Donors in the US are getting more comfortable giving via the internet according to new research which shows a 34.5 per cent spike in online giving in that market last year.

This increase means that online giving now accounts for 7.6 per cent of donations to American non-profits, as opposed to 5.1 per cent in 2009.

Large charities have benefited the most from this increase, possibly as a result of the impact of the Haiti earthquake appeals many of the larger aid organisations will have run early in the year. The Blackbaud 2010 Online Giving Report shows that the largest charities saw a 55.6 per cent increase in donations online over 2010.

Small charities also saw a significant spike in web-based donations, with a 22 per cent rise in online gifts to those organisations, but it was in the middle where the increase was least profound. Medium-sized charities did still see an increase in their online fundraising but a significantly lower rate, 15.9 per cent.

The study found also that larger gifts are also being made online. The majority of charities (88 per cent) received gifts of more than $1,000, with the median gift in this range coming in at $1,250.

The impact of the Haiti disaster was significant, with January 2010 accounting for nearly a fifth (18.4 per cent) of all online gifts made throughout the year.

Steve MacLaughlin, director of internet solutions at Blackbaud, said there were many factors at play in the results. “A recovering global economy, online response for disaster relief, peer-to-peer fundraising, and the role of social media in the non-profit sector all shaped 2010,” he said.

The report, released this week, is based on the online giving results of nearly 2,000 organisations of varied size.