Welcome

UK Section Images UK Intro Heading 1

We begin with a live look at how things are going, generally speaking, in the United States at the moment:

The Second Coming

William Butler Yeats

Turning and turning in the widening gyre   

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere   

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst   

Are full of passionate intensity.

So… could be better.

The economic, cultural, and political context in which nonprofits operate shape their messaging, strategies, and results. And we know, despite the attitude of many, that the US is not the entire world. 

That’s why we make an effort to include the widest possible range of participants in the global version of our annual M+R Benchmarks Study (available at mrbenchmarks.com). And it’s why we are excited to once again partner with our friends at Rally to present this UK and Ireland edition of M+R Benchmarks. 

Our analysis and findings are based on data provided by 39 Benchmarks participants based in the UK and Ireland. These organisations work to make the world a better place across a variety of issues, and we are grateful for the extraordinary impact they make every day. 

We are also grateful, specifically, for the time they have taken to share data and answer questions about their digital programmes. Their contributions have allowed us to explore detailed results across digital channels, including email, mobile messaging, social media, advertising, and web traffic. And, they let us separate out any differences between how supporters are engaging in the UK and Ireland compared to the rest of the world. 

So many amazing organisations! Such a treasure trove of data! Surely some revelation is at hand. Let’s go take a look. 

Benchmarks Editorial Team

  • UK/Ireland Insights / Paul de Gregorio / Fiona Pattison
  • Writing / Will Valverde / Johanna Levy
  • Data Analytics / Jonathan Benton / Theresa Bugeaud / Lia Mancuso / Michelle Hertel / Alec MacIntyre / Evan Aczon / Dan Stevens / Porscha Stiger
  • Design / Laura Klavon
  • Website Development / Bobby Burch / Tom Giordano
  • Participation Management / Lucy Midelfort
  • Project Management / Lucy Midelfort / Alexandra Hart / Bobby Goldstein
  • Insights / Diego Ruiz / Lia Mancuso / Rachael Wolber / Sarah DiJulio / Sarah Coughlon / Michelle Stikeleather / Miranda Carter / Marium Navid / Yasmin Harrell / Jessica Bosanko / Marc Ruben
  • QA / Anne Paschkopic / Michelle Hertel / Evan Aczon / Dan Stevens / Porscha Stiger / Alec MacIntyre / Evan Aczon
  • Publisher / Madeline Stanionis

About M+R

We believe that the nonprofits we work for are essential to advancing the cause of justice, alleviating suffering, and solving the greatest challenges we face.

We bring experience, talent, and unshakable dedication to our clients through fundraising and supporter engagement, movement building and issue advocacy, and message and brand development.

We have more resources, advice, tools, and other fun stuff waiting for you at www.mrss.com

About Rally

Rally was formed in 2018 by Paul de Gregorio as an alternative to the traditional agency model. They mobilise public support behind world changing organisations and causes fighting for a fairer, healthier, safer, greener, more equal world.

They’re small, but mighty, working with clients to define the problem or question that needs answering and creating ambitious, impactful and effective public mobilisation plans and strategies. They then activate those plans via a network of like-minded partners and freelancers to create bespoke project teams that match exactly the external skills that clients need.

You can find out all about them at www.wearerally.co.uk.

Metrical Feats

Here’s what you need to know about how we count things:

  1. Throughout the charts and analysis, we have isolated results from organisations based in the UK and Ireland. The vast majority of participants from outside the UK and Ireland are based in the United States, so that is mostly who we mean when we refer to “Other Countries.”
  2. For the sake of consistent comparisons, we’ve normalised all revenue and expense figures to British pounds. For the study, we used the conversion rates on 1 January 2025: £1 to $1.25, and £1 to €1.21
  3. Wherever possible, we have broken out the findings by sector. Each of our participants self-identified the appropriate sector (or, in some cases, fell outside of our defined sectors and selected “Other”). If you are not sure which sector represents your peer group, review the full list of participants to find where you belong.
  4. We also sort our participants by size. For our study, “Smaller” refers to nonprofits with annual online revenue in 2024 below £3,000,000 (€3,630,000); and “Larger” covers all those with annual online revenue greater than £3,000,000 (€3,630,000).
  5. The averages displayed in each chart and discussed throughout Benchmarks represent the median figure for a given metric for all participants who reported data. We do this to avoid having one or two outliers with extraordinary results from having too much influence, as might happen with a mean average.
  6. Not all participants were able to provide data for every metric. If a chart does not include data for a certain sector or size, it’s because we were not able to collect enough results to report a reliable average.
  7. In addition to the median figure, some charts display a range showing the 25th percentile to the 75th percentile. Half of all reported values fell within this range, which can be considered “normal” results for participants in our study.
  8. When reporting metrics for regular giving (as in revenue or number of gifts), we report the value of the first payment only.
  9. Some fundraising data excludes individual donations over £10,000 (€12,100). We identify in each chart if it includes gifts over £10,000 (€12,100).
  10. Shall I compare thee…se results to what was reported in the 2024 Benchmarks Study? No. Don’t do that. We have a different pool of participants this year, so those comparisons would mislead. Wherever we report year-over-year changes, we are including long-term data from this year’s participants. (Who are, by the way, both lovely and temperate.)