KONY 2012

Beyond Kony 2012: Online Charity Gifts Grow 16% As Web Turns Activists Into Donors

Written by: Janet Novak, Forbes Staff

2 April 2012

As we all know, the video, Kony 2012, went viral last month and grabbed headlines. But with a lot less notice, many of the nation’s charities have been ramping up their online and social media efforts, gaining activist donors in the process. In recent years, online giving, as tracked by Austin-based Convio, has grown at a double digit pace similar to the growth rate of e-commerce retail sales, while overall charitable giving has tracked the struggling economy. Giving USA and the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University estimate that individual contributions to charity in the U.S. rose a modest 2.7% in 2010, after two years of decline.

In 2010, online contributions, as tracked by Convio, grew 20%, thanks to a spurt of giving after the catastrophic January 2010  earthquake in Haiti.  The March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan produced a far smaller U.S. donor response and the number of first time on line donors to disaster and international relief agencies fell by a median of  25% in 2011. Growth in revenue from special team events, in which participants solicit donations from friends based on, say, how many miles they walk, also was slow in 2011—a reflection of the fact, Convio says,  that it’s a  more “mature” market. Excluding special events, online contributions grew 19.7% in 2011.

When it comes to the use of social media, animal welfare and environmental/wildlife charities have been noticably in the lead. That has translated into fast growth in their advocacy rolls, with animal  welfare groups reporting a median 30% increase and environmental groups a 29% gain. It has also been  noted that the Humane Society of the United States has a six person social media team. The organization now has more than 100,000 followers on Twitter at @humanesociety and 1.3 million people have “liked” its animal and star studded Facebook page.

Despite the fast online growth, most charities still get less than 10% of their contributions from e-donations, as estimated.  But, he added, some cause related, social media savvy non-profits are now raking in as much as 25% of their small donations on line.