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News Updates Survey: Adding Email To Fundraising Boosts Donors And Cash A new survey involving data from more than 625 nonprofit events, 430,000 participants and 800,000 transactions shows that fundraisers who raise money via the Internet generate more in both online and offline contributions than those who do not use email to solicit donations. The study was conducted by San Diego-based Kintera, a provider of online services to nonprofits. Fundraisers in the Kintera survey who used email raised, on average, $327 from 6.99 donors (including themselves). Those not using the Internet raised, on average, $55 from 1.48 donors (including themselves). The study also noted that, on average, the more emails sent to solicit contributions, the more participants raised -- both online and offline. The correlation between emails sent and the average offline amounts raised was due, to some extent, to the fact that online volunteers receive responses to their email solicitations in the form of cash or check contributions in person, as well as credit card transactions online. The study concluded that email solicitation results in not only additional online donors and donations, but also in more offline donors and donations. "By helping to build powerful online communities of supporters and beneficiaries, the Internet is going to play an increasingly important role in marketing and fundraising activities for nonprofit organizations," said Ephraim Feig, chief technology officer at Kintera. "Online management of all forms of fundraising -- not just events -- will become the norm. The nearly six-fold increase in amount raised by Internet users is due to the fact that those participants who are most committed to supporting the various nonprofit organizations are adopting the Internet as an outreach medium." Feig added, "Online solicitation indeed works. People who want to solicit are less inhibited online, ask more donors, receive more donations and ultimately raise more money." Copyright © 2006 The NonProfit Times. |
