Billing Services Group

What will 2011 hold for nonprofit organizations looking to recover from an overall down year of giving? How will they best connect with existing and potential donors and convert those connections into dollars?

The good news is that, according to a recent study by Edge Research on behalf of Convio, 174 million adult Americans were planning to donate to a charity between Thanksgiving and the end of the year, with estimates predicting an increase of more than 30 percent over last year.

The research shows that when it comes to charitable giving, people like a variety of giving options by mail, online, at events or in person at events. What is most interesting are online donations, which, the research found, account for nearly half of all donations through any of the channels.

What charities have learned, however, is that donors of different ages differ in how and why they give. The younger generations give because of a sense of emotional connection, and tend to opt for frequent micropayments, smaller amounts spread out over a period of time often made online.

America’s big donor demographic at least to the top 100 U.S. charities- is women between 60-75 years of age who give out of a sense of obligation and habit. As a whole, they are uncomfortable with what they perceive as privacy and security risks of modern technology.

It is understood that many of these donors worry about identity theft and fraud and shy away from giving online or through credit cards, worried that someone will steal their information. The challenge for charities is to bridge that gap by providing these donors with a sense of security and privacy, so that they feel more comfortable giving in ways other than writing one paper check.

Our approach is to enable people to donate quickly and easily through a long-time trusted source: their local telephone company. Many donors and charities – may not realize that through Bill2Phone, there is a way for people to pay their donations through their home phone bill, which carries no interest charges or added fees, and allows donors to spread out their donations over the course of a year. The simple telephone bill is an existing payment vehicle sent to over 80 million households which is highly relevant in today’s world of giving. Have other creative ideas to share? Drop us a line or post it here!