Events reemerged as an effective fundraising tool in 2021 after the COVID-19 pandemic shut down nearly all in-person events in 2020, a report from Classy, a giving platform, finds.

The report, The State of Modern Philanthropy 2022: The Path to Lasting Donor Connections, found that events generated a 49 percent increase in donation volume and peer-to-peer fundraising had a 47 percent conversion rate. The report also found that donors responded to having more choices with higher gift amounts. For instance, one-time donations via PayPal were 30 percent higher than credit card donations on Classy Pay, Classy’s payments offering. In addition, the average ACH recurring gift was 29 percent larger than a recurring gift made through a credit card. 

According to the study, having a multi-channel approach to engaging donors on social media also was critical to encouraging people to take action. Although Facebook drove 83.4 percent of social media traffic to campaign pages, platforms such as LinkedIn and Instagram showed the highest conversion potential. For example, LinkedIn had the highest conversion rates on both mobile and desktop, at 30 percent and 50 percent, respectively, followed by Instagram, at 20 percent and 30 percent.

“There is no single approach that accounts for each nonprofit’s unique challenges, goals, and ideas,” said Classy chief operating officer Soraya Alexander. “But by keeping a pulse on the evolving donor landscape through our proprietary data across 5,000 nonprofit customers, our goal is to help nonprofit leaders create a diversified fundraising strategy that can further advance their organization's missions and accelerate social impact.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Luka TDB)