Artez Interactive

The fundraising technology "industry" is alive and well in 2010. Many of the most successful business enterprises that profit from the fundraising sector are in essence technology companies.

Workplace giving is an important part of philanthropy in North America, as it has been for a long time. It has been, and continues to be, driven by deductions automatically taken from an employee’s payroll. This makes it possible for people to give a greater amount via monthly deductions, and it also makes the giving process simpler for those employees with such a program.

Never before have the barriers to online fundraising been lower. Over the past couple of years, the challenges associated with the cost and technical expertise required to deploy online fundraising programs have just about disappeared.  These developments have changed the rules of the game for professional fundraisers—putting the power of online programs firmly in their hands. Getting creative and demonstrating the courage to try new things have instead become the barriers.

This year, the FS Advisor is introducing several new columnists who will be writing regularly for the newsletter. These industry experts will address a variety of technology-related issues as they pertain to fundraising. They are:

Global mobile statistics make Internet statistics look meager by comparison. Mobile subscriptions across the globe are expected to reach 4.6 billion by the end of this year, and mobile broadband subscriptions are estimated to top 600 million in 2009, having overtaken fixed broadband subscribers last year.

For many of you the upcoming holiday season will be the busiest time of the year for donations, and an increasing portion of those donations are arriving via your Web site. As a result, more of you are paying attention to your online donation pages. If you’re like many of our clients, all kinds of people are providing input, opinion and even demands about what your online donation pages should look like: "Center this." "Add that image." "Add this video." "Make it look more like that other charity’s donation page." Any of this sound familiar?

The question many nonprofit leaders ask is, “How much time should I be spending on social media?” The answer depends on your goals.

This month’s topic is dear to my heart. As the leader of a tool-building company, I spend a lot of time talking to organizations about the digital tools they’re using, the tools they like and the tools that don’t work. To keep this simple, I’ll group tools into categories or levels. Imagine you’re in the elevator of an e-philanthropy department store, and you’re ready to shop …

I have found that when talking about great online fundraising campaigns, we often cite the work of very large, very well-known organizations. But most of you — by definition — are small and have less than a handful of staff. When you hear about the digital success of huge fundraisers it can be hard to connect all the dots in order to apply their lessons to your particular situation.

“What is a sneezer?,” you may ask. I’m borrowing the term from Malcolm Gladwell in his fantastic book, “The Tipping Point.” If you haven’t read this yet, please do; it will help you become a great digital fundraiser. Basically, a sneezer is someone who is particularly contagious. Epidemiologists who study the spread of disease through any population note that some people are more infectious than others. Much more infectious! In the context of this article, imagine that the sneezer is an online fundraiser for your cause who is particularly good at bringing in lots of online donations.