This month we are looking back at the unsung MVP of the 2017 BFG tournaments: The First-Time Donor (FTD).
We logged a dizzying 31,898 donations throughout the 2017 tournaments from over 14,000 donors and across over 500 participating nonprofits. Over 8,600 of these donations came from donors who identified as not having ever donated to the nonprofit that they were supporting in the tournament before. These FTDs packed a big punch, scoring over 640,000 points across all tournaments at an average of 74 points per donation.
Who are FTDs?
First-time donors skewed female, Millennial and Generation Z aged, and came from far and wide, representing over 1,300 towns and cities, in every state in the union.
Where did they score
Our new expansion markets faired the best with FTDs, with over 34% of the number of donations in the new markets coming in from FTDs. The veteran tournament still held strong, with 28% of donations registering from new donors. Even Indianapolis, our longest-running tournament, had a 29% new donor rate in 2017.
Younger nonprofits (under 10 years of operating age) fared slightly better than more established nonprofits in attracting FTDs in the tournament. These younger nonprofits collected 34% of their donations from new donors vs. 30% of longer-running nonprofits. Almost 10,000 transactions were processed from FTDs to these younger nonprofits, helping establish and support them both in the tournament and in their overall missions.
The top cause categories for the FTDs were Arts, Culture & Humanities; Youth Development; and Human Services, all top categories overall for BFG donors. The single nonprofit that collected the most individual FTD donations was Get Schooled, from the USA tournament, with 211 donations (or 21% of their total donation count) coming from new supporters. The nonprofit that scored the most FTD points was Allied Arts, also of the USA tournament. Over $104,000 or 29% of all their points scored came from FTDs- and helped them secure the USA championship and the big $100,000 prize!
When did they score?
The first round of the tournament easily leads the way with the highest number of first-time donations scored for nonprofits. With so many nonprofit competitors, it casts a wide net of interest and attraction for new philanthropists to get in the game. As the rounds progressed, the number of first-time donors decreased, however the amount those new supporters gave did not – in fact as the championship round heated up, rookie donors came in hard, with an average of $221 dollars raised per donation, compared to $46 in the first round.
There is no doubt that raising new awareness and support is one of our most important focuses at BFG. We are so proud of our amazing FTD MVPs and we cannot wait to see how many more we can help attract to your missions in 2018!