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Give Online To A Family In Need!
MicroGiving’s Explore page has now moved to our blog! For those of you who are not aware, every month MicroGiving spotlights one Donor, Recipient and Charity to feature on our site. What makes these members special? They’ve been exceptionally involved in our community and we feel they deserve a little praise and laudation!
This month our shining Recipient spotlight goes to MJ! See what she has to say about MicroGiving…
What is your MicroGiving username?
My username is MJ
How long have you been a member?
I’ve been a member for about 1 year now
How did you learn about MicroGiving? (ie. friend, family, internet, advertisement, etc.)
I learned about MicroGiving through searching the Internet in hope to find help
How often do you visit the MicroGiving site?
I visit MicroGiving almost every day
What makes MicroGiving unique to you?
The members truly care and are willing to help those in need.
What advice would you give to new Recipient members?
Be a part of the communtiy! Reach out and get to know those who are a part of the family. Know that people do care for those who are in need.
Do you participate in MicroGiving’s forum discussions? If so, how often and which ones do you visit?
I usually visit the forums as often as I can, because I like to see what is going on in the lives of other people in the community. I like to hear when someone is anxious to tell of good news, or those who have questions. I just like to peek into peoples lives to see what exciting things are happening.
Do you read MicroGiving’s blog? If so, what topics do you enjoy reading and what would you like to read more about?
This past month I have been sick and not able to read the blogs, but they are great and full of wonderful information to help in every day life. I wouldn’t change anything because I believe that Microgiving is reaching many people and doing a fantastic job!
What MicroGiving feature or service has been the most helpful to you and why?
Having a family to come to and share the good and bad of life. To see that many care! The excitement to read an email that a donation has been given not only to myself, but to others on this site! To feel pain when those here hurt and to share joy when good news is there to share. This is a family of sharing!
Has your life changed since you began visitiing the MicroGiving site? If so, in what way?
I came here truly thinking no one out there cared that I was alone in my struggles. Through MicroGiving I realized that we are all in this together and we each become stronger with the support of one another. I would recommend this site to anyone who is in need or has the ability to share with others. There are many who care and I thank Microgiving for being there for me!
Best regards to MJ, be sure to drop by her profile page this week and leave a few words of encouragement. Don’t forget to stay tuned this week for more featured profiles, and most importantly give online to a family in need!
Sincerely,
The MicroGiving Team
Tags:
MicroGiving
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I’m proud to announce that MicroGiving’s 1st Annual Fishing Tournament and Beach Party was a huge success. It was a perfect day in South Florida, the weather was great, we had a wonderful turnout, the fishing tournament was a great success, and everyone had a great time at the beach party!
I would like to take this opportunity to say some well deserved thank yous to the event committee members, the community, our sponsors, and all our tournament and party guests. The event would not have been such a success without each and every one of you.
First, I would like to start with a huge thanks to the event committee members, Jennifer Cantale, Stacey Feldman, Kirsten Smith, Annette Frantz, Chris Sanchez, April Stewart, and last but not least John Ferber. You guys are great, thank you! Also, a huge thank you to Tony Mauro from Services unlimited for helping make the event run as smooth as it did and Jason Savino from Potions In Motion for providing all the Food and drinks. Potions in Motion did such a great job with the food and drinks, then generously donated some of the proceeds back to The Micro Giving Foundation! I would also like to thank Steve Phillips for being our official tournament mc, and DJ Andrey Weliky and DJ Tommaso Fattovoch for providing great music all day long!
Thanks to all the sponsors who generously donated to the MicroGiving event. Thank you Red Stripe Beer, Florida Native Bait & Tackle, Boynton Beach Dive Center, Palm Beach Yacht Center, Insane4Fishing.com, SeaTow, Publix, Samuelson’s Diamonds, Peacock Marketing, Reel Smokers Cigar Bar, Food Saver, Makeup By Aileen, Couture Cakes, Tire Kingdom, It Sugar, The Old Key Lime House, Ritas, Jamba Juice, Cell Shield, Florida Native Charters, Boynton Fishermen’s Supply, Ace Hardware, Oceans 234, JB’s On The Beach, III Forks, Cantina Laredo, Banana Boat, Prime Catch, Cigar Connoisseur, Global Fish Mounts, Roffs, Miami Dolphins, Florida Marlins, Florida Panthers, Services unlimited, Potions In Motion, Teo’s Day Spa, MyMojo.com, USONetworks.com, and DoYouLoveIt.com.
We were lucky enough to have a great concert on the beach. A huge heartfelt thanks to Patxi Pastor, Daniel East, Julia Kreibich and the rest of the band. Thank you all – you rock!
A huge thanks to Jason Savino from Potions In Motion for printing the beautiful 30ft banner!
Thank you Brett Baird for being our official tournament weigh master! You did an amazing job, and we can’t thank you enough for your help!
I would also like to thank the guys at Nomad Surf Shop in Boynton Beach for helping coordinate the Paddleboarding competition, and Ark Boards in Pompano Beach for providing dozens of demo paddleboards for event guests to use. A huge thanks to both of you, the paddleboard competition was a huge success and the highlight of the beach party!
Again, an incredible thank you to Jennifer Cantale, Stacey Feldman and Annette Frantz for all of your help! Couldn’t have done it without you guys!
And last but definitely not least, a huge thanks to all the lovely volunteers. We appreciate all you!
Thank you all for supporting MicroGiving. See ‘ya next year!
On behalf of MicroGiving and our staff,
Thanks!
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Following up on our initial post A Look @ 21st Century Giving, we addressed how the internet and online giving is making a profound impact on charity. Today we look at just “who” is giving online.
But first, why is insight into the demographics of online givers important? This knowledge has allowed charities to develop successful fundraising campaigns – targeting specific groups, regions, and keywords to aid in donor conversions.
Moreover with the advent of internet technology, it has become increasingly easier for analysts to track the demographics, patterns, and statistics of online givers. The following information highlights the demographics of people who give online, and has been gathered using the most powerful and effective data collecting agent… the world wide web:
Online givers are young with little disparity between men and women
“Online givers are young, with men and women giving in equal numbers. The median age of donors is 38, with the average between 39 and 40. This is significantly younger than offline donors, who tend to be 60+ according to most studies” (Source: Craver, Mathews, Smith & Company).
Network for Good highlights the gender difference of online givers:
“In terms of gender, 52% of donors are female. By way of comparison, a number of surveys of overall giving find a slightly higher percentage of women report giving to charity than men.” (Network for Good, 2007)
Those who give online are not new to giving, but they tend to be new to giving online
Almost 96% of online givers indicated having consistently donated to charities offline through churches and nonprofit organizations, whereas giving online was a new avenue of exploration.
Online giving varies by region
In one of our previous posts we discussed the Generosity Index. According to Giving USA, 89% of Americans give to charity totaling 248 billion in charitable dollars. However, giving varies widely per state and online giving is an entirely new analysis.
In a report released by Network for Good, the following marginal differences were identified in light of online giving per region:
Online Giving Per State
| Rank by Total $$ |
State |
Average Online Donation |
| 1 |
New York |
$280 |
| 2 |
California |
$152 |
| 3 |
Texas |
$185 |
| 4 |
Virginia |
$162 |
| 5 |
Massachusetts |
$153 |
| 6 |
New Jersey |
$151 |
| 7 |
Maryland |
$163 |
| 8 |
Florida |
$119 |
| 9 |
Illinois |
$129 |
| 10 |
Connecticut |
$270 |
With insight into just “who” is giving online, charities can better interpret the patterns and behaviors of online donors and cater effective outreach campaigns that will have a stronger global impact. It will be interesting to see how developing future technology will aid in our understanding of online givers.
We’d love to hear your thoughts on this post:
- Do you prefer online giving or traditional charitable giving? Share with us why?
- Why do you suppose online giving varies per region?
- Are there any disadvantages to giving online?
Tags:
giving online
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In our previous post Online Giving: A Look @ 21st Century Giving, we highlighted the fast growing popularity of the internet as a new medium for charity. With this new trend emerging, the charity sector has experienced a significant change in donor online giving patterns and behaviors. For the first time in history, we’re experiencing a global change as giving online is quickly reshaping the way we give to charity. In this post we will address how the internet has impacted our approach to giving:
Online giving has increased charitable donations
One of the most evident impacts of charitable giving via the internet, is the clear increase of donor gifts both in volume and size of donations given:
“Overall, online giving climbed 37 percent in 2006 over 2005″ (Chronicle of Philanthropy, June 2007).
More interestingly is the increase in the size amount of a single donation given online:
“Online donors are generous. Whether due to income levels, the impulsive nature of online giving or the credit card effect, online donors give significantly more than offline donors” (Network for Good, 2007)
Giving online has made it easier for Donors to connect and donate
With instant accessibility to hundreds of charities worldwide, donors are quickly warming up to the convenience and ease of online giving. In fact:
“The number one reason donors say they give online is convenience. Other top reasons include giving quickly at times of crisis, making multiple gifts in one transaction through a giving portal, and seeing their overall giving history” (Network for Good, 2007)
Online giving has encouraged wise giving
One of the many advantages of the internet is the accessibility to a wealth of information. Giving online has brought donors in arms reach to an unlimited source of information which has encouraged donors to be more selective and wise about the causes they choose to donate. Donors can use tools and resources like Guidestar and charity rating reports to learn more about where their charitable investment go and the specific needs met by their charitable gifts:
“More than 65 percent of donors used information from the Internet before giving, whether online or offline – and 40 percent always go online before giving” (Kintera Luth Nonprofit Trend Report, 2005)
Online giving has drawn community
The single most incredible response to donors giving online are the communities and networks like Microgiving that have surfaced and grown. In our previous post Micro Philanthropy & the Magnitude of the Micro Philanthropist we discussed the impact of “collective energy” when an aggregate sum of people join together and give. It seems that online giving has a propensity to inspire more giving in the presence of a community or network of people.
“In May, a social-action start-up called Project Agape launched a new program on Facebook called “Causes,” in which users can create online communities to advocate for various issues, charities and political candidates. Since then, the program has attracted more than 2.5 million Facebook users, raising some $300,000 for nonprofits and politicians, says Joe Green, 24, the project’s co-founder” (Wall Street Journal, August 2007)
Giving online has bridged the communication gap between donor and recipient
Many people are moving towards giving online as it allows Donors to develop a deeper, more meaningful connection with the people and causes they care most about. Traditional charitable giving can be impersonal in that it hinders donors from developing a more deep rooted relationship, whereas online giving breaks down the impersonal aspect and, in a sense, cuts out the middleman allowing donors to directly access and connect with the lives they impact.
“Some of the newer Web-based nonprofits, such as DonorsChoose and Kiva, are attractive because contributors say they allow them to connect directly with their recipients. Donors or lenders can hand over money directly to, respectively, teachers and students in urban public schools or individual entrepreneurs in developing countries, rather than sending a check that ends up with an abstract recipient” (Wall Street Journal, September 2007)
As online giving continues to grow in popularity, it will only be a matter of time before we begin to see the true radiations of global change.
- How do you feel about giving online?
- Has online giving changed the way you give?
- What are some of the reasons you give using the internet?
Tags:
giving online
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A Look @ 21st Century Giving
Recently we took a look at online giving trends and the impact of the recession on charitable giving. Although giving to charity has slowed,
“Online giving is growing exponentially each year, from $250 million in 2000 to more than $4.5 billion in 2005.” (ePhilanthropy Foundation, 2006)
Donors are now turning to the web to give – finding that online giving is a more effective way to connect to the causes they care most about.
With internet technology and personal computers having been around for just over a decade or so, online giving has only recently gained recognition and popularity among donors.
With that said, online giving is one of the most remarkable pioneers of the 21st century given the infancy of its existence and global impact within such a short period of time.
This post is the first in a series of posts that will explore the shift from conventional giving to online giving. In this series we will address:
- How has online giving changed the way we give?
- Who is giving online?
- When and how often do people give online?
- Where are donors giving their donations online?
- Why do donors use online giving as their portal for charity?
As we explore insight into online giving, we hope to target new ways of harnessing the world wide web as a powerful platform to be used for global change.
Has the internet changed your approach to giving?
Tags:
giving online
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Are your children’s toys healthy?
We have toys that do just about everything these days, but every year millions of defective toys are taken off the shelf due to lead hazards or other harmful impalements. Forbes Asia indentified the recall of more than 25 million toys in the United States due to toxic lead over the past fiscal year.
Why did toys have to get so complicated? Remember the old days of classic wood-crafted blocks, dollhouses, and airplanes? And how much equal satisfaction and enjoyment were derived from such items in the simplistic imagination as a child?
It seems as though so many manufacturers these days fail to exercise due diligence amongst the mad rush to cut costs and stay on top of the toy industry’s competitive market. We’ve lost much of the quality and innocence of classic toys and what have we got instead? Toxic lead-infused plastic trinkets and a handful of brats!
We thought it would be nice to spotlight some innovative and close friends of MicroGiving who came out with a line of all natural organic toys. Promise Brand Toys are doing there part to practice social good through a special line of safe, environmentally friendly, and certified lead-free toys for children made from 100% wood, all natural linseed oil, and milk paint.
Promise Brand upholds a strong social good principle to provide quality handcrafted and educational toys to be both enjoyed and cherished long-term. It’s nice to see a toy manufacturer making a family-conscience effort to produce quality toys that are safe for children!
And there’s a lesson to take away from this: doing social good - providing quality, value, upholding integrity, and a mission to help others (whether in the form of a business model or your personal practices) is the formula to succeed in life. This means fundamentally changing your outlook: rather than seeking merely “profit”, it means seeking “people, planet, and profit” and eternalizing a social responsibility to everything you do in life and in business.
Check these guys out at www.promisebrand.com, there awesome! And let us know your thoughts on this post…
Tags:
Promise Brand Toys
