Intentional Major Donor Strategy and Incorporating Modern Technology Drive Growth
TORONTO, ON–Blackbaud, the provider of software for powering social impact, today released its 2024 Status of Canadian Fundraising Benchmark Report. This report provides essential data on current fundraising trends in Canada, helping social impact professionals understand the sector and benchmark their performance. With a research focus on emerging innovations and social impact technology ecosystems, the report also helps nonprofit organizations inform their digital fundraising strategies to maximize their impact.
“The annual Status of Canadian Fundraising Report gives a comprehensive view of the social impact community in 2024, helping nonprofits understand and benchmark their performance,” said Philip Hunt, Senior Manager, Marketing, Blackbaud International Markets. “The nonprofit sector is in a constant state of change with economic and political uncertainties, and the global pandemic aftermath. Despite this, we are seeing success in more intentional strategies that focus on sustainable growth by securing major gifts and maximizing the potential of technology. AI, too, is shaping the nonprofit sector. These modern innovations propose exciting new opportunities, but also underline the need for accelerated policy making to ensure responsible and ethical use of AI.”
For this research, over 550 industry professionals completed an online survey, and additional virtual interviews with participants gave more in-depth insight into some of the key findings.
Key Findings
Major donors drive growth.
- Growing nonprofits get most of their income from major donors.
- In comparison, nonprofits reporting an income decrease are significantly more reliant on grants.
The current economic situation continues to challenge the sector.
- 80 percent of nonprofits say the economic situation, and subsequent fewer donations, challenge them the most.
- 59 percent of those who struggled to grow rank the wider macroeconomic environment as the main reason behind income decline.
- Public perceptions of the sector are also top of mind for participants.
Tech-savvy and innovative organizations are more likely to experience income growth.
- Those ranking their organization below average digital maturity are significantly more likely to say that their income decreased, suggesting that tech-savvy organizations are better able to capitalize on opportunities that help them grow.
Most organizations use AI, but many wish they had more resources to explore fundraising use cases.
- 67 percent of participants use artificial intelligence, and most feel positively about it. Despite this, many say they lack resources to explore how to maximize the true potential of AI in their organization.
- While most participants use AI, only 5 percent have an AI policy in place but a further 15 percent say that they are working on one.
Improved data management would bring the biggest value to fundraising strategies.
- Most nonprofits use and are satisfied with their CRM system, but many recognize that additional training could help them realize the full potential of their software.
- 52 pecent of participants agree that improved data management would bring the greatest value to their organization.
More research results can be found in the full Status of Canadian Fundraising report. This resource is offered for free as part of Blackbaud’s commitment to accelerating social impact.
Blackbaud is the leading software provider exclusively dedicated to powering social impact. Serving the nonprofit and education sectors, companies committed to social responsibility and individual change makers, Blackbaud’s essential software is built to accelerate impact in fundraising, nonprofit financial management, digital giving, grantmaking, corporate social responsibility and education management.
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