Online Giving Rose at Many Big Charities

Donors contributed $124.5-million online last year to 135 of the nation’s largest charities, according to The Chronicle’s fourth annual survey of Internet giving.

The American Red Cross, in

Washington, raised $65,940,736, far and away the most of any nonprofit organization in the survey. Because the charity’s fiscal year starts on July 1, that figure includes the $63.4-million that the Red Cross raised electronically following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta had the second-highest online fund-raising total in the survey, raising $10-million, largely through electronic on-the-job campaigns.

Rounding out the top five were Campus Crusade for Christ, in Orlando, Fla., which raised $5-million online; Heifer International, in Little Rock, Ark., $4.9-million; and World Vision, in Federal Way, Wash., $2.9-million.

Of the 124 organizations that provided online-giving figures for the 2001 and 2002 fiscal years, the median increase in the amount raised was 88.3 percent, meaning that half of the charities had larger increases and half had smaller increases or posted declines. Seventeen organizations in the survey had decreases in online giving from 2001 to 2002.

Twelve organizations had increases of more than 1,000 percent, but that was largely because they started with very small totals for the 2001 fiscal year, which for some was the first year they did any fund raising online.

For example, Coral Ridge Ministries Media, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., had the highest percentage change in the survey, 137,064 percent. The organization started its online fund-raising program at the end of the 2001 fiscal year, and only raised $25 electronically that year, while it brought in $34,291 in 2002.

Of the 174 nonprofit organizations that responded to the survey, 140 said they did some form of online fund raising during the 2002 fiscal year. Five organizations were unable to report a dollar amount. Ten organizations said they did not do online fund raising in 2001, but began offering donors that option in the 2002 fiscal year.

Thirty-four stated they did not raise funds online in 2002. Ten of those organizations said they have started or will start online fund raising in 2003, while 11 others said they do not intend to conduct fund raising online.

The Chronicle sought online-giving data from the 400 nonprofit organizations that were included in the 2002 edition of the newspaper’s Philanthropy 400, which ranks the nonprofit groups that raise the most money from private sources.

Readers of the survey should take care when comparing organizations’ online fund raising year to year.

Some figures reported for online donations may not represent a full 12 months of operation because some organizations began accepting online donations in the middle of the fiscal year. Some organizations provided online-giving data for their headquarters, but not for affiliates.

Other organizations, such as the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation, do not actively solicit gifts online. Instead, they offer donors an option to contribute to local charities though their Web site.

The survey was conducted by Marni D. Larose with assistance from Stanley W. Krauze.