As fundraisers and marketers, we’re always excited to learn about the latest trends and statistics that give us better insight into how donors behave, what they prefer, and how to adjust our strategy accordingly. 

It’s what steers us from generic to personalized greetings, from loyalty to one channel to multichannel campaigns, from writing checks to offering multiple online payment options—ensuring your fundraising program is robust and always ready to pivot. 

Classy’s The State of Modern Philanthropy 2022 delves into donation trends and insights across the three stages of donor conversion: acquiring, converting, and retaining. Here are some findings we feel are most relevant to successful fundraising campaigns.

Acquire

• Multichannel campaigns drive higher traffic and conversions.
• Donors are more likely to see your campaign from their phones. 
• Peer-to-peer fundraising is most effective on social media platforms. 
• Key times of the year (Giving Tuesday and Calendar Year-End) are still critical. 

Convert

• Recurring transactions represented 58% of all individual transaction events.
• Year-round donation pages have highest potential to acquire new recurring donors and bring in more than double the recurring revenue of peer-to-peer campaigns.
• Donors want multiple payment options (e.g., PayPal, Venmo, Crypto), and it increases gift size. PayPal increases average one-time gift by $30. 

Retain

• Monthly donations continue to deliver the most potential for sustainable revenue.
• Your donation page and a clear main donate button on your website are the most powerful tools to retain donations.
• One-time and recurring donor acquisition and donation volume spike in November and December, but recurring donations are most likely to be canceled in January.