Online Donations are Increasing

While still a very small part of individual philanthropy, the practice is growing, as this report from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette notes.

An excerpt.

“Even if consumers aren't quite ready to abandon recessionary spending habits, they are opening their wallets a bit more for charities and more are tapping the Internet to make their contributions.

“Online gifts to nonprofits jumped 23 percent from March through May, compared with the same period of 2009, according to a new index that tracks donations. Total charitable contributions during that time -- including gifts made through traditional venues such as phone and mail -- increased 6.2 percent.

“The new report, The Blackbaud Index of Online Giving, looked at activity for nearly 1,800 nonprofits of various sizes that had combined annual online revenues of about $400 million.

“Blackbaud, a Charleston, S.C.-based consulting firm for nonprofits, launched the index for online giving because so-called "e-gifts" are the fastest-growing method of making donations, said Steve MacLaughlin, director of Internet solutions for Blackbaud.

“Giving online still makes up just a slice of total donations. Online revenue accounted for about 5.7 percent of overall fundraising revenue in the past year, the report said.

"We saw the growth and were interested in what percentage of total fundraising came from online," said Mr. MacLaughlin, who estimated more than $15 billion is raised in the U.S. online annually.”