New Cross-Channel Fundraising Report Released

It's always wise for fundraisers to study the trends and know what others are doing in the sector to raise funds for their missions. This knowledge can give you an idea of where your organization stands, as well as potential ideas to take away and implement for your own organization, always keeping your donors in mind, of course.

With that in mind, FundRaising Success sister brand DirectMarketingIQ recently published a new high-level study of fundraising marketing, "Cross-Channel Fundraising Tips and Trends."

The report pulled countless data from the DMIQ direct-mail and e-mail archives, providing direct-mail and e-mail stats and trends; winning techniques for premiums, freemiums and donor ask strings; multichannel fundraising best practices; case studies; and more.

Here is the table of contents:

INTRODUCTION

MAIL TRENDS
Volume

• Volume Comparisons, 2010 vs. 2011
• Repeat Email
• Grand Controls
• Top 10 Fundraisers by Volume
• Top 5 Fundraisers by Volume - by Category

1. Animals/Wildlife
2. Children
3. Clubs/Associations
4. Cultural Organizations
5. Culture
6. Environment
7. Health/Handicapped
8. International Relief
9. Local Relief
10. Minority Groups
11. Performing Arts
12. Politics
13. Religion
14. Social Action (Causes)
15. Sports/Olympics

Seasonality Trends

• Monthly Mailings

Package Trends

• Package Formats
• Package Dimensions

Offer Types

• Acquisition, Retention, Expire Mailing

Techniques

• Personalization/VDP, Premium, Freemium, Sweepstakes
• Premium Usage
• Top 20 Premiums - 2010 vs. 2011
• Freemium Usage
• Top 20 Freemiums - 2010 vs. 2011
• Sweepstakes Offers
• Top 10 Sweepstakes Offers
• Donor Strings
• Top 10 Donor Strings

EMAIL TRENDS
Volume

• Email Volume, by Year
• Repeat Email Volume
• Top 10 Fundraising Categories by Email Volume
• Email Monthly Volume
• Daily Email Volume

Word Count

• Average Word Count
• Repeat Email Word Count
• Top 10 Categories by Highest Word Count
• Bottom 5 Categories by Lowest Word Count
• Delivery Days & Times
• Email Volume by Day of the Week
• Percentage Emails Delivered by Time of Day
• Subject Lines
• Top 10 Symbols in Email Subject Lines
• Top 20 Words in Subject Lines

FUNDRAISING BEST PRACTICES