December 12, 2012; Source: PCMag
An infographic designed by MDG Advertising illustrates the many interesting ways in which social media has played a role in online giving. The average online donation through social media is increasing every year and has doubled in the last five years, lending some support to the charge that nonprofits need to incorporate social media into fundraising campaigns. Here is the infographic MDG created:
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The infographic points to some interesting trends: although 98 percent of nonprofits have a Facebook page, only one-third of those organizations are using the social network for soliciting individual donations, and even less (20 percent) use it for event fundraising. Although a lesser number of nonprofits surveyed (74 percent) use Twitter, the infographic indicates that those using Twitter in their fundraising campaigns were able to raise approximately ten times more online than those who didn’t use Twitter.
The infographic also looked at the impact that the recent Giving Tuesday, an effort that NPQ noted sought to bring awareness to the charitable giving season right after Black Friday, had on online giving. According to the infographic, Giving Tuesday proved its success, as online donations were up by 53 percent compared to the same day in 2011.
The infographic also presented numbers on social endorsement, suggesting that more than half of social media users (68 percent) say that they would “take time to learn more about a charity if they see a friend posting about it.” MDG offers some trends it expects to see in 2013: more nonprofits using Facebook for giving, growth on Google+ (which has so far only attracted 26 percent of nonprofits) and “Twitter evolution,” which the infographic seems to imply means an increase in nonprofits’ usage of hashtags in giving campaigns. Though it wasn’t included in the infographic, we would like to see data evaluating whether—or to what degree—promoted tweets and posts impact online donations. What are some other trends nonprofits should look out for in online giving in 2013? –Aine Creedon
