Giving goes online

The Internet is becoming ever more important to nonprofit fund raising, reports the San Francisco Business Times.

I assumed that was the case but apparently it's actually something of a new development:

Nearly half of the $653.4 million raised by the American Red Cross for Katrina relief so far has come from Internet donations, far outpacing the 9 percent of contributions the Red Cross received online after December's tsunami.

On its busiest post-Katrina day, Network for Good processed an online donation every half-second, raising $3 million.

And as of Sept. 13, Bay Area donors have given the Salvation Army $858,000 online, nearly as much as the $942,000 that Bay Area donors have mailed in for Katrina. Last fiscal year, the Bay Area Salvation Army received 5 percent of its donations online; this year it expects that amount will be 40 percent.

Web-based giving has pushed its way to the center of philanthropy in an unprecedented way, and nonprofits are taking note.

"This year, with the tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, has been a watershed year for online giving," said Bill Strathmann, CEO of Network for Good. "The Internet has the added-value during times of crisis where you can research (unfamiliar charities) and donate at the same time."