Social Giving Comes of Age
Since 2010, Network for Good has been tracking digital philanthropy across several distinct channels including: individual charity websites, charity portals and social giving (peer-to-peer) websites and applications. Over that timeframe, it is clear that social giving has come of age.
While the majority of charitable giving occurs directly on nonprofit websites (60-75%), portals have historically played an important secondary role. With the exception of disaster response giving and December year-end giving, social networks for social good have established themselves as a key giving channel. Social giving consistently makes up about 15% of overall giving through Network for Good’s platform.
You can find more giving trends and observations in the Q2 2012 update to The Network for Good Digital Giving Index. This Index builds on data and insights from the Online Giving Study, released in December 2009. This update includes trends and analysis on over $30 million in donations to more than 20,000 charities through the Network for Good platform in Q2 2012. The platform includes donations to Network for Good’s nonprofit customers through their own websites; other nonprofits through more than 40 corporate partner websites; and Network for Good’s giving portals, NetworkforGood.org and SixDegrees.org.
Index highlights include:
- Overall giving increased for in Q2 2012 versus the same period in 2011,with the exception of generic donation pages and portals.
- Most charitable giving through the Network for Good platform in Q2 2012 was via charity websites, followed by social giving and then portals.
- Charity Websites with branded donation pages achieved 7x more donation dollars, on average, than sites with generic donation pages.
- Portal giving in Q2 2012 declined versus the same period in 2011, likely due to residual giving in response to the March 2011 Japan tsunami.
- Social giving made up 14% of all donations through Network for Good in Q2 2012, consistent with results from Q2 2011.
