Nonprofit Federation launches new benchmark survey

By Mickey Alam Khan

April 9, 2008

Profitable marketing for nonprofits

The Direct Marketing Association’s Nonprofit Federation launched a new benchmarking survey on fundraising outreach through marketing.

The goal is to unearth data on how nonprofit organizations are performing in fundraising campaigns and marketing activities compared with their counterparts through the use of different marketing channels.

This is the first such survey for the Nonprofit Federation, an association for nonprofits that use direct mail, email, the Internet, telephone and social networking to raise funds from donors.

U.S. consumers donated $222 billion to nonprofits in 2006, the latest year for which the Washington-based association has data. Most of these donations were due to direct marketing pitches, the association said.

The survey asks 37 questions on topics including renewals, acquisitions, online fundraising and mobile marketing. It is available on the association’s Web site at http://www.nonprofitfederation.org.

The survey can be taken through April 25.

Results will be presented at the 2008 Nonprofit Federation Leadership Summit June 3-5 at the Ritz-Carlton, Palm Beach/Manalapan, FL.