Online Fundraising for Nonprofit Organizations

Although the Internet provides nonprofit organizations with unprecedented opportunities for fundraising, the volume of online donations has been miniscule. Since one reason for this may be people's distrust in financial trans¬actions on the World Wide Web, we conducted a survey to gain insights into user trust in and attitudes toward online payment systems. The results indicate that people's trust in both the organization and the Internet are key factors in shaping their attitudes toward online payments, which in turn influences people's likelihood of using the Internet for financial transactions such as online donations. Our findings suggest that nonprofits need to pay particular attention to donor relationships, process transparency, and transaction security in order to induce people to donate online.