The fact that I’m writing this article as a blog post, then Tweeting about it and talking to people on Facebook is evidence that the way people communicate has undergone rapid and drastic changes.  The not-for-profit sector is not immune to these changes.  Online giving continues to grow faster than other any area of fundraising.  In 2010 online fundraising grew by 34.5% over 2009 and this trend is set to continue.

source: Asthma Helper

Just look at the menu of ways for charities to fundraise through digital channels with new technology:

• Social media (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc)
• Charity websites
• SMS/text giving
• Third party online fundraising sites (Just Giving)
• Online charity comparison sites (Charity Navigator)
• Ebay auctions

Here are two recent pieces of research that emphasize the importance of engagement in the context of new technology:

1. A study by Blackbaud found that individuals raising money on behalf of charities (e.g. through events)  that regularly use social media to communicate with their networks “increased fundraising results by up to 40%”.  This isn’t all that surprising, since an individual’s presence on social media sites means that they can quickly communicate and engage with a lots of potential and current donors/sponsors at once.  They can also send frequent messages through a number of different outlets.  The same principles apply for non-profits – they need to post regularly and build relationships with their supporters/followers/fans/etc.  It’s not enough to just set-up some accounts and leave them – people want to be part of an ongoing conversation. It’s also important to note that while social media can increase fundraising results, it doesn’t mean that all this new income will be donated via social media sites.  This other Blackbaud report shows that multichannel giving (online and offline) can significantly increase donations over a donor’s
2. The Nonprofit Social Network Benchmark Report 2011 finds that less than 1% of non-profits surveyed have raised more than $100k via social networking sites in the last year.  Major gifts from individuals, companies, foundations, etc continue to come from old school relationship building through face-t0-face meetings, pitches, applications, and so on.  While new technologies might help to identify these prospects, the relationship building still happens mostly offline.  Let’s not forget that online fundraising still only accounts for less than 10% of all giving. 

Non-profits should absolutely embrace social media and new technologies if they have the resources and capacity.  But there’s no getting around the fact that the most fundamental element of fundriasing is still relationship building.