Just commented on an article on the Chronicle of Philanthropy. The article mentioned a study by the Nonprofit Technology Network; Blackbaud, a fund-raising software company, in Charleston, S.C.; and Common Knowledge, a technology-consulting company in San Francisco: Nonprofit Social Network Benchmark report 2011. More than 11,000 organisations responded to the survey. Nicole Wallace reports for the Chronicle of Philanthropy. ”Not many charities are raising significant amounts of money through social networks, but the ones that are come in a variety of sizes, according to a new study.”
Nonprofit Social Network benchmark report 2011
Some results from that study included:
- Facebook is still on top
- Master Fundraisers come in all sizes
- Average community size is up
- Enviro/Animal Welfare & International Service Organizations Outpace the Sector
But the result that truely is important to me: Charities that measure hard ROI do better with online fundraising, however only few charities are involved in measuring their return on investment from their online activities. A quote from the report:
Whether measuring ROI is the first step to raising more fundraising revenue or the reverse is true, it is clear that organizations who strive to fundraise, and who measure their progress tend to raise more on social networks than their peers. We find this true despite a widely held belief in the industry that fundraising on social networks is neither appropriate nor successful.
Top 5 social networking sites for charities
Charities use two types of social networking sites the report says:
- Commercial Social Network: An online community operated on acommercial socialnetworking platformsuch as Facebook,Twitter or LinkedIn.
- House Social Network: Social networkingcommunity built ona nonprofit’s ownwebsite. Term derived from direct mailhouse lists.
The top 5 commercial social network sites used by non profits looks like this:
Well the report is a confirmation of my believe that measurement of social media return on investment is key to being succesful.
For more information on this report:
- read the article on the Chronicle of Philanthropy
- download the full report