2018 donorCentrics Annual Report on Higher Education ... donorCent… · 3.6% for public schools). This continues the trend of alumni donors down and dollars up, which has been the

2018 donorCentrics® Annual Report on Higher Education Alumni Giving

Summary of Annual Giving Key Performance Indicators

JULY 2017–JUNE 2018


2018: Similar Trends with Some Significant TwistsOn the surface, 2018 higher education alumni giving doesn’t look much different than 2017—dollars continue to increase while alumni donors decrease. But when reviewed closely, the data reveals there are changes happening. Giving days are impacting annual giving programs, and for many, are a new influx of energy and opportunity that has likely helped to combat declines in the industry. Last year’s data shows that donors are more loyal to giving days (i.e., higher retention rates). In fact, median retention rates for these donors are three and six points higher than overall retention rates for private and public institutions respectively.

In addition, more institutions are getting donors to make multiple gifts during the year. The gifts per donor medians hit five-year highs last year for public and private schools, buoyed by more intentional second ask programs and giving days. Institutions also hit five-year highs among the median percentage of their donors giving $1,000 or more, with more than 12% of all donors to private institutions fitting this category.

Multichannel approaches continue to be essential to maximize results. However, over the past five years, there has been a clear shift of more donors moving toward online vs. phone and mail gifts. Last year for public and private schools, the median percentages of donors giving online were the highest in five years, while phone and mail experienced declines over the past five years. Interestingly, this trend has made an even greater impact on private institutions where the greatest median percentage of donors comes from online. The opposite is true for public schools, but this number is dramatically growing—compared to mail and phone.

Ultimately, alumni giving trends last year were consistent with the previous year, including steady retention rates, declining reactivation rates, and modest dips in alumni donor acquisition. While the trends look similar to recent years, they are being achieved with a different mix of multichannel efforts, such as giving days and second ask programs.

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Overall Revenue and Donors

Median One-Year Change in RevenueLast year, revenue from alumni continued to climb in higher education. For the fifth consecutive year, private and public institutions had a positive one-year change in revenue (4.4% for private schools and 3.6% for public schools). This continues the trend of alumni donors down and dollars up, which has been the general trend for higher education in recent years.

Median One-Year Change in DonorsPublic and private institutions saw the biggest one-year drop in the number of alumni donors, with a -3.9% change for private institutions and a -2.8% change for public institutions in five years. Again, fewer alumni are giving each year.

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2014 2015 2016 2017 20182014 2015 2016 2017 2018

Private Public Overall

6.4%

3.6%

6.6%

5%

.7%

5.9%

3.7%

1.5%

5.9%6.1%

4.4%4.5%

.3%

4.5%

7.2%

2014

2015 2016 2017 2018

2014 2015

2016 2017 20182014

2015

2016

2017

2018


.6%

−2.8%

1% 2%

−2.1%

−.6%

−3.1%

−1.9%

.5%

−1.7%

−3.9%

−1.4%

−2.5%

−.6%

1.6%



Median One-Year Change in Revenue per DonorFor the fifth consecutive year, the median revenue per donor increased, following the trend of fewer alumni donors that give more each year. Private schools saw a 6.5% increase while public schools saw an 8.2% improvement.

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2014 2015 2016 2017 20182014 2015 2016 2017 2018


$495$532

$579 $585$626 $633 $660

$465$443$430

$987$950$861$836$822

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2014 2015 2016 2017 20182014 2015 2016 2017 2018


6.2%

8.2%

7%

5%

2.2%

6.3%7.1%

2.3%

3.9%

7.8%

6.5%6.6%

1.7%

5.1%5.9%



Median Gifts per DonorOne of the forces behind the increased giving is that more donors are making multiple gifts throughout the fiscal year. Giving days and second ask programs are helping to drive this growth in gifts per donor. Private institutions saw the fifth year of growth, now at 1.34 gifts per donor, and public institutions also had their best year on record with a median of 1.41 gifts per donor.

Percentage of Donors Giving $1,000+Public and private institutions experienced a five-year high last year in the median percentage of donors that give $1,000 or more. For private schools, it was 14% of all donors, and for public schools, it was 10.6%. This is further evidence that more programs are successfully emphasizing moving donors to the leadership annual giving levels, arguably one of the most significant trends this past decade, despite the fact alumni donor counts are decreasing.

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2014 2015 2016 2017 20182014 2015 2016 2017 2018


9.5%10.6% 10.1% 10.3% 10.5% 10.8%

11.5%

8.8%8.7%8.4%

14%13.4%12.7%13.1%

12.3%

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2014 2015 2016 2017 20182014 2015 2016 2017 2018


1.36 1.411.28 1.30 1.31 1.34 1.381.341.361.341.341.301.281.271.23



2014

2015

2016 2017 2018 2014 2015 2016

2017

20182014 2015

2016 2017

2018


1%

−6.3%

−1% −1.1%−1.7%

.4%

−8.9%

−1.8%

3.6%

−.5%

−10.8%

−.6%

−6.7%

.6%

−2.8%

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2014 2015 2016 2017 20182014 2015 2016 2017 2018

Private Public Overall15.3% 14.8%

12.6% 12.9% 12.7% 12.5% 12.1%

14.9%14.4%13.8%

8.9%9.7%9.5%9.8%10%

Donor Acquisition

Median Percentage of New DonorsIn general, institutions are less reliant on and less inclined to acquire increasing numbers of new alumni donors. Overall, new donors made up 8.9% of the active donor base for private schools, and 14.8% of the active donor base for public schools, a smaller share than in previous reporting years. The percentage change translated to −10.8% for private schools (the third consecutive year of declines) and −6.3% for public schools (after two years of growth). Generally speaking, institutions are either less focused on alumni donor acquisition or are having difficulty acquiring them, or both.



Median Percentage of New Donors as StudentsWhile private institutions have relied most heavily on student donors to drive new donor acquisition, last year only 54.8% of new donors were students, down from the previous year. Public schools saw a decrease too, with 14.8%. This is one area where public and private schools have been, and continue to be, starkly different in the type of donors in their new donor pools each year.

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2014 2015 2016 2017 20182014 2015 2016 2017 2018


19.2%14.8%

27.1%31.8% 30% 29.8%

26.7%

17.7%17.4%14.1%

54.8%57%53.2%52.1%52.4%

Median First-Year Donor Retention RatesWhile overall retention rates moved in slightly different patterns last year for public and private institutions, the ability to retain first-time donors for both decreased from previous years. Private schools retained 25.8% of first-time donors, while public schools retained a median of 23%.

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2014 2015 2016 2017 20182014 2015 2016 2017 2018


24% 23%24.9% 25.3% 24.7% 25.1% 24.6%

23.3%24.2%23.4%25.8%

28.1%27.5%27.6%27%



Donor Retention

Median Donor Retention RatesTraditionally, private schools have outperformed public schools relative to overall donor retention rates. However, each moved in slightly different directions last year. The median donor retention rates for private institutions dropped to 64.1% (−2% difference) and public schools held relatively steady at 55.9%. Over the last five years these rates have been remarkably steady, and it is rare for retention rate medians to move more than 1–2% each year.

Median Donor Retention Rates for Gifts of $1,000+While a significant difference exists in overall retention rates between public and private schools, once a donor makes a gift of $1,000 or more, that difference narrows considerably. Last year, the median retention rates for leadership annual giving donors were 79% and 74% for private and public schools respectively. This indicates that higher level donors are much more likely to be retained from one year to the next and that leadership annual giving donors behave similarly at public and private institutions. These rates, much like overall retention rates, have been incredibly steady over time.

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2014 2015 2016 2017 20182014 2015 2016 2017 2018


56% 55.9%59% 59.5% 59.7% 60.1% 59.5%

55.9%55.9%55.9%

64.1%66.1%65.9%66%67.2%

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2014 2015 2016 2017 20182014 2015 2016 2017 2018


75.4% 74.4% 77.6% 76.9% 77.7% 77.9% 77.1%74.5%75%75.2%79.6%80.5%80.7%81.4%81.6%



Percentage Change in Revenue per Retained DonorWhile retention rates are generally the most stable metrics in higher education, the revenue per donor for these types of benefactors continues to increase. For the fifth consecutive year, the percentage change in revenue per retained donor was positive, with a 6.1% change for private schools and a 4.5% change for public schools. It may be true that retained donors give more each year or that higher donors are more likely to be retained—or both.

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2014 2015 2016 2017 20182014 2015 2016 2017 2018


5.6%

4.5%

7.2%

4.8%

3.2%

5.8%

4.8%

3.8%

4.9%

7.5%

6.1%6.3%

1.3%

4.3%

6.3%



Donor Reactivation

Median Change in Reactivated Donors (1–5 years lapsed)Overall, for the fifth consecutive year (and longer) the number of reactivated donors continues to decline for public and private institutions. The percentage change was −4.8% for private schools and −7.2% for public schools. Reactivation seems to be the most challenging for annual giving programs as the rate of donor churn continues to grow.

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2014 2015 2016 2017 20182014 2015 2016 2017 2018


−2.4%

−7.2%

0%

−3.1%

−4.9%

−1.9%

−5.9%−6.3%

−1.0%

0%

−4.8%

−0.1%

−3.9%

−5.5%

−.1%

Median Reactivation Rates for Lapsed Donors (1–5 years lapsed)Private schools had a median reactivation rate of 15.3% in 2018, while public schools dropped to 11.5%. The median one-year change in reactivation was −5.2% for private schools and −6.2% for public schools. This rate continues to be a challenge to increase.

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2014 2015 2016 2017 20182014 2015 2016 2017 2018


12.0% 11.5%

14.4% 14.4%13.3% 13.4%

12.6%12.2%13.1%12.9%

15.3%15.9%15.3%16.4%16.8%

2014

2015 2016 2017 2018

2014

2015 2016 2017 2018

2014 2015

2016 2017 2018


−2.3%

−6.2%

.2%

−.4%

−6%

−2.3%

−5.7%−5.1%

.8%.1%

−5.2%

−1.6%

−6.1%

−2.9%

.9%



Median Change in Revenue from Reactivated Donors (all years lapsed)On a positive note, the amount of revenue generated from reactivated donors continues to grow. Last year, the median revenue increase from reactivated donors was 6.1% for private schools and 1.4% for public schools. This means that reactivated donors tend to be the higher-level donors that are willing to come back, or they are upgrading significantly when they do return, or both.

2014 2015

2016

2017 2018 2014 2015

2016

2017 20182014 2015

2016

2017 2018


8%

1.4%

7.1% 6.6%

−3.6%

9%

2.2%

−3.6%

9%8%

6.1%

11.6%

−4.1%

4.2%5.3%



Multichanneling

Median Percentage of Donors Giving via Direct MailOverall, private and public schools were less dependent on using direct mail to drive their donor numbers over the past five years. Only 29.3% of donors to private institutions came to them via direct mail, down from a median of 31.7% the year before. And for public institutions, the percentage was 27%, stable compared to 2017.

Median Percentage of Donors Giving via PhoneLast year, the median percentage of donors giving over the phone reached the lowest in five years for public and private institutions, with a median of 14.9% for private schools and 21.8% for public schools. While some schools actually reported positive bounce-back last year in phone performance, the medians continue to mark declines in the number of donors choosing this channel to make their gifts.

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2014 2015 2016 2017 20182014 2015 2016 2017 2018


27% 27%

31.6% 31.2% 30.3% 29.4% 28.3%29.1%28.6%29.3%29.3%31.7%32.1%32.9%33.2%

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2014 2015 2016 2017 20182014 2015 2016 2017 2018


25.4%

21.8%

26.9%25.2%

22.9% 21.7%

18.3%

26.8%29.1%

33.5%

14.9%16.6%16.8%

19.8%21.1%



2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2014 2015 2016 2017 20182014 2015 2016 2017 2018


17.6%19.9%

14.4%18.1%

21.4%24.3%

26.1%

15.7%13.6%

10.5%

37.2%33.8%

32%

26.9%23.9%

Median Percentage of Donors Giving OnlineIn 2018, public and private institutions reached the highest median percentage in five years for donors giving online. That said, there was a significant difference between the two groups, with public schools showing a median of 19.9% and private schools seeing almost twice that at 37.2%. It is clear that private institutions have been more effective in getting more donors to give online.

Online includes gifts coded as email, crowdfunding, and web/digital/other.



Giving Days

Median Percentage of Donors Who Made Giving Day GiftsIn 2018, this metric reached a five-year high in public and private schools, further demonstrating the growing influence such programs have on annual giving programs. A median of 12% of donors made gifts to private school giving days, while 7.1% of donors donated to public schools.

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2014 2015 2016 2017 20182014 2015 2016 2017 2018


5.1%

7.1%

3.1%

4.9%

6.4%7.2%

8.9%

5.7%

2.6%2.5%

12%11.6%

9.5%9.5%

6.3%

Median Day of Giving Donor Retention RatesA lingering question in the industry regarding giving days has been whether giving day donors will be reliable (and retainable) from one year to the next. The median retention rates for Day of Giving donors demonstrate that these donors are indeed reliable. The median retention rate stood at 67% for private institutions and 61% for public schools. Both rates are higher than their median overall donor retention rates of 64% and 56%.

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2014 2015 2016 2017 20182014 2015 2016 2017 2018


61.6% 61.0%68.9% 68.3% 65.4% 62.8% 64.5%63.8%66.7%

61.8%67%67.7%67.3%69%70.4%



Further InformationParticipation: For more information about participation in higher education benchmarking, contact [email protected].

Media Contact: For press inquiries or permission to reproduce, contact Melanie Mathos at 843.216.6200 ext. 3307 or [email protected].

Findings from recent and future reports can be found at https://institute.blackbaud.com/resources/ .

Annual Report MethodologyBlackbaud Target Analytics® applied the following rules to standardize data from each of the institutions participating in the 2018 donorCentrics Annual Report on Higher Education Alumni Giving:

Soft credits and matching gift payments are excluded. Direct mail, telemarketing, and digital giving are by far the dominant revenue sources for most schools; however, events, personal solicitation, and other sources are included. Indicators are calculated on a cash payment basis, as opposed to a pledge basis. Gifts or donors are defined as new, retained, or reactivated according to relative gift dates, rather than organization-specific business rules or source codes. Retention rates are calculated by dividing the number of donors giving in the current year who also gave during the previous year by the total number of donors who gave in the previous year. Revenue per donor refers to the cumulative giving per donor per year. The 2018 donorCentrics Annual Report on Higher Education Alumni Giving uses medians, the middle values in a ranked order of numbers, to measure trends because they minimize distortion caused by the wide range of organizations’ file sizes and extreme changes at a few organizations.


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Azusa Pacific University

Barnard College

Benedictine College

Boston College

Boston College Law School

Boston University

Boston University School of Law

Brandeis University

Buena Vista University

Carroll College

Champlain College

Carnegie Mellon University Tepper School of Business

Clark University

College of St. Benedict

College of Wooster

Colorado College

Columbia University

Columbia University Business School

Columbia University School of Law

Columbia University School of Medicine

Cornell University

Cornell University Johnson Graduate School of Management

Cornell University School of Law

Dartmouth College

Dartmouth Tuck School of Business

Denison University

Emma Willard School

Emory University

Episcopal High School

Gettysburg College

George Mason University Law School

George Washington University

Grinnell College

Harvard University

Harvard Law School

Holderness School

Johns Hopkins University

Lewis and Clark College

Loyola University Chicago

Luther Seminary

Marquette University

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

MIT Sloan School of Management

Mount Holyoke College

Mount St. Mary’s University

Muhlenberg College

Northeastern University

Northwestern University

Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management

New York University

New York University Law School

New York University Stern School of Business

Occidental College

Ohio Wesleyan University

Pace University

Pacific University

Point Loma Nazarene University

Presybterian College

Principia College

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Rice University Jones School of Business

Rockhurst University

Saint Louis University

Sarah Lawrence College

Siena College

Simmons University

PARTICIPATING PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS



Smith College

Southern Methodist University

St. John’s University

St. Joseph’s University

St. Mark’s School

Stanford Law School

Syracuse University

The Thacher School

Union College

University of Chicago

University of Chicago Booth School of Business

University of Chicago Law School

University of Denver

University of Miami

University of Pennsylvania

University of Pennsylvania Law School

University of Pennsylvania Medical School

University of Redlands

University of San Francisco

Wake Forest University

Wake Forest University Medical School

Whitworth University

Yale University

Yale Law School



Arizona State University

Auburn University

Cal Poly Pomona

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

California State University Fresno

California State University Fullerton

Colorado State University Long Beach

California State University Los Angeles

California State University Northridge

California State University Stanislaus

Clemson University

College of Charleston

Colorado School of Mines

Colorado State University

College of William and Mary

Dalhousie University

East Carolina University

East Tennessee State University

Eastern Virginia Medical School

Florida International University

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Humboldt State University

Indiana University

Indiana University of Pennsylvania

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James Madison University

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McMaster University

McMaster University Faculty of Health Sciences

Metropolitan State University

Michigan State University

Mississippi State University

Montclair State University

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New Jersey Institute of Technology

Ohio University

Oklahoma State University

Oregon State University

Pennsylvania State University

Purdue University

Queens University

Richard Ivey School of Business at Western University

Rutgers University

Saint Mary’s University

San Jose State University

Simon Fraser University

South Dakota School of Mines

Southern Alberta Institute of Technology

Stony Brook University

Texas A&M University

Texas Tech University

The Ohio State University

The Ohio State University College of Medicine

University of Alberta

University of Arizona

University of Arizona Health Sciences

University of Arkansas

University of California, Berkeley

University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business

University of California, Berkeley School of Law

University of California, Davis

University of California, LA School of Law

University of California, Anderson School of Management

University of California, Riverside

University of California, San Francisco

PARTICIPATING PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS



University of California, Santa Cruz

University of California, San Diego

University of Cincinnati

University of Colorado, Anschutz

University of Colorado, Boulder

University of Colorado, Colorado Springs

University of Colorado, Denver

University of Delaware

University of Florida

University of Georgia

University of Guelph

University of Idaho

University of Iowa

University of Illinois

University of Kansas

University of Kentucky

University of Louisville

University of Maine

University of Manitoba

University of Memphis

University of Michigan

University of Michigan Ross School of Business

University of Michigan School of Law

University of Michigan Medical School

University of Minnesota

University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management

University of Minnesota Medical School

University of Missouri

University of Missouri, Kansas City

University of Nebraska

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

University of North Carolina, Charlotte

University of North Carolina, Wilmington

University of Northern Colorado

University of Northern Kentucky

University of Oklahoma

University of Oregon

University of Regina

University of Saskatchewan

University of South Alabama

University of South Carolina

University of South Carolina Law

University of Tennessee

University of Tennessee, Chattanooga

University of Texas

University of Texas School of Law

University of Texas, Dallas

University of Utah

University of Virginia

University of Vermont College of Medicine

University of Victoria

University of Waterloo

University of Wisconsin

University of Wisconsin School of Business

Virginia Tech University

Washington State University

Western Carolina University

Western University

Wilfrid Laurier University

York University


202018 donorCentrics® Annual Report on Higher Education Alumni Giving 20

About Blackbaud

Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB) is the world’s leading cloud software company powering social good. Serving the entire social good community—nonprofits, foundations, corporations, education institutions, healthcare institutions, and individual change agents—Blackbaud connects and empowers organizations to increase their impact through software, services, expertise, and data intelligence. The Blackbaud portfolio is tailored to the unique needs of vertical markets, with solutions for fundraising and CRM, marketing, advocacy, peer-to-peer fundraising, corporate social responsibility, school management, ticketing, grantmaking, financial management, payment processing, and analytics. Serving the industry for more than three decades, Blackbaud is headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina and has operations in the United States, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.blackbaud.com .

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Documents

2018 donorCentrics Annual Report on Higher Education ... donorCent… · 3.6% for public schools). This continues the trend of alumni donors down and dollars up, which has been the