Trust in charities essential for successful digital fundraising in emerging economies
Howard Lake | 23 April 2014 | News
A well-established digital communications infrastructure is less important in building effective digital fundraising in emerging economies than trust in non-profits, according to a new report by nfpSynergy and the Resource Alliance.
Overall, the report – Digital Fundraising – A World of Opportunity – found that digital fundraising through mobile (SMS/text and mobile web), internet and email, was in its “infancy”.
But even where digital technology is well established, in countries such as Russia, Brazil and South Africa, digital giving will not be fully effective if people perceive charities as corrupt or untrustworthy.
“Our interviews with non-profit practitioners reveal low take-up of online donation methods and reports of public concerns about the use of personal information provided during donations,” the report says.
“Non-profits operating in countries with high corruption levels face a challenge in changing public perception that non-profits may be wasteful or spend donations fraudulently.”
The report also says that efforts to introduce digital fundraising will be wasted if nonprofit organisations are not able to build a culture of giving to take advantage of new ways to give.
Future for digital giving is positive
However the report does say that “all in the future for global digital fundraising looks positive in terms of the impact of increased access to technology and innovation”, reporting that there has been an increase in platforms that allow people to engage and interact virtually with their local community, a development that is likely to carry on growing.
It recommends that non-profits in emerging economies should attempt to “grow digital literacy” by providing training for staff to carry out digital fundraising; and try to develop micro-donations so that people can give small amounts without worrying too much about it.
But it warns: “Any organisation which creates a digital giving platform where there is no trust in non-profits and no giving culture is very unlikely to succeed.”
Neelam Makhijani, chief executive of the Resource Alliance, said: “This new report shows how there is still a lot to learn about digital fundraising but that it offers the global non-profit community much potential.”
nfpSynergy’s research focused on emerging economies within the following regions: Central Eastern Europe, Latin America, South Asia, Asia Pacific and Africa, with particular attention paid to emerging economies such as the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).
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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.