Online Donations Similar in Size to Gifts by Cash or Check, New Study Finds

By Holly Hall

Ten percent of Americans who give to charity make online contributions, and those gifts are the same size as donations made via cash or check, a new study has found.

American Express commissioned the study and asked researchers at Indiana University’s Center on

Philanthropy to analyze the responses, which were gathered by an opinion-polling company. The polling firm interviewed more than 1,500 adults to determine how much they had donated to charity in the past 12 months, their most recent donation, and if and why they prefer a particular method of giving over another.

Sixty-five percent of the respondents said they had made a charitable gift in the past year. Among those donors, regardless of whether they gave online or offline, the median contribution was $50, meaning that half gave more and half gave less. Two-thirds of all gifts were $100 or less.

“I was surprised at the tremendous number of gifts that are small,” said Melissa Brown, associate director of research at the Center on Philanthropy.

By collecting data on what Americans report about the size of their individual gifts, rather than the sum of their total contributions, she added, the study demonstrated that charities still rely heavily on modest donations, even as wealthy individuals continue to make big, headline-grabbing gifts.

Ms. Brown said she was also surprised that donors reported similar amounts for their online and offline contributions. Indeed, research last year by Target Analysis Group, in Boston, found that online donors gave a larger median gift and gave more over time than donors using other methods.

Many donors in the new study, Ms. Brown said, seemed to be making gifts in response to an annual-fund or direct-mail campaign and may give similar amounts to such solicitations, regardless of whether they give through a Web site or mail a check to charity.

Nearly a quarter, 23 percent, of the most recent contributions reported by donors went to religious organizations. The median religious gift was $75.

Holiday Giving

The researchers also analyzed when people made their contributions. They found that 24 percent of the amount donated to charity was given between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day.

Among the 300 donors in the study who reported making online gifts, 64 percent said the speed and convenience of the Internet was the reason they gave electronically. Another 20 percent said they gave online because of something a charity did, such as send them e-mail messages or post giving information on its Web site.

Donors who did not give electronically said the key reason was that they did not have a computer or Internet access. That response was most common among older people, with 33 percent of people over 55 saying they lacked online access.

Twenty-eight percent of donors who made only offline gifts said they did not give online because they could not find a giving site, did not know they could make a gift electronically, or did not think of making online donations.

A copy of the “American Express Charitable Gift Survey” will be posted online this week.

ONLINE GIFTS VS. TRADITIONAL DONATIONS: MEDIAN SUMS AMERICANS CONTRIBUTE Both given approaches Offline Online All gifts $50 $50 $50 Gifts to religious groups $75 $50 $75 Gifts to secular groups $50 $50 $50 SOURCE: American Express