Study Reveals Nonprofits Lose 75 Percent of Event Fundraisers Each Year

Press release (March 7, 2012) — Blackbaud released two new reports focused on peer-to-peer event fundraising at the 2012 Run Walk Ride Fundraising Conference. The company also announced a limited release of next generation Friends Asking Friends.

Blackbaud released two reports at the conference, featuring trends in peer-to-peer fundraising. The 2012 donorCentrics Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Benchmarking Insights report features findings from a group of six forward-thinking nonprofit organizations that collaborate to help establish industry-standard benchmarking. The second report, the Blackbaud & Run Walk Ride Fundraising Council Peer-to-Peer Event Fundraising Consumer Survey, focuses on peer-to-peer fundraising from the participant perspective.

Blackbaud is a sponsor of this year’s conference and will also partner with Event360, Charity Dynamics and the Run Walk Ride Fundraising Council to host three regional events later this year.

“We are excited to present the second annual joint Peer-to-Peer Event Fundraising Consumer Survey, which provides new insights into the relationship between motivation and fundraising performance,” said Mark Davis, Blackbaud’s director of enterprise Internet solutions. “We appreciate the opportunity to continue to partner with the Council for this report and its annual conference, along with extending the learning and networking opportunities through an ongoing event-focused series this year.”

Key findings from the reports include:

Most organizations only retain 25 percent of fundraising participants each year, yet multi-year participants raise twice that of a new participant.
45 percent of participants do not raise money for events without a fundraising minimum.
47 percent of participants reported that they didn’t fundraise because they weren’t asked to. Another 17 percent didn’t know they were supposed to fundraise.
“These are compelling findings that clearly show the event fundraising industry needs to do more to engage participants to fundraise and to keep them coming back,” said Amy Braiterman, Blackbaud’s principal strategy consultant. “Organizations often make the assumption that signing up to participate equates to signing up to fundraise, which isn’t the case.”