Wise Giving Wednesday: Online Charity Fundraising

As reported in The NonProfit Times, the Nonprofit Tech for Good (a social and mobile media resource for nonprofit professionals) conducted research for a new survey: The Global NGO Technology Report. This survey included over 5,000 nonprofit organization participants from 164 countries.  This survey is full of interesting points about online fundraising. Here are a few selected highlights: 

• 33% of organizations worldwide have used a “peer to peer” fundraising campaign.  Peer-to-peer is a type of crowdfunding website where individuals can create their own fundraising page on behalf of a charity which is then shared with family, friends and other contacts. 

• 71% of organizations agree that social media is effective for online fundraising but only 32% have a written social media strategy 

• The most popular social media used by nonprofits is Facebook (93%) followed by Twitter (77%), YouTube (57%) and LinkedIn (56%).  Note that these percentages incorporate fundraising, volunteer recruitment as well as brand awareness. 

• A charity’s website was chosen as the most effective communication and fundraising tool. 

In BBB WGA’s experience, direct mail fundraising continues to dominate the fundraising methods used by nationally-soliciting charities in the U.S., but organizations are rapidly adopting to new approaches and outreach opportunities that technology continues to provide. No matter which communication method a charity chooses to use to raise funds, donors are encouraged to continue to verify if the organization meets the 20 BBB Standards for Charity Accountability. 

Video of the Week 

As part of our Building Trust Video Series, we are pleased to provide a video featuring Delaney Gracy, M.D., Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, Children’s Health Fund (a BBB Accredited Charity) which seeks to deliver health care to disadvantaged children. Among other things, it has a national network that operates in 17 states and the District of Columbia that help reach over 75,000 individuals each year.  

Recent Reports 

We are always working with charities to publish or update reports for donors. Visit Give.org or local BBBs to check out any charity before giving. Our recently evaluated charities include:

• Gift of Adoption Fund
• National Center for Learning Disabilities
• Pueblo a Pueblo 

Finally, remember to let us know by going to https://give.org/ask-us-about-a-charity1/ if you are  interested in seeing a report on a charity not on the list and we will do our best to produce one.   

H. Art Taylor, President & CEO
BBB Wise Giving Alliance