What was the state of charitable giving last year? Now is the time to find out so you can benchmark your organization and boost your fundraising performance in 2020.

In a bit of a reversal this episode, host Steve McLaughlin is today’s guest. Steve sat down with Erin Duff from the Blackbaud Institute to talk about Blackbaud’s 2019 Charitable Giving Report, which tracks over $36 billion in U.S-based charitable giving from the Blackbaud Institute Index. Listen to the interview to hear Steve explain why it’s important to consider three-year trends, what the overall giving and online giving numbers mean for nonprofit strategy, and what the most important practice is for social good organizations to focus on in 2020.

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• Why knowing the giving trends each year matters to the social good sector
• How to use the data from the Charitable Giving Report
• How philanthropy has weathered recent changes in variables that affect giving
• The importance of measuring 3-year trends
• Insights on online giving trends and strategies
• Average gift amounts by subsector
• How organizations should interpret and respond to retention rate figures
• Why it’s important to keep an eye on global giving
• The single most important practice for social good organizations to focus on 

Resources:

2019 Charitable Giving Report

Blackbaud Institute

Quotes: 

“This year, we’re not only showing year over year results, but we’re taking those thousands of organizations and those tens of billions of dollars in giving, and looking at it over a 3-year period of time.”

“In 2019, overall giving was up 1% on a year over year basis, but up over 5% on a 3-year trend basis.”

“Online giving continues to be less than 10% of overall fundraising, although we’re starting to see those numbers shift.”