One of my greatest passions is helping Christian non-profits succeed in their mission. Christian-web-masters.com focuses on helping Christian organizations with website resources. Accepting online donations is becoming one of the website resources which I most frequently recommend to the non-profits that I work with.
The chief reason for non-profits to accept online donations is the potential to develop a steady stream of recurring giving among its members. Most online donation systems allow donors to setup automatic monthly donations. These monthly automatic donations, will, over time, result in a predictable (usually steady and increasing) stream of giving. A predictable stream of income is a benefit to any non-profit, whether large or small.
Online donations are on the rise. In fact, according to a report from USA Today in June of 2005, online donations to the USA’s biggest charities increased 63% from 2003 to 2005. The ePhilanthropy Foundation has reported that online giving is growing exponentially each year, from $250 million in the year 2000 to more than $4.5 billion in 2005.
As a result of the growth amount of dollars being donated online and the increase in numbers of people giving via the web, E-commerce vendors and other technology companies have been on the move to help non-profits meet the rising need to accept online donations by providing new tools to help charities with online fundraising.
For more information on trends in online donations see:
USA Today Article About Online Donations
About.com About Online Donations
Network For Good Study on Online Giving
Online giving is particularly cost-effective for charities. While it can cost $1.25 to raise a dollar from a new donor through direct mail and more than $.63 through telemarketing, the costs per dollar of raising money online can be as little as five cents. (Sources: Fund-Raising Cost Effectiveness/James Greenfield, Cost-Effectiveness of Nonprofit Telemarketing Campaigns/Keating, Parsons & Roberts, and Network for Good.)
Once an online donations system is setup, non-profits and ministries will generally have less to manage than they do with traditional offline donations. There are no envelopes to open. Recording donations and giving may be done automatically and electronically, so there is less administrative work and likely fewer mistakes. There are no manual deposits needed. If your donors are set up to automatically give each month your non-profit will also save on having to send reminders, invoices, and receipts.
A recent study conducted by NetworkforGood.org, concluded:
Online donors are generous. Whether due to income levels, the impulsive nature of online giving or the credit card effect, online donors give significantly more than offline donors.
According to Giftsandofferings.com,
The GiftsandOfferings site points out that church member giving continues even while members are away on vacation or out of town.
Tomorrow: A look at implementing online donations for your ministry.