to in-person events by Spring 2022. About a quarter of those surveyed have no plans to incorporate virtual supporters in their events at this time.
- Nonprofits are increasing technology budgets to support a variety of giving experiences. Thirty-three percent of nonprofits increased their technology budget in 2021, while only 3 percent reported a decrease. Smaller organizations are more likely to continue increasing technology investments in 2022.
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