The Giving Evolution and the
Ecology of Online Giving
Columbia Law School Charities Technology
Conference
March 24, 2011
Debra Askanase, Community Engagement Manager,
FirstGiving
The old way = conceit of ownership
nonprofit
organization
supporter
list
Yearly
appeal
Special
appeals
Fundraisin
g events
The donor revolution is not on its way.
It has arrived.
“Donor legacy mindset”
= a thing of the past It’s about causes, not
the organization
Every. Single. Day.
Nonprofits must earn donor loyalty
Donors are in control seeking out a cause and
a nonprofit to match their passion
Non-
profit
Non-
profit
Donor Donor
Donor
Donor
Donor
Donor
Donor
Donor
To young donors,
nonprofits themselves
are fungible
Non-
profit
…and they now choose
how they donate
to which organization
and when
Technology has put donors in the driver’s seat
Access to information
The rise of influence networks
Online donation solutions where donors
live - online
The recommendation engine is driving
purchasing decisions
Influencing
purchasing
decisions
“Millennial donors say
they would be likely or
highly likely to give if
asked by:
a family member (74.6%)
or a friend (62.8 %)”
- Millenial Donor Report, 2010
Donate Button for websites
Pre-
2000
Donate using mobile
phone/SMS
2005 2009 2011
Donate via social networks
Project-based
website donations
Personal Fundraising through donation portals
Generalized online donation portals
Cross-platform
donation portability
Abbreviated
History of Online
Donations
Annual US giving: $300 billion
http://www.blackbaud.com/bb/online/fundraising.aspx
http://philanthropyblog.bwf.com/2011/03/convio-reports-on-growth-of-
online.htmlt
http://www.onlinegivingstudy.org/quarterlyindex
The rise in online giving
Online US giving: 5% to 7% of $300b
Online giving growth:
- 35% in 2010 (Blackbaud)
- 40% in 2010 (Convio)
- 24% in 2010 (Network for Good)
- - 27% in 2010 (FirstGiving peer to peer)
Culture and comfort of online purchasing is
fueling the rise in online donations
386,266
552,587
744,148
920,505
-
100,000
200,000
300,000
400,000
500,000
600,000
700,000
800,000
900,000
1,000,000
2007 2008 2009 2010
Number of Peer to Peer Online Donations 2007 - 2010
Number of Donations 2007 - 2010
The story of unique donors
0
100000
200000
300000
400000
500000
600000
700000
800000
900000
1000000
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 48 52 57 65 68 125
Number of times an event donor has donated
2007
2008
2009
2010
Technology solutions have stepped in to fill the void
Be where the giving happens
External to the
website
On the website
Offline
On a nonprofit website
Home-grown systems
situated on the website
Donation button
Virtual gifts
Gift e-cards
On a nonprofit website: Donation button
On a nonprofit website: donation forms
Gift e-cards on the website
External to the nonprofit website
Peer to peer crowdfunding
platforms
Widgets of all types
(located on other sites)
Facebook applications
Niche fundraising and
donation portals
Using a Facebook Application
Features:
- The application does not necessarily live on
FB
- Must log into Facebook to use the app
- Donate through third party processor
- Can easily share the donation through
Facebook. The API is dependent on FB.
- Facebook is moving into the payment
space
http://venturebeat.com/2011/03/21/facebook-payments/
Facebook Apps: Virtual Gift example
Facebook Apps: Causes
Facebook Credits
- 30% of any transaction goes to Facebook
- Most commonly used to buy games
- Has the potential to be used for donations
- Now a subsidiary of Facebook payments
subsidiary (as of March 21, 2011)
For more on Facebook Payments: http://venturebeat.com/2011/03/21/facebook-
payments/?source=facebook
Donate anywhere: Widgets
Peer to peer crowdfunding platforms
What a fundraiser will typically need to
do:
- Register on the site and create a log-
in
- Search for a 501(c)3 beneficiary on
the site (pre-vetted by either the IRS
master file and/or GuideStar)
- Select your 501(c)3 beneficiary
- Create a fundraising page
- Ask for donations from friends and
family (and even strangers) online
- View donations back-end account
management
Peer to peer crowdfunding platforms
Peer to peer crowdfunding platform: Crowdrise
Niche fundraising or donation portals
Nonprofit payment processing explained…
http://idealware.org/articles/payment_processing_pictures.php
Third Party Payment Providers
• Paypal
• Google Checkout
• Amazon Payments
NPO gets own merchant account and Gateway
Donor-centric: 501(c)3 donation provider
• Razoo
• Network for Good
• FirstGiving
• Just Give
• GlobalGiving
Three models of donation payment processing
Third Party Providers
• Pros
• Easy to setup
• No monthly fee
• Cons
• Needs an account on system
• No 501(c)3 Verification -
• Not ideal user experience
Own Merchant Account
• Pros
• Greater Control
• Cons
• $ for setup and monthly fees
501(c)3 Donation Providers
• Process $ for 50(c)3 only
• Fee structure varies between providers
• Pros
• Easy
• Verification takes place of 501(c)3
• $ to NPO quickly
• Cons
• Less flexible for the NPO
How donations get to the nonprofit
Donor-centric disbursement
Donation to charity from a web app
• Crowdrise
• Causes
• Firstgiving
• Network for good
• Razoo
501(c)3 Verified
• Guidestar
• IRS Master file
Donation Goes to Nonprofit via Provider
• Receipt is sent to Donor
• Nonprofit gets report
“Social media fundraising” usually means this
Or this…leveraging the power of social media
The bleeding edge: social media platforms for
fundraising
“Social media does
not raise money,
people raise money”
-Holly Ross,
NTEN Executive Director
http://www.nten.org/blog/2009/07/06/three-lessons-social-media-
fundraising
Mobile giving
http://www.nten.org/NTENChange
Accelerated growth in on-site giving
The (near) future of online giving
Accelerated growth in peer to peer giving
Explosion of APIs powering other sites
Growth of mobile giving options
(including donation portals)
Project-based donations, not only to nonprofits
Personalized, geo-local online giving experiences
Thank you!
Debra Askanase
Community Engagement Manager
FirstGiving
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @askdebra, @firstgiving
Telephone: (617) 963-5120
http://www.firstgiving.com