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| President’s Letter Justus Baird CEC President Point, Click, Donate A few weeks ago I made my first cyber-donation. Actually, I tried to make my first cyber-donation. It was for a summer camp that I had just visited for a day. The brief experience was meaningful enough that I felt like writing a small check. When I went to their website to look for the mailing address, I noticed they had an online donation page. Since most “online donation pages” are nothing more than a printable form to mail in with a check, I was skeptical. But lo and behold, there was a secure form I could fill in with my credit card number. Excited, I quickly filled out the form and submitted it after pausing for a moment to determine an appropriate gift amount. The next page said something to the effect of “too bad - you have just encountered an error in our code - try again.” I did try again and got the same error message. Then I got concerned that they might try to charge my credit card each time I tried to donate, so I stopped and decided instead to e-mail the camp director to recount my experience. Despite my unlucky first experience, online giving is quickly becoming a real fundraising option. Consider this comparison of online vs. direct mail donors: All figures are about people willing to make a donation via:
(Chart taken from a report by the Mellman Group last fall. The report also discusses what features online social activists expect in a non-profit’s website, how they use the internet, and a segmentation of the group.) What’s most exciting about the prospect of online giving is the access to a different generation of donors – a group of donors that is probably underrepresented on your donor list. Generation X social activists (who now have jobs with real incomes) are much more likely to use the internet than the baby-boomers. Younger social activists want and expect the convenience of learning about issues, taking action, and even contributing to causes online. Since the online donors represent a somewhat different group from typical donors, online giving will not replace your current fundraising activities but instead will augment them. So how to get started? Setting up secure online credit card transactions can be fairly complicated and expensive, but there are some easy and inexpensive solutions now available. Helping.org has a free, secure service that allows non-profits to use helping.org’s credit card processing systems at no cost. Donors can make a contribution to your organization with their credit card, helping.org will process the transaction, and the funds are sent directly to your organization’s account via electronic funds transfer. (The Margaret Austin Center currently uses this service - check it out at www.macenter.org) Recently a number of e-commerce providers have also started initiatives to encourage non-profits to accept donations online. Like Helping.org, these services allow you to set up a secure online donation form and have the proceeds wired directly into your organization’s bank account, but they charge transaction fees ranging from 5-10%. Don’t feel left out: I did a quick survey of the websites of CEC member groups and found that only one of us is currently accepting donations online - the Green Party of Texas (with the exception of two national groups represented by local chapters: American Lung Association and Common Cause). If you decide to do some research, you’ll find that the world of online giving is bigger than just “click to donate” buttons. There are online malls that donate to non-profits, surfing schemes that give to non-profits if you view their advertisements, and much, much more. Keep in mind that the basic law of giving still applies online: Individuals give because of relationships they have with the people in your organization. That’s why I felt like writing a check to the summer camp, which, by the way, sent me an e-mail thanking me for the gift. And when I saw the camp director a few weeks later, we joked about how much fun it is to give online. Two recommended resources:
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