In todays_ New York Times_ there is an interesting article about Online donations: Study shows first-time online donors often do not return.
The internet should be considered a highly important tool for fundraisers. Not only are an increasing number of people spending more and more time online. Due to demographic factors the average donations of Internet users (being more educated and thus earning more) are also higher than in the offline world. Also, in cases of disasters, such as hurricane Katrina, the internet has been extremely effective at soliciting financial support.
“How you get people to routinely give online is a nut no one has yet cracked.” Is that really so?
Nevertheless many charities envolved in a new study viewed Online-fundraising rather critical. The reason being that according to their experience, most people who donate online, only do so once.
How you get people to routinely give online is a nut no one has yet cracked.
says Tobias Smith, director of Online Communications at CARE.
One reason for this seems to be that non-profit organizations, once they have solicited the support of new donors online, tend to prefer to drag them back into the offline world and target them with their direct mailing.
Direct mail may not be a Maserati, but it’s very effective because it is very highly evolved,” said Lori Held, membership marketing director at Trout Unlimited. “We know how to ask for money using the mail, but most organizations are still trying to figure out how to do that online.
Less Control vs. more Liveliness and Relevance
Sure, most non-profit organisations don’t have much of a clue how to use the internet effectively. I believe this to be an area where betterplace.org can really make a contribution. On betterplace, repeat-donors are common. As far as my informed guess (based on our data analysis) goes, a main reason for this are the constant feedback loops, which keep one-time donors continuously updated about the projects progress. Everytime the project manager writes in his/her project blog, uploads new photos or videos, donors are informed about this by mail (of course, only if they wish so). Experience Giving, is what Moritz calls it.
The community features and the open marketplace create a really lively environment for projects posted in the plattform. A liveliness which is very hard to establish on charity websites, which are designed as enclosed spaces. I can see that charities are afraid of presenting their projects next to those of many other - the next similar (better presented? more effecutive?) project may be just one click away. This apparent loss of control is amplified by the fact that betterplace.org doesn’t disclose donors addresses.
But there is much more to be gained than lost:
new donors can be found online. Especially young people, who suddenly see social initiative in a facebook format can be real fun. Granted that it is easy and fun, as one knows who is receiving the money and what is being achieved with it
matching between donors (with at times very specific interests) and suitable organisations is much, much easier (wait for my upcoming blogpost about “The long tail of charity”). Consequently organisations will get more “customized” donors, who will - if the organisation delivers what it promises - be faithfull partners.
transparency and a culture of accountability will become standard requirements and efficient and effective organisations, which live up to these standards, will get a much bigger piece of the donation-pie. This can (may I say, should?) be a real incentive for organisations to improve their work, as more and more people are looking over their shoulders and have a voice in the public evaluation of their work. And this is a good thing, as we all want to get better at what we are doing.
Last, but not least, one small advice for Tobias Smith, CARE’s online communications director. Get in touch with Astrid Marxen from CARE Germany, as she is experimenting with the use of the internet in order to gather support for medical assistance to Gaza, microcredits in Peru or survival packages for Burma. And we are just at the beginning. To really maximize on the web’s use for non-profits, I am really thankful for every organisation, be it small or large, to share with us at betterplace.org their interests and experiences, so that we can jointly make the world a betterplace.