Blackbaud

There are different types of silos that can harm your nonprofit organization. Do any of the following sound familiar?

Blackbaud unveiled its Most Generous Online Cities report, which analyzed more than $822 million in online giving to 265 of the largest cities in America, with Seattle topping the list.

Recent tweets on fundraising (#fundraising).

In the latest eBook from Blackbaud, you'll discover the four stages of the constituent lifecycle as well as strategies to connect with and engage your supporters in today's digital world. Learn how to turn strangers into ambassadors for your organization.
Download the FREE eBook today >

Spring is report season in the nonprofit sector. A slew of new data is released, and this year the emerging theme is that online fundraising is rapidly rising, especially on mobile devices. Nonprofits that have not yet adopted a mobile-first approach to online communications and fundraising can use the new data to help convince executive staff and boards that a new mobile-compatible website should be high on their priority list. Crowdfunding, peer-to-peer fundraising, monthly giving and email fundraising are also proving to be effective.

The latest eBook from Blackbaud breaks down the four stages of the constituent lifecycle and identifies strategies you can apply to connect with and engage supporters in today's digital world. The Constituent Lifecycle has actionable takeaways for every stage of the donor experience.
Download your free eBook today.

Donors are bombarded with emails every day. The only way to ensure your email isn’t immediately discarded is to be invited into their inboxes. To do this, your email must be categorized under one of the three buckets: "trusted sender," "stuff I care about" or "OK, you've got me …" Here are five easy ways to get your nonprofit’s email into one of the three coveted buckets: rate your subject lines, A/B test, get feedback, have a call to action and stay out of the third bucket altogether.

Online giving is still growing, but triple-digit annual increases are a thing of the past. Internet fundraising grew by roughly 13 percent last year, according to a survey of 100 of the largest nonprofits conducted by The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

The Chronicle surveyed all the organizations in its Philanthropy 400 rankings of the largest nonprofits measured by annual fundraising. Of the 100 that responded, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society topped the list, with more than $98 million in Internet gifts in 2013.

The Blackbaud Index reported that overall charitable giving to nonprofits decreased 0.7 percent and online giving increased 12.8 percent for the three months ending March 2014 as compared to the same period in 2013. In addition, The Blackbaud Index Canada, which tracks charitable giving to the Canadian nonprofit sector, reported overall charitable giving decreased 5.5 percent and online giving increased 12 percent for the three months ending March 2014.

Innovation, and in particular Web technology, is fueling improvements in fundraising. New technologies are helping nonprofits reach new donors in new places, tell stories more vividly, make giving easier, maintain more frequent and relevant communication, and lower costs and apply more money directly to causes. 

We reached out to top consultants, solution providers, software developers and nonprofits to get their take on the following question: How can nonprofits leverage technology to improve fundraising?