Charities Fail to Tap Internet’s Potential to Spur Action and Giving, Study Finds

Charities are not yet using the Internet to its full potential to spur activism and giving, according to the results of a new survey.

Two-thirds of donors and volunteers who are active users of the Internet had not heard much

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— if anything — about the opportunities that charity Web sites offer to take part in on-line advocacy, such as sending an e-mail to a public official, the survey found.

The survey was commissioned by marketing and fund-raising consultants Craver, Matthews, Smith & Company, in Arlington, Va., and conducted by the Mellman Group, in Washington. It drew responses from 800 adults around the country who spend time on the Internet and who donate their time or money to charities or public-interest groups.

A report on the survey called those people “socially engaged Internet users” and “on-line activists,” and estimated that they number 50 million nationally. The report says that such people tend to be younger than the people charities reach through direct mail, and that they represent a broader political spectrum.

But, the report says, the potential of those on-line activists is largely untapped because they are unaware of opportunities to take action through the Internet and because they are worried about maintaining their privacy when sharing personal and financial information on line.

Nine out of 10 survey respondents said that they were at least somewhat concerned about maintaining their privacy in on-line transactions. And while nearly 90 per cent of the respondents had made charitable donations during the last two years, only 7 per cent of them had made those gifts on line.

The respondents were more likely to use the Internet for some form of activism. One-third had used e-mail to communicate with an elected official about an issue, and one out of five had used e-mail to communicate with press organizations about an issue. Still, a greater proportion had used more-traditional methods — such as a letter or a telephone call — to make such contacts.

The respondents do see an important role for charity Web sites, however. More than half of the respondents said that the Internet can help charities “a great deal” with such things as being more accountable to donors and educating the public about issues.

Among the most important features of a charity’s Web site, according to the respondents: an explanation of how contributions are spent and a statement about the confidentiality of information donors share with the charity.

Despite the high-tech nature of the Internet, people still find charity Web sites the old-fashioned way, according to the survey. Thirty-four per cent of the respondents said they are most frequently directed to such sites through word of mouth. Thirty-one per cent said they find the sites through on-line search engines, but another third said they most often hear about charity sites through print or broadcast advertisements.

Free copies of the report, “Socially Engaged Internet Users: Prospects for Online Philanthropy and Activism,” are available at Craver, Matthews, Smith & Company’s Web site at http://www.craveronline.com, or by contacting the company at 4121 Wilson Boulevard, 11th Floor, Arlington, Va. 22203; (703) 258-0000.