The Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies, qut

Social media

Figure 16.1 Percentage of US Facebook and Twitter users by age group, 2015 (Statista 2015)

Figure 16.1 shows the percentage of Facebook and Twitter users by age group in 2015. At this time, over 15% of 18 – 24 year olds used Facebook and over 25% of that group used Twitter; over 20% of 25 - 34 year olds used Facebook and around 25% of that group used Twitter; over 15% of 35 - 44 year olds used Facebook and around 18% of that group used Twitter; just under 15% of 45 – 54 year olds used Facebook and around 15% of that group used Twitter; just over 10% of 55 – 64 year olds used Facebook and just under 10% of that group used Twitter; and just under 7% of 65 years and older used Facebook and just under 6% of that group used Twitter.

One of the main advantages of social media is its ability to connect donors and other supporters directly to people within the organisation and enhance engagement with the nonprofit. If examined only in terms of the amount given via social media (6% in the US in 2013) it would be easy to ignore this channel; however, 13% of all donors surveyed in Blackbaud’s Next Generation of American Giving report indicated this as an important way to stay in touch. This was particularly true with Generation Y and Generation X (with 29% and 19% stating this as important, respectively) (Rovner and Loeb 2013). Furthermore, 55% of Gen Y and 47% of Gen X follow a charity on social media and 34% of Gen Y fundraise for a charity via social media (Rovner and Loeb 2013).

Social media use is increasing in the older cohorts with 35% of US internet users over 65 years in 2012 using Facebook, 45% in 2013 and 56% in 2014 (Duggan and Brenner 2013; Duggan et al. 2015). In the UK 19% of social media users are aged 65–74, again pointing to the need to appeal to all age groups via these platforms (Blackbaud 2014a).

Mobile giving

As a relatively new technology it is perhaps unsurprising that donation levels via mobile phone are low. Only 11% of UK monthly, direct donors with an internet-enabled phone were found to have made a donation via a mobile phone in the four weeks before the survey (Charities Aid Foundation 2015b). Most UK organisations involved with mobile technology are primarily focused around SMS/text giving, with 47% of UK NPOs surveyed by Blackbaud currently using SMS/text giving, and a further 22% planning to implement this function (Blackbaud 2014a).

The mGive Foundation has conducted its fourth study of 5,555 US text donors in 2014 (Snyder 2014). While 61% of mobile donors said that this was one of their preferred methods of giving, only 30% specified that this was their usual way to give. The author noted this as likely due to not being given opportunities to make text donations (Snyder 2014).

While in 2013, 62% of text givers were Generation X or millennials (Snyder 2013) in 2014 only 50% came from these age groups, with a further 29% coming from those aged between 49 years and 59 years (Snyder 2014). The amount donated via text has increased since 2013 with 46% of respondents reporting that they gave US$250 or more via text compared to 42% in 2013. Interestingly, 17% of 2014 US respondents reported giving more than US$1,000 in total via text donations (Snyder 2014).

It is important to note that mobile donations do not always need to be via text. Donations via an app or mobile-enabled website are also important tools for NPOs. With 34% of US mobile phone internet users primarily going online via their phone, devices such as desktop or laptop computers are losing their importance (Duggan and Smith 2013). Furthermore, email is now opened more frequently on mobile devices than a desktop computer and 33% of global internet traffic is from a mobile device (i.e. phone or tablet). In Europe alone there has been a 98% increase in mobile traffic from 2013 to 2014 (Webcertain 2014). In Canada 15.3% of internet traffic is via mobile phone, while 10% is via a tablet device. In the US 23.2% of internet traffic is via a mobile phone and 8.8% is via a tablet. This is similar to the UK where 20.8% is via a mobile phone and 13.2% is via a tablet (Webcertain 2014). This is an avenue which needs to be explored further.

Charities may be missing out on mobile donations, with 84% of US NPOs surveyed by Dunham+Company and Next After (2014) not having a mobile-optimised website. In the UK it has been suggested that as many as 50% of potential donors give up trying to donate via mobile due to how difficult it is (Hudson 2013).