Overall charitable donations fell 3.6% in 2009 for a total of $303.75 billion while individual giving fell an estimated 0.4%, according to a new report from Giving USA Foundation. Overall, the results were better than expected for a year beset by economic turmoil and predictions that non-profit organizations would be among those most hurt by the financial pinch. Education, grant making foundations, arts and culture organizations and public-society benefit organizations all saw a decline in giving last year while donations were up for human services, health, international aid and environmental/animal-related charities, according to the report. A separate report from Target Analytics reviews fundraising performance by channel. Direct mail was the channel of delivery for 68% of fundraising revenue in 2009, according to Target Analytics’ report on direct marketing fundraising. While the proportion of revenue coming in online has been growing steadily, it accounted for only 9% of fundraising revenue in 2009 while 3% came in through telemarketing. Most new donors are acquired through the mail, according to the Target Analytics report, with 87% of all new donors acquired via direct mail. While the proportion of donors acquired online is growing rapidly, only 12% of new donors were acquired online in 2009. For some interesting ideas on how non-profits are effectively using direct mail, check out this article on the Association of Fundraising Professionals Web site, which discusses the growing importance of mail-recruited monthly donors, using direct mail to get close to donors and how direct mail plays well with other channels.