Charities See Lack of Electronic Goodwill

Charity begins at home. But not, apparently, on the home computer.

In this season of giving, it’s no surprise that nonprofit organizations have taken a cue from the world of electronic commerce and made online giving as fast and convenient as ordering a book from Amazon.com or bidding for a bobble-head doll on EBay.

But despite the proliferation of “Donate Now” buttons prominently displayed on nonprofit Web sites, e-charity has mostly been a bust.

A study by the Chronicle of Philanthropy found that only 11% of major nonprofits generate 1% or more of their annual contributions online. Most would be happy with even that.

The American Red Cross Web site normally collects about $2,000 a day in donations. This month -- traditionally a popular time for charities because of the swell of holiday spirit and the rush to rack up year-end tax deductions -- donations to RedCross.org have swelled to $6,000 on some days.

That’s hardly worth the trouble for an organization that in its last fiscal year took in total contributions of $768 million.

“When there is a disaster, people respond by going to their computers and making a donation to us,” said Phil Zepeda, a spokesman for the Washington-based Red Cross who also oversees its Web site. “Otherwise, not a whole lot comes in online.”

Five years ago, pundits predicted that the Internet would revolutionize charity donations.

“They were saying the age of direct mail was behind us,” recalled Mark Rovner, senior vice president with Craver, Mathews, Smith & Co., a consulting firm in Arlington, Va., that has Amnesty International and Habitat for Humanity on its client list.

Online campaigns could mean huge savings on postage, printing costs and paper, leaving more money for charities to perform good works. Donors also save on postage and time.

But as it turned out, that forecast of a charity revolution “was as unreliable as a lot of others about the Internet,” Rovner said.

A CMS study showed that givers generally write checks to their favorite charities while paying their bills. In both cases, they are responding to paper solicitations with paper checks.

Meanwhile, e-mail charity efforts have to compete with much-loathed online pitches for gadgets, miracle cures and pornography. That renders them far from cost-effective.

“An organization might spend $200 to $300 for every donation that comes back” electronically, Rovner said. “A carefully done direct-mail campaign might cost $10 or $20 per donation.”

E-mail campaigns also can endanger the carefully cultivated image of an organization.

“We spent the last 15 years gathering the names and addresses of 110,000 supporters,” said Craig Thompson, executive director of AIDS Project Los Angeles. “We would have to be very careful not to annoy or antagonize those people by sending out a bunch of e-mail to what they consider their private e-mail addresses.”

Still, organizations are testing ways to better exploit the Internet. In the spring, APLA’s direct-mail campaign will ask donors to respond online with credit card contributions. That would make accounting easier and eliminate the expensive problem of dealing with checks that bounce.

Despite lackluster results so far, the future of online giving remains promising in some eyes.

As members of the computer-savvy generation age and enter their more philanthropic years, e-charity may become more common, Rovner said.

Or maybe online giving just has to seem more like online shopping.

Take the case of Heifer International. The Little Rock organization was founded in 1944 to provide poor villages around the world with food- and income-producing animals.

Last year, it raised $5.1 million -- about 13% of its $39 million in total contributions -- through its Web site.

Givers can click on a picture of a goat, pig, llama or other animal to donate it in the name of a family member or friend.

This month, Heifer racked up three straight days in which online contributions exceeded $250,000.

Spokesman Ray White says the site plays on the treasure-hunting quality of online shopping.

“You give someone a water buffalo,” White said, “and they don’t forget you.”