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Editorial: An online boost for charitable giving

GiveMN.org will give state's nonprofits a tool to expand reach.

Last update: October 11, 2009 - 7:22 PM

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ONLINE GIVING

"Philanthropic giving in Minnesota is a $4 billion market. So for every percent of individual charitable giving that goes online vs. a check or paper process, the sector will save more than $5 million in fundraising expenses.''

Dana Nelson, executive director, GiveMN.org

"I do a fair amount of impulse shopping online, and this is a nice way to allow you to do impulse giving.''

Mary Brainerd, president and CEO of HealthPartners and chair of GiveMN.org

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Some of Minnesota's most influential nonprofits are joining forces to create an innovative website that could fundamentally change charitable giving in the state.

Recognizing the growing popularity of online philanthropy, leaders of the effort are recruiting nonprofits to participate in GiveMN.org, which will launch Nov. 2 as an online portal for charitable giving. Just as they might buy a book from Amazon.com, donors will be able to search the site for Minnesota causes and programs they want to support, and with a few keystrokes use a credit card to make large or small contributions.

If the site is successful, nonprofits should be able to reach thousands of potential donors who might not have found the organizations or their programs using Google or another search engine. The nonprofits will also be able to use the site to promote themselves and their programs through the Facebook, Twitter and YouTube applications on the site.

Although the growing popularity of online giving is a national trend, the impact is likely greater in Minnesota -- one of the leading philanthropic states in the country, with an estimated $4 billion nonprofit sector. Online givers are younger -- their median age is 38 -- and more generous, with average online contributions of $79 vs. $52 offline. Wealthy donors are also increasingly web-savvy; 51 percent prefer Internet giving, and 46 percent say they intend to make a greater percentage of their donations online over the next five years.

For nonprofits, one major benefit of online fundraising is lower costs. Raising $1 online costs just 7 cents, compared with 20 cents for grant writing and still more through direct-mail campaigns. Considering that online giving nationwide has grown from an estimated $250 million in 2000 to more than $15 billion in 2008, the possible savings are huge.

There are also significant benefits for donors. By using GiveMN.org's search engine, they'll be able to quickly find programs in Minnesota that meet their giving objectives. They'll also be able to create personal accounts to track their contributions, making the ordeal of hunting for receipts at tax time a thing of the past.

Using Facebook and Twitter, donors will be able to let friends and associates know about the GiveMN.org causes they care about and direct them to the website for more information -- and of course to make contributions. And if individuals want to organize fundraisers for a specific cause, they simply have to direct contributions to one of the participating nonprofits.

GiveMN.org is being led by the Minnesota Community Foundation in partnership with United Way, the Minneapolis Foundation, the St. Paul Foundation, the Blandin Foundation and 12 other leading Minnesota nonprofits. The site will launch just before the holidays, providing a much-needed boost for charities struggling to raise money while the economic recovery remains tepid.

The long-term success of the project will depend on the level of participation by the thousands of nonprofits in the state, which will determine the amount of traffic coming to the site as well as the level of donations.

GiveMN.org is a smart, ambitious project that will give Minnesota's nonprofits a new way to reach donors and create larger communities of interest in their causes. In Minnesota, where charitable giving is part of the social fabric, the timing couldn't be better.

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