Web is 'no panacea yet'

Professional Fundraising

January 2008

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If the truth be told, however much money fundraisers pour into their web strategy and entering new online marketplaces, it is difficult to prove there is a two-way flow. Awareness levels, campaigning enthusiasm and online profile may be rising, but funds are only slowly following suit, says Gemma Ware

The sector is undecided about what the web means for fundraisers. Figures from nfpSynergy’s Charity Awareness Monitor found there had been a boom in the last six months of people claiming to visit a charity website, with 30 per cent claiming to have clicked through between February and October 2007, up from 23 per cent over the previous six months.

Women, the young, volunteers and the more moneyed were spearheading the increase, which Joe Saxton, driver of ideas at the research consultancy, says proved that online investment was “imperative” for any charity.

Yet a NCVO Third Sector Foresight report from the ICT Hub into charitable giving and fundraising in a digital world has acknowledged that the web will not be a panacea for boosting income levels: “It is now largely accepted that the internet has simply broadened the range of tools available to fundraisers; it has not fundamentally changed the ways in which organisations fundraise.”

“The core reasons why people give will remain the same,” says Megan Griffiths, research manager at Third Sector Foresight. However, the report does point to potential growth areas. Micropayments from sites such as eBay for Charity have low transaction costs and can allow charities to raise income from new markets; social networks may allow them to target potential donors more effectively; and opportunities will be levelled for smaller organisations if they can communicate well online.

While the Foresight report has scant statistical evidence to back up its analysis or predictions, it does consider some of the risks for charities in the digital world. One, interestingly, is that obsessing about the web could be foolhardy. Charities may start to focus their websites on donors “to the detriment of communicating their mission and building relationships with a wider range of stakeholders”.

Yet Bertie Bosredon, head of new media at Breast Cancer Care, who contributed to the Foresight report, points out that the more channels you create, the more income you make. More evidence is needed, he says. “I would like to see more proof that [the web] is just shifting money from one method to another.”

More subtly, the report suggests the web is inducing a shift in power away from charities and into the hands of donors. “We used to be a monarchy where charities were dictating what donors could see,” says Bosredon. Now, he suggests charities should think about moving to a more socialist, even communist model. “We should encourage conversation with users, not just try to filter what users could see.”



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