Every year Blackbaud releases their Online Giving Report to provide an analysis of giving trends on the web in the non-profit sector. In this annual report, Blackbaud provides insight on a multitude of trends. For EverTrue’s purpose, alumni, we took a particular interest at their findings in the education and higher education sectors, while also examining their most popular months of online giving.
While online giving was up 13% across all sectors in 2011, “education” was the biggest winner. Including secondary schools, and other educational organizations, “education” posted their largest year-over-year growth in fundraising online, with a 26% increase. “Higher education” was not far behind by showing the second highest growth in online giving, with a 21% increase.
In a month by month analysis, December marks the most prominent month for giving in every sector, and accounts for on average over 20% of all annual online giving. Yet, both “education” and “higher education” saw the month of June as their second most popular month for alumni and other supporters to donate. It appears that holiday season aside, reunion season comes in at a close second for fundraisers in education!
Considering this growth in online donations, and a culture where online gifts can surpass $250,000, and $300,000 engagement rings are bought on a mobile app, it appears that there are some new and exciting opportunities for schools to start leveraging new technologies to improve their fundraising efforts. We look forward to reading next year’s report, and to continue to follow these trends.