Lessons in fundraising from 2021

Digitally mature organisations are the most successful. That’s been obvious for quite a long time, with the phrase ‘digital transformation’ spoken across the charity sector for years. And now research at Blackbaud Europe has demonstrated a clear link between charity success and digital maturity.  

The Status of UK Fundraising Benchmark Report 2021, released in October, is a must-read body of research for charities looking to prepare for 2022, based on the responses of more than 1000 non-profit professionals to questions on charitable income, supporters, digital transformation, and fundraising during COVID-19.

It is the fourth year of the report and the findings in 2021 are more interesting and insightful than ever, following a particularly difficult period.  

The research follows an earlier piece of research, The Future of Work, which found that 64% of charities were planning to invest in more technology as a direct result of the pandemic and 42% of charity leaders were planning to begin a digital transformation project. The results of that research defined the focus of the Status of UK Fundraising survey questions – and Blackbaud understandably decided to focus on digital.  

Charity professionals were asked to give themselves a score out of 10 to rate how digitally mature they considered themselves. A score of 10 would indicate a fully digitally mature organisation, one in which digital tools and technology are integrated across every part of it. The report found that: 

• • The sector rates itself as 5 out of 10 for digital maturity 
  • 79% of survey respondents said that it’s important for organisations to develop digital maturity 
  • Most respondents agree that technology is used to improve the way organisation operates (63%), digital transformation is critical to success (63%), and data is used to improve performance (62%) 

By asking respondents to score themselves, we found that there are four distinct categories when it comes to how far along the digital maturity journey non-profits are: 

1. 1. Digital Sceptics: Digitally immature charities who do not believe digital transformation is important 
   2. Digital Rookies: Digitally immature charities that do think that digital transformation is important 
   3. Digital Adopters: Digitally maturing organisations that rate themselves as 6 or 7 out of 10 
   4. Digital Experts: Digitally mature organisations. 

Only 12% of non-profits reported that they consider themselves digitally mature and, interestingly, throughout the survey, the same organisations are the ones that also told us they are seeing success in every area we asked about. 

The report found that Digital Experts possess similarities, such as the ability to: 

• • Design fundraising and digital strategies in collaboration with the whole organisation 
  • Track the general effectiveness of their fundraising 
  • Gain more supporters than they are losing
  • Remain optimistic that they will reach new audiences 

 The final bullet point seems particularly important. 71% of Digital Experts reported that they are optimistic that their organisations will meet fundraising targets in the next 12–18 months, compared to only 42% of Digital Sceptics.

The report also found there is a correlation between digital maturity and income growth and decline. Almost half (49%) of our Digital Rookies reported that their income decreased compared with only a third of the Digital Adopters and Digital Experts (34%).

The findings of the survey also show that organisations that use CRM systems are more successful at supporter acquisition, with those who use CRM software more likely to say they are gaining more supporters than they are losing (43% v 38% of those who don’t use a CRM system). 

For the 39% of organisations who rate themselves as Digital Adopters and are almost there with their digital transformation, but are struggling with the final stretch, and the 35% of Digital Rookie non-profits, who haven’t started their journey yet but understand the power of digital – the message is, keep going! 

It’s an investment that pays off and will bring in countless rewards for your organisation as we move forward into 2022.