I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. With the turkey comes holiday decorations and, of course, the annual holiday fundraising season. To celebrate this ritual - the lifeblood of many organizations - and highlight some of the ways that technology plays a vital role in it, we are devoting this newsletter to online fundraising. Online fundraising - as all technology and management - must include an emphasis on good strategy, a hard look at return on investments, a bit of fearlessness to try new things, and a good dose of common sense, reality, and laughter. And, of course, it helps to have solid organizations with good and needed programs!

So how does technology fit into the picture?

Online fundraising is a must in high-volume campaigns and special events where many donors are tapped to give small contributions. Walkathons and annual member campaigns come to mind where viral marketing and interactive, user-friendly website innovations are key. For major donor fundraising, of course, fundraisers eventually do need to pry themselves off their keyboard and build the same solid relationships they always have. But here too, communication with donors via e-mail is useful even if it does not immediately generate a $3 million gift. At the same time, prospect research has completely changed in the age of the Web with a much greater and faster ability to do background research.

In a recent story in Fundraising Success magazine on the "state of e-fundraising," there was a telling story about how the Anti Defamation League revamped its well-visited website and increased its email list from 4,500 names to more than 200,000. Last year ADL's online donations grew by 260 percent, with 61 percent of those donations coming from people who gave ADL their email addresses via the website or through "forward to a friend" interactions. As it turns out, these organically grown constituents care greatly about the ADL and turn out in both activism and giving, cultivating highly involved advocates and ultimately donors. I have watched a few other sites in recent weeks that have started involving and ASKING their visitors to participate, sign up, and eventually donate - with equally stunning results. Idealist.org is turning visitors into sign-ups to the tune of 3,00 to 5,000 a day, and eventually into participants in a global campaign - and likely many of them into donors as well.

When engaging donors as active participants - or activists as donors - in an organization, the pitch becomes an easier one. Donors want to see what the results of their contribution are. That is much more effective when they are engaged - electronically or otherwise.

With Facebook and MySpace - social networking websites - fundraisers have found a new frontier. Bring millions of people, many who are young an affluent enough, together in one place and any good fundraiser gets interested. NTEN community member Peter Deitz wrote a good overview of the ins and outs of social networking for fundraising. He mentions ChipIn, a new tool that plugs into your social networking site, blog, or website that has created buzz in the NPTech community as of late (Carnet Williams, a circuit rider of long ago and an NTEN member, is involved).

Another online venue (if I can call it that) that fundraisers are exploring is Second Life, the rapidly growing virtual world where nonprofits are setting up shop in droves. NTEN member Beth Kanter has been an avid observer and participant there and blogs about using Second Life for fundraising. In an article last summer she had a few cautionary words: "[It's] a lot of effort to raise $45.00 - that is if a nonprofit is going to learn how to use and build in Second Life, let alone set up donation boxes. Second, how do we know that Yonder [an avatar in the virtual world] will be giving his money over to the nonprofit he purports to be raising money for? Nonetheless, this is an example of virtual grassroots fundraising. And certainly, not the only potential way a nonprofit could benefit from a presence in Second Life." On that note, check out the Second Life Relay for Life that raised $38,000.

Mobile phones have potential for fundraising just in time and whenever the mood strikes since they are always with us. Nonprofits are dipping their feet into the texting waters in great numbers and with great creativity. With mobile PayPal and initiatives such as Txt4aCure as part of the Pink Ribbon Campaign, we will undoubtedly see this field grow for small donations, especially when carrier costs come down. MobileActive will be releasing a report on the state of mobile fundraising in early 2007, so stay tuned. Meanwhile try making a contribution on your mobile this holiday season. Text AMNESTY to 78787 and you'll donate $10. Text WATER to 78787 and you'll donate to UNICEF.

As always, you are a great, inspirational, and innovative community! And for that I am thankful for. Have a wonderfully relaxed holiday!

Best, Katrin