Direct mail vs. online fundraising

Fundraising is fundraising, online or off. Right?

Sort of.

When you compare direct (snail) mail with online fundraising, some interesting differences appear. Which is just what they did in FundRaising Success magazine at The Great Debate: Direct Mail vs. Online Acquisition.

The article makes a series of observations about online fundraising that are worth a look. Here are some of them:

• Direct-mail campaigns generate a higher initial response rate.
  
• Online acquisition campaigns usually generate higher average gifts.
  
• Direct mail-only donors tend to renew at higher rates than online-only donors, but multichannel (those giving online and in the mail) often are your strongest donors.
  
• Emergency or current events-related campaigns improve the performance of both direct-mail and online campaigns, but giving can increase drastically online during such times.
  
• A higher percentage of direct-mail donors are likely to ... support your cause, not just a single issue.
  
• The cost of mail continues to increase, and online campaigns are frequently less expensive.
  
• Nonprofit giving trends show more and more people likely to give online in the coming years.
  

All these things are true in my experience too. Knowing the differences can save you a ton of trouble.

Technorati Tags: nptech, fundraising >

Comments

[Karen Taggart]

Thanks for featuring my article on DM vs. Online Acquisition. The debate at the Bridge Conference was a lot of fun and we ended up all learning quite a bit.

As the world of online fundraising continues to grow, I am sure some of these findings will start changing... so the debate is not over! We are actually going to feature an even more in-depth debate at the Jan 08 DMA nonprofit conference in DC. See everyone there! Karen Taggart, Dir. Nonprofit Services, Care2 (karen@earth.care2.com)