Many nonprofits are using email marketing tools and diligently sending e-newsletters, event notices, and donation requests online– and increasing their revenues as a result.

Overall these strategies are generally quite effective, but it not done carefully they can actually turn potential supporters or volunteers away.

So how do your efforts measure up?

One of the best ways to get a feel for how you’re doing is to compare with others in the sector.  According to a recent report from MailChimp based on the 273+ million emails delivered by their system, the average email “open” rate for a nonprofit is around 28% and the average click-through rate is 4%.

(This is not by the way a stat representing large and well-financed nonprofits, rather the bulk of the emails included in the analysis were sent by small, “do-it-yourself” organizations).

Take a look at your own stats and see how they compare with MailChimp’s nonprofit averages:

Open
Rate

Click
Rate

Soft Bounces

Hard Bounces

Abuse Complaints

Un-subscribes

27.66%

4.06%

2.24%

4.31%

0.06%

0.24%

To read the report and view tips for improving email messaging success rates, click here.