If your organization is planning to incorporate more online fund raising this holiday giving season, you are not alone.

Holly Hall notes in the latest issue of The Chronicle that nonprofit groups are pushing more of their resources into e-mail, social media, and online solicitations as part of their year-end fund-raising mix.

She writes: "While charities are using every approach they can to attract donations, many groups are putting their bets on online giving this holiday season. At a time when most fund-raising methods—including direct mail, special events, and big-gift appeals—have faltered, online donations continue to grow.

"Network for Good, a nonprofit organization that processes online gifts to charities, found that contributions rose by 25 percent, to $31.4-million, in December 2009, compared with the same period in 2008.

"And so far this year, both Blackbaud and Convio, two...

Today's news that more than 40 U.S. billionaires have now pledged to give at least half of their fortunes to charity is getting lots of media attention.

But how do nonprofit groups actually get on the radar of one of these wealthy donors? And how can they persuade these philanthropists to make pledges to their organizations?

Lorry I. Lokey, the founder of BusinessWire and one of the billionaires who have signed the pledge, offered advice to fund raisers during two recent live question-answer sessions with The Chronicle. During one discussion, he said:

"I like gift officers who approach me on a peer level and truly are friendly whether or not I say yes. And if I become a donor, I, in effect, am adopting that organization as if I worked there or owned it or had close ties with it. It becomes an investment that I want to follow and see success. My grants are not gifts. They are...

By most measures, Jill A. Warren (left) isn't wealthy.

She and her husband, the Rev. Robert D. Schoenhals, a United Methodist minister, together have never earned more than $112,000 per year. In some years, their combined income has totaled less than $40,000.

But they are diligent givers—they donate as much as 60 percent of their annual income to charity.

They're big givers, for sure. But they often aren't treated that way, especially by organizations that use database-screening tools to find wealthy donors.

"We’re the folks that fly under the radar, so we don’t fit the usual prospecting assumptions," Ms. Warren said in a live discussion today with Chronicle readers. "The most important thing—just thank us. Send an acknowledgment after each gift. A small gift might represent a significant proportion of someone’s income or assets—we’re not the one-time big-gift givers, but we give a...

For Julie Whyte, the most effective way to motivate potential donors is to put them in touch with the people who will benefit from their philanthropy.

But connecting donors with a cause isn't always easy—especially when the cause is an all-girls school in Kenya.

Video, however, can bridge the gap.

Ms. Whyte, development director at the Carr Educational Foundation, in San Rafael, Calif., recently worked with Out of the Blue Films, a nonprofit documentary maker, to create a video to raise money for Daraja Academy, a school it supports in Kenya.

The Girls of Daraja, shown above, was screened as part of a recent fund-raising event in San Francisco—an event that raised more than $50,000. Nobody had to pay to come to the screening, but many people were so moved by seeing the video they made a gift after they saw the film.

"What we have learned is that having the girls and the...

Merritt C. Birnbaum didn't have a big budget or a team of volunteers to help her when she set out to produce a new fund-raising video for Youth Renewal Fund. But she had a creative idea.

"We strove to create a video that would place the work we do in context, revealing to the audience the reality and scope of the problems our programs are working to solve," says Ms. Birnbaum, the New York charity's marketing and development director. "In this way, we veered away from a literal description of the organization, focusing on the 'why' versus the 'what.'"

One of the charity's supporters suggested that the group create a video that included a series of text-based facts that pointed to the problems the charity seeks to solve.

The text was presented over video clips and images that were purchased from iStock Photo, a Web site that offers stock images and video at a low cost, as well as...

Many charities are creating short videos to help garner attention and money for their organizations online. But for many groups, long-form video — anything over two or three minutes — remains an important tool.

Jewish Family & Children's Service in Phoenix, for example, hired a production company in Los Angeles to create an eight-minute video appeal that featured the organization's clients discussing how it had helped them.

The video was unveiled at the group's annual spring fund-raising luncheon — an event that raised nearly $100,000, says Jessica Junis Green, Jewish Family & Children's Service marketing and development coordinator.

The organization then featured the video on its Web site and is planning to expand its use into social networks, Ms. Green says.

What do you think of long-form videos? Are longer videos effective in telling an organization's story? Or should...

When Mosaic — a charity in Omaha, Neb., that works with developmentally disabled adults — decided to create a video campaign to raise awareness about and money for its programs, it didn't turn to celebrities or executives. It turned to the people it serves.

The result was a video fund-raising campaign that helped bring new light to Mosaic's programs — and raised $6,000 to boot.

Davina Leezer, Mosaic's marketing manager, said the charity worked with a local consulting firm and videographer on the project and that it used its Web site, direct mail, and social networks to promote the video series.

"Although it did not raise the amount of donations, and thus the return on investment, that we were hoping for, it did give us a platform to share our mission and our refreshed brand in a new way," Ms. Leezer says. "The feedback we received and continue to receive was...

Sometimes a little creativity is all it takes to get donors' attention.

At Juniata College, in Huntingdon, Pa., a video called “I Give a Latté”—featuring the college’s president and its students—raised $29,000 for the college in just five days.

The video, shown above, relied on student actors and carried a simple message.

It won't be confused with a big-budget television commercial, but it proved remarkably effective in connecting with donors, says Maria Di Mento, an assistant editor at The Chronicle, in an article about giving to education charities.

"In the video, Thomas R. Kepple Jr., Juniata’s president, is shown in his office crafting an e-mail appeal asking alumni to give the college the $5 they would normally spend to buy a cup of coffee," Ms. Di Mento writes. "Viewers then see student actors playing people in cafes and coffee stands handing their tall,...

Most fund raisers have an elevator pitch—a short speech that explains their organzations' work to people they meet on an elevator, at a social event, or at a conference.

But even the most seasoned pro is usually looking to refine his or her pitch.

To offer inspiration, The Chronicle recently invited some charity...