In the just released 2010 eNonprofit Benchmarks Study, small nonprofits showed better email marketing metrics than larger organizations. Statistics also varied based on types of nonprofits, which is consistent with results of the recent Nonprofit Social Network Benchmark Report. Some highlights:
- nonprofits with small email lists (under 100,000 subscribers) had higher open rates, click-through rates and double the email fundraising response rate of medium and large nonprofits. (However, unsubscribe rates were also significantly higher.)
- while overall online fundraising grew 4.5%, results varied by segment; for for half of the nonprofits surveyed, 2009 online revenue either remained the same or declined from 2008.
- average email message open rate was 14%; surprisingly, email newsletters had a slightly higher open rate than advocacy emails, but advocacy messages had much higher click-through rates and response rates.
- environmental and rights organizations had the best click-through rates; international nonprofits had the lowest.
- health organizations get a large bulk of their online revenue from event fundraising; international groups show the largest portion of monthly gifts, not surprising since monthly giving has traditionally not been as prevalent in the US as overseas
- tribute gifts – as well as online catalogs / symbolic gifts – definitely seem to have more potential to be promoted more prominently
- average one-time gift was an amazing $81, with international organizations showing the best results ($136)
There is much useful data here. In addition to downloading the report, see summaries in the Non-Profit Marketing and Frogloop blogs, and also review Convio’s Online Nonprofit Benchmarks Study. Thanks to M&R and Nten for sponsoring this study.
