2023 Rescue Mission Benchmark Report

The last few years have been full of change and evolution at rescue missions.

For starters, some missions are changing their brand identities to be known as life-transformation ministries. This change reflects the continued "modernization" of missions. These organizations are going beyond simply offering food and shelter to those in need. They now offer mental health programs, medical treatments, education, job training, housing and so much more.

At the same time, rescue missions and life transformation ministries have been grappling with changing attitudes toward religion across the U.S. In a 20-year span from 1998 to 2018, church membership among American adults dropped from 70% to 50%. This has had a trickle-down effect on missions, whose identities are still rooted in and driven by faith.

Finally, we can't forget about the global pandemic that completely upended society for two-plus years. Donors stepped up and increased their support of rescue missions in 2020 and 2021. That support softened some in 2022, and now the question is where the new giving baseline will settle.

In the data, you'll see the following key learnings:

1. Post-COVID missions saw strong revenue while the number of active donors declined. 

The dynamics of economic and social change surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic generated higher revenue for rescue missions during 2020 and 2021, with decelerated growth in 2022. However, while revenue remained strong, missions saw a 6% decline in their donor volume in 2022 versus 2018.

2. A new quality of donors emerged amidst the fall in retention and acquisition.

Although rescue missions saw a shrinking number of active and new donors right after the pandemic, the retained donors had higher gift values and gave more frequently than ever before. This is fueling the overall revenue growth of missions.

3. Retention levels should be watched closely.

Retention and reactivation rates experienced some significant increases in 2020, followed by steady declines in 2021 and 2022. Lapsed donors showed a higher sensitivity to the pandemic than core and transition donors did. In other words, they responded much like disaster donors—they came back to support missions during the height of the pandemic but stopped giving once the emergency subsided.

What we measured  

The 2023 Rescue Mission Benchmark Report contains full-file data from 12 RKD mission clients across the United States from Jan. 1, 2018, to Dec. 31, 2022. The data includes overall program metrics, like total revenue, active donors, new donors, retention rate, average gift size, donor value and gift frequency.

Trends are based on all donors and all gift types. Donors with a gift of $10,000 or more were excluded.

How to read the benchmarks  

Each metric is indexed. We set 2018 as the baseline value of 100. Results in the following years are compared against 2018, and then averaged across clients, explaining the relative change in result for each benchmark over time. 

Values over 100 indicate an increase over the value in 2018. Values below 100 indicate a decrease vs. the value in 2018. For example, an active donor value of 200 would represent a doubling in the number of active donors.

Revenue remains strong 

If you looked at an isolated view of 2020-22, you would see that revenue declined in 2022. But if you back out a little further, you’ll see the broader context—revenue in 2022 was still 26% higher than what it was in the year prior to the pandemic. 

The COVID-19 pandemic caused donations to reach new highs in 2020. While these highs were not as dramatic as those food banks faced, rescue mission revenue remained elevated in 2021. As the immediate emergency of the pandemic faded in late 2021 and into 2022, the impact of rising inflation began to set in and caused giving to slow at some nonprofit organizations.

But many rescue missions were able to remain relevant with their donors by stressing how inflation impacted their communities. As a result, missions finished 2022 as healthier organizations than they did entering the pandemic. 

Average gift amounts are up 

The average gift across all active donors was 21% higher in 2022 than it was pre-COVID. In fact, the average gift amount has continued to rise steadily in each of the last four years. A rise in new donor value is one thing, but existing donors are also giving larger amounts on average. 

Donors are giving more often 

Gift frequency has also been steadily increasing over the last five years, and donors in 2022 gave 15% more frequently than they did in 2018. As a driver of healthy retention, donors giving larger gifts more often should help strengthen rescue missions for future years. 

Average value reaching new heights 

Donor value in 2022 exceeded 2018 levels by 38%. Rescue mission donors continue to demonstrate levels of generosity that we've typically not seen before.

All lifecycles are up in value 

The rise in donor value isn’t isolated to a particular group of donors. These new giving patterns are continuing across audiences, resulting in value growth across nearly all donor lifecycles. However, we have seen the value drop slightly among new donors.

Retention is softening 

Any surge in new donors inevitably leads to a decline in overall retention as those new donors move through the file. The new donors acquired in 2020 began moving into the core donor file in 2022, which saw retention in both transition and core donors decline below pre-COVID levels.

Lapsed reactivation falls below pre-COVID levels 

The reactivation of both recently lapsed and deeply lapsed donors declined from the 2020 high and fell below 2018 levels in both 2021 and 2022. Reactivation of deeply lapsed audiences could be more difficult in the coming years since fewer audiences lapsed during COVID. To put it another way, if the pandemic didn’t spark them to give again, they’re not coming back. 

Missions are bringing in fewer donors 

The growth in revenue above came—in large part—from current donors giving larger gifts more frequently. Rescue missions today have 6% fewer donors than they did in 2018 prior to the pandemic.  

Acquisition has slowed down 

It’s no secret that COVID-19 caused a surge in new rescue mission donors (2020 had 42% more new donors than 2018). In 2021, new donor volumes continued to benefit from the expanded market reach and rise in awareness that occurred during the pandemic. In 2022, rescue missions saw a 20% drop in new donors compared to 2018. 

A new quality of donor emerges 

Life transformation ministries began acquiring a new level of donor in 2020 and 2021—with first gift values 8% and 23% higher than 2018, respectively. Missions are continuing to fuel their new donor pipelines with a better mix of donor quality and value, reaching a new high in 2022. 

Acquiring more at upper value levels 

The “new normal” for acquisition post-COVID looks strong. Fewer new donors came in during 2022, which is why every metric is lower than those in 2018. But the ones who did give are continuing the trend of larger gifts. Acquisition at the $50, $100 and $250 levels was heavier in 2022 than at $25 and below.

RKD Group is a leading fundraising and marketing services provider to hundreds of nonprofit organizations. With five decades of experience, RKD Group's omnichannel approach leverages technology, advanced data science and award-winning strategic and creative leadership to accelerate net revenue growth, build long-term donor relationships and drive the best return on investment. RKD Group creates breakthroughs never thought possible.