October 26, 2006 | Read Time: 1 minute
Online donations through Network for Good, a giving portal that allows donors to contribute to any charity in the country, hit the $100-million mark on September 3 — and the Bethesda, Md., organization has published an analysis of those gifts.
Network for Good says the total amount given through its site and the number of people making gifts have risen significantly. In 2002, the first full year the organization processed donations, 41,138 donors made gifts totaling $17.1-million. By 2005, those figures had risen to 180,794 donors whose contributions totaled $32.3-million.
The median age of people who donate through the site is 38, which is much younger than people who give through direct mail and other approaches, who tend to be over 60, according to the report.
Over the past five years, the average gift was $163. More recently, the average donation, excluding gifts of $5,000 or more, was $124, which the report says reflects the growing proportion of contributions of less than $250.
The most important reasons donors give for choosing to donate through the site are the convenience of being able to give to more than one charity at a time and the option of making their gifts anonymously, says Bill Strathmann, chief executive officer of Network for Good. He says 20 percent of the site’s donors choose not to share their name and contact information with the charities to which they contribute.
To read the report: Go to http://www.groundspring.org/learningcenter/100_million_study.cfm.
