Ready to Step into the World of Online Giving?

Remember the fun of hide and seek…ready or not here I come?  Well, like the game, online charitable giving is coming…"ready or not". 

Ready for some astounding figures?  Fidelity Charity Gift Fund and United Way raised $314 million and $257.4 million respectively in 2007 through their online efforts.  While online giving rarely has climbed above five percent of all gifts received, it is something many are pursuing or are planning toward.  In 2007, eight charities raised $25 million or more online.  Ted Hart (CEO of Hart Philanthropic Services) has tracked online giving since 2001.  He reports that giving reached $10.44 billion in 2007, a 52 percent increase over the previous year.  Compared to all giving in that year, $10.44 billion is small potatoes, but the continued and expected giving growth, through this medium, is a trend that deserves watching.

As further evidence of the need to follow this trend:

• The University of Indiana Foundation projected it would raise $900,000 via its online efforts. This was a whopping 150 percent increase over the $356,079 they raised online in 2007.
• The Wise Giving Alliance found that their survey’s youngest respondents, those between 18 and 29, are the most open to the idea of giving online. This bodes well for having online giving as an option.
• The ePhilanthropy Foundation found the average age of donors who currently give online is between 35 and 40. This bodes well as an existing target market for many community college foundations cultivating this generation’s support.

The future of online giving suggests the need to plan for the time when those between the ages of 18 and 29, that have grown up with computer and web access most of their lives, begin to dominate the giving landscape. So, where do community college foundations fit in? While this eventuality is at least 20 to 25 years away, wise foundations should now be planning how to best reach this market, and in the meantime, begin to garner resources from other tech savvy donors.