1

Digital Fundraising Report

1

Bentz Whaley Flessner’s 2018 Digital Fundraising Survey Results

2

COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Copyright © 2018Bentz Whaley Flessner and Associates, Inc.

All rights reserved.

The contents of these pages, including text and graphics, are protected by the copyright laws of the United States and other

foreign jurisdictions.No portion may be reproduced in any form,

or by any means, without the prior written consent ofBentz Whaley Flessner and Associates, Inc.

3

IntroductionDigital fundraising is a rapidly growing area. Most organizations have already begun investing, and most are seeing early fruits of those investments.

The Bentz Whaley Flessner Digital Fundraising Survey seeks to gain a current snapshot of the health and trajectory of the digital fundraising practice.

As you read this report, you will likely find areas of agreement. You may also find data that provides further evidence that you are on the right track, and a deeper investment is warranted. Finally, this report may uncover opportunities for improvement.

We hope you enjoy the report. If you have comments or feedback, please reach out to Barett Christensen, Director of Digital Service at bchristensen@bwf.com or (952)921-0111.

4

5

Objective, Methodology, and Design

Our Objective There are very few industry surveys focused on digital

fundraising. Bentz Whaley Flessner’s (BWF) objective with this inaugural survey is to uncover current digital fundraising practices, trends, and aspirations.

Methodology and Design BWF developed a survey composed of 17questions focused on

digital strategy, channel performance, current outcomes, investments plans, technology usage, and digital fundraising best practices.

The survey was sent to BWF clients and promoted on social media for 30 days, from September through October of 2018.

BWF received 82 responses from a diverse group including universities, healthcare systems, and a variety of non-profits. Both BWF clients and nonclients participated. See Page 14 for breakdown of organizations who participated.

6

7

Digital Survey Executive Summary

8

Executive Summary: Key FindingsBWF’s inaugural Digital Fundraising Survey uncovered a number of interesting findings and confirms the findings of other industry studies. The BWF survey data suggests that digital fundraising continues to grow quickly, while other channels are struggling. The following 16 items are the top findings from the this year’s survey.

1. 90% of organizations see the potential in wealth targeting to grow a pipeline of major gift prospects on digital, while just 10% have figured out how to do it successfully.

2. Donor participation generally is falling, especially on phone and direct mail. However, direct mail, online, and email are currently the top participation generators.

3. Donor participation is increasing on all digital channels.

4. Revenue is growing generally, with the exception of phone solicitations. Current revenue top performers include face-to-face, direct mail, and online.

5. 73% of organizations are seeing digital results and are planning to increase their investments in digital channels over the next 1–2 years. 27% plan to increase investments significantly.

6. Most organizations are planning to make their investments in developing a robust digital strategy and to implement paid social, digital remarketing, donor journeys, and multi-channel integrations.

7. Most organizations said that the top three obstacles they face to improving their digital strategy are a lack of budget, staffing, and a clear digital strategy.

9

Executive Summary: Key Findings9. Facebook and Instagram are receiving the lion’s share of promoted

fundraising content. LinkedIn, Google, Twitter, and YouTube all trail by significant margins.

10. More organizations are confident in their giving day and email fundraising performance and abilities than any other area of digital fundraising.

11. Paid social media strategy and social media remarketing are the two top areas that organizations have begun experimenting with and are seeing positive results.

12. Many organizations are currently interested in learning more and investing in email remarketing, digital look-alike targeting, social media remarketing, and ambassador or influencer marketing.

13. ScaleFunder, TeamRaiser, GiveCampus, EveryDayHero, and Facebook Fundraisers are the most popular crowdfunding platforms.

14. Hootsuite and Evertrue are the most commonly used social media management tools.

15. Blackbaud, iModules, and Mailchimp are the most commonly used email marketing tools.

16. WordPress, Drupal, and Blackbaud are the most popular web content management systems.

10

Executive Summary: Key RecommendationsMultichannel Strategy: Most organizations are aware of the obvious channel transitions that are taking place. Donor participation and revenue continue to fall on traditional channels like direct mail and phone, while digital channel performance continues to see steep growth trends. We all see that a re-leveling of our channel mix, budgets, and emphasis is needed, but it is a challenging balancing act. Smart comprehensive multi-channel strategic plans that emphasize both current and future performance are needed now more than ever. The good news is 73% of organizations in our survey say this is their top priority as well.

Key Recommendation: Focus on building a comprehensive multi-channel strategy that balances current and future goals. For future performance, digital must play a larger role today.

Email, Giving Days and Facebook Fundraisers: Email fundraising and giving days seem to be well-accepted standards of digital fundraising practice. If you are not actively invested in this space because you are unsure of results, take a look at the many organizations that are doing this exceptionally well. There are many established “best practices” and successful examples from organizations large and small. Based on Facebook Fundraisers GivingTuesday performance and its rapid growth, integrating this product into your strategy will be critical moving forward.

Key Recommendation: For organizations looking for early wins, email and giving days are tried-and-true digital tactics. Showing results in these areas can provide you with the leverage to move into more sophisticated areas of digital fundraising. It is also time to take Facebook Fundraisers seriously.

1.

2.

11

Executive Summary: Key RecommendationsDonor Journeys, Remarketing, and Wealth Targeting. 90% of organizations see the potential in wealth targeting to grow a pipeline of major gift prospects on digital, while just 10% have figured out how to do it successfully. Those who plan to increase their digital budgets say their second highest priority (after strategic digital plans) is the execution of paid social and email remarketing and targeting strategies. Other areas of note continue to be influencer marketing and a growing interest in digital gift officers. BWF has developed training for each of these practice areas because these areas require a skill set that is harder to find in the fundraising market currently.

Key Recommendation: For those organizations a little further down the digital strategy journey, investments should be made in developing donor journeys, including major or leadership gift prospect digital acquisition pipelines.

Overcome Investment Obstacles. Most organizations said that the top three obstacles they face to improving their digital strategy are a lack of budget, staff, and a clear digital strategy. It is our experience that digital pilots or proofs of concept go a long way in refining strategy and demonstrating to leadership that increased investments are scalable. If there is an area of digital practice that seems promising, start with a pilot and build your case for increased investment. Give yourself space in a digital sandbox to experiment, to win, to learn and to make your case.

Key Recommendation: Focus on digital trials to provide evidence and leverage for increased investments. Shifting resources is easier when the shift shows early promise.

3.

4.

12

13

Organizations Taking the Survey

14

Organization TypeThe majority of responses came from higher education institutions, followed by human service and healthcare.

What is your organization type?

38%

21%

9%7%

6%5%

4% 4%2% 2%

1% 1%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

15

Perceived Digital ExpertiseMore organizations are confident in their giving day and email fundraising performance and abilities than any other area of digital fundraising. This trend should continue as email and giving day best practices continue to show results and see greater industry adoption.

In which areas of digital fundraising are you seeing results and getting more comfortable with?

60%

51%

49%

36%

33%

28%

27%

25%

24%

15%

15%

15%

10%

7%

0% 20% 40% 60%

Email fundraising

Giving day or #GivingTuesdaystrategy

Digital fundraising

Paid social media strategy

Crowdfunding

Mobile fundraising

Email automation

Website remarketing

Ambassador or influencerprogram

Email remarketing

Social media remarketing

Digital lookalike targeting

Digital gift officer

Virtual reality/Augmented realityengagement

16

Perceived Digital ExpertisePaid social media strategy and social media remarketing are the two top areas that organizations have begun experimenting with and are seeing positive results. These seem to be the new and emerging areas of digital. BWF clients have all seen success implementing paid social and remarketing. Look for organizations to continue investing in this space.

In which area of digital fundraising are you experimenting and starting to see results?

36%

35%

31%

30%

30%

30%

27%

26%

24%

22%

13%

12%

12%

10%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%

Paid social media strategy

Social media remarketing

Crowdfunding

Digital fundraising

Website remarketing

Email remarketing

Ambassador or influencer program

Mobile fundraising

Email automation

Digital lookalike targeting

Digital gift officer

Giving day or #GivingTuesday strategy

Email fundraising

Virtual reality/Augmented reality engagement

17

Perceived Digital ExpertiseMany organizations are currently interested in learning more and investing in email remarketing, digital look-alike targeting, social media remarketing, and ambassador or influencer marketing. The bleeding edge of digital fundraising appears to be centered around these digital tactics. Leveraging digital and social look-alikes, remarketing, and influencer programs will likely to grow go forward.

Which area of digital fundraising are you not doing but seeking to better understand?

40%

37%

34%

34%

33%

32%

30%

30%

25%

12%

12%

7%

7%

2%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%

Email remarketing

Digital lookalike targeting

Ambassador or influencer program

Virtual reality/Augmented reality engagement

Social media remarketing

Email automation

Mobile fundraising

Website remarketing

Digital gift officer

Paid social media strategy

Crowdfunding

Digital fundraising

Giving day or #GivingTuesday strategy

Email fundraising

18

The Digital Gift Officer (25% Interest)Powered by tools like Evertrue, Excel, and paid social media targeting, organizations like Cornell and LSU have set up Digital Gift Officers.

Purpose: Manage a large “Digital Portfolio” with the express purpose of warming potential high-value prospects to either sustain a leadership giving program or provide a pipeline to major gift officers. At Cornell, the digital gift officer can travel. At LSU the digital gift officer does not travel.

At BWF we expect this trend to continue, especially among our clients and those who are utilizing digital major gift lead generation or prospect pool warming strategies. Having a digital gift officer to triage capacity and begin the cultivation digitally makes sense.

19

Channel Performance

20

21

Current Participation PerformanceOverall, direct mail, the website, and email round out the top channel performers for participation. Each circle depicts the ranks for each of the top three channels. BWF sees this pattern with most of our clients. Legacy channels are still driving participation while emerging digital channels are quickly gaining.

How do the following channels rank in terms of participation?

Website23%

Email20%

Direct Mail15%

Phone35%

Social/Crowdfunding/

Giving Day5%

Development Officers and Face-to-Face

2%

Website27%

Email14%

Direct Mail17%Phone

8%

Social/Crowdfunding/

Giving Day27%

Development Officers and Face-to-Face

7%

Website20%

Email7%

Direct Mail53%

Phone2%

Social/Crowdfunding/

Giving Day5%

Development Officers and Face-to-Face

13%Rank Channel

1 Direct Mail

2 Website

3 Email

4 Social Media

5 Face-to-Face

6 Phone

1st Place

2nd Place 3rd Place

22

Donor Participation TrendlinesDigital channels have the strongest growth trajectories for donor participation. Making the investment and channel priority change will continue to be a challenge for organizations. Multi-channel integration/transition strategies are increasingly important to bridge the gap in performance between slowing traditional channels and emerging digital channels.

Is donor participation increasing?

91%87% 86%

82%

72%

64%

22%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

23

Donor Participation TrendlinesDonor participation is falling across the board. Phone solicitation results are falling the most dramatically. Most BWF clients are also worried about their legacy calling programs. Often, reductions in phone investments are shifting to increased digital investments.

Is donor participation decreasing?

78%

36%

28%

18%14% 13%

9%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

24

25

Current Revenue PerformanceOverall, face-to-face, direct mail, and the website round out the top channel performers for revenue. Each circle depicts the ranks for each of the top three channels. Gift officers drive results. Direct mail is still vital, while digital channels are gaining ground. Multi-channel strategies that are mutually reinforcing will help increase overall revenue performance.

How do the following channels rank in terms of revenue?

Website16%

Email7%

Direct Mail60%

Phone5%

Social/Crowdfunding/

Giving Day5%

Development Officers and Face-to-Face

7%

Website9%

Email5%

Direct Mail5%

Phone0%

Social/Crowdfunding/

Giving Day0%

Development Officers and Face-to-Face

81%

Rank Channel

1 Face-to-Face

2 Direct Mail

3 Website

4 Email

5 Phone

6 Social Media

2nd Place

1st Place

Website33%

Email9%Direct Mail

22%

Phone12%

Social/Crowdfunding/

Giving Day19%

Development Officers and Face-to-Face

5%

3rd Place

26

Revenue by Channel TrendlinesOverall revenue is increasing. Digital channels are seeing the strongest revenue growth trajectories. Again, digital channel growth is promising. The industry challenge will be to help all channels find a new equilibrium and investment prioritization.

Is fundraising revenue increasing?

95%

93%

92%

89%

87%

78%

29%

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

Email

Overall Revenue

Development Officersand Face-to-Face

Website

Social/Crowdfunding/Giving Day

Direct Mail

Phone

27

Revenue by Channel TrendlinesPhone and direct mail revenue are showing the steepest declines in revenue. While phone and direct mail revenue are declining, they still represent a large share of total revenue. BWF clients are seeing success in supporting traditional channels with digital warming techniques. Look for more of these kinds of strategies in the coming months and years.

Is fundraising revenue decreasing?

71%

23%

13%

11%

8%

8%

5%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

Phone

Direct Mail

Social/Crowdfunding/Giving Day

Website

Development Officersand Face-to-Face

Overall Revenue

Email

28

29

Paid Social

30

Paid SocialFacebook and Instagram receive the lion’s share of promoted fundraising content. LinkedIn, Google, Twitter, and YouTube all trail by significant margins. This is not a surprise, as the reach and targeting capabilities on Facebook and Instagram are far superior to the other networks.

Which of the following networks are you running paid content for fundraising purposes?

95%

63%

34% 32% 29%

18%

8%3% 3% 3% 0% 0% 0%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

31

Wealth Targeting on Digital90% of originations have recognized the potential in wealth targeting on digital as a means to identify and cultivation new major gift prospects. However, only 10% have figured it out and are getting great results. BWF clients who have implemented digital major gift lead generation campaigns are all seeing success. This trend is expected to continue.

56%

24%

10% 10%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

No. We know thepotential is there,but we have not

developed astrategy.

Yes, but we arenot seeing much

success.

Yes, and it isworking great!

No. We didn'tknow we could

use socialnetworks to find

major giftprospects.

Do you currently have a strategy that utilizes the wealth information housed (or modeled, via lookalike audience creation) in social media

databases to identify and cultivate new major gift prospects?

32

33

Digital Investment Trends/Obstacles

34

35

Digital Investment Trends73% of organizations are planning to increase their investments in digital channels over the next 1–2 years. Of this group, 27% plan to invest significantly. This is a positive and needed trend. Most organizations know the shift is needed and are shifting resources.

As you look to the next 1–2 years at your organization, where do you see the digital investment trend going?

27%

46%

16%

3%

8%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

SignificantIncrease

MarginalIncrease

Budget HeldConstant

DecreasingBudget

Allocation

No BudgetAllocation

36

Digital Investment TrendsMost organizations are planning to invest in developing a robust digital strategy and to implement paid social, digital remarketing, donor journeys, and multi-channel integration. Strategy is the heart of success and will likely be a top priority moving forward. Experimentation with newer digital tactics like paid social and remarketing are likely near-term investments.

As you look to the next 1–2 years at your organization, what digital investments are you planning?

55%

47%

47%

39%

37%

34%

29%

21%

18%

13%

0% 20% 40% 60%

Digital strategy

Paid Social / Digital Remarketing / Donor Journeys

Multichannel Integration (web,email, social, direct mail, phone)

Website Design and Function

Technology

Crowdfunding/Giving Days

Email Automation

Ambassador Program

Other (please specify)

Additional Digital Staff

37

Cookie/Pixel/Tracking Code Enabled JourneysRemarketing and donor journeys are a growing and powerful trend. Certain web content management systems, email marketing tools, and most social networks offer this functionality. Deliver content “A” to audience “A1.” Based on engagement build audience “B1” and deliver content “B.” These logical and targeted sequences introduce storytelling at scale and low cost.

Digital Audience

Digital Audience

Digital Audience

Sponsored Social

Content

Webpage or email content

38

39

Digital Performance ObstaclesMost organizations said that the top three obstacles they face to improving their digital strategy are a lack of budget, staff, and a clear digital strategy. At BWF, we see a similar set of pain points among our clients. Strategy is a top priority followed by resource allocation (head count and budget) from senior management.

What are the largest obstacles to improving your organization's digital strategy? Please select the top three obstacles.

58% 58%

47%

24%21%

13%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Budget. We don't havethe human

resources tomake it happen.

We do nothave a clear

strategy.

We havetried a few

thingsbut are not

seeing strongresults yet.

Other (pleasespecify)

Managementsupport.

40

41

Digital Tools / Platforms

42

Digital Tools: CrowdfundingScaleFunder, TeamRaiser, GiveCampus, EveryDayHero and Facebook Fundraisers are the most popular crowdfunding platforms. While the “other” category had the most responses, only “Snap Advance” had 2% of responses. All other responses were less.

Which crowdfunding platforms does your organization use?

51%

16%16%16%

11%8%

3% 3% 3% 3%0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

43

Facebook Fundraisers Rapid Growth

• In 2017, Facebook Fundraisers generated $300 million.

• Giving Tuesday 2018 generated $300 million in gifts. A 30% increase over 2017.

• Facebook facilitated $125 million in 24 hours. That is up from $45 million in one year and represents nearly half of all donations on GivingTuesday.

• Blackbaud processed $60.9 million.

• Donor Perfect processed $35 million.

• Classy processed $15.4 million.

• GiveCampus processed $3.4 million.

• Facebook maxed out their $7 million matching grant by 8 a.m. Eastern on Giving Tuesday

44

Digital Tools: Social Media ManagementHootsuite and Evertrue are the most commonly used social media management tools. While the “other” category had the most responses, 10% of respondents said they were not using any social media management tools, and 10% said they used only the network provided tools.

Which social media management platforms does your organization use?

39%

34%

21%

8% 8% 8%

3% 3% 3% 3% 3% 3%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45

Digital Tools: Email MarketingBlackbaud, iModules, and Mailchimp are the most commonly used email marketing tools. While the “other” category had the most responses, no other product represented more than 2% of respondents.

Which email marketing platforms does your organization use?

53%

24%

21%

16%

8%

3%

3%

3%

0%

0%

0%

0%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Other (pleasespecify)

Blackbaud

iModules

MailChimp

Convio

Salesforce

Infusionsoft

Marketo

Adobe Campaign

HubSpot

Quadwrangle

Kirkle

46

Digital Tools: Web Content ManagementWordPress, Drupal, and Blackbaud are the most popular web content management systems.

Which web content management system does your organization use?

35%

19% 19% 19%

11%

8%

5%

3%

0% 0%0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

47

48

49

Key Recommendations

50

Most organizations are aware of the obvious channel transitions that are taking place. Donor participation and revenue continue to fall on traditional channels like direct mail and phone, while digital channel performance continues to see steep growth trends. We all see that a re-leveling of our channel mix, budgets, and emphasis is needed, but it is a challenging balancing act. Smart comprehensive multi-channel strategic plans that emphasize both current and future performance are needed now more than ever. The good news is 73% of organizations in our survey say this is their top priority as well.

Key Recommendation: Focus on building a comprehensive multi-channel strategy that balances current and future goals. For future performance, digital must play a larger role today.

Focus on Multi-Channel Strategy

51

Email fundraising and giving days seem to be well-accepted standards of digital fundraising practice. If you are not actively invested in this space because you are unsure of results, take a look at the many organizations that are doing this exceptionally well. There are many established “best practices” and successful examples from organizations large and small. Based on Facebook Fundraisers GivingTuesday performance and its rapid growth, integrating this product into your strategy will be critical moving forward.

Key Recommendation: For organizations looking for early wins, email and giving days are tried-and-true digital tactics. Showing results in these areas can provide you with the leverage to move into more sophisticated areas of digital fundraising. It is also time to take Facebook Fundraisers seriously.

Email, Giving Days, Facebook Fundraisers

52

90% of organizations see the potential in wealth targeting to grow a pipeline of major gift prospects on digital, while just 10% have figured out how to do it successfully. Those who plan to increase their digital budgets say their second highest priority (after strategic digital plans) is the execution of paid social and email remarketing and targeting strategies. Other areas of note continue to be influencer marketing and a growing interest in digital gift officers. BWF has developed training for each of these practice areas because these areas require a skill set that is harder to find in the fundraising market currently.

Key Recommendation: For those organizations a little further down the digital strategy journey, investments should be made in developing donor journeys, including major or leadership gift prospect digital acquisition pipelines.

Donor Journeys, Remarketing, and Wealth Targeting

53

Most organizations said that the top three obstacles they face to improving their digital strategy are a lack of budget, staff, and a clear digital strategy. It is our experience that digital pilots or proofs of concept go a long way in refining strategy and demonstrating to leadership that increased investments are scalable. If there is an area of digital practice that seems promising, start with a pilot and build your case for increased investment. Give yourself space in a digital sandbox to experiment, to win, to learn and to make your case.

Key Recommendation: Focus on digital trials to provide evidence and leverage for increased investments. Shifting resources is easier when the shift shows early promise.

Continue Investment Increases

54

Meet the Team

Josh Birkholz Allison GannonBarett Christensen Kelsey Crouch-Dodson

55

About BWFBentz Whaley Flessner fundraising consultants build robust partnerships with colleges, universities, hospitals, academic medical centers, and other nonprofits that seek to grow their philanthropic resources and execute successful campaigns. We are the nation’s leading fundraising consulting firm for digital fundraising and provide expert counsel for every facet of the digital development process including:

Program, audience, staffing, and channel evaluations.

Multi-channel strategic planning and industry benchmarking.

Major, planned, and annual giving digital lead generation, warming, and stewardship pipelines.

Developing comprehensive digital grateful patient and alumni remarketing journeys to help you engage your most committed constituents.

Giving days, crowdfunding, email marketing, online giving, Facebook ads, Facebook Fundraisers, and influencer marketing strategy.

Managed digital and pilot project services.

Digital skills training.

For more information about this study or Bentz Whaley Flessner, please contact Barett Christensen at bchristensen@bwf.com or (952) 921-0111.