In this article from the current issue of the Chronicle of Philanthropy, the success of internet fund raising is explored. Good news for all the Parkway organizations to look at.
Here is an excerpt.
Charities Make Faster Connections
Fund raising for disaster relief helped lift online totals in 2005
By Nicole Wallace
Online giving to the nation's largest charities continued its steep climb in 2005, according to The Chronicle's seventh annual survey of online fund raising.
Electronic gifts to the 167 organizations that provided data for this year's survey topped $911.9- million in 2005. Donations to the 162 groups that provided figures for 2004 and 2005 were up 148.1 percent, from $366.1-million to $908.4-million last year. Online gifts more than doubled at 55 of these charities, and 90 groups achieved increases of more than 50 percent.
The staggering sums of money donated online to aid survivors of the Indian Ocean tsunamis and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita explain part — but not all — of the increase.
A Boon for Big Charities
But even groups that did not raise money for tsunami or hurricane relief saw big jumps in online revenue. Among the 127 organizations in the survey that did not raise money for either emergency, the median increase in online giving was 50.5 percent, meaning half of the organizations reported bigger gains and half had smaller increases or declines. The median increase for all groups was 60.4 percent.
Despite the overall growth, the importance of online fund raising as a source of donations varies greatly.
Some of the very largest charities have demonstrated that online contributions can account for 10 or 15 percent of an organization's fund raising, says Jeff Patrick, president of Common Knowledge, a consulting company in San Francisco that helps nonprofit groups use the Internet for fund raising and advocacy.
"If that revenue went away, it would be difficult or impossible to replace," he says. "Now, is it that way across the board? No."
Mr. Patrick says that mid-sized groups — those with annual revenue between $5-million and $50-million — are more likely to be exploring online fund raising, rather than be fully committed to it. "They're still trying to understand what it means for them," he says, "what the true potential is, and how it fits into their overall fund-raising strategy and planning."
Mr. Patrick's observations hold true in the survey. The three organizations that raised the most money are among the largest charities in the United States: Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund ($180-million), the American Red Cross ($157.7-million), and United Way of America ($140.9-million).
Six other organizations reported Internet gifts totaling more than $20-million, and seven raised between $10-million and $20-million.
