For the seventh consecutive year, Anthology evaluated and uncovered the top online giving patterns across 200+ institutions to guide 2022 fundraising strategies, as online giving continues to grow as a preferred giving channel for supporters.

"As higher education online giving continues to increase, donor priorities have shifted back toward a pre-pandemic mindset, with institutions moving their attention away from COVID-19-related assistance and student emergency funds to broader areas of focus such as student scholarship support and more general unrestricted support," said Susan Scholes, Chief Marketing Officer at Anthology. She added, "To attract new donors and increase donations, institutions are considering more innovative strategies to further personalize the giving experience."

The analysis discovered that the rate at which higher education donors contribute online has continued to climb year after year. Dollars raised in 2021 increased by 9 percent compared to the previous year, and the number of gifts grew by nearly 10 percent. In addition, the gap between donations to four-year public and four-year private institutions narrowed even more in 2021, with public institutions continuing to see more significant growth in dollars and gifts made online for the fourth year in a row.

The analysis also discovered that online Days of Giving continue to be a valuable way to encourage donors to support the institution. For example, on #GivingTuesday 2021, a record-breaking $2.7 billion was raised in one day from 35 million donors, an increase of 6 percent in donors compared to 2020. Institutions using the Anthology Encompass platform raised more than $9.8 million from over 37,000 donations made on Giving Tuesday.

Looking to 2022, institutions can expect to experience the following trends:

• continued growth in online giving
• further growth in digital wallet usage
• growth of gamification to move beyond Days of Giving to campaigns throughout the year