What 2021 brought and what 2022 will bring

2021 brought a lot for Nonprofits — more needs, more growth, more conversations, more giving. The trends this year and the predicted trends for next year are truly fascinating and exciting. We’re going to take you through what last year brought for Nonprofits, statistically speaking.

Constituent Supporting Trends [Double the Donation]

Female donors are more likely to make a donation because of social media marketing, while male donors are more likely to give because of email messages.

67% of worldwide donors also choose to volunteer locally in their communities, and 56% regularly attend fundraising events.

The average donor in the United States is 64 years old and makes 2 charitable gifts a year.

Online giving 

Overall online revenue increased by 23% over the past year, up from 15% [Double the Donation]

Online donations to environmental and human rights-related missions grew the most, 34% and 37% respectively. [Double the Donation]

 small organizations showed the greatest increase in online giving. [iConnectx]

More than a third of overall charitable giving happens in the last three months of the year, and around 30% of annual online gifts are made in December. [iConnectx]

Nonprofit focuses

Equity And Inclusion

Virtual Employee Engagement

Collective Displacement: Remote Work

Mental Health And Wellbeing

Flexibility And “Futureproofing”

Top 3 Nonprofits of 2021 [Forbes]

1. United Way World Wide 

2. Feeding America

3. Salvation Army 

What 2022 should look like for your organization:

Be a user friendly organization. Make your donation collection flexible, people don’t always want to pay by check or card. They could want to use stocks, donor advised funds, etc. It’s understandable that organizations would want to lean away from credit cards because of the heavy credit card processing fees that will follow. Many organizations have a simple line that asks the generous donor to pay the fee so you don’t have to. More times than not, the donor will not hesitate to pay the fee for you, or it may prompt them to pay another way. 

Continue being a user friendly organization. A lot of organizations resist making the needed changes to their website because they don’t see the value, or they don’t have the resources. They solicit face to face so what will a website really do for them? This is absolutely not wrong, however, when you close your gift and a donor goes to pay their pledge online, but they spend more time fighting with the form or looking for the form on your website than actually entering their information, how do you think your donor will feel? We’ll answer: frustrated, discouraged, annoyed, etc. Everything you do like this needs to be for your supporters. 

Use your technology. It’s pretty clear the online platform for events is not going away. Speaking candidly, your people are probably dreading another Zoom event. Aren’t you? So, use your technology and resources. Make it feel real, live, in person. You may need to stretch your budget, but keep it in mind when it comes to planning your next big event. It will be worth the stretching if you can do it. 

Push recurring giving. The more you enroll constituents in recurring giving, the more you will train people to give online. Easier payment collections? Say no more! Plus, it’s steady income you know will come every month and there’s a chance to steward your donor to give more over time. 

No matter what 2021 brought or what 2022 will bring, one thing remains the same: constituents give and participate in ways that are meaningful to them. Everything you do should speak to and for your supporters. 

From our team to you and yours, best wishes for a happy and healthy new year!