CHARITABLE-GIVING SITES: A SAMPLER

June 15, 2000 | Read Time: 9 minutes

ALSO SEE:

Donation Sites With a Twist: Some New Approaches

Big Charities Have Raised Very Little Online So Far

Tips on Deciding Whether Your Charity Should Be Listed on Giving Web Sites

4charity.com http://www.4charity.com		CHARITY PARTICIPANTS More than 60 local, national, and international organizations FEES Deducts credit-card fees of up to 3 percent from each donation WHEN SITE WENT ONLINE April 2000 TOTAL AMOUNT RAISED Declines to reveal CHARITABLE-SOLICITATION REGISTRATION Is in the process of registering in states that require such action WHAT DATA CHARITIES RECEIVE ON DONORS Names and e-mail addresses of donors who give permission NOTES Is developing a feature to allow companies to use the site for payroll-deduction campaigns; plans to allow donors to give to any organization that is recognized as a charity by the I.R.S.; pledges to give company stock to charities that participate on the site

http://www.allcharities.com		CHARITY PARTICIPANTS Allows donors to give to any charity recognized by the I.R.S. FEES No money is deducted from donations or otherwise charged to donors or charities WHEN SITE WENT ONLINE October 1999 TOTAL AMOUNT RAISED About $250,000 CHARITABLE-SOLICITATION REGISTRATION Is registered in all states that require such action WHAT DATA CHARITIES RECEIVE ON DONORS Gives donors option of providing names, mailing addresses, e-mail addresses, or none of those to charity beneficiaries NOTES Company has created a tax-exempt organization called the Internet Giving Foundation to accept and process online gifts made through the site; is developing an online program that companies can use to streamline their employee-giving campaigns

http://www.charityamerica.com		CHARITY PARTICIPANTS 400 local, national, and international charities FEES Deducts credit-card processing fee of up to 3 percent from each donation WHEN SITE WENT ONLINE March 2000 TOTAL AMOUNT RAISED Declines to reveal; estimates average gift is $50 to $100 CHARITABLE-SOLICITATION REGISTRATION Is not registered anywhere WHAT DATA CHARITIES RECEIVE ON DONORS Names, addresses, and e-mail addresses of donors NOTES Says it has raised $1-million in backing from investors; requires charities that want to receive donations through the site to provide copies of financial audits and to meet other standards to prove their legitimacy; offers visitors the option of donating to charities their unused tickets to sporting events or other activities

http://www.charitycounts.com		CHARITY PARTICIPANTS About 50 local, national, and international charities FEES Deducts fees charged by credit-card companies from each donation, plus 1 percent of each gift WHEN SITE WENT ONLINE November 1999 TOTAL AMOUNT RAISED Declines to reveal CHARITABLE-SOLICITATION REGISTRATION Is registered in all states that require such action WHAT DATA CHARITIES RECEIVE ON DONORS Names and mailing addresses of donors who give permission NOTES Offers a shopping section on the site to benefit charities; items on sale include clothing with charity logos

http://www.charitywave.com		CHARITY PARTICIPANTS Nearly 40 local, national, and international charities FEES Charges no fees on any gift of up to $500 WHEN SITE WENT ONLINE November 1999 TOTAL AMOUNT RAISED Declines to reveal CHARITABLE-SOLICITATION REGISTRATION Is not registered anywhere WHAT DATA CHARITIES RECEIVE ON DONORS Names, addresses, e-mail addresses, and telephone numbers of donors who give permission NOTES Includes only organizations that have met the standards of watchdog organizations that monitor charities, as well as other accountability criteria; site was created by Wave Systems, which sells secure Internet financial-transaction services, to demonstrate its own services

http://www.donate.net		CHARITY PARTICIPANTS 100 local, national, and international charities FEES Charities can choose to pay $29.95 per month and 50 cents per donation received plus 3.3 percent for credit-card charges, or else the site takes 13.3 percent of every donation WHEN SITE WENT ONLINE February 1999 TOTAL AMOUNT RAISED Declines to reveal CHARITABLE-SOLICITATION REGISTRATION Is not registered anywhere WHAT DATA CHARITIES RECEIVE ON DONORS Names, addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses of donors NOTES Visitors can make an online gift through the site, but company’s main emphasis is on getting charities to use other Conscious Change services, such as “donate now” buttons they can put on their own Web sites

http://www.createhope.org		CHARITY PARTICIPANTS 500 local, national, and international charities FEES Deducts 8 percent of donations to U.S. charities and 15 percent of donations to foreign charities WHEN SITE WENT ONLINE Part of the site went online last month; expects to be ready to accept donations within the next few weeks TOTAL AMOUNT RAISED Declines to reveal CHARITABLE-SOLICITATION REGISTRATION Is not registered anywhere WHAT DATA CHARITIES RECEIVE ON DONORS Names, addresses, and e-mail addresses of donors who give permission NOTES Site uses the dot-org domain even though it is run by a company; is developing a feature to allow companies to use the site for payroll-deduction campaigns

Denali.com http://www.denali.com		CHARITY PARTICIPANTS 50 local, national, and international environmental organizations are online now; information on 50 more that have signed up will be posted soon FEES Deducts 5.5 percent from each donation for credit-card processing and other expenses WHEN SITE WENT ONLINE April 2000 TOTAL AMOUNT RAISED Declines to reveal CHARITABLE-SOLICITATION REGISTRATION eGrants, the non-profit group that selects charities and processes donations for the site, is registered in all states that require such action WHAT DATA CHARITIES RECEIVE ON DONORS Names, addresses, e-mail addresses, and telephone numbers of donors who give permission NOTES Open only to environmental groups; site provides information about environmental issues, online stores that sell environmentally safe products, and a listing of jobs at environmental organizations; uses the non-profit group eGrants, a project of the Tides Foundation, in San Francisco, to process gifts

http://www.donationdepot.com		CHARITY PARTICIPANTS 15 charities in Washington State have full-page descriptions of their work and are considered “members”; some 17,000 other charities in that state can also receive gifts through the site FEES To become a member, organizations pay from $50 to $1,000 a year, depending on their budget size; company takes 6 percent of each donation for administrative fees and 3.5 percent to pay for credit-card processing WHEN SITE WENT ONLINE March 2000 TOTAL AMOUNT RAISED $10,000 in past month; average gift is $75 CHARITABLE-SOLICITATION REGISTRATION Is registered in Washington WHAT DATA CHARITIES RECEIVE ON DONORS Whatever information the donor gives permission to release NOTES Says it has $500,000 in venture-capital backing; is developing a feature to allow companies to use the site for payroll-deduction campaigns

http://www.givedirect.org		CHARITY PARTICIPANTS More than 1,200 local, national, and international charities FEES Deducts 7.5 percent from each gift for credit-card processing and other expenses WHEN SITE WENT ONLINE January 1999 TOTAL AMOUNT RAISED $325,000 last year CHARITABLE-SOLICITATION REGISTRATION Is registered in California WHAT DATA CHARITIES RECEIVE ON DONORS Names, addresses, and e-mail addresses of donors; fax and telephone numbers of donors who give permission NOTES Run by Independent Givers of America, a non-profit group that seeks to offer an alternative to United Ways; also allows people to set up so-called donor-advised funds

http://www.giveforchange.com		CHARITY PARTICIPANTS Some 350 social-change organizations selected by eGrants, a non-profit group FEES Deducts 10 percent of each donation for credit-card and processing costs WHEN SITE WENT ONLINE October 1999 TOTAL AMOUNT RAISED About $700,000 CHARITABLE-SOLICITATION REGISTRATION eGrants, the non-profit group that selects charities and processes donations for the site, is registered in all states that require such action WHAT DATA CHARITIES RECEIVE ON DONORS Names, addresses, and e-mail addresses of donors who give permission NOTES Site is a collaboration between eGrants, a project of the Tides Foundation, in San Francisco, and Working Assets, a San Francisco long-distance and credit-card company that provides a portion of its revenue to social-change groups

http://www.givenation.com		CHARITY PARTICIPANTS 114 local, national, and international organizations are listed on the site; company says 300 others have signed up but information on them has not yet been posted FEES Deducts $2.50 from every gift of $30 or less; $5 for every donation of more than $30 WHEN SITE WENT ONLINE February 2000 TOTAL AMOUNT RAISED Declines to reveal, but says average gift ranges from $35 to $75 CHARITABLE-SOLICITATION REGISTRATION Is registered in all states that require such action WHAT DATA CHARITIES RECEIVE ON DONORS Names, addresses, and e-mail addresses of donors who give permission NOTES Allows users to create a Web page to see donations for particular charities in honor or memory of someone; is developing a feature to allow companies to use the site for payroll-deduction campaigns; says 1,200 groups are about to join site

http://www.givetocharity.com		CHARITY PARTICIPANTS 565 local, national, and international organizations FEES Charges 15 percent of donations; says it reduces the percentage taken on gifts to charities that receive $5,000 or more a month through the site WHEN SITE WENT ONLINE November 1997 TOTAL AMOUNT RAISED Declines to reveal; average gift is $57 CHARITABLE-SOLICITATION REGISTRATION Is not registered anywhere WHAT DATA CHARITIES RECEIVE ON DONORS Names, addresses, e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, and any comments contributors make with their donations NOTES Charities that pay $20 a month can set up their own Web sites through GiveToCharity.com

http://www.givingnetwork.com		CHARITY PARTICIPANTS 60 charities in the Pacific Northwest, but it plans to expand nationwide FEES Deducts 8 percent from each donation WHEN SITE WENT ONLINE December 1999 TOTAL AMOUNT RAISED Declines to reveal; average gift is $100 CHARITABLE-SOLICITATION REGISTRATION Is registered in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington WHAT DATA CHARITIES RECEIVE ON DONORS Names and addresses of donors who give permission NOTES Allows donors to contribute goods and services in addition to cash

http://www.helping.org		CHARITY PARTICIPANTS Any charity that is registered in the GuideStar database, which is built with information from the I.R.S. database of charities FEES Deducts credit-card processing fees from each donation WHEN SITE WENT ONLINE October 1999 TOTAL AMOUNT RAISED Declines to reveal CHARITABLE-SOLICITATION REGISTRATION Uniteq, a non-profit organization that processes donations made through the site, is registered in all states that require such action WHAT DATA CHARITIES RECEIVE ON DONORS Names, addresses, e-mail addresses, and telephone numbers of donors who give permission NOTES Includes on its site a section with how-to information on technology issues for charities

http://www.makeadonation.com		CHARITY PARTICIPANTS Thirteen local, national, and international charities FEES Bases fees on the volume of donations a charity receives and how much the charity does to process the credit-card charges WHEN SITE WENT ONLINE September 1999 TOTAL AMOUNT RAISED Declines to reveal CHARITABLE-SOLICITATION REGISTRATION Is not registered anywhere WHAT DATA CHARITIES RECEIVE ON DONORS Names, addresses, e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, and any other information donors give permission to release

http://www.shine.com		CHARITY PARTICIPANTS Allows donors to give to any charity recognized by the I.R.S. FEES Deducts 3 percent of each donation for credit-card processing WHEN SITE WENT ONLINE April 2000 TOTAL AMOUNT RAISED Declines to reveal CHARITABLE-SOLICITATION REGISTRATION Is in process of registering in all states that require such action WHAT DATA CHARITIES RECEIVE ON DONORS Names, addresses, and e-mail addresses of donors who give permission NOTES Hopes to persuade companies to donate money to pay credit-card processing fees for gifts made through the site, so 100 percent will go to charities; plans to donate 10 percent of advertising revenue from the site to charities