Large nonprofit organizations led the way as online giving saw a significant surge, according to findings from The Blackbaud Index.
The Index, which is updated on the 15th of each month, showed that online giving was up more than 10 percent for the quarter ending in October while overall charitable giving increased more than 2 percent, all noticeable increases from the same three-month period in 2010. Larger nonprofits were the clear winners, as they saw a 16.6-percent surge in online giving. Let's give some love to the smaller nonprofits, though; they weren't too far behind with a 15.9-percent increase.
The only organizations to report declines of any kind were those in the environmental/animal welfare and healthcare sectors. Those two groups reported declines in overall giving of 4.2 and 2.3 percent, respectively. Environmental/animal welfare did see an increase in online giving, of 6.2 percent. Make sure to read the other findings over at The NonProfit Times.
Showing posts with label Online fundriaising. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Online fundriaising. Show all posts
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Monday, November 7, 2011
Virtual Walking And Other Creative Nonprofit Ideas
What if someone told you that they participated in a charity walk while reclining on their couch? You'd say they were crazy, right? Think again. Thanks to a concept called virtual walking, which was created last year by Fannie Mae for their annual Help the Homeless Walk, participants can help their favorite charity without ever leaving their home. It's one of many creative ideas that nonprofits are coming up with to survive, as reported on by The Washington Post.
The economic slowdown has made life tough for all Americans, and nonprofits have been especially hard hit. As a result, they have had to develop new, creative strategies to stay afloat. The Post article gives the example of Columbia, Md.-based Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults. The organization narrowed its operation from national to local to take advantage of the growing number of corporations that are giving locally rather than nationally.
As successful as the concept of the virtual walk has been for Help the Homeless Walk--it raised $6.5 million for 118 nonprofits in the D.C. area last year--there has been talk that Fannie Mae is planning to pull out of it in the future. As a result, a D.C. nonprofit called N Street Village is planning to run its own version of the event next year. Part of the preparation for this included using YouTube to recruit new participants. Stuart Allen, the organization's associate director of development, was quoted in the Post piece as saying that they wanted to start reaching out as early as possible so it won't feel as "shocking" for people who have already supported them using virtual walking.
These are just some of the creative ways nonprofits are adjusting to life in the 21st century economy. It's a rough job, but somebody has to do it. We recommend reading the whole article from The Washington Post on their website.
The economic slowdown has made life tough for all Americans, and nonprofits have been especially hard hit. As a result, they have had to develop new, creative strategies to stay afloat. The Post article gives the example of Columbia, Md.-based Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults. The organization narrowed its operation from national to local to take advantage of the growing number of corporations that are giving locally rather than nationally.
As successful as the concept of the virtual walk has been for Help the Homeless Walk--it raised $6.5 million for 118 nonprofits in the D.C. area last year--there has been talk that Fannie Mae is planning to pull out of it in the future. As a result, a D.C. nonprofit called N Street Village is planning to run its own version of the event next year. Part of the preparation for this included using YouTube to recruit new participants. Stuart Allen, the organization's associate director of development, was quoted in the Post piece as saying that they wanted to start reaching out as early as possible so it won't feel as "shocking" for people who have already supported them using virtual walking.
These are just some of the creative ways nonprofits are adjusting to life in the 21st century economy. It's a rough job, but somebody has to do it. We recommend reading the whole article from The Washington Post on their website.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
All About Online Payment Systems
Here's how fundraising used to work: Your organization would get a pledge and wait for the donation to arrive in the mail as a check. Today, there’s an entirely new front in the battle for donations that didn’t even exist 15 or 20 years ago. In addition to those checks you might still get from donors, you have to think about processing payments online. This topic was covered in-depth by an article in the latest edition of The NonProfit Times:
Like any endeavor, nonprofits have to consider what it is they’re trying to accomplish when they consider online processing vendors. Whether it’s a small nonprofit being able to accept online transactions or a more nuanced organization aiming to improve the conversion rates of its online donation form, these are questions your charity must ask.
Credit card processing online is a commodity, said Jim Barney, vice president of sales and marketing at Blacksburg, Va.-based Click & Pledge. “You can go to 500 different places and someone will open a merchant account for you. It’s easy to find the lowest price, just shop around. The key to getting value is, what do you get with it,” he said. For a nonprofit, it’s not always about getting the cheapest price on credit card processing fees, he said, but about the software and tools to help make it more successful.
Every payment processor in the industry has core competencies and different features for clients, said Nim Patel, CEO of Mobile Accord in Denver. But when examining mobile payment processing, things to consider include services, the reliability of the system and its overall strength. Large nonprofits have to remember that they have some sway, which could help them get a better rate. “The nonprofit market is not completely ignored by these guys (credit card companies). For larger organizations, the thing they need to realize is they do have some purchasing power. They shouldn’t take what’s offered at face value, try to negotiate,” said Hayden Stewart, vice president of information technology at online fundraising firm Convio in Austin, Texas.
Nonprofits can use PayPal as a donation method within their other providers. “We plug in to your existing solution, and work with the partner you use to power your donation form,” said Clam Lorez, director, nonprofit engagement, at PayPal. “There are a lot of small nonprofits that use PayPal donate buttons as an off-the-shelf solution for their really basic needs,” he said. Other nonprofits use a suite of PayPal products, handling all different types of transactions. PayPal has more than 200,000 nonprofit accounts and handled almost $1.8 billion in transactions for nonprofits last year.
Make sure to check out the full article by visiting our website.
Like any endeavor, nonprofits have to consider what it is they’re trying to accomplish when they consider online processing vendors. Whether it’s a small nonprofit being able to accept online transactions or a more nuanced organization aiming to improve the conversion rates of its online donation form, these are questions your charity must ask.
Credit card processing online is a commodity, said Jim Barney, vice president of sales and marketing at Blacksburg, Va.-based Click & Pledge. “You can go to 500 different places and someone will open a merchant account for you. It’s easy to find the lowest price, just shop around. The key to getting value is, what do you get with it,” he said. For a nonprofit, it’s not always about getting the cheapest price on credit card processing fees, he said, but about the software and tools to help make it more successful.
Every payment processor in the industry has core competencies and different features for clients, said Nim Patel, CEO of Mobile Accord in Denver. But when examining mobile payment processing, things to consider include services, the reliability of the system and its overall strength. Large nonprofits have to remember that they have some sway, which could help them get a better rate. “The nonprofit market is not completely ignored by these guys (credit card companies). For larger organizations, the thing they need to realize is they do have some purchasing power. They shouldn’t take what’s offered at face value, try to negotiate,” said Hayden Stewart, vice president of information technology at online fundraising firm Convio in Austin, Texas.
Nonprofits can use PayPal as a donation method within their other providers. “We plug in to your existing solution, and work with the partner you use to power your donation form,” said Clam Lorez, director, nonprofit engagement, at PayPal. “There are a lot of small nonprofits that use PayPal donate buttons as an off-the-shelf solution for their really basic needs,” he said. Other nonprofits use a suite of PayPal products, handling all different types of transactions. PayPal has more than 200,000 nonprofit accounts and handled almost $1.8 billion in transactions for nonprofits last year.
Make sure to check out the full article by visiting our website.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Erie Gives Day Rakes In The Cash
A couple of years back, we wrote a story about Giving Days in a number of states. Those events were met with a great deal of success, and now it appears Erie, Pennsylvania is experiencing the benefits of online philanthropy.
GoErie.com reported today that Erie Gives Day raised $690,513 for the 223 nonprofits that were involved in the event. Considering that the number stood at $582,038 with only two hours left, the amount raised is staggering. Community leaders said that the cash raised will significantly boost the nonprofit sector. The cash comes with additional meaning since organizations are expecting large reductions in state funding later in the year. The nonprofits involved will receive their donations on August 12th at the Erie Community Foundation.
This story is not only an example of the extraordinary generosity of citizens in this country, but also of the power of online fundraising. More and more, we are seeing that this medium can be used to great effect. One of the more recent examples of this came in the case of Reel Grrls's spat with Comcast.
You can read more about Erie Gives Day by visiting GoErie.com.
GoErie.com reported today that Erie Gives Day raised $690,513 for the 223 nonprofits that were involved in the event. Considering that the number stood at $582,038 with only two hours left, the amount raised is staggering. Community leaders said that the cash raised will significantly boost the nonprofit sector. The cash comes with additional meaning since organizations are expecting large reductions in state funding later in the year. The nonprofits involved will receive their donations on August 12th at the Erie Community Foundation.
This story is not only an example of the extraordinary generosity of citizens in this country, but also of the power of online fundraising. More and more, we are seeing that this medium can be used to great effect. One of the more recent examples of this came in the case of Reel Grrls's spat with Comcast.
You can read more about Erie Gives Day by visiting GoErie.com.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
New Management Tips From The Bridge Conference
With The NonProfit Times attending the recently concluded 2011 Bridge Conference, we had the opportunity to pick up some new management tips based on the information presented at the event. As such, we updated our site with three new tips in Research, Database, and Online. Here is one on the subject of online fundraising:
With online fundraising, content is important. Don’t forget the content.
With online fundraising, technology is important. Don’t forget the technology.
So, which is more important? Both are important. During the recent Bridge Conference, Shabbir Imber Safdar of The Safdar Group tried to put things in perspective.
He gave this advice: When you have consistently put out a small, original email every other week for four months that talks about your work without being repetitive or tired, you’ve conquered the content beast. That done, you probably have enough experience producing content to look at your technology.
Once you do that, there is the minimum functionality you need:
• You have a constituent relationship management (CRM) system that understands basic nonprofit donor management.
• People who come to your website can sign up for your email list without your manual intervention.
• You can easily create donation forms and link them.
• You can place a piece of Javascript code on the donation form, the donation Thank you page and other pages of your website.
• You can compose an email (without using HTML); you can send an email and track opens and clicks.
He also said that an organization at this stage might also have to suffer with:
• Manually adding people from your donation forms to your CRM or your email list, and;
• A website that doesn’t look all that great.
To read the other tips from the Bridge Conference, visit NPT's management tips page.
With online fundraising, content is important. Don’t forget the content.
With online fundraising, technology is important. Don’t forget the technology.
So, which is more important? Both are important. During the recent Bridge Conference, Shabbir Imber Safdar of The Safdar Group tried to put things in perspective.
He gave this advice: When you have consistently put out a small, original email every other week for four months that talks about your work without being repetitive or tired, you’ve conquered the content beast. That done, you probably have enough experience producing content to look at your technology.
Once you do that, there is the minimum functionality you need:
• You have a constituent relationship management (CRM) system that understands basic nonprofit donor management.
• People who come to your website can sign up for your email list without your manual intervention.
• You can easily create donation forms and link them.
• You can place a piece of Javascript code on the donation form, the donation Thank you page and other pages of your website.
• You can compose an email (without using HTML); you can send an email and track opens and clicks.
He also said that an organization at this stage might also have to suffer with:
• Manually adding people from your donation forms to your CRM or your email list, and;
• A website that doesn’t look all that great.
To read the other tips from the Bridge Conference, visit NPT's management tips page.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Study Shows Online-Acquired Donors Switch To Mail, Not Vice-Versa
We hope everyone had a good Memorial Day Weekend! Now that the holiday is over, we are back again and already there is news to share. A new article was just published on The NonProfit Times website that features findings from the 2011 donorCentrics Internet and Multichannel Giving Benchmarking Report. That report found that the majority of donors do not use multichannel giving for their donations. Instead, they are using direct mail or online as their method of giving. The only donors that do significant multichannel giving are online-acquired donors, and this group has been switching to direct mail in recent years.
This may be somewhat surprising given the popularity of online technology these days, but the report finds that the ability of these online donors to start using direct mail, in addition to their other methods of giving, "significantly boosts the retention and long-term value of this group" beyond what it would be if they used only the online method of giving. Here are some other findings of the donorCentrics Report:
This may be somewhat surprising given the popularity of online technology these days, but the report finds that the ability of these online donors to start using direct mail, in addition to their other methods of giving, "significantly boosts the retention and long-term value of this group" beyond what it would be if they used only the online method of giving. Here are some other findings of the donorCentrics Report:
- Online-acquired donors are significantly younger and tend to have higher household incomes than mail-acquired donors.
- Online-acquired donors tend to give much larger gifts than mail-acquired donors.
- However, online-acquired donors tend to have slightly lower retention rates than mail-acquired donors.
- Multichannel giving is not ubiquitous. The majority of multichannel donors are those who are acquired online and then subsequently start giving direct mail gifts. This is the only situation in which there are significant numbers of cross-channel donors across all organizations.
- Every year, large proportions of online-acquired donors switch from online giving to offline sources -- primarily to direct mail. The reverse is not true, however; only a tiny percentage of mail-acquired donors give online in later years.
- For the large direct marketing organizations participating in the online benchmarking groups, the majority of gifts are still received through direct mail.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
What Donors Want: A Guide to Auction Items
Having a fundraising auction anytime soon? Then you might want to listen to the latest advice from Bidding For Good.
In the latest episode of Nonprofit Times TV, the Cambridge, MA-based organization lists some items that consistently pull in more donors than others. Travel and dining activities are among the largest draws, along with entertainment, sports, health spas, antiques, arts, and "unique experiences" (hikes, etc). Bidding For Good also lists several popular brands at online auctions, including Apple, Starbucks, Nintendo, and The Cheesecake Factory.
It makes a lot of sense that these items would be so popular at fundraising auctions, as they are things that any donor would enjoy. Travel is especially obvious, as everybody needs a break from the hustle and bustle of everyday life from time to time. Have you found the items Bidding For Good lists have held true for your auctions? Let us know in the comments section.
In the latest episode of Nonprofit Times TV, the Cambridge, MA-based organization lists some items that consistently pull in more donors than others. Travel and dining activities are among the largest draws, along with entertainment, sports, health spas, antiques, arts, and "unique experiences" (hikes, etc). Bidding For Good also lists several popular brands at online auctions, including Apple, Starbucks, Nintendo, and The Cheesecake Factory.
It makes a lot of sense that these items would be so popular at fundraising auctions, as they are things that any donor would enjoy. Travel is especially obvious, as everybody needs a break from the hustle and bustle of everyday life from time to time. Have you found the items Bidding For Good lists have held true for your auctions? Let us know in the comments section.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)