Online fundraising is the raising of charitable funds through the internet. It is a relatively new form of fundraising and still brings in a tiny proportion of total donations, though growing rapidly.
Some charities offer the facility to make donations through their own websites; others rely on third-party websites to collect donations for them. Some charities also raise money through the sale of virtual gifts, offering donors the opportunity to ‘send a goat’ to another person when really they are simply giving the gift as cash to a charity.
An East Sussex-based animal welfare charity has launched a new website in a bid to increase online donations and become less reliant on legacy gifts.
Almost half of users who start an online donation fail to complete it, according to a new report which urges the sector to adopt a more personal approach to online donations.
Hundreds of charities may have lost the ability to accept online donations after web-based donation service Charity Choice upgraded its website and changed the links from charities' own sites.
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The Big Give is reviewing last December’s match fund challenge, which raised more than £11.5m, after unprecedented levels of demand forced the challenge to be postponed for a day.
The Big Give has relaunched its match challenge this morning after the site crashed at launch yesterday, leaving hundreds of charities and their supporters waiting for their promised matched donation opportunity.
The Unicef campaign which allows donors to buy one of nearly 17 million colours has raised more than £85,000 in its first six weeks.
Donors do not accurately predict what kinds of messages will get them giving, according to new research from eBay and nfpSynergy.
Fundraisers should not rely on Twitter according to founder of Twestival, Amanda Rose.
Depaul UK’s iHobo app is still being downloaded 1,500 times a week and is not even available yet on the Android platform.
A website that rewards users with a ‘social currency’ for sharing, volunteering or donating to charity launched earlier this week.
People who make donations on JustGiving pages after being prompted on Twitter are nearly twice as generous as those who are inspired to give by a Facebook prompt, according to new figures.
BBC Children in Need has built a fundraising Facebook app in partnership with PayPal to encourage its 500,000 Facebook fans to donate.
The Disasters Emergency Committee has announced that the East Africa Crisis Appeal has raised the highest amount of any of its campaigns through text donations, without taking away from other donation channels.
British Heart Foundation has launched a virtual fish tank, which will be filled with user-generated fish, as part of its Mending Broken Hearts Appeal to raise awareness of the research it is doing.
The NSPCC has increased the amount it raised through a silent auction at its X-Factor ChildLine Ball by using iPads.
The Charities Aid Foundation has created a donation widget for its customers.
A product design graduate from Dundee University has built a donation robot which aims to engage with the public in a fun way.
The charity sector lacks knowledge and understanding about interactive technology according to a new report.
CRM company Blackbaud has entered the mobile fundraising market in force with the launch of a mobile platform in the UK.
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Blackbaud has acquired peer-to-peer fundraising platform Everyday Hero in a purchase which suggests competition could get even more fierce in the online giving platform market in the UK.
The Big Society Network has announced a new programme in partnership with the Nominet Trust and Nesta to promote technology-enabled philanthropy.
The League Against Cruel Sports has launched a new SMS donation feature within its Facebook fanpage.
Technology plays a key role in which charities younger donors choose to support, according to research from Accenture.
The charity sector is “lagging behind” other sectors such as travel and retail when it comes to embracing new technology, according to Leigh Smyth, the managing director for the digital champion at Race Online 2012.
A Bob Marley single has been released to raise money for Save the Children’s East Africa appeal alongside a lare-scale social media campaign.
Unicef is due to receive a boon from Everything Everywhere mobile customers as the operator launches an appeal for the charity’s East Africa crisis work.
YESpay International and Itim have integrated the Pennies software into their payments software enabling the first launch of the microdonation scheme on the high street.
The Disasters Emergency Committee has raised more than £1m in text donations, five times more than its past record, to bring the total for its East Africa Crisis appeal to over £42m.
