Fundraising Talks – August 2024

News and updates from the USM Office of Advancement Research

Letter from the Director

WWelcome to August’s Fundraising Talks. As beautiful fall colors slowly begin to emerge, students are returning to their institutions for another academic year. Advancement professionals are likely busy managing new data on graduates, students, and other constituents in their databases as the fall semester begins. Recent reports indicate that many nonprofits are concerned about both the decline and retention of donors, despite an increase in total fundraising dollars. Development staff may now be working on strategies to improve donor counts and achieve successful year-end fundraising. Let’s take a closer look at what one of these new reports is revealing to the fundraising community.

The latest data from the Fundraising Effectiveness Project (FEP) offers key insights on fundraising for Q1 2024 (January 1, 2024, to March 31, 2024). The FEP, published jointly by the Association of Fundraising Professionals and Giving Tuesday, highlights several major concerns. One of the most pressing issues is the continued decline in the number of donors at various levels, as well as the increasing difficulty in retaining new and existing donors. If this issue is not strategically addressed, development professionals may struggle to meet their fundraising goals. Key insights from the FEP include the following:

• An estimated 4.1 percent increase in dollars raised in Q1, although initial results showed a 3.9 percent decrease in fundraising dollars.
• A 1.3 percent decrease in the number of donors, with micro-donors ($1-100) showing the largest relative drop.
• Nonprofits are facing challenges in acquiring and retaining donors.
• 65.8 percent of total donors contributed only once this year, with this group exhibiting the largest decline at -8.9 percent.
• Nonprofits related to international/foreign affairs saw the largest increase in dollars raised compared to Q1 2023, with a 9.6 percent increase, though the median amount raised per nonprofit declined.

This report underscores the heavy reliance of nonprofits on wealthy and major donors and highlights the urgent need to expand the number of donors at the lower end of the giving spectrum. Implementing effective strategies to increase the engagement and retention of smaller and new donors is crucial to meeting fundraising goals. One way to connect with these donors is by identifying areas of mutual interest and passion with your organization. Finding ways to engage new donors and providing activities that strengthen their affinity for your organization appears to be key to establishing lifelong donors. We wish you a successful transition to fall activities. As always, please feel free to reach out to us with any questions, comments, or assistance with fundraising research!

Best Regards,
Sapna and USM Advancement Research Team
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