The Blackbaud Institute's 2020 Charitable Giving Report Finds That Online Giving Grew 21% Amidst Global Pandemic

Ninth-annual report shows charitable giving increased 2% last year with a surge in online and mobile giving

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Feb 16, 2021, 10:30 ET

CHARLESTON, S.C., Feb. 16, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Blackbaud Institute, a research division of Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB), the world's leading cloud software company powering social good, today released its ninth-annual Charitable Giving Report. Tracking over $40 billion in US-based charitable giving from the Blackbaud Institute Index, the report is one of the most credible resources on fundraising performance in the social good community.

The 2020 Charitable Giving Report explores giving trends in one of the most transformational years the social good sector has seen. The report leverages the largest data set of giving and donor trends to help social good organizations understand the past and prepare for the future with resources to create informed strategies. Findings are based on giving data from 8,833 nonprofit organizations totaling $40.7 billion in fundraising revenue, plus online data from 4,964 nonprofit organizations totaling $3.2 billion in online fundraising revenue.

Key Giving Trends in the 2020 Charitable Giving Report:

US charitable giving grew 2% year-over-year, representing an increase of more than 5% over the last three years.
Online giving grew by nearly 21%, representing more than a 32% increase over the last three years.
A record 13% of fundraising came from online donations in 2020, mirroring similar online retail sales trends.
Nearly 30% of all online gifts were made from a mobile device.
Growth in online and mobile giving represented a dramatic shift to digital in 2020.
Donation amounts increased, with overall donations averaging $737 (a $120 increase year-over-year) and online donations averaging $177 (a $29 increase year-over-year).
Though nonprofits of all sizes experienced a significant drop in charitable giving in April, May and June, giving made a remarkable recovery in the second half of 2020.

"Each year, we produce the Charitable Giving Report to give social good organizations a comprehensive look at how giving performed and to provide best practices that will help organizations boost their fundraising," said Steve MacLaughlin, vice president, product management, Blackbaud, and senior advisor to the Blackbaud Institute. "While 2020 presented a multitude of hardships, we saw significant resiliency in the social good sector and growth in giving. It was truly a year of digital transformation as online giving growth proved to be an integral part of the modern nonprofit's strategy."

New Features of the 2020 Charitable Giving Report Include:

An expanded online report that readers can more easily navigate
Video content that explains how readers can use the report findings to benchmark themselves and cultivate solid fundraising strategies
New international insights from Blackbaud's online giving platform, JustGiving^®

The full 2020 Charitable Giving Report can be accessed on the Blackbaud Institute site here, and past reports from the series can be found here. The Blackbaud Institute also offers The Explorer—a premier online knowledge base for information and statistics about social good. The Explorer gives users the ability to easily and quickly search and access social good statistics and best practices that matter to them by pulling the latest data and trends from the sector's most credible sources. All Blackbaud Institute resources are offered for free, as part of Blackbaud's give-back philosophy.

About The Blackbaud Institute
The Blackbaud Institute drives research and insight to accelerate the impact of the social good community. It convenes expert partners from across the philanthropic sector to foster diverse perspectives, collective thinking, and collaborative solutions to the world's greatest challenges. Using the most comprehensive data set in the social good community, the Blackbaud Institute and its partners conduct research, uncover strategic insight and share results broadly to drive effective philanthropy at every stage, from fundraising to outcomes. Knowledge is powering the future of social good, and the Blackbaud Institute is an engine of that progress. Learn more, sign up for our newsletter, explore our knowledge base of social good best practices and trends, see the latest quarterly statistics on giving, and check out our most recent resources at www.blackbaudinstitute.com.

About Blackbaud
Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB) is the world's leading cloud software company powering social good. Serving the entire social good community—nonprofits, higher education institutions, K–12 schools, healthcare organizations, faith communities, arts and cultural organizations, foundations, companies and individual change agents—Blackbaud connects and empowers organizations to increase their impact through cloud 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, Costa Rica and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.blackbaud.com or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

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Forward-looking Statements
Except for historical information, all of the statements, expectations, and assumptions contained in this news release are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including statements regarding expected benefits of products and product features. Although Blackbaud attempts to be accurate in making these forward-looking statements, it is possible that future circumstances might differ from the assumptions on which such statements are based. In addition, other important factors that could cause results to differ materially include the following: general economic risks; uncertainty regarding increased business and renewals from existing customers; continued success in sales growth; management of integration of acquired companies and other risks associated with acquisitions; risks associated with successful implementation of multiple integrated software products; the ability to attract and retain key personnel; risks associated with management of growth; lengthy sales and implementation cycles, particularly in larger organization; technological changes that make our products and services less competitive; and the other risk factors set forth from time to time in the SEC filings for Blackbaud, copies of which are available free of charge at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov or upon request from Blackbaud's investor relations department. All Blackbaud product names appearing herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Blackbaud, Inc.

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