CharityVillage® Research: Friend-raising and fund-raising on the net

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Friend-raising and fund-raising on the net
October 16, 1996; Canadian FundRaiser

Within the climate of uncertain funding and increased demand, many nonprofit organizations find it difficult to justify committing dollars and resources to technology, particularly online services like the Internet. During a recent gathering of the Greater Vancouver chapter of the National Society of Fund Raising Executives (NSFRE), CharityVillage Assistant Webmaster Maggie Leithead encouraged nonprofits to examine the potential of this medium for furthering the mission of their organizations.
According to Leithead, the Internet is not about computers. It's about people --- communication, connection and community. Rather than focusing on the Internet as a place where kids play games or hack their way into FBI files, we should see it as a place were people seek and find help for everything from controlling cholesterol, to planning estates, to choosing colleges and universities. The Internet is, most fundamentally, about helping people.
Think of it as a "local" tool
Countering arguments that the Internet is useful only to national and international organizations with widespread membership, Leithead promoted its use as a very local tool - like the phone. While it is possible to call around the world, most people use it to share information with a colleague across town, or answer a question from a donor down the street. The same can be said of the Internet.
She did, however, caution listeners to consider the term "local" in two different contexts. The Internet can be helpful from a defined geographic perspective or to communicate within a defined interest area. It is about proximity of connection, not proximity of location, so that organizations with mutual interests - be that homelessness, heart and stroke, or habitats for wildlife - can connect with each other regardless of geographic location.
Most people do not need to be convinced of the Internet's power as a tool of cultivation and relationship building. Many, however, do not see its power as a tool for direct fundraising. In her talk, Leithead outlined some of the concerns associated with fundraising online, but also some of its successes. She also encouraged the audience to consider the "dark ages" before telemarketing and direct mail matured. Few people might then have believed that it was possible to solicit anything but pocket change without sitting down for a cup of tea or a visit with a member of the board. Today, the continued success of both methods, even in major gift and planned giving campaigns, may herald the potential success of Internet fundraising as well. Leithead cautioned against judging the potential of fundraising on the Internet too quickly, comparing it to complaining about the success of telemarketing in 1877, five years after the invention of the phone.
$1,500 in three weeks online
She offered an Internet grassroots fundraising success story about Cookin' on the Net , a 1995 campaign to support five charities bringing technology to children in poor communities across the United States. The organizers raised US$1,500 in just three weeks, all of it online. Visitors paid or pledged a minimum of $12 for a set of five recipes from prominent chefs in Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York. The first recipes were all appetizers, but to sustain donor interest, these were followed by entrees and desserts. Because of the low entry cost of just $12, the partnership between charities in different communities, and the multi-segment nature of the campaign, it shows a great example of very direct fundraising online.
Citing the few existing studies of Internet commerce and users, Leithead was nonetheless optimistic about the future of fundraising online. According to studies by Nielsen/CommerceNet, Survey Net, and researchers at the University of Michigan, thirteen percent of people using the Internet have already bought something online. Web commerce tallied $400 million in 1995 and is expected to surpass $600 million this year. User demographics are equally encouraging: about 23 per cent of Canadians and Americans have access to the Internet, an increase of 50 per cent from August, 1995; nearly 40 per cent of users are women; 48 per cent are over the age of 35; the average household income is $61,500, with 25 per cent earning more than $80,000; 64 per cent have at least a college degree; and 60 per cent employ the Internet for both business and personal use.
Pique their interest and curiosity
With these numbers in mind, the task of the online fundraiser is to create a vehicle that sparks the interest and curiosity of visitors. Leithead concluded that Canadian nonprofits, because of their strong background in relationship building and service, are perfectly situated to capitalize on the potential of the Internet as both a communication and fundraising tool.