Nine hundred and sixteen “Education and Literacy” organizations from 92 countries participated in the survey for 2018 Global NGO Technology Report. Their responses are summarized below and contrasted with 565 “Education and Literacy” donors that participated in the 2017 Global Trends in Giving Survey. The data is meant to provide benchmarks for education and literacy organizations so that they can gauge whether they are ahead or behind in their use online technology.

  • 94% of education and literacy organizations have a website. Of those,89% are mobile compatible.
  • 65% use the .ORG domain. 11% use country codes. 8% use .COM. 2% use .NGO. 1% use .NET. 13% use other domains.
  • 43% use WordPress as their Content Management System for their website. 6% use Drupal. 3% use Joomla.  27% use another CMS and 21% don’t know.
  • 69% of education and literacy organizations accept online donations on their website. Of those, 80% accept credit card payments. 43% accept PayPal. 39% accept direct debit payments. 4% accept digital wallet payments. 1% accept Bitcoin.
  • 28% utilize an online peer-to-peer fundraising service.
  • 49% participate in #GivingTuesday.
  • 62% of education and literacy organizations regularly send email updates and fundraising appeals to supporters and donors. Of those, 64% use an email marketing service. 14% send email via their CRM. 8% send email via BCC. 9% send email through another method and 5% don’t know.
  • 14% regularly send text messages to supporters and donors. Of those, 39% also utilize a text-to-give service for SMS fundraising.
  • 94% of education and literacy organizations have a Facebook Page and 31% have a Facebook Group. 77% have a Twitter Profile.  50% have an Instagram Profile. 61% have a LinkedIn Page and 25% have a LinkedIn Group. Other social media used are: 59% YouTube, 21% Google+, 13%Pinterest, 10% Vimeo, 8% Flickr, 3% Tumblr, and 1% Reddit and Weibo.
  • 18% use messaging apps to communicate with supporters and donors. Of those, 70% use WhatsApp. 62% use Facebook Messenger. 5% use Viber and WeChat. 3% use Signal and Snapchat. 1% use LINE and Kik.
  • 79% of education and literacy organizations use Microsoft Windows as their operating system on desktop and laptop computers. 13% use Apple macOS. 5% use Google Chrome OS. 1% use Linux OS. 1% use another operating system and 1% don’t know.
  • 39% use Google Android as their operating system on smartphones and tablets. 36% use Apple iOS. 7% use Windows Phone. 3% use another operating system and 15% don’t know.
  • 44% use a Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) software to track donations and manage communications with supporters and donors. Of those, 66% use a cloud-based CRM.
  • 59% use encryption technology to protect data and communications. Of those, 32% to protect organization information. 30% to protect donor information. 24% to protect the privacy of email communications. 14% to protect the privacy of mobile communications.

Education and Literacy Donors

  • 36% of education and literacy donors are baby boomers. 31% are Gen Xers. 26% are millennials. 5% are from the Silent Generation. 2% are Gen Zers.
  • 72% are female. 28% are male.
  • 60% are politically and socially liberal. 27% are moderate. 13% are conservative.
  • The top three domains trusted by education and literacy donors are: .org (68%), .edu (16%), and .ngo (8%). The least trusted domains are: country code domains (6%) and .com (2%).
  • 57% prefer to give online. 15% through direct mail. 15% at fundraising events. 8% through workplace giving. 5% through a mobile app or texting.
  • 34% are most inspired to to by social media. 31% by email. 18% by an organization’s website. 13% by a print newsletter or appeal. 1% by a TV ad. 1%by a radio ad. 1% by a text message. 1% by a phone call.
  • Of those education and literacy donors who say social media most often inspires them to give, 66% say Facebook is the most inspiring. 14% say Twitter. 7% say Instagram. 7% say YouTube. 4% say LinkedIn. 2% say other social media.
  • 37% are sustaining monthly donors.
  • 61% donate more during religious holidays.
  • 40% of education and literacy donors worldwide give to NPOs and NGOs outside of their country of residence.
  • 63% have attended a fundraising event within the past 12 months. Of those, 36% found out about the event via email. 29% via social media. 8% via a print publication.
  • 18% have created a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign to benefit their favorite education and literacy organization within the last 12 months. 33% have donated to a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign.
  • 72% of education and literacy donors have volunteered within the last 12 months. 24% found out about the volunteer opportunity email. 17% via social media. 10% from the organization’s website. 97% felt their volunteer work made an impact. 84% donated money to the organization that they volunteered for.
  • 94% are most inspired by communications of hope and empathy. 6% by anger and sadness.
  • 94% believe that education and literacy organizations must invest financial resources in digital communications in order to stay relevant.
  • 90% say that the organizations they donate to effectively keep them updated on their programs.
  • 91% say the organizations effectively express gratitude for their donations.
  • 79% say that social media is a primary news source for staying current on the work of their favorite organizations.