Key Findings:

• More Donations Online: Nonprofits raised 40% more money online in 2005 than in 2004, likely driven in part by the surge in online giving after the cataclysmic Asian tsunami.
• Email Overload: The rates at which online constituents open emails declined from 30% in 2003-2004 to 26% in 2004-2005, likely as a result of supporters becoming overwhelmed by emails.
• Budgets Matter: Nonprofits with larger online budgets had better online programs, building larger email lists, generating more online activism, and raising more money online.
• Email Lists Growing: On average, the 15 nonprofits studied more than doubled the size of their existing email lists in a 12-month period.
• Bad Email Addresses: Despite this growth, over a quarter of all email addresses on nonprofit email lists "go bad" each year, making it hard for organizations to keep up with "list churn".
• Activism More Popular Than Donations: Not surprisingly, more email subscribers took action online than made a donation online — 47% vs. 6%.

Data for the study came from Convio, GetActive Software, and Kintera, and from 15 highly-respected national nonprofits working on environmental issues, human, civil, and reproductive rights, and international aid and development.

Environmental:

·                                Earth Justice

·                                Environmental Defense

·                                Defenders of Wildlife

·                                Save Our Environment

·                                Union of Concerned Scientists

·                                The Wilderness Society

Human/Civil Rights:

·                                Amnesty International

·                                Human Rights Campaign

·                                Human Rights First

·                                Leadership Conference on Civil Rights

Reproductive Rights

·                                NARAL Pro-Choice America

·                                Planned Parenthood Federation of America

·                                International Planned Parenthood Federation Western Hemisphere Region

International Aid & Development:

·                                CARE USA

·                                Oxfam America

The eNonprofit Benchmarks Study was sponsored by Beaconfire Consulting, Convio, Donordigital, GetActive Software, and Kintera. Additional funding was provided by the Beldon Fund and the Surdna Foundation.

You can download the study and learn more at

http://www.e-benchmarksstudy.com