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The annual M+R Benchmarks Study includes a vast galaxy of nonprofit data, covering everything from social media to advertising to email to web traffic to SMS. But so far, our explorations have been limited to nonprofits in the US and Canada. Until now!
We are excited to announce that, despite global travel restrictions, our next edition will boldly go where no Benchmarks has gone before: the UK.
We are partnering with our friends at Rally in the UK to launch an effort to expand our 2021 Benchmarks Study to include charities and NGOs from the United Kingdom. This will allow us to compare trends and findings there with our usual vast array of data and statistics here in North America.
Interested in participating? Find out more and sign up here!
Wait, why are you doing this?
At its core, Benchmarks is about discovering and learning more about how the charity and NGO space is changing, how organizations pursue their strategic goals, and how supporters respond. We’ve been able to develop a comprehensive view within the US and Canada, but that still leaves out a whole world of experiences.
It also ignores the reality of activism and charitable work today. The values we believe in, the causes we care about, the progress our planet needs do not stop at the border. Many US-based organizations have deep connections overseas, and many NGOs based in the UK and across Europe receive substantial support from American audiences.
We believe that organizations on both sides of the Atlantic can benefit from the kind of detailed, data-driven comparison and trend-charting that we strive to deliver with our annual Benchmarks Study.
So why the UK specifically? Why not Europe, or the World, or…Canada?
This is a great question, and honestly, one that we went back and forth on. A big reason is participation. We believe enough UK organizations will participate to keep the study statistically valid. Another consideration is terminology and fundraising practices. From our conversations so far, we are confident that we can seamlessly add UK data to our current data set (which is why we already include Canadian data in Benchmarks!).
That said, if you are a nonprofit based somewhere other than the US, Canada, or UK, and you are interested in participating in Benchmarks, please hold tight. The Benchmarks of our dreams would compare trends and be used across the entire world, but we definitely aren’t there.Yet?!?!
Alright, but if you are going to release this in the UK, shouldn’t you be using the proper spelling of “organisations?”
Maybe—but for now, please humo(u)r us as we figure out how to adjust our spell-check settings!
Is the data going to be different?
Well, we won’t know until we look! Our plan for now is to treat groups from the UK as their own sector (like we currently do for Rights or Environmental organizations). This means they’ll still be factored into the overall numbers, but we will be able to see places where they differ significantly from American/Canadian groups.
We do know that some aspects of both the sign-up and data collection process will be different due to technological and/or legal differences. Speaking of which…
Will participating in the study be GDPR compliant?
Yes! You can find out more by visiting our privacy policy here.
Is M+R expanding to the UK?
That is not the intent, and not why we are doing this. This is truly just about the data, learning, and sharing information. But if you are offering to let us come for a post-pandemic visit and crash on your sofa for a while, we might be into that.
Ok, so what do I do if I’m interested? We are so glad you asked. If you have in seeing those sweet, sweet British metrics and are game for participating, head to mrbenchmarks.com/uk and let us know.
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Matt is a Senior Vice President, based out of New York City, working on Advertising, and in the Before Times regularly spoke at conferences in Europe like the Institute of Fundraising’s Fundraising Convention in London and The Resource Alliance’s IFC in Amsterdam. You can email him at mderby@mrss.com.