1. New media fundraising:
21st century innovations
CAF Research briefing paper

2. New media fundraising:
21st century innovations
CAF Research briefing paper
Sally Clegg, Research Officer
Liz Goodey, Head of Research
With special thanks to:
Ian Mocroft, independent consultant
Sarah Hughes, Charity21
Amy Leadbeater, Research and Development Executive
1

3. Foreword
2
Charitable giving in the UK has come a long way since it was formalised
in the Elizabethan Poor Law of 1601. The types of causes that donors are
encouraged to give to, and the ways that charities fundraise have evolved
greatly over the last 400 years, in an evolution characterised by great
innovation and diversification.
The sheer variety of ways of giving to charity make fundraising
unrecognisable even from twenty years ago. Fundraising methods that
fall under the umbrella of ‘new media’ – such as the Internet, digital
television and mobile telephones – are developing at an incredible pace.
With new electronic and web capabilities being invented and adapted
for an interactive media-hungry public, fundraisers are constantly
adapting their fundraising techniques to new technologies such as social
networking and digital television.
Over the past few years, CAF has been monitoring developments and
innovations in the sphere of new media fundraising methods, and
we hope that this briefing paper offers charity fundraisers and other
researchers a solid overview of these methods, how they have been used,
and what successes charities have achieved.
Dr John Low
Chief Executive
CAF

4. Contents
1
Executive summary
4
Introduction
5
3
Innovations: charities’ options and experiences
6
3.1
3.1.1
3.1.2
3.1.3
3.1.4
3.1.5
3.1.6
3.1.7
3.1.8
3.1.9
3.1.10
3.1.11
3.1.12
3.2
3.2.1
3.2.2
3.3
3.3.1
3.3.2
3.4
3.5
3.6
Online fundraising
Overall online giving levels
Charity websites
Online charity shops
Online sponsorship
Online communities
Search engines
Video-sharing sites
Targeted giving
Spontaneous giving
US comparisons
Risks and concerns
Scope for increasing online donations
Mobile phones and text donations
The scope for increasing potential for text donations
Barriers to the growth of text donations
Digital television
Dedicated television channels
Digital television applications
Coinstar machines
ATMs
Viral emails
6
6
7
8
9
10
11
11
12
12
14
15
16
17
20
21
22
23
23
24
24
25
4
CAF interviews with charities
26
2
4.1
Stage 1: interviews with charities
4.1.1 Findings
4.2
Stage 2: examination of charities’ websites
26
26
27
5
Discussion
30
6
Appendices
33
6.1
6.2
Primary research interview topic guide
Charities that helped with the primary research
33
34
3

5. 1 Executive summary
4
„„
the UK’s adoption of online fundraising generally echoes trends
witnessed in the US
„„
the UK is ahead of the EU average in terms of household Internet
and broadband access, giving scope for growth in online donations
„„
charities and donors are making use of websites that help them
raise money for charity, such as auction sites
„„
for major sponsorship events, online donations are now vitally
important, and are steadily increasing the share of the total money
raised that they account for
„„
the recent online communities and social networking phenomenon
is being utilised by charities who are taking the opportunity to
increase their online presence
„„
digital television is likely to increase its role as a key fundraising and
awareness-raising tool; charities have already been diversifying their
income streams by receiving money via television programmes that
donate a proportion of a text or calls to charitable causes
„„
almost a third of charities are considering using text messaging for
communication with their donors, and potential donors
„„
in the UK, there are now more mobile phones than people, which
provides a substantial pool of potential donors using mobile
technology
„„
small and medium-sized charities are considering using digital
television as a way to reach donors in the future and the availability
of information on the voluntary sector on television is soon to be
boosted by a forthcoming new channel, which is due to launch in
2008
„„
donations at ATMs are now possible through HSBC machines
worldwide, and are growing steadily; taking into account the
number of ATMs in the UK, and the number of users, there is
considerable scope for increasing donations through this method
„„
of those UK charities with a website, currently one third can accept
online donations
„„
early experiences of online giving indicate that in order to retain
donor confidence in online giving, charities must ensure that their
websites are secure from fraud attempts

6. 2 Introduction
‘New media’ is defined as ‘developing, usually electronic forms of media
regarded as being experimental’ 1. These are all media that charities can
exploit for fundraising purposes. Charities have used different methods,
and have had varying degrees of success.
This briefing paper aims to provide information about the new media
routes currently available to charities, and what experiences charities
have had raising money this way, to help charities in developing their
fundraising strategies.
The most widely used of these new media formats is the Internet, which
has massive scope and potential for fundraisers. This briefing paper covers
the full range of methods available to charities, from online donations,
to ‘red button’ voting through digital television and making donations
through ATMs.
CAF has exhaustively researched the potential for new media fundraising
over the last eighteen months, and this briefing paper is the culmination
of our work. In section three, information about the methods available,
with figures about donations generated through these methods are
presented in detail.
Section four presents the findings of interviews with charities conducted
by CAF about the successes that they had found using new media
methods, and the income that they had received through them. The
analysis of this data allows CAF to report the average percentage of
their total fundraised income that charities generate through new media
fundraising. A discussion of the findings, with policy recommendations is
presented in section five.
1
www.dictionary.com, reference from Random House Unabridged Dictionary, accessed on 22/11/07.
5

7. 3 Innovations: charities’ options and
experiences
6
3.1 Online fundraising
3.1.1 Overall online giving levels
Although most sources agree that donors are increasingly turning to
online donations, there is no definitive figure for the value of online
giving in the UK. Instead, it is prudent to examine recent appeals in
the UK and US and the general situation in the US to gain a picture of
developments in the UK.
The 2004 Asian Tsunami appeal is a key example of the popularity of
online donations 2. Although there were roughly twice as many phone
donations as online donations (this was also the case in the Niger appeal),
during the Asia quake appeal, the DEC took an equal amount of money
through phone and online donations. Indeed, in the Virtual Promise
Survey 2006, 40% of charities agreed that the Internet had grown as a
source of income for them over the previous 12 months. The larger the
charity, the greater the number that said this 3.
In 2005, an analysis of online donations processed by CAF showed huge
growth in donation levels. Between 2003 and 2004, CAF processed
online donations that grew from £3.6m to £6.8m; CAF’s
allaboutgiving.org site (regular giving) saw a 62% growth in donations,
and the givenow.org (credit and debit card giving) saw a 109% growth 4.
In the USA, online giving has been monitored by The Chronicle of
Philanthropy’s annual surveys since 1999. The latest survey reported a
37% rise in online gifts in 2006 5. It is likely that growth in online giving
in the US will be mirrored in the UK.
One defining factor in the growth of online giving is access to the
Internet, along with the security of donating online. In the USA, it is
thought that 69% of the population have household Internet access 6,
the UK figure is slightly lower at 63% which is markedly above the EU
average of 52%, but still far behind the highest rate in the EU which is
seen in the Netherlands at 80% 7. As Internet access increases so too
does the ease with which people can make online donations. Broadband
penetration is also key to the growth of online donations. Again, the UK
is above the EU average of 32% of households at 44% (although this
2
3
4
5
6
7
Third Sector, 09/11/05, p7
nfpSynergy, ‘Virtual Promise Survey 2006’, www.nfpsynergy.net/freereports/freereportsandarticles/
‘Online giving is on the up’, CAF News Centre, 23/02/05, www.cafonline.org/news/news_story.cfm?whichStory=3714, accessed on 11/10/05
http://philanthropy.com/premium/articles/v19/i17/17000701.htm
CIA World Factbook, www.cia.gov/publications/factbook, accessed 20/12/07
www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/nugget.asp?ID=1715&Pos=1&ColRank=2&Rank=672, 2006 data compiled by Eurostat, accessed on 10/01/08

8. has been reported as as high as 84% of those households with Internet
access 8). The Netherlands again leads at 66% of households with
broadband.
3.1.2 Charity websites
Increasing numbers of charities have their own website, and they vary in
scope and complexity. A detailed study into the fundraising tools available
on a sample of websites is reported in Section 4.2. Online giving is a
flexible tool for donors, as it allows them to give at a time convenient to
them. Charities can accept donations 24/7 which allows donors to be
more spontaneous and to research and plan their giving. For instance
over the Christmas period in 2007, various charities reported significantly
more online donations than in 2006, with the Salvation Army reporting
191% more money and Cancer Research UK reporting 38% more
donations on Christmas day and 25% more donations on Boxing Day
than in 2006 9.
Increasing numbers of people are visiting charity websites to learn more
about the charity and its cause, and to donate. nfpSynergy’s regular
Charity Awareness Monitor has found that the number of people visiting
charity websites has almost doubled from 2002 to 2007, and has grown
from 23% to 30% in the six months to October 2007 alone 10.
It is still the minority of charities that are able to accept credit card
donations online. A survey by CAF in 2001 found that of those charities
with a website, only 29% had a facility for online card donations 11
although this has subsequently grown. The Charity Finance voluntary
sector IT survey 2007 found that of charities with a website: 33% were
now able to accept online donations, 24% could accept shopping
payments, 16% offered fundraising functionality and 11% offered
membership subscriptions 12. But even when a credit card donation
facility is available, the website needs to be interesting in order to capture
the donor, and preferably be interactive in some way.
The annual Virtual Promise Survey found that it is predominantly the
largest charities with an income of over £10m that have a donation
facility on their website (89%), but overall around 50% of charities have
this facility. An additional 12% of charities plan to get this facility on their
website 13.
8 www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/nugget.asp?ID=8&Pos=&ColRank=1&Rank=374, 2007 data from ONS, accessed on 10/01/08
9 Charity News Alert survey of the top ten fundraising charities, reported in www.plazapublishing.co.uk/eastenders.html
10 ‘Charity web visitors up a third in last 6 months, doubled in last 5 years’, press release dated 12/12/07 from www.nfpsynergy.net/downloads/
Late2007CharityWebHike.pdf, accessed on 11/01/08
11 ‘Charities failing to net from the web’, Nicola Hill, 22/11/01, www.society.guardian.co.uk/internet/story/0,8150,603336,00.html, accessed on
11/10/05
12 http://www.charityfinance.co.uk/it/ITSurvey2007.pdf
13 nfpSynergy, ‘Virtual Promise Survey 2006’, www.nfpsynergy.net/freereports/freereportsandarticles/
7

9. A research survey by CAF in February 2007 found that there is room in
the sector for a new online donation website for donors to make all their
donations through. One third of the sample said that they would use a
new online donation service, and of these 29% said that they would be
prepared to donate more than they currently do. The average amount
that these people said that they would be prepared to give, in addition to
their current donations was £50 per month.
8
3.1.3 Online charity shops
The expansion of charity shops from the high street to the Internet is
underway. Charities began by making their merchandise available online
as well as in addition to in shops, selling Christmas cards and other gifts.
However, this has grown to include dedicated websites. For example,
Oxfam has launched their first online charity shop with an initial 50,000
items available. In addition to the traditional Fair Trade goods and gift
ranges popular on charity websites, the Oxfam shop stocks donated items
offering the chance to purchase one-off and re-used items. Oxfam hopes
the online shop will generate £2m annually 14.
eBay is one of the most significant recent developments for charities
selling goods and merchandise. eBay for Charity has had a significant
impact on charity retailing, with over £5m donated to charities in two
years 15. Following initial fears that income from donated goods would
drop as items previously likely to have been given to a charity shop were
sold on eBay, charities themselves decided to get involved. In November
2005 the new eBay for charity service was launched, which enabled
charities to benefit through community selling and direct selling. From
March 2008, eBay sellers will be able to make their donations directly
from their eBay account, rather than through the MissionFish site 16.
Community selling allows any eBay seller to donate a proportion of the
sale proceeds to a nominated charity. To be eligible for donations, a
charity needs to have registered with MissionFish who administer the
scheme. Gift Aid can be claimed on these donations 17. To date, almost
14
15
16
17
http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/Channels/Finance/Article/738188/First-online-charity-shop-launched-Oxfam/
http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/News/DailyBulletin/778344/Giving-easier-remodelled-eBay/, accessed on 24/01/08
http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/News/DailyBulletin/778344/Giving-easier-remodelled-eBay/, accessed on 24/01/08
eBay guidance

10. 2,000 charities have signed up to eBay for charity to be eligible to receive
donations and in 2006/07 they received just over £558,000 18.
Direct selling allows a charity to sell merchandise or donated items
through the usual eBay auctions with items being distinguishable by a
blue and yellow ribbon. In 2006/07 this method of selling raised almost
£1,692,000 for charities 19 and further incentives for the scheme included
eBay providing donations to match final value fees and eligibility for a
discounted rate on Paypal 20.
Several charities have been extremely successful in setting up systems to
allow suitable donations of goods in their shops or through collections
to be sold via eBay instead. In particular Oxfam raised £300,000 through
sales of donated goods in eBay and Abe Books in 2006/07 21.
Sense is the UK’s largest organisation working specifically for deafblind
people, or people with associated disabilities. Sense has a successful eBay
strategy, with a dedicated team that centrally organises the online sales,
with money from sales being credited back to the individual shop which
received the donation. Sense has created niche eBay shops to auction off
clothing and antiques. This tactic has allowed them to realise significant
prices for high value donations, as people are more likely to bid for a high
value item online than visit charity shops to find the item that they want.
However, the success that Sense has had using eBay is not limited to high
value items, as they have found that selling on eBay generates a higher
price than in charity shops, with the average price of clothing at £10 and
antiques at £20 22.
3.1.4 Online sponsorship
Online sponsorship is an adaptation of the traditional face-to-face
sponsorship fundraising method. Online sponsorship providers, such as
Bmycharity and Justgiving.com, allow charities and individuals to set up
an online fundraising page with details of the sponsored event, which
enables online credit card donations to be made. The sites process the
donations, reclaim Gift Aid where appropriate, and transfer the funds to
the recipient charities. Charges are made for these services in the form of
monthly fees and/ or a cost per donation handled.
These sites have become very successful, particularly for large-scale
events such as the London Marathon and the Race for Life, and have
attracted a new range of donors. Justgiving.com has been used to raise
18
19
20
21
22
Figure obtained direct from Mission Fish
Figure obtained direct from Mission Fish
http://pages.ebay.co.uk/community/charity/faq.html#17
www.oxfam.org.uk/applications/blogs/pressoffice/2007/09/oxfam_launches_first_uk_online.html
Figures obtained direct from Sense, 2007
9

11. sponsorship for the London Marathon since 2001, and its popularity
among donors has grown markedly since then. In 2004, more than one in
seven charity runners used Justgiving.com, raising £3.4m 23, and in 2006
the site accounted for nearly 30% of the £41.5m raised by the London
Marathon, up £5m from the year before. In 2007 over £11m had been
raised on the Justgiving.com site prior to the race 24.
10
Online sponsorship is becoming increasingly prevalent and many large
charities offer the facility through their websites. Indeed, eight of the top
ten fundraising charities listed in Charity Trends 2007 feature links to a
sponsorship website.
In 2006, Justgiving.com collected £73m for approximately 2,000 charities
and almost a third of this money was given by new donors who say they
would not normally have contributed 25. In fact, since their launch in 2001
Justgiving.com has facilitated donations of over £150m for over 3,000
member charities 26. BMyCharity, which was set up in October 2000,
reports having helped half a million donors give over £15m since then 27.
3.1.5 Online communities
The rapid expansion of online communities is also opening up new
fundraising approaches. As well as offering a good opportunity to
increase awareness of charities and their work, online communities are
also able to provide a ‘virtual’ donor pool.
MySpace is the latest social networking site to promote charitable
activities. In November 2007, it launched the UK version of Impact, which
allows charities to create and customise a web page and post videos and
other resources to promote their work and fundraise 28.
Facebook allows users to promote events and their own fundraising, and
they can link their page to Justgiving.com so that friends can donate to
their cause/s online. This makes it incredibly easy to fundraise from friends
and family 29. It is particularly interesting to note that online community
websites are beginning to link together, fostering a greater cross-over of
users between sites.
Second Life, the virtual world used globally now also has fundraising
possibilities. Save the Children UK was the first to offer users the chance
to purchase a virtual gift, in this case a yak, with each sale raising
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
http://www.london-marathon.co.uk/site/?pageID=2&article=25
www.thirdsector.co.uk/News/DailyBulletin/652570/Just-Giving-expecting-better..., accessed on 08/01/08
http://www.continentalresearch.com/library/File/Internet_Report_Autumn_2007_TITLE_AND_CONTENTS_PAGES.pdf
http://www.justgiving.com/Statements/about_us/what_we_do.asp
http://home.bmycharity.com/Default.aspx?tabid=75
www.myspace.com/impact
www.thirdsector.co.uk/Channels/Fundraising/Article/672919/Facebook-offers-donation-facility/ accessed on 20/12/07

12. $1000 Linden (~ £1.77) for the charity as well as highlighting the plight
of Tibetan children 30.
However, a website called My Charity Page is due to be the next online
community, and is designed specifically for members of the public to
fundraise through. It was due to launch at the end of January 2008 but
is not live yet. My Charity Page will offer automatic Gift Aid reclamation,
text donations, online shopping commission, charity profile pages and
personalised URLs with blogs, photos, videos and personal messages. My
Charity Page is anticipating £20m in credit card donations and £1.2m in
texts in its first 12 months of operation 31.
3.1.6 Search engines
It is also possible to donate money to charity through search engines
such as Everyclick.com. Users can register and specify a charity that they
want to benefit from their searches, or leave the charity to benefit as
unspecified. Charities receive a proportion of Everyclick’s advertising
revenue according to the number of searches made by individuals on
their behalf 32. As of January 2008, over £377,000 had been raised by
nearly 87,000 people in this way since 2004 33.
3.1.7 Video-sharing sites
Charities are increasingly feeling a need to create an online presence, for
campaigning purposes as well as fundraising. Beatbullying is the latest
charity to raise awareness through the YouTube video-sharing site,
by partnering with its owner Google to create a dedicated YouTube
channel which has had over 400,000 hits 34. YouTube has a very
significant awareness and fundraising potential for charities, as in July
2006, over 100m videos were being watched every day, and there were
around 500,000 user accounts 35. Another example in 2007 is Male
Cancer Awareness who posted their campaign videos of their humourous
30 http://www.secondlifeinsider.com/2006/12/10/save-the-children-sells-virtual-yaks/
31 www.slideshare.net/guest97695e/my-charity-page-presentation, accessed on 10/01/08
32 ‘Everyclick.com: Thirteen months in the year for charities’, 14/06/06, www.free-press-release.com/news/2000606/1150286544.html, accessed on
24/07/06, and www.everyclick.com
33 www.charities.everyclick.com/about-everyclick accessed on 15/01/08
34 http://www/thirdsector.co.uk/News/DailyBulletin/778364/Interview-art-thinking-big/, accessed on 24/01/08
35 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Tube, accessed on 23/01/08
11

13. ‘Mr Testicles’ character participating in sporting activites like skiing on
YouTube, to raise awareness for their campaign.
12
3.1.8 Targeted giving
Online giving is not just for the general public. With growing interest in
Ultra High Net Worth Individuals (UHNWIs) and philanthropy, ways to
fundraise from these people are developing. The Reed Foundation has
launched a website catering specifically for wealthy philanthropists aiming
to donate between £100,000 and £10m. The project, named ‘The Big
Give’ aims to allow high level donors to search for appropriate projects to
support. Shortly after launch more than 250 projects were available 36.
Looking further afield, in the US there are several more established sites
that UHNWIs can use to give to projects. For instance, Global
Giving 37 has a range of projects in different parts of the world, and
donors of all sizes can search for a project that they want to support and
can then donate by credit card online, which is tax deductable. The added
incentive is that donors can see the impact of their donation when project
leaders post progress reports on the site.
For UHNWIs, therefore, although the more traditional philanthropic
avenues are still open, such as creating a foundation or trust, online
giving to existing projects is now a viable and increasingly popular
alternative or add-on.
3.1.9 Spontaneous giving
This section focuses on the donation methods used during emergency
appeals, as an example of how a wide variety of fundraising methods,
especially new media methods, can be successfully used by a large
number of donors to give to charity in a compacted period, when time is
of the essence.
36 http://www.thebiggive.org.uk/
37 http://www.globalgiving.com

14. The best example of spontaneous online giving on a grand scale is the
2004 Asian tsunami. The donations made as a result of the tsunami
appeal are a key example of the trend towards spontaneous, rapid and
highly generous giving in contrast with the more routine planned regular
giving. The South-East Asian tsunami occurred on Boxing Day 2004, and
in the UK the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) launched an appeal
for donations to help the affected region on 28 December 2004. Public
support was huge, with around four-fifths of adults (aged 15+) donating
to the appeal 38.
After the appeal had closed, the DEC reviewed the donations that they
had received and the methods by which they were given and published
their analysis on their website. In total £400m had been received, £350m
directly to the DEC and a further £50m to agencies. A high volume of
donations was received from the very beginning of the appeal, and in
the first 24 hours, £5m was raised by phone from 138,000 people, and
£300,000 was donated online 39.
Very notably, on New Year’s Day, the DEC broke the online fundraising
world record when it took £10m in a day. Clearly, for the tsunami
appeal the Internet was a crucial fundraising tool, enabling high volumes
of donors to give in a short space of time. CAF’s research into donor
behaviour during the tsunami appeal found that the internet was a
particularly important fundraising method, with 61% of the online
donors saying that this was the first time that they had donated online.
These donors were also most likely to be aged 25-44 and to have
donated £11-£25 40.
These figures echo CAF’s research into tsunami giving behaviours, which
found that while only 1% of the sample had made a text donation, they
all said that it was the first time that they had used this method 41. This
indicates that it is a fundraising method which has the potential to grow,
if the sector can consolidate its fundraising possibilities. There is further
discussion on text donations in section 3.2.
In the US, individual charities reported that a large proportion of the
tsunami donations that they received were through online donations.
Save The Children’s online donations were 31% of their tsunami income;
CARE USA’s was 38%; and Oxfam America’s was 80%. In the US, $350m
was donated online, 80% of which was given in the first seven days after
the tsunami. This eclipsed 9/11’s $211m, and indicates that as in the
UK, US donors wanted to make a quick spontaneous response. Indeed,
38
39
40
41
CAF Research, January 2005
www.tsunami.dec.org.uk, 11/11/05, accessed on 23/06/05
CAF Research, January 2005
CAF Research, January 2005
13

15. 14
over half of the online US donors indicated that they did not want to
be contacted by the relief agencies, and so did not want continuing
involvement with the charities or the appeal 42.
3.1.10 US comparisons
Estimates of the amount donated online in the US vary, but all the figures
indicate that the amount of money being donated online is increasing.
Most estimates say that during 2004, $2bn was donated online 43,
although one estimate puts it as high as $3bn 44; $4.5bn has also been
quoted for 2005 45. Either way, online donations account for no more
than 2% of total donations in the US. Giving USA 2007 references a
report by Target Analysis Group, which found that online donors tend to
be younger and have a higher income than offline donors, and tend to
give more than other donors. The study stated that the median 46 online
gift was $57 compared with $33 for offline gifts 47.
In the US, online giving has been monitored by The Chronicle of
Philanthropy’s annual surveys since 1999. The latest survey reported
a 37% rise in online gifts in 2006 48. The 2004 Asian tsunami and
other natural disasters have boosted online giving levels in the US.
The Pew Internet and American Life project found that 18% of their
respondents had made an online donation and half of these had given
online following hurricanes Katrina and Rita 49. The proportion of
donations received online for an appeal can also be high. The Chronicle
of Philanthropy’s sixth annual survey of online fundraising showed that
Doctors without Borders and Oxfam America both received 45% of their
tsunami donations online 50. Mirroring the UK experience, the majority of
charities experienced a decrease in their donations after the tsunami, and
95% said that this was directly due to disaster relief donations 51.
In the US, online donors are able to send donations to charity websites,
by using the Google Checkout facility, with no transaction fee for the
charity. The donors click on a ‘donate’ button on the charity’s website,
which takes them to the Google Checkout site where they enter their
donation and payment information 52. Google Checkout is offering this
42 Nonprofit Technology Enterprise Network, ‘Online fundraising for tsunami relief heralds the new e-stakeholder, Michael Stein, July 2005, www.nten.
typepad.com/forecast/2005/07/online_fundrais.html
43 Giving USA 2005, p66 and ‘A decade of online fundraising’, Stein M & Kenyon J, www.nonprofitquarterly.org, Winter 2004, p66
44 ‘US online giving surpasses $3 billion in 2004’, www.arrivenet.com, 16/06/05
45 ‘The young and the generous: a study of $100 million in online giving to 23,000 charities’, referenced in Giving USA 2007, p61
46 The median is the middle number in a sequence of numbers, that is, 50% of cases fall above as well as below it.
47 Target Analysis, 2006 donorCentrics Internet Giving Benchmarking Analysis, www.targetanalysis.com, referenced in Giving USA 2006: the annual
report on philanthropy for the year 2006, p61
48 http://philanthropy.com/premium/articles/v19/i17/17000701.htm
49 ‘More people are giving online, poll shows’, 08/12/05, Chronicle of Philanthropy
50 ‘Relief charities test ways to keep tsunami donors’, Nicole Wallace, www.philanthropy.com/pcgi2-bin/printable.cgi?article=http://philanthropy.com/
premium/..., accessed on 07/06/06
51 ‘Final report: fundraising in light of recent disasters’, www.commulinks.com/survey/report2.pdf, accessed on 08/08/06
52 http://checkout.google.com/seller/npo/, accessed on 15/01/08

16. facility free of charge to US non-profit organisations until the end of
2008 53, after which they will charge 2% and $0.20 per transaction 54.
The site’s support for the Southern Californian wildfire relief efforts in the
Autumn of 2007 is an example of how the site can work for charities: a
landing page was created, which enabled donations directly to either The
Red Cross or The Salvation Army 55.
In the UK the ‘donate’ buttons are not yet available on Google Checkout,
but donations can be made through a standard Checkout button to
registered charities 56. Transaction processing fees are also applicable in
the UK, at the standard rate of 1.5% plus £0.15 per transaction 57, so UK
charities are not currently receiving the same benefits of this scheme as
US charities.
3.1.11 Risks and concerns
The use of online fundraising is not entirely without its potential dangers,
and as with the Internet as a whole, it is not comprehensively regulated
or policed. Indeed, Colin Lloyd, chairman of the Fundraising Standards
Board has outlined the view that it is impossible to regulate online
fundraising, admitting that during the two years taken to develop a code
of practice, the Internet could change rapidly enough to render the code
irrelevant 58.
One issue charities face is that social networking websites may pose a
threat to their brands. Individuals are able to create pages about a charity
in which the charity described has no control over brand, message or
content. Arguably it is becoming increasingly important for charities to
create official presences on the key online community websites in order
to maintain their online brand 59.
As with any financial online transaction, credit card details need to be
protected and stored securely. Perhaps one of the biggest online threats
faced by charities is the problem of fraud. Since the tsunami appeal, there
have been warnings that it is possible for fraudsters to divert electronic
donations or capture donors’ bank account details 60. During the appeal
following the 9/11 World Trade Center disaster, there was an incident of
‘pharming’ of a US appeal website. Hackers hijacked the charity website
53
54
55
56
57
58
Provided directly from Google Checkout
www.nonprofittechblog.org/google-checkout-free-for-nonprofits
Provided directly from Google Checkout
Provided directly from Google Checkout
https://checkout.google.com/seller/fees.html?hl=en&gl=GB
Third Sector (online), ‘Online regulation is impossible, admits Lloyd’ 10/07/07, accessed on 10/08/07, http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/Channels/
Fundraising/Article/670043/Online-regulation-impossible-admits-Lloyd/
59 Third Sector (online), ‘IT intelligence: Networking websites’ 08/08/07, accessed on 10/08/07, http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/Resources/Finance/
Article/729959/intelligence-Networking-websites/
60 ‘Net benefits’, 07/01/05, www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1384676,00.html, accessed on 16/05/06
15

17. 16
domain and redirected donors to a similar looking site to make their
donations, which then went straight to the fraudsters 61.
Another danger concerns fraudsters hacking into charity websites to
steal donors’ bank details. This happened in the UK to Aid to the Church
in Need in November 2005. The details of 3,000 donors who had
made purchases from the online shop were accessed from a passwordprotected and encrypted website 62. In the Charity Finance voluntary
sector IT survey 2006, 35% of charities identified external hackers as a
problem, compared with just 10% in the 2004 survey 63.
A new trend in online fraud affecting charities has recently been
documented; fraudsters attempting to verify stolen credit card numbers
have used the cards to pay a small amount of money to a charity. This
allows thieves to verify that the stolen card is still active in a way unlikely
to trigger alarm bells with bank monitoring systems 64. However, even this
type of fraud can potentially be turned to a charity’s benefit. For example,
when World Emergency Relief detected suspicious donations being made
it alerted cardholders, who were able to cancel their cards before they
were heavily abused by the fraudsters. Although World Emergency Relief
offered to reimburse all donations, they were actually sent further money
from cardholders by way of thanks 65.
To retain donor confidence in online donations, charities must continue
to make their websites as secure as possible, and regularly check that all
is well.
3.1.12 Scope for increasing for online donations
Table 1 shows that Internet access levels in the US, UK and EU are
above the global average of 15%, at 50% of the population or more
(although other estimates put global Internet usage at as high as 19%
in November 2007) 66. Put simply, as Internet access expands in these
countries, the incidence of online giving is likely to increase, thus pushing
the proportion of giving made online up, complementing and perhaps
overtaking the more traditional methods.
61 Third Sector (online), ‘Opinion: charity fraud – fraud with danger’, 05/04/06, accessed on 24/07/06, www.thirdsector.co.uk/charity_news/full/news.
cfm?ID=18294
62 As above
63 Charity Finance voluntary sector IT survey 2006, p12
64 Third Sector (online), ‘Fraudsters prefer to donate by credit card’, 10/07/07, accessed on 14/08/07, http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/Channels/Fundraising/
Article/670548/Fraudsters-prefer-donate-credit-card/
65 Third Sector (online), ‘Charity blows whistle on credit card fraud spree’, 18/12/06, accessed on 14/08/07, http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/Channels/
Finance/Article/620962/charity-blows-whistle-credit-card-fraud-spree
66 www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm

18. Table 1: Global Internet access rates
17
Country
% of population with
Internet access
Year
US
69
2006
UK *
63
2006
EU *
52
2006
World
15
2005
Source: CIA World Factbook, 2005, 2006 and 2007 data,
www.cia.gov/publications/factbook, accessed on 20/12/07.
* ONS, compiled by Eurostat
3.2 Mobile phones and text donations
In the UK in 2007, an unprecedented 1bn text messages were sent each
week, which is equivalent to 5,000 per second 67 or the total number of
texts sent in 1999 68. In December 2007, 6.1 billion texts were sent 69,
and 290 million texts were sent on New Year’s Eve, which is 30% more
than New Year’s Eve in 2006 70. The public is becoming increasingly used
to using the mobile telephone to interact with organisations and appeals.
Some charities raise money from text donations to appeals. For example,
Shelter (Scotland) and The British Red Cross are both asking for text
donations in 2008, using PayPal. Many people are familiar with PayPal as
a way to make online purchases from a computer, but it has now been
adapted to allow charitable donations (once registered with PayPal).
More and more television programmes encourage text votes for
competitions, such as the BBC’s ‘How do you solve a problem like Maria?’
and ‘I’d do anything’ and ITV’s ‘I’m a celebrity: get me out of here!’
where people can vote for who they would like to see continue in the
competition. A percentage of the cost of the text or call is then usually
donated to charity on behalf of the viewer.
The BBC’s phone donations are allocated either to their Fame Academy
Bursary Trust, or to a specific appeal, however there is no data available
on the money raised by the BBC over the last two years. In January
2008 though, the BBC announced that only calls and texts for votes or
competitions directly linked to appeals such as Children In Need and
Comic Relief will be allowed to raise money. Programmes such as ‘How
do you solve a problem like Maria’ and ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ will not
67
68
69
70
www.news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30400-1304266,00.html, accessed on 14/02/08
www.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7075005.stm
www.text.it/mediacentre, accessed on 14/02/08
www.news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30400-1304266,00.html, accessed on 14/02/08

19. be allowed to add a surcharge for appeals. The BBC has introduced the
policy to ensure that audiences have more clarity on the cost of calls and
texts. Children In Need has estimated that they will miss out on £1.8m
per year 71.
18
In 2007, the calls to series seven of ITV’s ‘I’m a celebrity: get me out of
here!’ cost 50p, and of that, 15p went to charity, with each of the 12
charities (nominated by the participating celebrities) receiving an equal
share 72. CAF distribution data reveals that in 2007, £244,955 was raised
for 13 charities, with £18,842 allocated to each charity. This is a drop of
20% from 2006 when just over £306,000 was raised for 13 charities,
with nearly £43,000 donated to Whizz-Kidz, the winner’s nominated
charity. (Prior to 2007, donations were allocated according to the
number of calls made and therefore the order of departure of celebrities).
Through relatively little effort therefore, a small selection of charities are
able to open up a new income stream through the television route.
A study by Nestlé, found that mobile phones are particularly crucial to
the lives of the 11-21 age group 73. 97% of females and 92% of males in
the survey sample had access to a mobile phone, and they are particularly
comfortable with texting as a method of communication, which includes
‘getting information, arranging meetings, sending thanks, and also
relationship activities such as chatting up or flirting, and arranging a first
date’ 74. It is this younger demographic that is very likely to engage with
text donations.
Indeed, research conducted by CAF in January 2007 revealed that it was
the younger people that were most likely to express an interest in making
text donations to charity. 58% of people aged 18-24 stated that they
were interested in text donations, compared with the average of 22%.
Interest levels decreased with age, down to 7% for people aged 55-64 75.
Fundraisers are becoming increasingly aware of the potential of mobile
phones as a method of donation. The process is that the donor simply
71
72
73
74
75
www.plazapublishing.co.uk/bbcphone.html
www.itv.com/Entertainment/reality/iacgmooh/Charities/default.html
‘Joined-up texting: the role of mobile phones in young people’s lives’, Nestlé Social Research Programme, 2005
‘Joined-up texting: the role of mobile phones in young people’s lives’, Nestlé Social Research Programme, 2005, p2
CAF Research, January 2007, phone interviews conducted in January 2007, unpublished

20. sends a text to the charity, and is billed for a fixed value. The phone
operator facilitating the text donations then passes the donation to the
selected charity for a fixed fee. William Hoyle, Chief Executive of Charity
Technology Trust has pointed out that if all UK mobile phone users
donated £1.50 by text, the sector would see its income rise by £810m, or
£1.036bn if all donations were Gift Aided 76.
Currently, 14% of charities report using mobile phones (including SMS
text messages) as a communication tool, although these are mainly the
larger charities. However 30% of charities say that they are looking at
this as a method of communication, and again it is the larger charities
that are considering this 77. The interest of smaller charities in using this
method has increased by ten percentage points in the last year though,
with larger charities not increasing their use at all and medium charities
actually decreasing.
The 2004 Asian tsunami is an example of an appeal that has raised
money in this way. In the UK, £1m was raised from text donations to the
DEC from 650,000 text messages, and a further £3.3m was raised by
Radio Aid in January 2005. People donated £1.50 to the DEC with each
text, and because the UK Government waived its normal charges, 100%
of each donation went to the appeal. Text messaging was also popular
in other countries, and comparable figures are available for tsunami
fundraising. In France, each text was worth €1 and over €3m were raised;
in Greece €1 was donated, with 58% of donors sending one text and
6% sending more than six; in Italy 26.62m texts were sent at €1 each; in
the US, $5 was the donation to CARE USA; in Australia donors could text
either AUS$2, AUS$5 or AUS$10; and in Brunei text donations totalled
Br$60,463 78.
However, text donations are not the only medium that fundraisers will be
able to target mobile phone users for in the future. Mobile technology is
constantly developing, with the iPhone the most recent product, and web
access by phone is increasingly sophisticated. Japan is at the leading edge
of mobile payment technology, with over seven million people owning
mobile phones with the technology to make ‘contactless’ payments (ie.
no cash/card payment is made), and over 2.5 million merchants offering
the facility. Their increasing reliance on this method of payment is likely to
be replicated in the US and EU over the next decade 79.
The UK is now starting to investigate the possibilities of cashless payment,
with the O2 wallet launched for trial in November 2007. The O2wallet is
76
77
78
79
Charity Times, IT Supplement, September/October 2005, pp34-35
nfpSynergy, ‘Virtual Promise Survey 2006’, www.nfpsynergy.net/freereports/freereportsandarticles/
www.160characters.org/news.php?action=view&nid=1401
http://www.jetro.org/content/349/limit/1/limitstart/1
19

21. a mobile phone that utilises Near Field Communication (a way to use one
device to perform multiple functions on the move) to act as a credit card
and Oyster card 80, which can pay for goods under £10 81. It is currently
being trialled for six months, and if it is successful, will be launched at the
end of 2008 82. The options for making donations by mobile phone are
therefore likely to increase over the next few years.
20
3.2.1 The scope for increasing potential for text donations
Similar to Internet giving, increasing the amount of money donated by
text is partially dependant upon the percentage of the population that
has a mobile phone. Globally, one-third of the population has a mobile
phone 83.
In the 219 countries and regions where data on the penetration of mobile
phones is available, 51% of countries have a penetration rate of less than
50%. 84% have a rate of above 0% and up to 100%, but interestingly,
16% have a penetration rate of over 100%, which means that in these
countries there are more mobile phones than people. The highest
penetration rate is in Trinidad and Tobago at 157% of the population
(although this does not mean that every single person has a mobile
phone), and the lowest is Burma at 0.5%. The UK is in the top 16% of
countries, in 15th place with a rate of 114% 84. Figures for the UK show
from another source 1,042 mobile subscribers per 1,000 people 85. Table
2 shows the penetration of mobile phone ownership globally.
Table 2: Global mobile phone ownership rates
Country
Penetration of mobile
phones %
Year
UK
114
2006
EU
95
2005
Japan
80
2006
US
77
2006
World
33
2005
Source: CIA World Factbook, 2005, 2006 and 2007 data,
www.cia.gov/publications/factbook, accessed on 20/12/07.
80
81
82
83
84
85
A top-up card for travel on London transport, run by Transport for London
http://crave.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/0,39029453,49294493,00.htm
www.metro.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=7742&in_page_id=34
CIA World Factbook, 2007, www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html, accessed on 18/01/08
CIA World Factbook, 2007, www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html, accessed on 18/01/08
www.mobileactive.org/countries/united-kingdom

22. A payment service similar to PayPal has been launched in the UK by the
Norwegian telecoms company LUUP. It allows anyone aged over 14 to
pay for goods and services, including charitable donations by SMS, WAP,
online or post. Amnesty International has already registered to receive
donations and will be charged a transaction fee of 2.5% plus 18p per
text donation: less than mobile phone operators currently charge 86. This
new vehicle for donors to make text donations through should diminish
the concerns of donors and charities about the percentage of the
donation that reaches the charity. There is therefore renewed hope for
the volume of income that could be raised through text donations.
Finally, in March 2008 the government confirmed that text donations are
not liable for VAT, which means that text donations must now be treated
in the same way as other types of charitable giving by mobile phone
operators. This development should also help reduce donor and charity
concerns about how much of each donations is received by the charity 87.
3.2.2 Barriers to the growth of text donations
Sector and technology specialists are predicting growth in donations via
text and the Internet. However, one current restriction on text messaging
is that donations are fixed at £1.50, which is restrictive for the donor and
then the mobile operator takes a cut of this.
Charities are operating within a commercial framework for electronic
communications and transactions. Charities have to lobby for favourable
rates, but still the costs incurred may prevent them from continuing. In
any case, these costs are widely reported in the press and are often cited
as reasons for donors not to give using these methods. For instance, The
Daily Telegraph reported that after tax is deducted and the networks take
their fee, only about two-thirds of the donation goes to the
charity 88. Fundraisers may be worried that the public will be put off by
this donation method.
The Institute of Fundraising had been campaigning for mobile phone
operators to reduce their charges for text donations, and sought ‘some
long-term discounted charging structure that reflects the needs of their
customers and the charities they are supporting’ 89. However, they had to
cease lobbying in early 2007 due to a lack of response from the
operators 90. Justgiving.com claim that with its service, £2.05 of a £3
(two text) donation reaches the charity, which equates to 68% of the
donation.
86
87
88
89
90
www.thirdsector.co.uk/Channels/Fundraising/Article/650437/Institute-backs-service, accessed on 07/03/08
www.thirdsecotr.co.uk/News/DailyBulletin/789254/No-tax-text-donations-says-minister, accessed on 07/03/08
The Daily Telegraph, 25/04/05
Lindsay Boswell, Chief Executive, Institute of Fundraising, www.institute-of-fundraising.org.uk/news_detail.cfm?item=184
www.plazapublishing.co.uk/oaten.html, accessed on 20/12/07.
21

23. 22
In addition, a major barrier to the growth of text donations is that it is
difficult for charities to reclaim Gift Aid on these donations, which again
can make it a less attractive fundraising method to pursue for charities
and for donors to use. Collecting Gift Aid declarations by the paper
method would be a time-consuming process for charities and would
be disproportionately expensive for the value of donations received. In
addition, the number of donors willing to fill out a paper declaration
would probably be fairly low. However, it is possible for charities to
arrange for an electronic Gift Aid declaration to be sent by mobile
internet, thus automating the process.
In 2006, Macmillan Cancer Support was the first charity that was able
to send text donors a WAP message inviting them to go online on their
mobile phone to complete a Macmillan-branded Gift Aid form. It was
sent directly after the donation was received, which it was hoped would
improve completion rates over and above asking the donor to go to their
website from a PC 91. However, the majority of charities do not collect
Gift Aid on text donations. Indeed, Justgiving states that they do not
currently reclaim Gift Aid, because ‘the effort and expense of collecting
this additional data is not justified by the volume and take-up of Gift Aid
on sms currently’ 92.
For charities unable to set up an automated system like this, or who
have decided not to promote text donations, potential donors can also
be encouraged to text charities simply to request information. This
interaction can assist with growing the relationship between potential
donor and charity.
Perhaps the final barrier to text donation growth, is that donors may have
chosen this method specifically because they do not want regular contact
with the charity. Texting is a fairly anonymous donation method, which
makes it difficult to encourage future donations or a move to planned
giving. Conversely, donors may be avoiding text donations because
they would rather find a route that allows them to build up more of a
relationship with a charity.
3.3 Digital television
The spread of digital television has now reached two in three homes in
the UK 93. Television has many applications for charities; it can be used
simply to broadcast information or to televise an appeal but the digital
facilities have opened up new fundraising avenues.
91 www.mobilemarketingmagazine.co.uk/2006/06/wap_gift_aid_fi.html, accessed on 14/02/08
92 www.justgiving.com/design/93/sms/reclaim.asp, accessed on 07/03/08
93 www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/nugget.asp?ID=1710&Pos=2&ColRank=2&Rank=1000, 2005/06 data, accessed on 10/01/08

24. 3.3.1 Dedicated television channels
Solent TV was the UK’s first not-for-profit television channel, broadcasting
to the Isle of Wight and at its peak attracted 70,000 viewers before
closing down in 2007 94.
The Community Channel is perhaps the best known dedicated third
sector television channel. It was launched in 2000 and since then has
extended broadcast times to offer a 24 hour service to 1.2 million
viewers a month. The Community Channel is currently the only channel
completely dedicated to highlighting issues from both local and
international communities as well as the voluntary and charitable
sectors. It also provides a fundraising mechanism through ‘red button’
technology 95.
A new channel, NGO TV, has received its Ofcom licence and plans to
begin broadcasting in the middle of 2008 96. The channel is due to be
launched in 2008 by Shahbaz Sarwar in association with Sky. The aim of
the channel will be to work with UK charities to produce and broadcast
documentaries highlighting their work 97.
3.3.2 Digital television applications
Digital television is one of the newer fundraising methods, allowing
charities to communicate rich information to donors and potential donors
as well as raise money. The Virtual Promise Survey 2006 shows that a very
small number of charities are already using digital TV to communicate
(5%), and for the first year, medium and small charities are using this
fundraising method. An additional 11% of charities are also considering
using digital TV, and this includes all sizes of charities 98.
‘Red button’ technology also has a part to play. Many channels offer
an interactive television service that may be accessed by pressing the
red button on a digital television remote control. For instance, during
programmes on the Community Channel a message appears telling
viewers “Press red now to donate”, pressing the button accesses a list
of featured charities that the viewer can select from. The Community
Channel also shows fundraising adverts for charities, and pushing the
button during an advert will allow donations to be made. Most recently,
in November 2007, the BBC’s Children In Need fundraising night live on
BBC1 allowed a red button ‘donate now’ facility.
94
95
96
97
98
http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/Channels/Management/Article/661779/Community-TV-channel-closes/
http://www.communitychannel.org/content/view/814/12/
http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/News/DailyBulletin/774366/NGO-TV-gears-2008/2456..., accessed on 07/01/08
http://thirdsector.co.uk/news/Article/764816/Ex-trucking-boss-launch-NGO-TV/
nfpSynergy, ‘Virtual Promise Survey 2006’, www.nfpsynergy.net/freereports/freereportsandarticles/
23

25. 24
3.4 Coinstar machines
Coinstar machines can be found in many UK supermarkets allowing the
user to deposit mixed amounts of change in return for a voucher to use
in-store. The machines also offer the option of donating the change
to charity through the ‘Coins that Count’ donation programme. After
inserting the coins into the machine, a charity can be selected from the
list of options, a receipt is then printed which incorporates a Gift Aid
declaration for the donor to fill out and post to their nominated charity 99.
A processing fee of 7.9% is applied when coins are exchanged for cash
vouchers; the figure is slightly lower for charitable donations, at 7.5%.
The current charities available to choose from in the UK are: British Red
Cross, British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, The Children’s
Society, UNICEF, WWF and Whizz-kidz 100. In 2006 approximately
£130,000 was donated to charities through the ‘Coins that Count’
programme 101.
3.5 ATMs
In November 2005, a new donation method which enabled giving
through some ATMs (cash machines) began operating. HSBC and First
Direct customers were the first to be able to make donations to charity
from HSBC cash machines. This follows research that found that ‘almost
one in five people say they would donate more if they could through
ATMs’ 102. In June 2006, six new charities were added to the list:
WWF, Cancer Research UK, Childline, Help the Aged, the British Heart
Foundation and Mencap 103. Following negotiations with HMRC, Gift Aid
may be reclaimed directly by the charity if the donor confirms eligibility
by pressing a button during the ATM transaction. Table 3 shows the
international ATM giving facilitated by HSBC 104.
99 http://www.coinstar.co.uk/uk/html/A2, accessed 17/08/07
100 http://www.coinstar.co.uk/uk/html/A2-1, accessed 17/08/07
101 Provided directly from Coinstar
102 HSBC bank introduces donation by cash machine’, Howard Lake, 06/11/05, www.fundraising.co.uk/news/5823, accessed on 11/11/05
103 Cash machines offer donation option’, 19/06/06, www.charityfacts.org/hot_topics/cash_machines.html, accessed on 20/07/06
104 http://www.hsbc.com/1/2/corporate-social-responsibility/community/community accessed on 09/08/2007

26. Table 3: Donations made through HSBC ATMs
Amount
donated
25
Country
Facility provided
Year
Mexico
ATM and
USD $1,700,000 2005
Internet banking
donations
Hong Kong
ATM, ‘phone
USD $600,000
banking and
Internet banking
donations
2005
UK 105
ATM and
£224,359
Internet banking
donations
November 2005
– August 2007
The potential of this donation method, should it be extended to other
banks’ machines, is high. In 2006 there were 35.1m regular users of cash
machines and 2.75 bn ATM withdrawals in the UK 106. Opening up this
donor market could lead to great increases in ATM donations.
3.6 Viral emails
Viral emails can also be used as a way of promoting a fundraising
campaign to new donors. By sending out an email, usually with some
sort of interactive element, such as a video clip embedded in it, the idea
is that the donors will forward the email on to their friends, and so on. By
producing a snowball effect of increasing numbers of people having seen
the email, it is hoped that these people will enter the website and make a
donation.
There is of course the risk with this method that viral emails could be
treated as SPAM by email providers and users. However, automated
emails that go to the same list repeatedly can be set up to suppress
addresses that have already responded to the campaign 107.
105 Figure obtained direct from HSBC
106 http://www.apacs.org.uk/resources_publications/cash_machine_facts_and_figures.html
107 ‘Innovations in Online Direct Response Fundraising Drive Results’, 31/03/06, www.pnn.online.org/article.php?sid=6628&mode=thread&order=0,
accessed on 24/07/06

27. 4 CAF interviews with charities
26
4.1 Stage 1: interviews with charities
During July 2006, CAF commissioned a small piece of qualitative
research with fundraising charities to investigate their use of new media
fundraising methods. The aim was to reach an approximate figure for the
average percentage of voluntary income that is raised using new media,
with an indication of which particular new media methods draw in more
money overall, whether this is because they are more effective, more
popular with donors, or used more often by charities.
CAF was interested to see, in the light of sector press about the potential
of online giving and SMS text donations, how far charities are using the
range of ‘new media’ methods, and what success they feel they have had
with them. By understanding their experiences, it is hoped that UK charity
fundraisers can be guided on how best to utilise these methods to raise
their charities’ voluntary donations.
28 charities took part in the research; they were a mixture of large
charities from CAF’s top 100 fundraising charities as listed in Charity
Trends 2006; charities that were specifically invited to take part as CAF
knew them to be active in new media communication and fundraising;
and charities that asked to take part after reading about the planned
research in the sector press 108. Organisations that process new media
donations were also contacted to ask them how much money they are
processing for charities, which acted as a double-check on the main part
of the research. The charities and processing agencies were interviewed
by CAF, and the question areas are listed in the appendix.
4.1.1 Findings
Some charities were able to provide a great deal of detail on their use of
the Internet and other new media methods, and shared their plans for
future projects or ways of working. Conversely, other charities did not
offer any details, but simply gave a figure for the proportion of their total
income that is received through new media routes online (this could be
an actual figure or an estimate). Other charities were unable to provide
any figure at all.
At the end of the research, there were indications of the income received
through the new media fundraising methods, rather than an absolute
figure. The results are sufficient to act as a line in the sand for the
percentage of voluntary donations from new media methods. Therefore,
the figures presented here are indicative and provide a starting point for
further research and analysis.
108 Stories appeared in Third Sector, on the UK Fundraising website, and on a web forum

28. The analysis found that overall, charities receive an average of 4% of
their annual voluntary donated income through new media fundraising
methods. This figure was calculated using the following formula:
% =
£ Income from new media fundraising (as stated by respondent charities)
£ Top 100 charities’ voluntary income
This is not dissimilar to the 2-3% quoted for online individual giving in
the USA 109.
Aside from the percentage figure, the main finding from the research
is that due to their internal financial systems, charity fundraisers find it
difficult to isolate and report on the income that they have raised through
new media methods, and it is often hidden in an overall voluntary income
figure with the more traditional fundraising methods. Without charities
revising their own internal financial recording systems, it will be very
difficult to reach a definitive figure for the sector’s new media fundraising
income. This would be a massive task for any charity to undertake from
scratch, would take a long time to achieve, and would require all charities
to make the change to gain a true picture. As this is not feasible for all,
financial reporting systems will always be a difficulty for any research into
this area.
4.2 Stage 2: examination of charities’ websites
It was recognised from the findings of the primary research stage that
online fundraising was the most frequently used form of new media
fundraising, and hence resulted in the largest new media revenue
stream for the charities interviewed. A follow-up desk research stage
was then designed to investigate what fundraising methods charities
are advertising on their websites and what donation methods they
make possible on their websites, in order to understand which are most
popularly employed.
A sample of 58 charity websites were searched in August 2007 for
their use of 27 different fundraising methods, ranging from credit card
donations to selling merchandise and encouraging payroll giving. The
charities were selected from the Charity Trends 2006 top 100 fundraising
charities ranking (as defined by their total voluntary income). None of
these charities took part in the interview process.
The results showed that the fundraising activities that charities employ
on their websites vary considerably, both in terms of what each charity
109 Network for Good, p11, referenced in Giving USA 2006: the annual report on philanthropy for the year 2006, p61
27

29. 28
offers, and which types of fundraising are more popular than others
among the charities surveyed. For instance, two fundraising methods
were used by 91% of charities; online credit card donations and online
Gift Aid declarations. Thirteen methods were used by less than a quarter
of the charities, and two methods were not used at all.
Table 4 shows the fundraising methods that were searched for on the
charity websites.
Table 4: Charity website fundraising methods
Fundraising method encouraged on the website
Charities
using the
method %
1
Credit card donations
91
2
Donations can be made with Gift Aid online
91
3
Encouragement of legacy donations
81
4
Encouragement to set-up a Direct Debit
76
5
Encouragement of Gift Aid donations, and
information about Gift Aid as a concept
71
6
Encouragement of fundraising events, either to come 66
along to one or to do their own, including being sent
to another website
7
Encouragement of payroll giving
52
8
Encouragement to make gifts of shares
43
9
Possible to join the charity as a member online
40
10 'Email this page to a friend' facility
29
11 Vouchers as gifts, e.g. for weddings offered online
26
12 The CAF Charity Account (cheque book) is
mentioned
24
13 Online catalogue/shop for buying merchandise, e.g. 22
opens up a new browser, and may be run by another
organisation
14 Selling merchandise on the website, e.g. books,
Christmas cards
21
15 Links to e-bay or another auction site
19
16 A shopping portal, i.e. a place where you can do
any shopping through them, and where they make
money from this
16
17 The charity’s own affinity credit card is mentioned
16
18 A search engine for people to search the internet
whilst donating money to the charity, e.g. Everyclick
or Magic Taxi
14
19 Encouragement of people to donate their tax rebate
to the charity
10

30. 20 Encouragement of recycling, e.g send in old mobile
phones
10
21 Own lottery, or linked to another lottery, e.g.
Monday Lottery
7
22 Offers insurance or any other financial services, e.g.
7
pet insurance, travel insurance, change power supply
to a green source
23 Encouragement of text donations
2
24 Participation in the Charities Telephone Affinity
Scheme
2
25 Services offered to the public, which need to be paid 0
for
26 Asks people to donate Texaco, Nectar or any other
points
0
The high proportion of charities that offer a credit card donation facility
on their website is mirrored in nfpSynergy’s Virtual Promise Survey
2006 110, which found that 89% of the larger charities (defined as having
an income of £10m and more) offer credit card donations online. The
survey has been tracking charities’ use of websites for a number of years,
and its findings offer a useful glimpse of how online giving is growing.
In the last year there appears to have been negligible change in the
proportion of charities in the large, medium and small size-bands offering
online giving: and as expected, it is the larger charities that most often
provide this, compared with just under a quarter of the smaller charities
(less than £1m income). CAF anticipates that there will be a trickle-down
effect of website use from the larger charities to smaller ones.
110 nfpSynergy, ‘Virtual Promise Survey 2006’, www.nfpsynergy.net/freereports/freereportsandarticles/
29

31. 5 Discussion
30
According to the recent findings published in UK Giving 2007 111,
the proportion of the UK public that gave to charity in 2006/07 had
decreased by 3% since 2005/06, mirrored by a drop in total UK giving
of 3% in real-terms to £9.5bn. Yet at the same time new media
methods seem to be growing in popularity, as more electronic media are
developed and adapted to allow charitable donations to be made, such as
the new use in the UK of near field communication with mobile phones,
and the development of superior converged devices. There is a growing
selection of campaigning and fundraising options available to charities,
with ever more ways for donors to actively engage with charities and
display their support for them. Charities have used different methods,
and have had varying degrees of success, but have the opportunity to
venture into as many non-traditional fundraising methods as they wish,
until they find the best fit for their organisation.
For charities to really take best advantage of their new media fundraising
efforts, they have to foster a culture internally that embraces the use of
new technologies in addition to the more traditional methods, and this
includes employing staff or volunteers with expertise in utilising the new
tools available, and developing a financial system that allows fundraisers
to see how successful the newer methods are compared with the more
traditional revenue streams, over time. As long as these two criteria are
in place, charities will be able to make huge gains in terms of improving
the public’s awareness of their cause, and increasing donations, for a
relatively small amount of effort.
In 2008, the adaptation of social networking and ‘share’ sites is perhaps
the most important developing medium for charities. By making it easy
to access information, the public will be far more able to learn about
different causes, and make donations at a time and place convenient
to them. Indeed, one of the main draws of the new media donation
methods seems to be that people are able to donate when they want,
rather than it being solicited at a given time, eg through a street cash
collection. The flexibility of using different media also allows individuals to
use the method most convenient to them and their lifestyle, and to plan
their giving to provide a sustainable income for charities.
The other method that could see more use is digital television. With the
digital switchover due for completion in 2012, all households in the UK
will have access to digital television, and all the interactive applications
that come with it, such as the ‘red button’ facility. Charities may be able
to take advantage of these technologies, and raise awareness of their
cause through the increased range of channels available. Digital television
has the potential to become a key fundraising tool in the future.
111 ‘UK Giving 2007’, published by CAF and NCVO, December 2007, www.cafonline.org/ukgiving

32. Text donations however, have not taken off as expected, as the
percentage of money that reaches the charity is perceived to be relatively
small. The barrier to the wider take-up of this method is that the mobile
phone operators have not lifted their fees for charities. The press has
widely reported that charities receive a fraction of the amount donated,
which has led to mistrust among the public of using this method, despite
its apparent convenience and usefulness during focused campaigns. CAF
supports the Institute of Fundraising’s call to the operators to lift their
fees, but recognises that perhaps charities should now focus on other
fundraising methods that do not have these type of barriers, such as
online giving. Charities could also concentrate on text messages as a way
to send information and foster relationships.
Online giving has been growing in importance as a way of fundraising
in the UK, especially over the last five years. Used as both an awarenessraising tool and a way to donate, the online method is increasingly being
used by donors as a way to show their support to friends and family
through social networking, and to proactively raise money through online
sponsorship sites. As the public becomes increasingly familiar with online
financial transactions, so will its trust in the mechanism, and there is
therefore more potential scope for growing online donations.
With growing Internet and broadband access in the UK, there are good
opportunities for charities to communicate with donors and potential
donors. While creating an online presence is relatively easy, generating
donations is of course not as simple as including a credit card donation
facility on a website. The site needs to engage its audience and provide
information, to help them make their decision about whether, and how,
to donate. The cost of developing such a site may be prohibitive to
smaller charities, presenting perhaps, an opportunity for web developers
to be encouraged to work pro bono for charities.
This briefing paper has tracked the advances in new media fundraising
methods, and has provided figures from reports, surveys and press
releases where possible, to illustrate recent innovations and trends. While
this paper is able to give a broad view of the latest sector trends, it has
also identified that it is not yet possible to produce a single figure for the
total amount of donations made in the UK through either online or all
new media methods. In the long-term, the ideal solution is for charities
to gather and publish their own statistics on their voluntary income
according to each of their income streams, and to make this available to
the sector. While some charities are already working in this way, others
may encounter varying degrees of difficulty in adapting their accounting
procedures to collect this data. However, this knowledge would be
invaluable to the sector in understanding donor behaviour and planning
future fundraising strategies, and as such CAF urges charities to begin
recording this data in detail.
31

33. 32
In the medium-term, one solution to identifying the value of charitable
donations in the UK made online, is a slight adaptation of CAF and
NCVO’s Individual Giving Survey 112. From 2009 it will be possible to
collect survey data on online giving, which will make it feasible to see
what proportion of survey respondents’ giving is online, how many are
using this method, and reach an estimate for the total amount of online
giving in the UK.
Charity fundraisers in the UK are operating in a complex and exciting
environment, full of innovative solutions and concepts. New media
has many strengths as a fundraising medium, including the constant
adaptations, convenience to donors and potential for planned giving.
Many technologies that may help charities increase their revenue in the
future are now being explored overseas, and it is up to the UK to stay
informed about these developments and be ready to capitalise on them
when they arrive. The key is for fundraisers to continue to adapt and
tap into new electronic media trends to ensure that they keep up with
shifting donor behaviours, and to encourage donors to give in a planned
way wherever possible.
112 As reported in the annual ‘UK Giving’ report, published by CAF and NCVO.

34. 6 Appendices
6.1 Primary research interview topic guide
1
Does the charity receive a voluntary income via their website
(ie through credit and debit card donations)?
Prompts:
Mainstream
„„
„„
„„
„„
„„
„„
web donations (credit/debit card, Direct Debit, membership)
event fundraising / sponsorship
online trading – where an optional donation amount can be added
click to give sites – where a user visits a page and clicks a link,
generating commercial sponsor income for the charity (eg Wateraid)
donation portals eg CAF sites
email appeals and viral campaigns, ie approaching donors and
potential donors rather than waiting for them to approach the
charity
Marginal
„„
„„
„„
„„
„„
„„
„„
„„
e-cards (where the donor sends a Christmas, Valentine’s, or
other special occasion virtual card and pays either a voluntary or
compulsory donation)
individual online charity auctions (like eBay for Charity where an
individual sells an item and donates a portion to a charity)
sponsored pages – where a page or section of a charity site is
sponsored by a company who pays for ‘airtime’
banners – similar to above
search and donate – like Everyclick.com or charityclicksmart.com
Google adwords – where a charity places Google adwords on its site
and is paid affiliate income by Google/Google advertisers
shopping portals
e-lotteries
New/experimental
„„
blogs
pixel advertising websites, as of the www.milliondollarhomepage.
com fame
2
If yes, how much money did they receive by this method in the last
financial year? Capture which financial year this was. If they can’t
give an approximate figure, ask what proportion of their total
income was via the web.
„„
33

35. 34
Caution: identify whether the figure provided is just for a one-off
campaign or the whole financial year.
3
On the website, is there a facility for making the online donations
tax-efficient (ie Gift Aid declaration form)?
4
How does the charity process the online donations? Do they do it
themselves, or is it through an agency?
5
Does the interviewee think that the use of the Internet for making
donations is increasing (both within their charity and in the sector as
a whole)?
6
Does the interviewee think that within their charity the Internet will
become increasingly important as a fundraising method?
7
Has your charity ever run campaigns encouraging text donations?
If so, how successful was it? Are you planning to do this again?
Interviews with processing agencies:
How much money are they processing for charities?
6.2 Charities that helped with the primary research
The following charities took part in the research:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
Action Aid
Amnesty International
British Red Cross
CAFOD
Christian Aid
Help the Aged
Interact
Marie Curie Cancer Care
Medecins Sans Frontieres
National Children’s Bureau
National Trust
NCH
PDSA
RNIB
RNID
RNLI
RSPB
RSPCA
Salvation Army
Save the Children

36. 21
22
23
24
25
26
27
Scope
Shelter
Sight Savers International
Sue Ryder Care
Tear Fund
Water Aid
Woodland Trust
The following processing agencies took part in the primary research:
1
2
3
4
CTT (Charity Technology Trust)
Justgiving.com
Bmycharity
CAF – All About Giving and e-fundraising
35

37. 0657B/0308
Charities Aid Foundation, 25 Kings Hill Avenue, Kings Hill, West Malling, Kent ME19 4TA UK
T: 01732 520 000 F: 01732 520 001
W: www.cafonline.org E: enquiries@cafonline.org
Registered charity number 268369