The online giving experience matters - and the data proves it

Since 2010, Network for Good has been tracking digital philanthropy across several distinct channels including individual charity websites, charity portals and social giving (peer-to-peer) websites and applications.  And one thing is consistently true for donations made directly on nonprofit websites.  As my colleagues Allison McGuire and Kate Olsen like to point out, personality matters.  A lot.  Nonprofits with a branded donation page – a page that shows off the organization’s personality and makes giving tangible for donors – can see up to 7 times more in donation dollars than a nonprofit with a generic, e-commerce page for donations.

This finding is in Network for Good’s Q2 2012 update to the Digital Giving Index.  This Index builds on data and observations from the Online Giving Study (a must-read for all nonprofit fundraisers!) and includes trends and analysis on $30 million in donations to more than 20,000 charities through the Network for Good platform in April, May and June of 2011.  This includes donations to Network for Good’s nonprofit customers through their own websites and donations to other nonprofits through more than 40 corporate partner websites and Network for Good’s giving portals at Network for Good and Six Degrees. 

Index highlights include:

• Overall giving increased for Q2 2012, compared to the same period in 2011.
• Charity Website giving saw mixed results in Q2 2012, compared to the same period in 2011.
• Charity Websites with branded donation pages achieved 7x more donation dollars, on average, than sites with generic donation pages.

The full Index and accompanying data, including stand-alone charts, are available at our study website.  You can grab our charts, share our data and discuss the results!

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