Real Donations From The Online World
by Jessica High

This July the American Cancer Society had their annual walkathon for which 2,000 were scheduled to attend. However, no one showed up- to walk that is. This year, the walkathon was done through Second Life, an online video world where you can create your own character and interact with the 10 million+ users. It may sound a little crazy but Second Life is becoming widely popular and some nonprofits are beginning to use it. The American Cancer Society raised over $200,000 in this past walkathon all through this online site.

Can you see where this is going? Online. According to Ted Hart, founder of People to People Fundraising, online giving has gone from $10 million in 1999 to $10.44 billion in 2007. Real donations are possible through all those online tools- Second Life, Facebook, Twitter. Even simple websites are important to donations.

“Studies show that as many as 50 percent of donors to charities today will go to a web site first before making a gift,” Hart said. “They may give offline, but the web site is a powerful tool to help them make up their minds.”

From these simple statistics, it is clear that there is opportunity but also the necessity that nonprofits take advantage of these opportunities. As evidenced by the American Cancer Society’s story, it is an important trend. Scott Bennett, their national vice president of marketing says, “As other technologies developed, we’ve leveraged them to take advantage of how Americans behave and what is most convenient.”

Online giving currently only makes up 10% of giving, but that number continues to increase whereas giving to mail solicitations remains flat. The number of online donors tripled between 2001 and 2005. Online giving is especially popular because of the fast response time. In light of the recent natural disasters, people have been able to rapidly give to organizations with a few clicks through a webpage. This is much better for donors and the receiving organization.

Hart said, “that is the next and key step in the Net presence of charities. They have done a good job of creating Web sites that give information. But as the Web develops its more interactive properties, where users not only read, but add information and start their own activities, it is important for nonprofits to understand and harness this new social movement.”

“Now, more than ever before, a charity’s Web site is its front door,” he said.

Other information taken from Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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