Few Charities Are Raising Big Amounts Via Social Media, Says Study

May 12, 2011 | Read Time: 1 minute

Not many charities are raising significant amounts of money through social networks, but the ones that are come in a variety of sizes, according to a new study.

Fewer than 3 percent of the 11,196 nonprofit groups that responded to the Nonprofit Social Network Benchmark survey said that they raised more than $10,000 on Facebook in 2010.

But of the 27 charities that reported raising more than $100,000 on Facebook, 30 percent had annual budgets of $1-million to $5-million.

Nearly nine out of 10 organizations in the survey said they have a presence on Facebook. Almost 60 percent of the groups use Twitter, and nearly a third say they are on LinkedIn.

The study was sponsored by the Nonprofit Technology Network; Blackbaud, a fund-raising software company, in Charleston, S.C.; and Common Knowledge, a technology-consulting company in San Francisco.

Today's Top Jobs

About the Author

NICOLE WALLACE

Features Editor

Nicole Wallace is features editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy. She has written about innovation in the nonprofit world, charities’ use of data to improve their work and to boost fundraising, advanced technologies for social good, and hybrid efforts at the intersection of the nonprofit and for-profit sectors, such as social enterprise and impact investing.Nicole spearheaded the Chronicle’s coverage of Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts on the Gulf Coast and reported from India on the role of philanthropy in rebuilding after the South Asian tsunami. She started at the Chronicle in 1996 as an editorial assistant compiling The Nonprofit Handbook.Before joining the Chronicle, Nicole worked at the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs and served in the inaugural class of the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps.A native of Columbia, Pa., she holds a bachelor’s degree in foreign service from Georgetown University.