Profile of online charity donor emerges
Howard Lake | 30 May 2001 | News
Research by Charities Aid Foundation and Internet Service Provider Poptel has revealed more about the kind of person who gives to charity online. The survey of 111 online charity supporters found that they were young, sophisticated and well-informed.
Research by Charities Aid Foundation and Internet Service Provider Poptel has revealed more about the kind of person who gives to charity online. The survey of 111 online charity supporters found that they were young, sophisticated and well-informed.
They were primarily 25-34 earning from lower to middle incomes. Over 60% of them said they used the Internet daily for business, general information, news and travel. The most popular use of the Internet was for “business” and “general information” (79%), then “news” and “travel” (67% and 54%), 49% use the internet for “shopping”, 47% for “personal banking”, and 45% for “information on charities”. Only 13% used it for games and 8% used chat rooms.
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Almost two thirds of them reported giving online tax-effectively.
Respondents were more likely than most to make regular donations. They often consulted a range of information sources before deciding which charities to support. These included fundraising appeal letters and charity newsletters, the Internet and e-mail, TV and radio and newspaper articles.
Around 25% said they had made online donations since April 2000, and 66% said they would be likely to do so in the future.
Cathy Pharoah, Director of Research at CAF, said: “For charities looking to develop their e-business, this unique snapshot of online giving should give them all the encouragement they need to start making the most of the Internet.”
CAF estimates that one per cent of the UK population give to charities online.
Find out more from CAF.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.