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Category Archives: Online Fundraising
January 11, 2013, 11:57 am
Nearly $7-Million Raised in One-Day Online Contest
Columbia University raised $6.9-million, most of it online and in 24 hours, by running a contest to see which of its 16 schools could produce the most money for the institution’s annual fund.
Giving Day, held in October, was the brainchild of CloEve Demmer, director of Columbia’s annual fund. Ms. Demmer says she got the idea from a daylong online drive in Minnesota called Give to the Max day, which started in 2009.
The university recruited 14 alumni volunteers to train as leaders and assigned them to work with specific schools to help promote the contest.
The volunteers and Columbia staff member drummed up interest by asking people to start giving early to show their support for Giving Day and get some buzz about the event started in alumni and donor circles. By the time Giving Day officially started, it had raised $1-million and recruited about 100 volunteers.
They sent out…
January 3, 2013, 9:02 am
Online Giving Grew Fast in Fourth Quarter
The last week of December, usually a boom time in online donations, was fairly sluggish compared with 2011, according to figures from more than 8,700 charities whose performance The Chronicle has been tracking weekly since Thanksgiving. Nonetheless, the fourth quarter produced a surge in online gifts.
The amount donors contributed online fell by 1 percent, and the number of gifts declined by nearly 3 percent compared with the last week of 2011.
But overall results for the quarter are still impressive, largely because appeals in October and November produced strong returns, according to Network for Good, which has been providing data on charities it helps garner online gifts.
The total contributed in the last quarter through Network for Good grew 38 percent, while the number of online gifts rose 36 percent compared with the same time in 2011.
November was an especially strong …
December 27, 2012, 11:31 am
Charities Got Fewer but Bigger Online Gifts Last Week
The number of gifts people are making online slowed last week for the second time in a row, compared with this time a year ago, but because donors are giving much larger average gifts, charities are barely feeling a decline in donations.
The number of gifts fell 12 percent last week, following a decline of 6 percent in the second week of December.
Still, the total dollar value of online gifts dropped by less than 1 percent last week because the average online gift rose to $149.21, up from $131.92 in the same week of 2011.
Those figures, based on donations to 8,700 charities that accept donations through the nonprofit group Network for Good, come after a promising start to the giving season last month and in initial days of December. The increases were triggered in part by the number of appeals for Superstorm Sandy and #GivingTuesday, an effort to increase charitable giving…
December 26, 2012, 5:33 pm
Charities Use Mobile Apps to Attract Year-End Donors
A growing number of charities are seeking year-end gifts by reaching out to donors with mobile apps.
While few nonprofits expect to raise much through the apps, they hope the tools will serve them well in the future by appealing to younger, smartphone-savvy donors.
Here’s how three nonprofits are using apps:
Hunger Relief International struck a partnership with GetCharitable to raise money though an Android app. After people download the app, an image pops up daily on the background wallpaper of their phones. Advertisers donate to the charity based on how many people have the app running on their phones. Hunger Relief International receives 10 cents each day from everyone who has the app running.
Since the launch a few weeks ago, more than 100 people have downloaded the app. Its goal is to attract 1,000 people by the end of January, and as more people sign up,…
December 20, 2012, 7:49 am
‘5 Weeks of Giving’ Campaign Reaches Out to Donors Every Day
Anthony Allen and Bryan Hall of the Baltimore Ravens autographed items for the “5 Weeks of Giving” kick-off event held by Volunteers of America Chesapeake.
Thirty-five days of nonstop outreach online are helping one charity raise money at year’s end.
Volunteers of America Chesapeake’s “5 Weeks of Giving” campaign aims to do something new for its supporters each day. For instance, on “Text Tuesday” it urges donors to donate $10 by sending a text message.
Other themed days include:
* “Motivation Monday,” when the charity features an inspirational quote on its Web site and social networks.
* “Wednesday’s Word,” when the charity spotlights on its site one of its values (caring, respect, faith, quality, and trust).
* “Thank You Thursday,” to highlight one big donor on social-media…
December 18, 2012, 9:31 am
Year-End Online Gifts are Bigger, but Number of Donations Slows
Donors are making bigger online gifts to charity this month than they did last year at this time, but they are making fewer gifts, according to data provided by Network for Good, a giving site that provided information on online contributions to 8,700 charities.
Last week, the average online gift made through Network for Good was $122.55, up from $113.57 for the same week in 2011. The average gift size rose by a similar percentage in the previous week.
The gain could be a sign that concerns about the economy are starting to ease, says Katya Andresen, chief operating officer for the giving site. However, she noted that a growing number of companies are using Network for Good to run employee-giving drives, making year-to-year comparisons tricky.
And signs of a slowdown in the number of gifts last week could be worrisome. In the first week of December, the number of donations…
December 18, 2012, 9:21 am
Facebook Games Raise $360,000 for Toys for Tots
FarmVille’s “Cheer Ewe Up Horse” doesn’t exist in real life; it lives solely on Facebook. But it is one reason that Toys for Tots has already raised $360,000 on the social network.
People who play FarmVille, the popular Facebook game, have bought 101,409 “Cheer Ewe Up” virtual horses, priced at $1 each, so needy kids will get real toys during the holiday season.
The horse is the most popular virtual item in “Oh, What Fun,” a holiday campaign to benefit Marine Toys for Tots Foundation.
The drive was created by Zynga.org, whose affiliated company Zynga owns many of the most popular games on Facebook. It is the first time Zynga has ever asked its game makers to craft virtual goods to raise money for a single cause, apart from disaster-relief fundraising.
Ken Weber, executive director of Zynga.org, says the amount raised so far will provide 28,800 toys for needy kids.
People…
December 17, 2012, 8:06 am
“Ugly Sweater” Campaign Draws Funds for Cancer Research
Stand Up to Cancer, a program of the Entertainment Industry Foundation, is turning the tacky tradition of unsightly holiday-themed sweaters into an online drive to raise money for cancer research.
The charity is urging its supporters to see how many days—or weeks—they can bear to wear an “ugly sweater” and asking them to set up fundraising pages at su2c.org/ugly with pictures of themselves in their unfortunate apparel.
Supporters are supposed to enlist their friends and family to make a donation in honor of every day the ugly sweater is sworn, and are asked to hold “ugly sweater” parties and seek donations from guests.
So far, the campaign has attracted $64,000, says Kathleen Lobb, senior vice president of the Entertainment Industry Foundation and co-founder of Stand Up to Cancer.
“We’re always on the lookout for novel ways to raise funds for research,” she says. “We thought we…
December 14, 2012, 9:47 am
Celebrity Voice Recordings Earn Charity $100,000
The “Voice of God” was sold out in a few hours.
That’s according to Autism Speaks, which held a year-end fundraising campaign enticing its supporters, celebrity fans, and others to buy custom-recorded messages from Tom Hanks, Ed Asner, Will Ferrell, Carrie Fisher, Derek Jeter, Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner, Patrick Stewart, Betty White … and Morgan Freeman.
Mr. Freeman’s deep, distinct tone, which has earned him the nickname “Voice of God,” was a fast seller during the “Sound Off for Autism Speaks” campaign, says Marc Sirkin, the charity’s chief digital marketing officer.
During the first week of December, anyone who wanted an unusual voicemail greeting could get a message from a movie or sports star with a $299 donation to Autism Speaks. Each celebrity message was available to no more than 50 people, which set off a scramble for the most-popular stars like Mr. Freeman and…
December 11, 2012, 7:40 am
Online Giving Streak Continues With 13% Rise Last Week
Online giving to 8,700 charities rose 13.3 percent last week when compared with the same days last year, according to Network for Good, a giving portal that processes online donations. What’s more, the number of donations grew nearly 7 percent. Even so, last week’s increase is small compared with increases of 40 to 60 percent in the past few weeks.
Katya Andresen, chief operating officer of Network for Good, said she thought the increase could be attributed to the rising number of sophisticated appeals nonprofits are sending out for year-end gifts and donations to Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts. She also said many companies are running campaigns that are encouraging their workers to give.
The findings are based on a study of 8,700 charities that used Network for Good to process online gifts. During the week after Thanksgiving, the total amount raised online increased 42 percent, …
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