Released on = January 21, 2006, 4:07 pm

Press Release Author = Strateo Consulting Inc.

Industry = Small Business

Press Release Summary = Strateo Consulting Inc., a marketing and communications
consulting firm based in Calgary, Canada conducted a random review of 75 websites of
charitable organizations. They found that just over half are solciting donations
online, but most have a very passive strategy for receiving donations.

Press Release Body = Strateo Consulting Inc., a marketing and communications
consulting firm based in Calgary, Canada, recently conducted research into the
strategies used by charities to solicit donations online. The company reviewed a
random sample of 75 websites of charitable organizations.

Results of the Survey

Of the 75 organizations surveyed, 59% had some mechanism
set up on their sites for receiving online donations.
Within that 59%, 65% were using their own systems and 35%
were using a third party for online processing of credit
card payments.
35% of the organizations recognized at least some of their
donors online.
30% had some form of collecting names and email addresses
independent of online donations, like newsletter
subscription sign up or requests for information.
28% had some form of specific strategy or incentive to
encourage online donations, such as participation in a
specific campaign, membership in a giving club or the offer
of a plastic bracelet or pin.


Interpretation of These Results


Other research shows that Internet users represent a good target market for charities.
According to
www.worldinternetstats.com 68% of North Americans are using
the Internet (we will focus on North America because we only review English language
sites).
Of these users, 89% of people
with an annual household income of more than $75,000 are
online and 88% of people with a college education are
online. 78% of people aged 18 to 29 are online and 74% of
people aged 30 to 49 are online. Users are more or less
evenly split between rural and urban and male and female.

According to research done by the Pew
Foundation that was released in November 2005, 18% of
Internet users report having made a donation online, up
from 11% when the last survey was done. This report can be
found at www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Katrina.DateMemo.pdf.
This increase was attributed in part to the response to the
relief efforts for Katrina victims. The urgency of this
situation may have caused more people to donate online but
it is logical to speculate that once the behavior is
established, it may become easier for other charities to
solicit online donations.



If Internet users represent a good target demographic,
organizations that do not have an online donations strategy
should develop one. Based on our research, only 30% have a
strategy and of those 30%, only a few have what appears to
be a well thought out strategy.
Part of their strategy should be to design their sites in a way that targets the
demographics of Internet users.
Without a strategy, an online donations form or button is
the equivalent of an online coin collection box. It is a
very passive form of donation collection that is not likely
to result in the opportunity to cultivate a relationship
with the donor.




Web Site = http://www.strateo.ca

Contact Details = Ron Strand