If you spend a lot of your time trying to make online fundraising take off, here's some info that will probably annoy you: the 2009 Consumer New Media Study from Cone. Some of the findings:
- 60% of those surveyed have used some form of online or new media to support a cause, through email (33%), Web sites (29%) social networks (27%).
- 85% of respondents say new media provides them with an opportunity to learn about new issues.
- 80% believe it provides another way to support their favorite causes.
- But only 18% have made a donation through new media.
(That 18% strikes me as unrealistically high. Likely the product of self-reporting -- some who think they should or would give online say that they have given online.)
The self-reported barriers to online involvement in the survey:
- 39% said they didn't trust their effort would actually help the cause.
- 31% said they'd rather spend time and/or money supporting causes offline.
- 27% said they didn't see any existing results or impacts.
- 22% said they felt overwhelmed by the number of causes on new media.
- 19% said their favorite issue, cause or organization doesn't use new media.
- 17% said they didn't understand the tool or application.
Other than the second one, which is a media-use preference, we can help overcome all these barriers by doing stuff right online.
Download the study here (PDF; registration required).
Jeff Brooks, creative director at 
Interesting study. A key point is this study is on online media, not online giving to nonprofits in general - an important distinction. At this stage, online media is still primarily a way to engage with community rather than to extract dollars from people, but that does not detract from its value -- nor its potential for fundraising down the road.
Posted by: Katya | 24 November 2009 at 07:20