Research quantifies the high value in sustainer donor programs

• Date: 01 January 2017
• Published date: 01 January 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nba.30265

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(See RESEARCH on page 2)

New research delves into global

disaster-related grantmaking

New data compiled by the Foundation Center

and the Center for Disaster Philanthropy show that

some $22.5 billion in grants was awarded in 2014

disaster-related giving by a broad range of donors,

including foundations, governments, multilateral

donors, corporate giving programs, online giving

platforms, donor-advised funds and more.

For their third annual report on this topic, Mea-

suring the State of Disaster Philanthropy 2016: Data

to Drive Decisions, the groups gathered data from

eight sources worldwide, including the Organisation

for Economic Co-operation and Development and

the Federal Emergency Management Agency, among

other sources.

Among its many ndings, the report shows that

large U.S. foundations devoted $225.7 million to

disaster-related funding in 2014 as well:

• 73 percent of total funding targeted immediate

response and relief efforts.

• Only 11 percent focused on disaster prepared-

ness and risk reduction.

• Donations for disasters increased by 93 percent,

from $116.9 million in 2013 to $225.7 million in 2014.

In a statement announcing the report, the groups

said the goal was to motivate and inspire organiza-

tions to think about how to make disaster philan-

thropy more effective—especially by strategically

funding efforts aimed at building disaster preparation

and community resiliency.

To read the report in full, visit http://disaster

philanthropy.foundationcenter.org. ■

Research quanties the high value

in sustainer donor programs

fundraising performance than donor retention.

“It’s a combination of donor retention and dollar

retention,” Longeld said. “While it’s helpful to know

donor retention rates, it’s even better to understand

New research conducted by the newly launched

Blackbaud Institute for Philanthropic Impact makes

a strong case for sustainer donor programs, putting in

clear terms the dollar value of monthly giving. Per the

Institute’s numbers, the typical new sustainer donor

yields anywhere from 15 to 36 times the revenue of

new single-gift donors 10 years after their rst dona-

tion, making them an extremely valuable donor class.

According to Chuck Longeld, chief scientist at

Blackbaud and the author of the Sustainers in Focus

report, sustainer programs—also called monthly

giving or recurring giving programs—tick off two

important boxes for nonprots: They have higher

donor retention rates—about double the average

donor—and they give in higher dollar amounts than

single-gift donors.

The result is demonstrably higher revenue retention,

a metric the Institute says is a much better measure of

Vol. 328 January 2017