Last week, Blackbaud, a leading provider of nonprofit donor software, released a report on overall charitable giving in 2014, including the numbers from online efforts.  The report covers almost 5,000 nonprofit organizations, which raised a combined $16.2 billion during the 2014 calendar year.

One of the most significant observations is how much online fundraising grew—8.9 percent since 2013.  This brings online donations to 6.7 percent of all funds raised last year, which means that the bulk of fundraising efforts are still rooted in traditional methods such as direct mail and telemarketing.

The dilemma here is that the future of fundraising is almost certainly online (as with most things these days), but we have not yet reached a tipping point where we can forget about communicating with prospective and current donors over the phone, through direct mail, and with personal visits.

This leaves nonprofit organizations with one real road to success: working to effectively merge the online and offline channels into a comprehensive marketing, communications, and fundraising network that builds awareness, increases advocacy, and ultimately raises more funds.  This is the key to victory in today’s marketing and fundraising arena, i.e., pushing campaigns and awareness through social media in order to stay relevant and reach people where they are, while relying on traditional means to help drive the actual donations.

At OPUSfidelis, we strive to unite these two channels—the new and the old—to build a truly winning strategy that ensures your nonprofit will have a sustainable and lasting future.

Check back next week for more info on nonprofit fundraising!