Colleges Raise a Median of $60,000 Through Online Gifts, Study Finds

October 1, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute

Colleges and universities continue to see increases in the money they raise via the Internet, but online fund raising is still a modest part of their revenue, according to the Council for Advancement and Support of Education’s 2009 survey of online fund raising.

More than 560 educational institutions responded to the survey, which was conducted in March and April.

The 184 colleges and universities that provided financial information about online giving raised a total of $155.3-million in the past year.

The median amount raised was $61,113, meaning half of the schools raised more and half raised less.

Of the 429 institutions that reported the year that they started raising money online, 178 schools — more than 40 percent — began soliciting Internet gifts only in the past four years.

The study found that colleges and universities are beginning to experiment with online social networks like Twitter, but as a way to connect with alumni and potential donors, rather than to raise money.

For example, of the 470 institutions that answered questions about their use of social media, 383 said they use Facebook to connect with supporters, while only 58 said they use it in their fund raising.

Thirty percent of respondents said they thought their institution’s online donors were younger than people who made gifts offline.

To read the report: Go to http://www.case.org.

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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.