April 23, 2009, The Chronicle of Philanthropy — Kiva.org, the popular Web site that enables people to give small loans to entrepreneurs overseas, is attracting more and more donors despite the recession, its co-founder said today.
Atlanta, GA, April 18, 2009 — Several teenagers from the Metro Atlanta YMCA today became the first youth to be awarded micro grants through an innovative youth initiative called GivingPoint. One teen from Canton, GA, Lauren Steves, 15, a freshman at Cherokee High School, was the first teenager to reach 500 points on the GivingPoint system for her volunteer and philanthropic efforts.
April 14, 2009, The Chronicle of Philanthropy — Donations to 75 of the nation’s largest charities have fallen in the past year, adding to problems caused by a multi-year decline in the number of donors who give in response to direct-mail solicitations, online appeals, and telemarketing, according to a study released today.
I hope you enjoyed last month’s article about online giving versus online fundraising, and why it’s so important to learn to distinguish one from another. For those of you who missed it, let me provide this disclaimer: I lead an online fundraising company, so my perspective is very pro-digital … but it’s also informed by 10 years of Internet fundraising experience, so I hope my insights will be of some value to you.
This month’s topic is timely as many of us face challenges in certain areas of our top-line income. As our major gifts and corporate support could be in decline in 2009, what can we do to pump up our digital giving?
CHICAGO, April 14, 2009 — For the second time this year, U.S. Cellular is putting up $1 million to help schools across the country. The company's new CALLING ALL TEACHERS campaign will funnel the funds directly into the hands of thousands of teachers to subsidize classroom materials and educational experiences for students. Between now and Teacher Appreciation Week May 4-8, 2009, the wireless company and its 9,000 associates are encouraging teachers to post projects on DonorsChoose.org, a philanthropic Web site that helps public school educators find money for classroom projects that exceed their limited budgets.
FREMONT, Calif., April 3, 2009 — People would be willing to give money to charities, and even give a greater amount of money through online donations if only it was easier for them to find out from the organization's website what its mission and goals were and its plans for spending the money. That's according to user-experience research firm Nielsen Norman Group, which released a report this week entitled "Donation Usability" that presents details from a study in which they observed potential donors struggling to find the information they wanted in order to decide whether and how much money to contribute online.
Convio, Inc., today announced the results of its annual Convio Online Marketing Nonprofit Benchmark Index Study. Viewed by many as the de facto standard for measuring online results for nonprofits, this year’s study indicates that online engagement — whether it is fundraising, advocacy or building a constituent database — continues to see positive growth even in a down economy.
For many fundraising organizations, the first step to becoming digital is to create a Web site. Think of this Web site as the public lobby to your digital organization. A few questions: Is it tidy? Is it inviting? Is there a friendly receptionist?
People who go online to donate to charity for the first time often do not return to the Internet to make later gifts, according to a new study examining the experience of 24 nonprofit groups.
Target Analytics, a Blackbaud (Nasdaq: BLKB) company, today released the 2008 donorCentrics™ Internet Giving Benchmarking Analysis. Key findings from the Analysis indicate that over the past few years, online giving has become an increasingly significant source of new donor acquisition, and integrating online and offline fundraising channels is key to long term success.
