White Courtesy Telephone

Online Giving in 2017

Fellow blogger Gayle Roberts is hosting this month’s Giving Carnival.  She’s inviting all comers to write on the future of fundraising.  Here’s WCT’s contribution ...

One of the most significant barriers to online giving is all the stuff that needs to happen between the time you’re moved by that National Public Radio story about homeless children and the moment you confirm your online credit card donation to Helping Homeless Children, Inc. 

You’re required to start your computer, launch your browser, do a Google search for the appropriate charity, click the “Donate Now” button on the charity’s website, wait until you’re transported to the appropriate giving page, fetch your credit card, fill in the required fields, and confirm your gift.

Ten years from now, sensors surgically implanted in your brain by the Department of Homeland Security will automatically register your intention to give and send radio signals to your government-monitored bank account.  A donation in the appropriate amount will be transferred to one of the DHS-approved organizations on the Patriot’s List of Market-Based Solutions to Social Problems.  Finally, to confirm the transaction, a wireless signal will stimulate your pleasure center.

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Image source: news@nature.com

Cyber-Donors: If You Cut Them, Will They Not Leave?

       P   O   S   T   E   D       B   Y       A   L   B   E   R  T

Because our online encounters are mediated by servers, cables and radio waves, and because they happen in a virtual space defined by 1s and 0s, they often have a gauzy, unreal quality.

We use pseudonyms to preserve our anonymity.  We leave drive-by comments on blogs and other online meeting places, seldom deepening our relationships beyond one or two exchanges.

We’re there one instant, gone the next.

Unfortunately, many of us who work at nonprofit organizations carry these same Internet habits to our encounters with online donors.

In a recent article titled “Cyber Journey: A real-world look at online fundraising,”* Tom Gaffny describes how he went online and donated $15 to each of the 66 largest charities in the United States.  He wanted to know how today’s charities are treating online donors, and his results were eye-popping and, frankly, heartbreaking.

Only nine of these charities saw Tom’s gift as an opportunity to establish and begin nurturing a relationship with a new donor:

While the “Yep, we got [your gift]” crowd dealt with me at arm’s length, and the “Thanks, we’re grateful” organizations reached out to shake my hand, this group [of organizations] wanted to give me a hug and a pretty big pat on the back.

I strongly recommend Tom’s article for some great tips on how to follow up on a gift from a cyber-donor.

It’s been well established that online donors tend to be more generous than their off-line counterparts.  Given the cold cyber-shoulder we so often present them, is it any wonder they’re also less likely to continue contributing after their initial gift?

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* The NonProfit Times, March 15, 2007, pp. 20-21.

The Young, The Generous, The Connected

Online giving represents only 2-3 percent of the $200 billion in charitable giving by individuals in the United States, but it’s expected to increase rapidly as more and more donors come to value the efficiency and security of online transactions.

It hasn’t grown faster, I believe, because a lot still stands between the initial motivation to give (that heartbreaking story on NPR about homeless children, for example) and the actual movement of charitable dollars.  A donor is required to fire up her computer, open her browser, do a Google search for the appropriate charity, click the “Donate Now” button on the charity’s website, wait until she’s transported to the appropriate giving page, fetch her credit card, fill in the required fields, and confirm her gift.  E-philanthropy in the 23rd century will almost certainly be a more spontaneous affair.

Until then, those of you who’ve used online giving sites like TouchDC.org should consider yourselves trailblazers.  A recent survey by the good people at Network for Good informs us that you’re also to be celebrated for your extraordinary generosity.  According to this survey:

• Online donors give significantly more than offline donors.
• Online givers are young, with men and women giving in equal numbers.
• Donors are not new to giving, but they tend to be new to giving online.
• Disaster relief is the leading category of giving and ranks among top searches; other leading giving categories are international causes, animal-related causes, human services and education.
• Donors turn to the Internet at times of disaster and for year-end giving.
• People seem to be at their most generous on weekdays, not weekends.
• The number one reason donors say they give online is convenience: it is easier than writing a check.

A nonprofit organization’s Web presence becomes more and more critical as more donors go online to learn about the causes they care about.  It’s also possible that this increasing traffic in cyberdonors will someday drive the development of new kinds of online networks for those committed to strenghtening civil society.  I know this has long been the dream of my colleague at Gift Hub.

E-Philanthropy’s Brave New World

The year: 2235.  Zerbina, a successful interplanetary trader, and her holohusband Zork, are waking up to their first cup of Andromedan coffee.  They have their central communications unit tuned to Intergalactic Public Radio, and host Robert Siegel-backslash-12 is relating the top news story of the day.  An extended Martian drought has left tens of thousands of poor migrant settler families with diminishing supplies of food and water, he reports.  One of their spokesmen urges legislators to pass the Emergency Relocation Bill that has been stalled in the World Senate for weeks.

Zerbina is moved to take action.  “Computer,” she says softly, “Who’s helping the Martian settler families?”  Instantly her hyperbrowser searches the iWeb for nonprofit organizations that are providing relief to the beleaguered families, displaying a list of names and profiles on the smartsurfaces of her apartment.  She scrutinizes the list: there are 690 different organizations headquartered on six planets and three moons.

“Which of these organizations has the strongest advocacy record?” Zerbina asks thoughtfully.

Her hyperbrowser once again springs into action, instantly sorting through and interpreting tens of thousands of press releases that have been posted to the iWeb.  The Intergalactic Immigration Forum jumps to the top of the list.

Zerbina smiles: she knows this organization well.  Responding to a small donation she had made to them a while back, they had been sending her holographic newsletters for several months, keeping her apprised of their work.  The Forum had long ago applied for and received iWeb Charity Accreditation, enabling the organization to accept secure subspace money transfers.

“Computer,” she says, “Transfer twenty gigacredits to the Intergalactic Immigration Forum.  Mark the transfer ‘for support of the Martian migrant families.’”

“Transfer confirmed,” replies the machine, in a soothing, albeit somewhat metallic, voice.

We’re not quite there yet, but a number of initiatives are giving us glimpses of the future of web-based philanthropy.  To paraphrase George Burns, we should look to the future because that’s where we’re going to spend the rest of our lives …

According to a press release I received from a company representative, PRODEGE is helping nonprofit organizations raise funds by giving them their own private-label search engines.  A nonprofit simply signs up with PRODEGE and encourages its supporters to do web searches on its dedicated search engine.  Each search generates revenues for the organization.  PRODEGE automatically tracks, reports, and distributes proceeds to its nonprofit partners on a monthly basis.  (If any WCT readers have used this product, please let me know.)

Our brilliant colleagues in the UK have dreamed up the One Million Masterpiece website.  The site invites visitors to use their mouses to paint or draw pictures while onsite.  Each visitor-artist is then asked to contribute £3.50 to have his or her masterpiece become part of a giant canvas that will be unveiled at a major London landmark (the birthplace of Jennifer Saunders?) in July 2007.  The group hopes to raise £3.5 million for a number of UK-registered charities including Oxfam, Save the Children, and the World Wildlife Federation.  Visitors can also use the site’s tools to create and post videos.  Pneumatic!

TouchDC introduces the people of Greater Washington to outstanding charities they might otherwise never hear about.  Powered by Network for Good, TouchDC enables donors to search for giving and volunteering opportunities by neighborhood and by program area.  The site provides donors a safe and convenient way to donate funds online.