The Young and the Generous - A report by Network for Good

Network for Good just released a new study about the growing trend of online charitable giving. You can download this report for free at The Young and The Generous.

Some highlights of the study:

• Online givers are young (38-39 years old) and generous, giving several times more than offline donors on average.
• Men and women give online in equal numbers.
• Virtually all of online givers (96%) have given to charity before, but a sizable proportion (38%) is new to online philanthropy.
• Online giving is tracking to the trends of online shopping and banking, and it is the avenue of choice for donors during disasters.
• Most people give online during the week, during business hours - most commonly, between 10am and noon.
• New York is the most generous state for online giving; Mississippi and North Dakota are the least generous.
• Giving online follows the same "long tail" phenomenon seen in online sales of books and music.
• Most online giving goes to disaster agencies, followed by animal-related causes.
• Top searches are disaster related, plus "children", "cancer", and "homeless".
• Small organizations benefit from listings on aggregation sites; at network for good, half of dollars go to small-medium sized charities.
• People say they give online because it's easier than writing a check and a fast way to respond to disasters.