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Resources for Fundraising Online

Summary:

A discussion of online services that can assist with various tasks related to fundraising for nonprofits.

Answer:

This item was placed in an archive with other early FAQ discussions of questions about accepting donations online on February 24, 2006. To see the other articles, open http://www.idealist.org/npofaq/0/1547.html —Ed.

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This project was begun on August 12, 1999, and has been updated since from information supplied after inquiries on thecyber-accountability and CYBERGIFTS mailing lists and by readers. At the beginning of 2006, the listing of individual providers was removed and the text revised to focus on discussion of the various approaches to online fundraising that have developed as the Internet has become a routine part of the work of nonprofits and the lives of many of their supporters

Before removing the names and links of the providers, we attempted to contact all of them. Many were no longer operating. Those we could contact were invited to create a listing in the Idealist Consultant Directory at http://www.idealist.org/consultants. Using that link, it is possible to search for providers of many services useful to nonprofits, including a variety of forms of assistance with fundraising online and off.

Putnam Barber

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Discussions of this topic and other online references

Several readers have expressed a wish for some way of classifying all this information. I must say, I share that desire. A fundraising firm, HJC New Media, makes a major contribution in that direction with their comparison shopping tool for many of these listed resources called The Nonprofit Matrix (http://www.nonprofitmatrix.com). It categorizes many of the application service providers (ASPs) and portals in the nonprofit sector in helpful ways. I've listed below some other online resources that take various approaches to tackling that task.

TechSoup (from CompuMentor) published "Inexpensive Donor Databases" by Robert Weiner on April 12, 2005. See http://www.techsoup.org/howto/articlepage.cfm?ArticleId=591. The webpage has links to donor-management software costing less than $500 (including several free offerings) and a discussion of how to go about choosing. In an email on August 26, 2005, he mentioned additional links: "The Resources page of my web site has a collection of articles on email marketing. Two of them include vendor lists, "E-Newsletter Tools on a Shoestring" by Alder Consulting, and "Upgrade Your Organization's Image with Slick HTML Newsletters" by George Gundry (from TechSoup). See http://www.rlweiner.com/resources.html#email

Michael Stein and John Kenyon explore the development of online fundraising over a decade in an article in the Winter 2004 issue of Nonprofit Quarterly available at http://www.nonprofitquarterly.org/files/578-204.pdf.

As online giving becomes more common, people are beginning to think about what donors themselves may want, need or expect in terms of the way the transactions work and their relationships evolve. One interesting discussion of this topic is the "e-Donor Bill of Rights" under development by the Association of Fundraising Professionals (formerly NSFRE); see http://www.afpnet.org/tier3_cd.cfm?rfolder_id=8938&content_item_id=1247. AFP has other interesting discussions of online aids to philanthropy at http://www.afpnet.org/tier3_cd.cfm?folder_id=907&content_item_id=13446.

NPower/Seattle has a review of donor-management software available online at http://www.npowerseattle.org/tools/donormanagement.htm. It covers both desktop systems and those that work through application service providers over the Internet; the page also has links to other relevant materials.

The UK's Charities Aid Foundation and some large charities surveyed online donors in 2001 and found a profile that differs in significant ways from observations of people who make donations through other channels; a report of these results is online at http://www.cafonline.org/research/internet_survey.cfm

Michael Stein and John Kenyon wrote The eNonprofit: A Guide to ASPs, Internet Services and Online Software for publication by CompassPoint in early 2002. The guide can be purchased in printed form or downloaded without charge from http://www.compasspoint.org/enonprofit.

For the special category of "one-click" donation sites, Kimberly Chapman provides a rating service focused on the interests of donors at http://kimberlychapman.com/charitycheck/charitycheck.html.
The standards described in her criteria are worth considering by anyone who seeks donations online. (I don't try to keep track of all the "one-click" sites; Kimberly Chapman's website offers a comprehensive and updated list with active links. See also the Click-to-Give note below.)

Idealist.org published a clear introduction to the whole subject of raising money online by Beth Kanter, the Education Coordinator for Arts Wire. "Exploring Online Fundraising" mentions many of the sites included in the list below as useful examples for nonprofits thinking about whether, and how, online fundraising might become part of their efforts to find support.

Rick Christ posted in April 2000 an 11-page essay reviewing the status of online charitable giving; it is on the web at http://www.npadvisors.com/NewContent/100054.asp; he also publishes an occasional newsletter on related topics (see http://www.npadvisors.com/efundcurrentissue.asp).

The Foundation Center offers a discussion of these general topics on line at http://fdncenter.org/learn/faqs/html/online_fundraising.html.

An earlier essay
on the same themes is Eric Mercer's "How Can We Use the Internet for Fundraising," which is part of this Nonprofit FAQ at http://www.nonprofits.org/npofaq/16/35.html.

Graham Francis is devoting his MA project at the London (UK) College of Printing to collecting reports of how various approaches to encouraging online
philanthropy are actually working. His results can be found at http://www.hitdonate.net/.

There is a clear user-friendly account of how to use four of the charity shopping services, created by New England Dollars for Scholars as guidance to chapters, at http://www.dollarsforscholarsne.org/dfsdev14.htm.

Marc Lee of Affinity Resources prepared discussed "donation processing engines" (facilities that let charities add a "donate now" button to their websites) in an online article published May 12, 2000. An attached table compares fees and other requirements on an apples-to-apples basis. See http://www.affinityresources.com/pgs/awz55Online.html.

CharityChannel.com publishes Ephilanthropy and Technology Review online; information at http://charitychannel.com/; a fee is charged to subscribe to the CharityChannel forums.

The Online Fundraising Resources Center is the work of Adam Corson-Finnerty and Laura Blanchard, Department of Development and External Affairs, University of Pennsylvania Library. It contains excerpts from their book, Fundraising and Friend-Raising on the Web, now available from ALA Editions. It also includes teaching materials from classes and presentations. In May 2001, the website included a useful "musing" on "Not.coms" exploring the reasons for slow growth (and disappointed hopes) in the arena of online fundraising. (You can order a copy of the book by calling 1-800-545-2433 or from Amazon.com through this link; a royalty will be paid that will help to support the Internet Nonprofit Center. Order Fundraising...on the Web now.)

The W. K. Kellogg Foundation maintains an online database of organizations that are active in "ephilanthrophy" -- a term which includes both facilities for fundraising (such as those listed in this file) and, more generally, nonprofit activities online. The current version of this database, and associated discussion, can be found online at http://www.actknowledgeworks.net/ephil/index_html. Many of the providers listed below are also included in this database, often with additional information.

Michael Stein offered a clear way to distinguish among some of the listed sites, and other helpful comments, in the December 27, 1999, issue of NetAction. You can read it at http://www.netaction.org/notes/notes53.html.

Links to About.Com articles and sites discussing methods, theories and research concerning raising funds on the Web are in http://nonprofit.about.com/cs/webfundraising. Information on subscribing to "About Nonprofits" can be found at http://nonprofit.about.com/gi/pages/mmail.htm.

This introduction was extensively revised 9/18/03 and updated slightly 1/21/04 and 2/9/06 -- PB

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The vendor listings and log of modifications formerly posted here has been preserved as an archive file at Action Without Borders / Idealist.org and is available for research or reference on request to the staff. Use the feedback button at the top of the right hand panel. Ask for a copy of the file "1491 (old)" (it's in HTML) and let us know what use you plan to make of the information. --PB