It’s not quite time to ditch the stamp and the reply envelope, but online giving is increasingly an important part of fundraising, representatives of area nonprofit agencies say.
A recent national study by Dunham and Co. found, in fact, that direct-mail solicitation increases online giving as opposed to online solicitation alone.
“Direct mail is not dead,” said Sheila Moore, executive director of the Center for Nonprofits, a division of United Way of Greater Chattanooga. “It’s just utilized differently. Research has shown that we do so much online. We’ve seen more and more people engaged via e-mail.”
DIRECT MAIL APPEAL?Younger donors are most likely to use a charity’s website to respond to a direct mail appeal.Generation Y (18-26) – 50 percentGeneration X ( 27-47) – 50 percentBaby boomers (47-65) – 26 percentOlder than 65 – 14 percentSource: Dunham and Co.
According to the study, 37 percent of donors who give online said that, when they receive a direct mail appeal from a charity, they use the charity’s website to give their donation.
It also showed the youngest adults and the most-wealthy adults are more likely to give online in response to a direct mail appeal.
Rodney Van Valkenburg, director of communications and arts education for Allied Arts of Greater Chattanooga, said online giving now is part of the overall culture.
“Many people are doing all their payments online,” he said. “Charitable giving is a part of that. We relied [in the past] on people writing those checks, but all of us tend to procrastinate [today] if we have to pull our checkbook out.”
The Dunham study indicated that nearly one out of two donors – 48 percent – overall has given online, but area nonprofit representatives said local giving is not nearly that high.
Wade Kelley, director of development for the Partnership for Families, Children and Adults, said the agency encourages donors to give online and has seen an increase in online giving from those who are sent direct-mail solicitations.
“Mainly it’s less expensive, it’s more convenient and you don’t have to fill out a form and send it in,” he said.
However, Bea Lurie, president and chief executive officer of Girls Inc., said not everyone is comfortable with online giving.
“It has picked up in the last few years,” she said. “It’s been slow but steady progress.”
Meg Beene, executive director of the Hospice of Chattanooga Foundation, said online giving is increasing but nowhere near a majority of donations.
Online givers to the Red Cross of the Greater Chattanooga Area aren’t a “significant portion” of the agency’s contributors, either, said Claudia Moore, chief development officer.
Such giving does increase, she said, when public service appeals are made through television and other electronic media in the wake of natural disasters.
“It’s more immediate,” Moore said.
Similarly, when the Partnership asked donors to contribute online with their vote for their favorite local “Dancing With the Stars” contestant, contributions went up.
Social media also increasingly is driving contributions, according to the study.
While 15 percent of respondents said they’ve made a gift prompted by someone through a social media site, 24 percent of donors younger than 40 said they’d made such a gift but only 9 percent of donors older than 40.
Locally, Moore said, the Red Cross has benefited from its social media sites in terms of getting information out and drawing people to events.
But, she said, “in terms of direct donations, we haven’t seen it.”