Is Online Fundraising a Bad Idea?
As I sit at my computer, the world is at my fingertips. I can order takeout from a local restaurant, express-deliver flowers to a friend across the country, and make a gift to my favorite organization—all without getting up.
Many nonprofits embrace online giving because it makes asking for gifts, processing payments, and thanking donors easier and less costly. Some organizations are investing heavily in online fundraising platforms like Razoo or CauseVox, or improving the donation process on their own website. Other organizations are transitioning from direct mail to online-only solicitations to cut costs and ease the staffing burden of processing payments by check.
But is this the right way to go? Each year, I conduct research on individual donor fundraising. Lately, I’m starting to wonder: Is online fundraising a bad idea?
The research for my Individual Donor Benchmark Project dives deep into the fundraising results of small (but mighty) organizations with budgets of $2 million or less. The project, now in its fifth year, included data from 155 organizations across the United States that volunteered to participate in the online survey...