Advocacy Message

An email or SMS message that asks recipients to sign an online petition, send an email to a decision-maker, or take a similar online action. For the purposes of this Study, advocacy email does not include higher-bar actions like making a phone call or attending an event, largely because tracking offline response is inconsistent across organizations. Advocacy email rates were calculated from advocacy emails with a simple action sent to either the full file or a random sample of the full file.

Click-Through Rate

Calculated as the number of people who clicked on any trackable link in an email or text message divided by the number of delivered emails or text messages. People who clicked multiple times in one message were only counted once. In other words, if a subscriber clicked on every link in a message 10 times, this was counted the same as if the subscriber had clicked once on a single link.

Deliverable Emails

Only the emails that were delivered, not including the emails that are considered inactive or emails that were sent and bounced. “Delivered” email messages may land in a user’s inbox, spam folder, promotions tab, or custom folder.

Device Type, Desktop

We use the definitions provided by Google Analytics to separate traffic data by device type. The “desktop” category includes any desktop or laptop computer with a screen larger than 7” in diagonal.

Device Type, Mobile

We use the definitions provided by Google Analytics to separate traffic data by device type. Mobile devices are hand-held devices that include a phone or a tablet.

Facebook Engagement Score

The total number of users who engage with a social media post (by liking, clicking, sharing, etc.), divided by the total number of page fans on the day the content was posted.

Fans, Facebook

People who “like” a nonprofit’s Facebook Fan page.

Followers, Instagram

People who subscribe to see posts from a nonprofit’s Instagram account.

Followers, Twitter

People who subscribe to receive the tweets from a nonprofit’s Twitter account.

Full File

All of an organization’s deliverable email addresses, not including unsubscribed email addresses or email addresses to which an organization no longer sends email messages.

Fundraising Message

An email or SMS message that only asks for a donation, as opposed to an email newsletter, which might ask for a donation and include other links. For the purposes of this Study, fundraising email only includes one-time donation asks; it does not include monthly gift asks. Fundraising email rates were calculated from all fundraising emails, regardless of whether the email went to the full file, a random sample of the file, or a targeted portion of the file.

Glossary

An alphabetical list of terms related to a specific subject, with explanations. Example: “This Glossary includes a definition of the word ‘Glossary,’ which honestly doesn’t seem necessary.” See also: Metatextuality.

List Churn

Calculated as the number of subscribers who became unreachable in a 12-month period divided by the sum of the number of deliverable email addresses at the end of that period plus the number of subscribers who became unreachable during that period. Study participants were required to track the number of subscribers who became unreachable each month to account for subscribers both joining and leaving an email list during the 12-month period who would otherwise go uncounted.

Metatextuality

Did you arrive here from the definition for “Glossary”? That’ll probably explain it better. Maybe go look there and then come back? See also: Glossary.

Monthly Gift

A donation where the donor signs up once to donate on a regular schedule, typically by pledging a regular gift amount on a credit card each month. Also known as a sustaining gift.

Newsletters, Email

An email with multiple links or asks, which can include fundraising or advocacy asks. Email newsletter rates were calculated from all email newsletters, regardless of whether the newsletter went to the full file, a random sample of the file, or a targeted portion of the file.

Online Retention, New Donor

Online Retention (New Donor)

Of the donors that made their first-ever online gift in the previous calendar year, the percent that made an online gift in the current calendar year. Note that we count someone as “new” if they have no online donations reported before 2019.

Online Retention, Prior Donor

Online Retention (Prior Donor)

Of the donors that made an online gift in the previous calendar year that wasn’t their first online gift, the percent that made an online gift in the current calendar year.

Open Rate

Calculated as the number of HTML email messages opened divided by the number of delivered emails. Email messages that bounce are not included.

Organic Traffic

Website visits generated by unpaid search results.

Page Completion Rate

Calculated as the number of people who completed a form divided by the number of people who clicked on the link to get to that form. For the purposes of this Study, it was not always possible to use the number of people who clicked on a link to a specific form, so we used the number of unique clicks in the message.

Percentile

The percentage of observed values below the named data point. 25% of the observations are below the 25th percentile; 75% of the observations are below the 75th percentile. The values between the 25th percentile and the 75th percentile are the middle 50% of the observed values and represent the normal range of values.

Platform

A website or app, like what you use to post or tweet. And where you stand, if you are posting or tweeting while waiting for a train. And what your candidate or organization believes, if you are trying to make your priorities clear while posting or tweeting while waiting for a train. And what you wear, if you are trying to look taller and also fabulous while making your priorities clear while posting or tweeting while waiting for a train. For example: “As I was traveling to St. Ives, I met six policy wonks in size seven platform shoes standing on the #17 platform posting eight precise platform planks on six assorted social media platforms. Shoes, trains, tweets, planks… how many platforms were there in all?”

Response Rate

Calculated as the number of people who took the main action requested by an email or text message divided by the number of delivered messages.

Twitter Engagement Rate

The total number of users who engage with a post (by liking, clicking, sharing, etc.), divided by post reach.

Unique Clicks

The number of people who clicked on any trackable link in an email message, as opposed to the number of times the links in an email were clicked. If a subscriber clicked on every link in a message 10 times, this is counted as 1 unique click. It is also counted as 1 strange person.

Unsubscribe Rate

Calculated as the number of individuals who unsubscribed in response to an email message divided by the number of delivered emails.

View-Through Revenue

Revenue from donors who made a donation (typically within 30 days) of seeing, but not clicking on, an ad. For example, a supporter who sees a banner ad and later goes directly to the nonprofit’s website to make a gift.

Website Donation Page Conversion Rate

Calculated from the number of donations to a participant’s main donation page, divided by the number of unique pageviews of that page. We included only unique pageviews for the one-time donation page, if a separate donation page existed for monthly gifts.

Website Page Load Time

The number of seconds before a page appears to be visually complete, as measured by the WebPageTest tool at http://webpagetest.org.

Website Revenue per Visitor

Calculated as the total revenue from one-time online gifts, plus the value of initial monthly gifts, divided by the total number of website visitors for the year. Depending on retention, the long-term value of monthly gifts may be substantially higher.

Website Visitors per Month

The number of monthly unique visitors to a participant’s main website.