Giving Compass' Take:

• This 2018 report from cloud software company Blackbaud about the behavior of donors finds that the number of households giving is starting to trend back in the right direction, with the value of giving increasing at a significant rate.

• It's no secret that the volatile political landscape influenced a lot of donor behavior recently, but another takeaway is that the opportunity for donor retention is high. Engagement is more important than ever!

• As givers get smarter, they'll need more data on charities. Here's one place to start.

Blackbaud, the world's leading cloud software company powering social good, today announced the availability of a new report, "Vital Signs Part 2: The Undeveloped Value of New Donors," featuring research-backed insight expanding upon donor behavior and specific retention strategies that map to the current giving landscape. This latest report from the Blackbaud Institute for Philanthropic Impact™ is a follow-up to its Vital Signs Part 1 study, which looked at giving between 2010 and 2015 and showed how these challenges impacted the work of fundraisers.

The Blackbaud Institute's Vital Signs Part 1 showed that while fewer households are giving, those who are giving are more valuable than ever. As such, today, organizations need to significantly focus their efforts to retain these donors. Vital Signs Part 2 expands upon these findings to learn more about:

  • How the rise of civic engagement in 2017 affected the negative trends uncovered in Vital Signs Part 1; with the decline in new donor households appearing to stabilize in 2016 and, in 2017, the number of households adding organizations to their giving portfolio increasing for the first time since 2010
  • What happens when donor households add one or more organizations to its giving portfolio, and whether they continue to support their regular charities
  • What specific retention strategies organizations can implement to not only acquire new donors but retain them more effectively

Read the full article about Blackbaud's new donors report at Blackbaud.