Benchmark Yourself Results
Digital-First Fundraising Benchmark 2024
Your Customized Report
Thanks for filling out the assessment!
We’ve calculated 11 key metrics based on the information you provided on the form. Below you can see a quick comparison of how your key metrics compare to the average Digital-First organization.
You may find some areas where you’re out performing the benchmark, and others where you’re below. Keep in mind that many of these metrics are interconnected. As you scale your digital program, you may see things like web traffic increase, while metrics like conversion rate and average gift decline.
Be sure to read more about each metric to get a better sense of where your program is at, and what you may need to do next in order to continually optimize and grow.
Finally, as with any benchmark report, please don’t be content to simply meet the average. There is always room to optimize!
Metric
Your Score
Digital-First Benchmark
Overall Growth
Overall Revenue Growth ('22-'23)
Digital-first organizations represent a segment of rapidly growing nonprofit organizations. GivingUSA reports that individual giving is growing an average of 5.5% each year. But digital-first organizations have average 6.2% growth in giving year over year for the past 5 years.
In other words, digital-first organizations are growing 12.7% faster than the average nonprofit.
Your Score
Revenue Growth from ’22 to ’23
Benchmark
6.2%
Revenue Growth from ’22 to ’23
Online Revenue Growth Rate ('22-'23)
Digital-first organizations have seen 99% growth in online giving from broad-based donors over the past 5 years. From 2022 to 2023, they saw an average of 5.91% growth in online giving across all donor types.
Your Score
Online Revenue Growth from ’22 to ’23
Benchmark
5.91%
Online Revenue Growth from ’22 to ’23
Offline Revenue Growth Rate ('22-'23)
Many assume that online growth is simply shifting money from an offline channel to a digital channel. But digital-first organizations are seeing significant growth across both online and offline.
On average, they saw 3.84% growth in offline giving from 2022 to 2023. And they have seen 36% growth on offline giving over the past 5 years.
Your Score
Offline Revenue Growth from ’22 to ’23
Benchmark
3.84%
Offline Revenue Growth from ’22 to ’23
New Donor Value
New Online Donor Value
All in all, for digital-first organizations, the first-year value of a new online donor is greater than that of an offline acquired donor. Looking at total revenue generated from these new donors in their first year, online acquired donors were 48% more valuable than offline donors.
More specifically, digital first organizations saw that new online donors were worth $88.32 in their first year in 2023.
Your Score
Value of a New Online Donor
Benchmark
$88.32
Value of a New Online Donor
New Offline Donor Value
Digital-first organizations are using direct mail more strategically than ever—powering their mailing lists with online behavioral data and lifting their direct mail results using a multi-channel approach.
In one experiment, we saw that the coordinated effort of email and direct mail appeals was far more effective than using either channel on its own. A joint Direct Mail & Email Appeal increased conversions by 61% compared to sending only a direct mail appeal.
In 2023, digital first organizations found that the average new offline donor was worth $52.44 in their first year.
Your Score
Value of a New Offline Donor
Benchmark
$52.44
Value of a New Offline Donor
Key Metrics
Website Traffic
Your web traffic volume is one of the strongest indicators of your readiness to build a digital-first program. Low traffic organizations often have to start by making a large advertising investment just to get a healthy amount of traffic.
Higher traffic, however, often means a lower global conversion rate. This is not a bad thing! It simply means that your traffic is diverse enough to include both existing subscribers and donors as well as new users and potential new donors.
Your Score
Sessions per Month
Benchmark
125,491
Sessions per Month
Website Conversion Rate
Website conversion rate is measure your total amount of web traffic compared to how many people actually give when they’re on your website. On average, digital-first organizations are seeing .61% of total website visitors making a donation during their visit.
More web traffic and a wider reach often means a lower motivation to give. As a result, an average organization that has yet to build a sophisticated digital program may in fact see higher site conversion rates. If this is the case for you, it means you likely have lots of opportunity to grow your traffic and overall digital program.
Your Score
Website Conversion Rate
Benchmark
.61%
Website Conversion Rate
Average Gift Size
Most digital-first organizations are investing significantly in digital acquisition. And as you know, a donor’s first gift is rarely their best gift. With many new donors coming in online, the overall average gift size for a digital-first organization may be lower than the average organization.
This is where organizations must adapt a different mindset with their digital channels. The ROI on digital acquisition comes in the longer-term value of the newly acquired donor.
Your Score
Average Online Gift Size
Benchmark
$70.23
Average Online Gift Size
Main Donation Page
Donation Page Conversion Rate
A digital-first program is made up of many different donation pages supporting various donor acquisition and activation campaigns. But regardless of where your digital program is at, everyone accepting online donations has a main donation page.
While there can be wide variance in performance, the average main donation page converts around 13.53% of visitors into donors.
Conversion rate in this case is calculating the percentage of visitors to your main donation page that actually complete a donation.
Your Score
Donation Page Conversion Rate
Benchmark
13.53%
Donation Page Conversion Rate
Advertising
% of Giving Spent on Advertising
There is a large amount of variance in how much organizations spend on digital ads. A brand-new organization with minimal traffic often must spend a larger amount of money to acquire the traffic needed for growth.
In one case, an organization founded within the past 3 years is spending +64% of their current giving on digital advertising in order to build a strong foundation of broad base support.
But on average, digital-first organizations spend 2.71% of total annual giving on digital advertising—largely with a focus on donor acquisition.
Your Score
% of Giving Spent on Digital Ads
Benchmark
2.71%
% of Giving Spent on Digital Ads
Instant ROI
Most digital advertising campaigns run by digital-first organizations are focused on acquiring a new subscriber using content and leading them towards an opportunity to give right away. We call this an “Instant Donation.”
While we certainly need to measure the success of our acquisition by looking at the long-term revenue associated with a new donor—the best way to optimize a specific campaign is to look at “Instant ROI”. This metric looks at the percentage of your advertising spend that is turning into donation right away.
Keep in mind, many organizations see the majority of their new donor revenue come in during the following 12 months after acquiring a new subscriber—provided they’re using effective onboarding communication and cultivation.
Your Score
Instant ROI from Digital Ads
Benchmark
30%
Instant ROI from Digital Ads
View the Full Digital-First Benchmark Report
There’s a whole lot more to learn in the full Digital-First Fundraising Benchmark Report. Check out the full report at the link below to see everything we discovered by analyzing the fundraising programs and trends of digital-first organizations.