Download the PDF The 2011 eNonprofit Benchmarks Study is a joint project of M+R Strategic Services and the Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN). The 2011 eNonprofit Benchmarks Study (available at www.e-benchmarksstudy.com if you haven’t read it yet!) took a look at data from 40 nonprofit organizations and analyzed trends in fundraising, advocacy, email list size, text messaging and social media. Now, with Benchmarks Extras, we’re diving in deeper to reveal some interesting – and unexpected – relationships in the data. First up… MESSAGE VOLUME AND FUNDRAISING RESPONSE RATE If your...

Download the PDF Monthly donors are gold, but they’re hard to come by! Nonprofits have tried tactic after tactic to recruit new monthly donors online – from monthly checkboxes on donation pages to rolling sustainer invite series to themed monthly giving options – with varying degrees of success. But even the most successful monthly giving programs are always looking for new ways to turn one-time donors into sustainers. Here’s one you might not have tried: the “upsell lightbox.” Rather than forcing nonprofits to choose between asking donors for a monthly gift and asking them...

Stories are powerful — our brains seem to be hard-wired for this ancient method of sharing information. As a result, including stories in your emails may seem like a no-brainer. But there’s a problem: Non-profits are adding stories to their fundraising messages… and they’re not working. How can smart organizations harness the power of stories to communicate with supporters and get them to donate? In M+R’s newest publication, we dig into what makes stories powerful, explain recent test results that can help non-profits avoid falling into the personal story trap, and offer concrete...

Thanks to everyone who joined us for a great session at NTC today to talk about the findings from this year’s 2011 eNonprofit Benchmarks Study from M+R and NTEN! The release of M+R’s fifth annual eNonprofit Benchmarks Study analyzes data from a record number of groups – which means more numbers to crunch and more charts for you to geek out over. (If you’re into that kind of thing. Which we are.) With more than 40 nonprofits letting us analyze their data and online messaging, our findings are stronger than ever before. If you’re ready for it, you can skip straight to the full report. Or,...

So, how did the end of year season turn out for non-profits? With final results in, we decided to compare our clients’ end-of-year 2010 results to their 2009 figures. Here are the top findings on looking at aggregate stats from 13 clients we work with who conducted fundraising campaigns this past December as well as last December: More Money – 77% raised more money this year than they did last year. More Donors – The number of donors grew by 12% this year. Lower Response Rates – 85% saw the same or lower email response rates than they did last year. More Asks – 85% sent more solicitations...