In June The Chronicle of Philanthropy reported online donations to the nation’s largest nonprofits increased more than 63 percent between 2003 and 2004. Add this to the fact that people give more when they make online donations, and you’d imagine every organization racing to get online. But this isn’t the case. In a recent study conducted by Campagne Associates, the majority of the organizations surveyed reported they had a website (96%), yet more than 30% were not accepting online donations. While many said they were planning to implement an online fundraising strategy (67.8%), nearly 80% said it isn’t a goal for this year. In fact, nearly 33% said they were unsure when they will begin their online efforts.

What’s behind this? Many development directors fear that adding online giving to their fundraising mix will be expensive, not effective, and result in more work for their staff. It’s true that simply having an online donation page won’t raise more money, but once you bring it to the attention of your donors, it can have tremendous results.

As for reducing the amount of work you do, you’ll need an online giving service that will integrate with your donor management system. That will mean all the important data entered by donors online will transfer into your database easily, without creating duplicate records.

Looking for more information on online giving and how to make your efforts successful? Click here!