News

Digital giving attracts younger donors

Fundraising | Kirsty Weakley | 19 Sep 2011

Technology plays a key role in which charities younger donors choose to support, according to research from Accenture.

More than 50 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds surveyed said that the introduction of services like text and online donations has encouraged them to donate spontaneously.

One third of younger donors also said that they would give their money to another charity if they were unable to donate online or via text and 30 per cent said that they have donated to charities they would not previously consider because of the text or online option.

Accenture carried out the research with Action for Children as part of the company’s involvement with the IT industry fundraising event for the charity, Byte Night which takes place in October.

Emilia Carman, head of high-value fundraising at Action for Children, said: “It’s clear that technology is steering the course for charity today, and digital giving – especially for the emerging digital generation – means charities need to embrace new channels that best suit their audience.”

SMS donations success in latest DEC appeal

Polly Gilchrist, fundraising manager at the Disasters Emergency Committee, said that SMS donations to the DEC East Africa appeal had not impacted on the average amount of each donation received through other channels.

“There was the fear that it would lower the average donation amount but what we have found is that actually donations stayed the same or slightly increased.” She said.

Institute of Fundraising report into online giving

The second edition of the Institute of Fundraising’s report Passion, persistence and partnership: the secrets of earning more online, found that online charitable giving has increased by 85 per cent since the first report.

Three years ago 2 per cent of donations came from online sources and it has now risen to 3.6 per cent. It now generates similar return on investment to other forms of fundraising - an average income of £170,000 per member of staff on the online fundraising team. This puts it inbetween donor recruitment, with an average £137,000 per staff member and major gifts at £210,000 per staff member.
 
Tom Lodziak, digital media manager at the IoF said: “We are seeing increasing numbers of younger donors embracing digital giving options. Social networks like Facebook and Twitter seem to be driving charitable behaviour amongst certain groups.”

Produced by research company nfpSynergy the report said that rise of smartphones and social networking were a significant development and found that 71 per cent of charities were using Facebook and 62 per cent using Twitter to engage with supporters.

Directory: Action for Children | Disasters Emergency Committee | Institute of Fundraising