Kintera estimates $350 million given online in US to tsunami appeals
Howard Lake | 6 January 2005 | News
US technology provider Kintera has seen its non-profit clients raise over $50 million online in a week for Asian tsunami related appeals, leading it to believe that US individuals have given around $350 million online to the disaster appeals in that period.
The estimate of $350 million is based on “Kintera’s historical online fundraising data compared to overall online giving” up to 3 January 2005.
Kintera estimates that its customers raise approximately 5%-15% of all online donations. in the USA. Therefore, with its customers raising over $50 million via the Internet in the past week alone, overall online giving to date for tsunami disaster relief efforts is estimated to be over $350 million.
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If correct, it means that the US public has donated online alone more cash than the US government has pledged in aid at this stage, despite increasing its initial pledge 10-fold.
“The phenomenal amount of money donated online is evidence that the Internet is now the accepted way to contribute to a cause,” said Kintera’s CEO, Harry E. Gruber, M.D. “Donating online offers consumers the definitive giving experience, combining immediacy, convenience and confidence. Consumers can give online to help in a tragic event of this nature, and feel like they have made an immediate impact.”
Dr. Gruber added that the speed and flexibility of handling donations online was essential in an emergency situation such as this. “Since most nonprofits have not had time to begin direct mail campaigns or other offline activities, funds donated online are critically needed to begin relief efforts.”
The Web is still attracting new donors. Nearly 300,000 new donors were added to Kintera’s client databases in the week after the tsunami earthquake disaster.
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.