Salvation Army’s Online Red Kettle Drive Lets Donors Earmark Gifts

The Salvation Army has revamped the online component of its signature holiday Red Kettle Campaign, for the first time allowing donors to earmark their gifts.

During the Red Kettle Reason campaign, fundraisers can now create personal pages that donors can use to encourage their friends, families, and others to give and share their reasons for supporting the charity. When a donor makes a gift to a friend’s page, the donation supports the Salvation Army chapter associated with the original fundraiser’s community and the selected cause.

“What we have learned is that people prefer giving to support specific causes rather than organizations,” says Lt. Col. Ron Busroe, national spokesperson for the Salvation Army. “That’s what makes the new RedKettleReason.org element unique.”

Supporters can create their own solo fundraising page or create a page for multiple fundraisers to promote. The creators of those pages have the ability to specify which of the Salvation Army’s causes they would like to support — feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, Christmas assistance, or meeting the greatest need — and rally their friends and family to do the same.

“This is the new trend that we’re moving toward,” Mr. Busroe said.

Evolving Campaign

Like many charities, the Salvation Army’s biggest fundraising season covers November and December, when donors dig deepest. The organization’s ubiquitous bell ringers and red kettles, along with its traditional direct-mail push, bring it high visibility.

Last year’s 125th Red Kettle Campaign raised more than $150 million. But the organization believed the drive’s online fundraising component underperformed, Mr. Busroe said.

In 2015, all online gifts, including during the Red Kettle drive, totaled about $41 million — 2 percent of the year’s total donations.

The Salvation Army first rolled out its national Online Red Kettle program in 2003 after testing it in Atlanta, Dallas, and Washington the year before. In its first iteration, the concept was similar. Volunteers who signed up to be virtual bell ringers had their own web pages, but gifts could not be directed toward specific causes.

Today’s donors are also encouraged post on social media using the hashtag #RedKettleReason to share why they give.