Wise Giving Wednesday: Online Charity Fundraising

As reported in The
NonProfit Times, the Nonprofit Tech for Good (a
social and mobile media resource for nonprofit professionals) conducted
research for a new survey: The Global
NGO Technology Report. This survey included over 5,000 nonprofit
organization participants from 164 countries.  This survey is full
of interesting points about online fundraising. Here are a few selected
highlights: 

• 33% of organizations worldwide have used a “peer to peer”
  fundraising campaign.  Peer-to-peer is a type of crowdfunding
  website where individuals can create their own fundraising page on
  behalf of a charity which is then shared with family, friends and
  other contacts. 

• 71% of organizations agree that social media is effective for online
  fundraising but only 32% have a written social media strategy 

• The most popular social media used by nonprofits is Facebook (93%)
  followed by Twitter (77%), YouTube (57%) and LinkedIn (56%). 
  Note that these percentages incorporate fundraising, volunteer
  recruitment as well as brand awareness. 

• A charity’s website was chosen as the most effective communication
  and fundraising tool. 

In BBB WGA’s experience, direct mail fundraising continues to dominate
the fundraising methods used by nationally-soliciting charities in the
U.S., but organizations are rapidly adopting to new approaches and
outreach opportunities that technology continues to provide. No matter
which communication method a charity chooses to use to raise funds,
donors are encouraged to continue to verify if the organization meets
the 20 BBB
Standards for Charity Accountability. 

Video of the Week 

As part of our Building Trust Video Series, we are pleased to provide a
video featuring Delaney Gracy, M.D., Senior Vice President and Chief
Medical Officer, Children’s
Health Fund (a BBB
Accredited Charity) which seeks to deliver health care to
disadvantaged children. Among other things, it has a national network
that operates in 17 states and the District of Columbia that help reach
over 75,000 individuals each year.  

Recent Reports 

We are always working with charities to publish or update reports for
donors. Visit Give.org or local
BBBs to check out any charity before giving. Our recently evaluated
charities include:

• Gift of Adoption Fund
• National Center for Learning
  Disabilities
• Pueblo a Pueblo 

Finally, remember to let us know by going to https://www.give.org/ask-us-about-a-charity1/ if
you are  interested in seeing a report on a charity not on the list
and we will do our best to produce one.   

H. Art Taylor, President & CEO
BBB Wise Giving Alliance