Strategies Can Bolster Fundraising If the Economy Turns Rocky

Although economic growth and jobs data continue strong at the start of the year, many AccuList® nonprofit clients still express anxiety about the impact on charitable giving of higher inflation or even recession later in 2023. Here's the advice from fundraising veterans: Stay the course and avoid the temptation to cut back on direct mail or digital marketing. When fundraisers reduce the channels and frequency of donor requests, they cut opportunities for giving and erode long-term connections. 

A better way to offset economic drags is to increase the efficiency of donor acquisition and retention programs. For direct mailings, costs can be reduced by tactics such as modified package size and pre-sorting, as well as by greater mailing list efficiency. Using the best-performing vertical lists and modeled data can boost donor prospecting ROI, for example, while house donor lists can select out lower-value or lower-response segments. 

In tougher times, nonprofits also can't afford the waste of bad data. OneCause, a provider of event and online fundraising technology, found that only 18% of nonprofits reported having enough data and insights for cost-effective decision-making in 2022! So fundraisers should prioritize clean data—de-duped, complete, consistent, deliverable and actionable—for cost-effective targeting. 

Fundraisers also can take better advantage of the fact that today's donors are multichannel responders by coordinating direct mail with boosted social media outreach as well as online and mobile giving. In-person fundraising events are expected to make a comeback in 2023, too. OneCause reports 83% of organizations plan to hold at least one in-person event in 2023. Data supports that investment in event and online efforts: Over half of nonprofits surveyed reported generating 21% of operating budget from event and online fundraising in 2022. 

For help with donor acquisition, multichannel fundraising and data management, see https://www.acculist.com/fundraising/

Ticketing, Giving Trends Boost Performing Arts

Heading into 2020, performing arts marketers can take advantage of positive trends in both fundraising and ticketing sales according to recent studies. While the Giving USA 2019 report released in June showed declines for many charitable-giving sectors from 2016 to 2018, arts fundraising stood out by remaining relatively flat. Adjusted for inflation, giving to arts, culture, and humanities increased 11.1% between 2016 and 2017, declined 2.1% between 2017 and 2018 (though a 0.3% increase in current dollars) and ended up with a cumulative increase of 8.7% between 2016 and 2018, thanks to 2017 donations that reached the highest inflation-adjusted amount for the sector on record. Underneath the numbers are three important lessons for our performing arts clients, as fundraising counsel Alexander Haas points out in a recent post. First, a focus on high net-worth individuals via upper-level membership programs, project-related major gifts, and targeted marketing campaigns is likely to pay off, as proven by 2018’s 2.6% increase in gifts of $1,000 or more, and the fact that, of the 90% of high-net worth households giving, a quarter focused on arts donations. Second, targeted campaigns and quality donor lists are essential as fewer individuals give and a greater percentage of philanthropic revenue comes through larger gifts. Finally, online giving can be a boon to performing arts; for example, the Blackbaud Institute’s 2018 Charitable Giving Report showed that online gifts represented 9.5% of overall giving to arts organizations in 2018, and the 5.8% growth in online giving to the arts outpaced other nonprofit sectors by four times. Making online giving a convenient option for donors and members is one way to offset the decline in smaller gifts. Meanwhile, an October Reportlinker market research report forecasts a 5% compound annual growth in ticket sales from sporting events, movies, concerts, and performing arts events in the 2020-2024 period. While sporting event and concert popularity is a key driver of growth, the research also credits a number of innovative marketing strategies for pushing ticket revenue, such as flash sales, early-bird offers, access codes, public discounts and adoption of mobile applications to make tickets more readily available to consumers. For more, see our onsite blog post at https://www.acculist.com/ticketing-and-giving-trends-are-positives-for-performing-arts/

Facebook Aids and Challenges Fundraisers

Online giving has seen tremendous growth, but the latest M+R Benchmarks report shows a distinct slowdown, with online fundraisers reporting just 1% growth in 2018. M+R cites multiple trends underlying the lower growth—from declining e-mail response, to more low-dollar mobile traffic, to falling online donor retention. But the report starts by noting how rising Facebook usage has both undercut revenue measures and signaled potential for future growth. While changes to the Facebook algorithm resulted in, on average, only 7% of followers seeing any given post, use of Facebook Fundraisers' peer-to-peer giving really took hold for the first time in 2018. However, because of the way the donations are processed, the Facebook Fundraiser dollars were not included in M+R online revenue calculations. It's an important missing piece: The Facebook Fundraiser tool for hosted fundraising now accounts for about 99% of all nonprofit revenue processed on Facebook, with nonprofits raising $1.77 through Facebook for every $100 raised through other online channels, per M+R. The impact is big for some sectors. For example, health nonprofits received $29.88 from Facebook for every $100 in direct online revenue in 2018, accounting for about 30% as much revenue as every other source of online revenue, including e-mail, web giving, monthly donors, digital ads, and search. To turn the new Facebook Fundraiser use into a bigger boon, notes the M+R report, nonprofits need to get more individuals (the average now is 56) involved in hosting fundraisers and in attracting both more donors and higher-dollar donors (now the average per hosted fundraiser is seven donors and a modest $31 gift per donor). Another recent study pointed to a deeper issue with nonprofit Facebook efforts. The 2019 Digital Outlook Report—from care2, hjc and nten—found that nonprofits surveyed reported spending anywhere from $0 to $100,000 on Facebook and Instagram campaigns. But the majority (over 75%) answered "don't know" when asked about any resulting revenue! Clearly, the report urges, staff need training in tracking analytics and calculating not only resulting donations but the value of lead generation, e-mail signups, event attendance, etc. CauseMic recently offered some helpful tips for Facebook fundraising. In using Facebook Fundraiser, in order to benefit from site traffic and donor information as well as dollars, start by disabling the “donate” button and direct supporters to donate on your website rather than through Facebook. Donors will learn more about the mission and fundraisers can stay connected with them for better retention. Second, nonprofits shouldn't focus only on hosted fundraisers; they can use promoted posts and ads to grow the support base, interact with supporters, promote events, etc. When a breaking news story or emergency occurs that impacts giving, social media outreach can spread the word and raise money more quickly. Just make sure to use tracking analytics to avoid ROI ignorance! Remember that Facebook offers a proven response driver: video. Post videos about donation impact, host live videos or publicize upcoming events. Finally, pay attention to timing; M+R found that nearly a quarter of all Facebook revenue is raised in November. For a link to more M+R data, go to https://www.acculist.com/facebook-both-boosts-and-challenges-fundraising-efforts/

Social Media Revs Zoo & Museum Fundraising

Zoo and museum marketing is uniquely suited to social media fundraising efforts. A recent blog post by digital marketing agency Search Influence offered some helpful tips. For social media promotions, mobile outreach or online donation drives to work effectively, marketers must first make digital giving as easy as possible with user-friendly platforms, forms and payment options. Search Influence cites three examples of success. The Boston Museum of Science raised over $1,200 from Facebook users alone, many of whom might not have contributed via traditional channels, by using the free-to-download FundRazr app. The app offers custom giving options, such as donations via credit card, debit card or PayPal, and the ability to choose to contribute anonymously or self-identify via Facebook profile. Meanwhile, Cameron Park Zoo launched a mobile giving campaign that encouraged zoo supporters and visitors to donate $5 or $10 through a simple text message to show support from home or say thanks after a great day at the zoo. Rosamond Gifford Zoo boosted its continuous Adopt an Animal program with a special two-day digital promotion to honor National Adoption Day. To reach a wider audience, the promotion offered a lower minimum donation requirement and a smaller, custom donation package. The brief effort not only earned an extra $350, it tapped those who normally might not donate. Social media works best as a visual engagement medium, which offers lots of opportunities for zoos (cute animals) and museums (special exhibits and events). Search Influence cites multiple examples of success live-streaming exhibits, such as a night-stream showing patrons what creatures are up to when the zoo or aquarium is closed, or a 24/7 feed of active and entertaining animals, such as monkeys. If a zoo animal is expecting, marketers can get the public involved by broadcasting the pregnancy, birth and early baby growth. Photographers can be great viral promoters for a zoo or museum, too. Ideas include social media-hosted fan photo contests or onsite-hosted photographer-only after-hours events. And there is always an opportunity to re-purpose great existing photos on social media with a share-worthy caption! For more see http://www.acculistusa.com/smart-social-media-helps-boost-zoo-museum-fundraising/

Direct Mail Still Powers Nonprofit Fundraising

Interest in direct mailing lists and services from AccuList USA's nonprofit clients remains strong despite the growing share of donor dollars collected via online giving. Some of the reasons that fundraising pros stay committed to mail power are cited in a recent article for The NonProfit Times by Mark Hrywna. Despite the growing share of donations attributed to online giving, Steve MacLaughlin, vice president of data and analytics at fundraising tech firm Blackbaud, stresses that online giving is still less than 10% of all charitable giving. Fundraisers need to avoid confusing the channel of engagement with the channel of transaction, he advises. Direct mail response certainly is no longer limited to mailed donations as many direct mail recipients go online to give; similarly, a mobile-device outreach or e-mail appeal can generate offline gifts. Even in an increasingly digital world, a good multi-channel mix will include direct mail. Hrywna cites Make-a-Wish Foundation as an example of that continued direct mail investment. When Chief Financial Officer Paul Mehlhorn started with Make-A-Wish Foundation in 2009, he recalls that he was told direct mail was a dinosaur that would be gone in five or six years. Yet last year the national office exceeded 2009 direct mail revenue by several million dollars, going from $13.9 million to $15.3 million. "It looks to me like a program that can stay very strong for the next 10 to 15 years," Mehlhorn asserts to Hrywna. In fact, Mehlhorn says he may expand on his direct mail investment: "As you get past the low-hanging fruit, [online] becomes almost as costly as direct mail. Unless you enlarge your donor pool, you’re going to be spending about the same." Plus, there are some areas where direct mail retains an edge, such as planned giving. Make-A-Wish Foundation has seen revenue from planned gifts just about triple during the past four years, growing from about $2 million to $6 million, and Mehlhorn credits part of that success to actively promoting planned giving in direct mail as well as online campaigns. “A lot of the folks now making end-of-life plans are still in that generation that likes getting mail,” he points out. See the full blog post at http://www.acculistusa.com/direct-mail-still-powers-fundraising-especially-planned-giving/

Digital Giving Now Key to Fundraising Mail Success

Here are some key facts for marketers planning fundraising direct mail: 1) 35% of all donors say they like to respond to direct mail by giving online (with 50% of Millennials and Gen Xers saying they prefer online response); 2) 51% of website visits are made via mobile device, and 3) mobile devices are now used by the majority to read e-mail (54% of opens) and access social networks (80% of social time spent). Bottom line, if you want to get the most from your nonprofit direct mail (still the best channel for capturing donor dollars), a multi-channel, mobile-optimized approach is essential. On that point, MobileCause has developed a powerful infographic laying out the case for a nonprofit direct mail-digital marriage. Unfortunately, many fundraisers fail to make an easy connection between direct mail and online response, and are discouraging donations as a result. As the infographic points out, 84% of donation pages are not mobile-friendly, 73% of nonprofits do not offer social sharing, and 65% of nonprofits require three or more digital clicks to donate. At the same time, the infographic data highlight ways to correct that digital lacuna in fundraising direct mail. First, commit to making direct mail part of a multi-channel campaign--because donors are 50% more likely to give when they receive multiple reinforcing messages via multiple channels. Fundraisers can even optimize response by catering to generational preferences: Millennials like text reminders, Gen Xers like e-mail reminders and Boomers like call reminders. But for goodness sake, mobile-optimize e-mails, landing pages and donation pages! Then maximize donations by promoting QR codes, shortlinks and texting keywords across channels (and let the U.S. Postal Service reward that mailer QR code with a discount). For more tips, go to http://www.acculistusa.com/use-digital-donation-to-turbocharge-fundraising-direct-mail/

Fundraisers Face Challenges Wooing Millennials

Millennials, now the nation's largest generational cohort, are a challenge for many nonprofit marketers. Alas, fundraising campaigns that won over baby boomers don't necessarily succeed with millennials in their 20s and 30s. Yet fundraisers can't afford to fail with this younger age group. A recent NonProfit PRO interview with Vickie Lobello, fundraising consultant Turnkey’s lead strategist, offered data points that explain why. Lobello cites research, from Salesforce to Millennial Impact reports, verifying that millennials want to make a difference and so form a great pool of prospective volunteers. For example, 88% of millennial females and 82% of millennial males say that it's important to be engaged in work that gives back to the community. A Pew Research Center survey found that 57% of millennials reported volunteering in the last 12 months, compared with 52% of boomers. Even more important for marketers, millennials are a growing donor force. Lobello points out that 52% of millennials say they donated to a cause affiliated with a social issue in the past month. Plus, millennials are more likely to increase their giving year-over-year compared with other age groups! Finally, Lobello underscores that millennials offer potent social media leverage. Research shows 61% of millennials post about issues they care about anywhere from one to 11 times a week on social media! Yet millennials are motivated in different ways from their parents. Messaging, creative and preferred giving channels need to reflect that reality. Randy Hawthorne, executive director of Nonprofit Hub, recently drew on his experience to outline changes in fundraising tactics to successfully win millennials. For example, since millennials spend so much time connected to social media, Hawthorne urges promoting the cause (not the organization) on social platforms. Also, since millennials seek relationships, marketers should realize that a cold ask for dollars may be a turn-off, and should also offer ways for millennials to engage more deeply with a cause, such as volunteering (which leads to donating). Fundraisers also must cater to millennials' impulsive use of technology by offering easy online and mobile donation options. Then maintaining that valuable millennial engagement requires frequent, meaningful communication, not just an annual report! Read our full post at http://www.acculistusa.com/fundraisers-face-the-challenge-of-wooing-millennial-donors/

Aging Donors, Not Millennials, Lead Online Giving

Many fundraising strategists assume the millennial age group, as digital-social-mobile junkies, should be the top target of online giving strategy. Not so, according to the latest survey commissioned by Dunham+Company, a nonprofit marketing firm. The study found that older donors, those aged 40-59, now are the most likely to give online, with 67% donating online in 2015, a 20% rise since the survey started in 2010. A smaller 54% of those under 40 years old reported donating via website in 2015, down from 60% in 2014 and mirroring the 54% online giving by those over 60. Which channels are driving online giving today? E-mail appeals are growing response, with 20% donating online as a result of an e-mail in 2015, up from 6% in 2010. But direct mail continues to spur online donors, too, with 11% saying they gave online because of a direct mail appeal. Older donors, per conventional wisdom, are more influenced by direct mail, with 19% of those over 66 years old inspired to give online by a direct mail appeal, compared with 8% of those under 40. Social media, a presumed catalyst of millennial charity, is having more online-giving impact--but not because of charities' direct appeals. Community and engagement are the engine of social media fundraising, with more donors in 2015 (26%) making online donations at the urging of another individual (friend/influencer) on social media than in 2014 (20%).  The basic lesson, per Dunham, is the importance of a multichannel strategy across age cohorts. The survey's direct mail trends support that conclusion: While 36% of those responding to a direct mail appeal sent their donation through the mail last year, the majority (51%) said they go online to contribute, and 18% will make that online donation using a mobile device! For more from the survey: http://www.dunhamandcompany.com/2016/01/survey-shows-aging-donors-most-likely-to-give-online/#sthash.38GD6IY2.dpbs

Online, Mobile Lead Charitable Giving Growth

Mobile giving scored headlines for Blackbaud's latest Charitable Giving Report, turning in a performance that shows nonprofits are "past the mobile tipping point when it comes to digital giving," per the report. Overall, the 2015 study found a 1.6% increase in donations via all channels from the previous year, but online outperformed with 9.2% growth--and mobile giving delivered 14% of those online donations. A NonProfitPro article recently provided a good summary of results from Blackbaud's 2015 survey of 5,000 nonprofits. Breaking out trends by nonprofit size and sector spotlights some key charitable giving ups and downs. For example, 2015's strongest donation growth was recorded by international giving, up 5.1% due to a number of big natural disasters, such as the Nepal earthquake, followed by faith-based appeals (up 3.9%) and health care (up 1.9%). Charitable giving actually slipped for other sectors, with human services donors the least generous last year (donations down 2.8%). Higher education, K-12 education, and public and societal benefit donations were also down slightly from 2014, while medical research appeals stayed flat. Yet almost all sectors showed big growth spurts in online giving, led by 15.2% more online donations for higher education, 12.3% growth for K-12 and an 11.2% online surge for environmental causes. Only medical research was down slightly for online donations. Looking at what Blackbaud calls the "key metric" of digital giving--online as a percentage of total giving--the new nonprofit benchmark for online dollars stepped up slightly to an average 7.1% share. But mobile giving stats, tracked for the first time, provide the eye-opener in this year's report, grabbing 14% of online giving dollars per those surveyed. For more detail, go to http://www.nonprofitpro.com/article/online-mobile-giving-grows-more-from-blackbauds-charitable-giving-report/

Getting the Most Out of E-mail Fundraising

The season of intense fundraising activity is beginning, and we assume most nonprofits will be investing in e-mail. After all, e-mail has the highest ROI (21%-23%) of direct marketing media in the latest Direct Marketing Association stats. Plus, e-mail delivers a third of online fundraising revenue at a time when online giving is outpacing overall fundraising growth. For nonprofits who want to get the most from their investment in e-mail, we're passing along some handy guidelines to success, with examples, from a recent business2community article share of a Constant Contact blog post. "The Anatomy of a Successful Fundraising E-mail" highlights must-haves: First comes a subject line that entices opens by using both accuracy about the nature of the appeal and enough intrigue to make the recipient want to read more. Once the e-mail is opened, fundraisers must offer content that earns action/clicks by concisely and clearly explaining the program promoted, the impact of giving, and how to help, including a clear and visible call-to-action, such as a brightly colored button. We would add personalization to that content list, too. And last is an appealing design that brands professionally, uses easy-to-read text, and includes a powerful image to inspire action. For examples that illustrate each of these points, see the article at http://www.business2community.com/non-profit-marketing/the-anatomy-of-a-successful-fundraising-email-01318519#lEkbmm705yql01gl.97

Animal Welfare Mail Appeals Can Woo Millennials

As we talk with animal welfare fundraisers about mailing lists and targeting at the Animal Care Expo in New Orleans, we recall a cogent remark by Christine Barnes, senior director of donors services for the Humane Society of the United States. When asked by Fundraising Success Magazine to identify top trends for donor targeting/demographics in 2015, she stressed, "With the millennials entering the giving landscape, we need to adjust our communication styles to adapt." Since the millennials are known to be digital junkies, does that mean dropping direct mail in favor of online appeals, e-mail, social media and, of course, mobile marketing? We argue that would be a big mistake. The millennial cohort may respond at a lower rate to direct mail (14% of 18- to 34-year-olds said direct mail triggered their nonprofit giving compared with 25% of the 55+ crowd, per YouGov stats), but the millennial response to mail fundraising is still higher than their giving via other channels (9% for e-mail, 11% for social). Direct mail should stay in the fundraising mix to capture millennial donations, but the messaging style and content does need to change. Barnes emphasized the need for more visual communications, for more engaging storytelling, and for tighter copywriting that "engages the donor in as few words as possible." A recent NonProfit Hub post listed five ways to create marketing that motivates millennial: 1) engage with millennials on their own terms and ask them to donate in the way they like, so offer many donation channels; 2) leverage their social clout, so feature those social icons and scannable links on mail, too; 3) encourage participation/volunteering to create more loyal donors; 4) accept that millennials are impulsive on-the-go donors, not check writers, so mail can drive online giving, and e-mail should be optimized for mobile; 5) stay in touch beyond the holiday card to let them know the impact of their giving. For details and examples, go to http://www.nonprofithub.org/fundraising/understanding-motivates-millennials-give-npo/

Ringing in the 2014 Holiday Fundraising Season

Year-end fundraising is a key marketing initiative for nonprofits, so what are some ways to make the 2014 holiday season cheery in terms of donations? Thanks to Elizabeth Chung of Classy online fundraising for recently posting her list of holiday-fundraising trends. First, if you are a nonprofit marketer, you've hopefully already started your push for donors because year-end giving has been starting earlier year after year. A Google study found that 2013 donation-related searches jumped 30% as early as August and September, as Chung notes. Since the same Google study also found that 75% of donors go online to learn about nonprofits, an effective online site with online fundraising capability is more critical than ever. The stage is set for a surge in online holiday donations; the first half of 2014 already recorded an 8% increase in online giving over last year. Include Giving Tuesday in online planning, suggests Chung. Since debuting in 2012, Giving Tuesday has won increasing support. Last year, donors gave 90% more than they did in 2013, and 10,000 charitable organizations participated. Here's a Trend for All Seasons: Make holiday fundraising effective with targeted list segmentation. Chung focuses on e-mail lists, but the principle applies to direct mail and telemarketing lists, too. Some suggested segmentation parameters: average donation size, last campaign or program donated to, the last time donated, and annual vs. recurring donors. Finally, use technology to enhance, not distract, from the personal giving emotion of the holidays. Personalization of mail and e-mail messages should be standard policy, along with holiday programs for donors to dedicate a gift on behalf of a loved one. Chung suggests taking the holiday card tradition digital with personalized e-cards, including e-cards for gift dedication. See the article at http://www.classy.org/blog/5-holiday-fundraising-trends/

Online Donations Weak? Check for Common Errors

Nonprofits dissatisfied with online giving dollars and growth should inspect their online fundraising for some common donation-sapping mistakes, per the advice in a recent post by Julia Campbell of J Campbell Social Marketing. She outlines six ways nonprofits often get it wrong when it comes to online giving, and here are just three takeaways that we'll pass along.. Basic Error No. 1: Online fundraising doesn't work if it leads potential donors to a badly executed, hard-to-navigate website, especially one that is not mobile-friendly. With more people projected to access the web via mobile devices than via desktop as soon as next year, it's shocking that 84% of nonprofits still aren't making donation pages readable by mobile users, as reported recently by Philanthropy.com. Basic Error No. 2: Online fundraising doesn't work if it is hard to find and hard to do. Yet, as the article notes, a recent study found that 65% of nonprofit websites ask visitors to click through three or more pages to donate, losing about 40% of visitors with each click per research. Also, many websites simply fail to clearly ask for a donation. Get rid of that vague "Get Involved" button and put a bold "Donate Now" button on all pages, and then link every button to a single page with an easy-to-use form for entering credit card information. Basic Error No. 3: Online fundraising doesn't work if it is not promoted. If you build a great donation page, donors will not just come. Online giving needs to be promoted in e-mail channels, social media channels, and direct mail pieces, as well as at events and in other interactions with potential donors. For more suggestions on removing roadblocks to online donation success, see http://jcsocialmarketing.com/2014/05/6-ways-nonprofits-getting-online-fundraising-wrong/

Nonprofits See Year of Generous Giving Ahead

Seven out of 10 nonprofits expect donations to increase this year, and 13% expect their gains to be substantial—growing by at least 15%, according to a recently released survey of 538 charities by the Nonprofit Research Collaborative. As reported by the Chronicle of Philanthropy, charities in the survey said say they are optimistic because 2013 was stronger than any other year since the recession started. Indeed, Blackbaud's Charitable Giving Report for last year showed overall charitable giving grew 4.9% in 2013, while online giving grew 13.5%. The growing impact of online giving also was reflected in the Nonprofit Research Collaborative survey: Nonprofit respondents attributed much of last year’s growth in donations to special fundraising events and e-mail and online appeals, as well as big gifts from wealthy donors. Nonprofits that raised the most said they targeted a mix of donors for small, medium, and large gifts and diversified how they pursued donations by combining channels such as direct mail, social media, e-mail, and grant proposals. See the report on the Nonprofit Research Collaborative survey at https://philanthropy.com/article/70-of-Charities-Expect-Gains/145437/

Mobile Text Donors Want to Give Even More

Most donors who give via text message would like to make larger gifts using their mobile phones, according to a new mobile donor survey reported in The Chronicle of Philanthropy. Of the more than 20,000 text-message donors in a survey sponsored by the mGive Foundation, charitable arm of a mobile fundraising firm, 85% said they would be willing to give $25 to $50 via text. Mobile contributions are currently limited to $10 each. The generosity of the mobile-giving crowd can be tapped to a greater extent by other methods as well, the survey shows. For example, the survey found that people who make donations via text message also give using other methods at the same time, with online giving top-ranked as the preferred donation method, followed by special events and then text messages. Roughly 85% said that making a small gift via text message would not make them less likely to make a larger donation through another method, such as online or direct mail. For more details from the survey, see the article at http://philanthropy.com/article/Donors-Who-Give-by-Text-Want/140521/

Online Gifts to Nonprofits Leap Upward

Online gifts to U.S. nonprofits are growing far faster than other types of donations, according to new studies reported by The Chronicle of Philanthropy. Donations rose 14% in 2012 from the prior year, to $2.1-billion, according to a study of 115,000 nonprofits whose giving totals were tracked by online-fundraising processors Blackbaud, Network for Good, and PayPal. Contributions to the nation’s biggest charities also grew 14%, to $785 million, according to The Chronicle's own survey of 149 large nonprofits. That vigorous growth can be contrasted with the anemic 1.5% post-inflation rise in 2012 contributions from individuals, corporations and foundations as reported by Giving USA. Despite the robust growth of online giving, online gifts still account for a small portion of most charitable fundraising, with a median share of just 2.1% of all donations from private sources, per The Chronicle's survey of large nonprofits. Still the survey also found many groups bullish about online's potential. Nearly three-quarters of the groups surveyed said their goal is to have online donations account for more than 10% of overall fundraising efforts in the next few years. About one in five expect Internet gifts to reach up to 20% of their overall donations by then. For more detail on online giving trends, see The Chronicle of Philanthropy story at http://philanthropy.com/article/The-Big-Boom-in-Online-Giving/139965/