Have you ever wished you had some way to compare your fundraising results to other nonprofits’, so you could tell whether you were leading or following? Meet M+R Benchmarks! 

M+R is an agency that provides fundraising and supporter engagement, movement building and issue advocacy, message and brand development. About themselves, they say they have “been an active leader in many of the biggest movements, breakthroughs, and victories on behalf of people and the planet.” 

And every year since 2018, they’ve put out the M+R Benchmarks, a study of fundraising results (especially digital fundraising results), self-reported by nonprofits. For 2024, 225 nonprofits from across the globe submitted their 2023 fundraising data to the study. The benchmark report shows results across all nonprofits, as well as categorized by cause and by nonprofit size.  

There’s a ton of data packed-in to each year’s report, and here’s a sampling of some headlines from the 2024 report:

• December giving made up 26% of all online revenue, and 34% of one-time online revenue. My takeaway: It’s a good idea to have a strong year-end giving plan in place, even if it’s not your highest income time of the year. Donors are thinking about giving in December.

• In 2023, donors giving at least $500 made up just 6% of all small-dollar donors (defined by M+R as those who gave less than $1,000 in a year) and 23% of total revenue. About half (57%) of small-dollar donors fell into the $50–249 giving level; their giving represented 47% of one-time gifts revenue. My takeaway: All donors are not the same, but groups of them likely have things in common. Understand your donor segments, and craft messages that each segment will find meaningful – and actionable.

• For donors who gave their first online gift in 2022, the retention rate was 23%. For returning donors who gave in 2022, 61% gave again in 2023. My takeaway: Gaaaa – we’re getting new folks in the door, but the door is revolving and they’re going back out again. If this is true for your organization, develop “new-donor specific” strategies to engage and keep these very valuable new family members.

• Giving from monthly donors represented 31% of all online revenue reported by survey participants. My takeaway: Donors who give on a recurring basis are some of your most dedicated donors. Do your messages to them recognize their “ongoing supporter” status? Have you asked them to increase their recurring gift amount recently? Have you encouraged them to give an additional one-time gift at year-end or during your big fundraising event? Are you using their stories to encourage one-time donors to opt into recurring giving?

• Giving prompts via email generated 16% of all online revenue. My takeaway: You control everything about your email messages to donors. Are you developing email appeals that encourage the reader to take an action you can measure? Are you setting open, click, and financial goals for your emails before you send them – and then measuring against those goals? If it doesn’t matter whether your emails are read and responded to, is there a good reason to send them?

• Nonprofits’ audiences on TikTok, Youtube, Facebook and Instagram are still growing. Twitter/X has declined. My takeaway: Are your posts on social media prompting followers to take an action you can measure – like Donate Now! Sign Up Today! Volunteer Today! Download Our White Paper! Take Our Survey Now! Are there better ways to understand whether your social-media investments of time and money are offering an acceptable Return on Investment?

• More and more nonprofits are working with social-media influencers as a way to expand and connect with their target audiences. My takeaway: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and others are showing your messages to fewer and fewer of your followers – unless you pay them to extend that reach. Who are the influencers in your geography who have an interest in your cause? Whose followers might have an interest in your work? Is there a win-win partnership you should strike?

Check out the full M+R Benchmarks report for 2024 – it’s packed with actionable data and insights you can use to turbo-charge your future fundraising efforts. And if you need help thinking about how benchmarks data like this can help your organization raise more money, email me!