THE CHRONICLE OF
PHIL A NTHROPY®
The Newspaper of the Nonprofit World
Volume XXIII, No. 12 • May 5, 2011 • $5
Web-Savvy Supporters Help Make
Online Giving an Expanding Bright Spot
60% of big charities say Internet fund raising is stronger so far in 2011
than a year ago, according to latest Chronicle survey
By Noelle Barton and Maureen West
ONLINE DONATIONS continue to swell charity cof- fers even at a time when many other types of donations have yet to rebound from the bad
economy, a new Chronicle study shows.
Six in 10 charities say they are raising more money
online this year than they were a year ago. And 2010
was a good year for online giving, as donations rose 34
percent for the nation’s biggest charities.
In perhaps the biggest sign that online giving has
reached financial maturity, nine charities in The
Chronicle’s survey reported they received individual
gifts of $100,000 or more online—and one of those was
for half a million dollars.
“There is a change in donors who are more comfort-
able online,” says Nancy Klein, chief marketing and
revenue officer at the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society,
in White Plains, N.Y., which collected one-third of all
its donations raised last year via the Internet.
Her group, an early adopter of online giving, raised
nearly $79-million online, more than any other group
but the American Red Cross and United Way World-
wide, according to The Chronicle’s survey.
The 140 large nonprofit groups that provided data
for the past two years to The Chronicle raised a com-
bined $1.2-billion in online donations in 2010, com-
pared with $887-million in 2009.
Better Web Sites
To boost online giving, many organizations im-
proved their Web sites over the past year, personaliz-
ing communication with donors and setting up special
features to encourage people not just to make gifts but
also to get involved in the cause.
And while some charities are raising substantial
parts of their budgets online, that is not yet the norm.
Online gifts accounted for a median of 1.5 percent of
Continued on Page 10
NATIONAL MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SOCIET Y
National Multiple Sclerosis Society rolled to
a $73.5-million total raised online in 2010.
Most Donors Intend
Why Donors Stop Giving
Ore. Crafts Novel Way
to Give More in 2011,
Priorities shifted
to other causes
41%
to Crack Down
New Study Finds
Asked to give
too often
32%
on Overhead Costs
Personal financial
situation has changed
30%
A Long Climb Back
n Newly released Internal Revenue
Service data show that giving
dropped as much as 20
percent during the worst of the
recession, a darker picture
than that presented by ‘Giving
USA.’ Page 8
By Suzanne Perry
ABILL THAT HAS BEEN INTRODUCED in Oregon has once again put charities across the country with igh fund-raising and administrative costs in
the spotlight.
The legislation, approved this month by the state
Senate, would disqualify charities that devote less
than 30 percent of their expenses to their programs
from getting gifts that are eligible for state tax deduc-
tions. The charities would be required to disclose to
potential donors that they are not eligible for the tax
breaks, and the attorney general’s office would pub-
lish a list of the disqualified organizations online. “It’s
certainly on the cutting edge of state efforts to require
charities to deploy more of their revenue into the com-
munity,” says Hugh R. Jones, a charity regulator in
Hawaii.
The law would ensnare only a small percentage of
Continued on Page 15
SP
EM
CB
Editor
Reporter
Other
By Holly Hall
FOUR IN FIVE DONORS plan to give at least as much in 2011, if not more, than they did in 2010, ac- cording a new study of more than 17,500 donors
that provided one of the first real signs that charities
can soon expect donations to rebound after the nation’s
four years of economic pain.
The study, based on data provided by donors who
support a range of charities across the country, includ-
ing arts, education, and social-service groups, showed
that only 7 percent of donors plan to decrease their
gifts this year, down from 17 percent in 2009.
Perhaps most surprising, the study found that the
majority of Americans will make their 2011 donations
online rather than through the mail, in response to
telemarketing calls, or other techniques. And the
study found that donors are getting increasingly frus-
trated by overly aggressive and costly appeals, prompt-
ing researchers to caution fund raisers that the con-
Internet Surges
Online giving is now such a strong habit, the survey
found, that donors at every age level prefer it. More
than half of donors 65 and older said they would give
online, the first time a majority in that age group said
they would give via the Internet.
Three-quarters of people 35 to 64 said they would
give online, while 86 percent of those under 35 prefer
to give that way.
The survey was conducted by Cygnus Applied Re-
search, a Chicago fund-raising consulting firm that
Fishing for Change
n The Greater New Orleans
Foundation gathers the city and
five Louisiana parishes together
in an effort to save the coastal
region from erosion—and
possibly rejuvenate the area’s
economy. Page 24
Publication: PHL
Filename: 2312miniCygnus
Colors used: 4
Size: (xxpts)
Date: 4/27/11
Time: 12 pm
Version: 2
SOURCE: Cygnus Applied Research
Continued on Page 7
ventional wisdom about the effectiveness of frequent
solicitations may be wrong.
