Look Ahead Guide

Disaster and International Aid

This sector is comprised of organizations that provide domestic and international humanitarian relief and development assistance. 
 
Historically, Disaster and International Aid organizations have experienced large swings in online revenue and engagement depending on the scale of need each year. The need for relief was high in 2020 with several natural disasters, coupled with the global health emergency. This need will continue in 2021 as the average for new cases of COVID-19 continues to rise during the first half of the year. 

Online Giving & Sustainer Trends

  • Total online revenue growth (16.8%) exceeded the industry median (14.2%).
  • This group continues robust sustainer growth (17.2%), with 21.3% of total revenue provided by sustainers.
  • Organizations in this sector continue to have higher-than-average revenue per usable email ($20.52) vs. the industry median ($11.56).

Email Engagement Trends

  • This group saw strong donor conversions from email (0.52%), exceeding the industry median (0.35%).
  • The number of fundraising emails sent increased (17%) while the fundraising email open rate (14.8%) kept pace with the industry median (14.9%), indicating strong supporter interest.
  • Email list growth for this sector (5.1%) was below the industry median of 6.9%.
Direct Relief experienced unprecedented giving as COVID-19 unfolded and with Blackbaud Luminate Online created landing pages for several celebrities, including executive rapper Diddy, who put on a 12-hour Team Love Dance-A-Thon on Instagram that raised $3.7 million.
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Which of these trends will continue?

Blackbaud experts identify the 2020 trends likely to continue into 2022 and suggest ideas and tactics to make the most of online fundraising.

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