Fundraising Principles and Practice, 3rd Edition

CHAPTER ELEVENDIGITAL FUNDRAISING

Adrian Sargeant and Steven Shattuck

Objectives

By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:

1. Describe the significance of (and trends in) digital giving.
2. Develop a digital communications mix for a focal organization.
3. Distinguish between pay per click and other forms of digital advertising.
4. Explain the concept of viral marketing and cite fundraising examples.
5. Understand how charities are using mobile technologies to raise funds for their organization.
6. Calculate and interpret a range of email performance metrics.

Introduction

In this chapter, we will explore trends in digital giving and how nonprofits are presently using new technologies and approaches to boost giving to their organizations. Specifically, we will introduce the notion of a digital fundraising mix and explore best practices in each of these domains in turn. Given its significance for many nonprofits, we will deal with social media in the subsequent chapter.

We begin though with an assessment of the value of digital giving and its contribution to overall philanthropy in the United States.

Key Sources of Information

There are two key sources of information with respect to trends in online giving.

Blackbaud

Blackbaud (a leading supplier of fundraising database solutions) has historically conducted a detailed analysis of annual giving as part of their Charitable Giving ...