Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Study Ranks Cities for Online Philanthropy

Pittsburgh is the 12th most generous city per capita in terms of online giving. For the last 3 years, Convio, which provides technologies to help non-profits raise funds more effectively, has ranked 273 cities with populations of at least 100,000.
Convio's Patrick Hansen says for the second straight year Alexandria, Virginia; Cambridge, Massachusetts; and, Arlington, Virginia have topped the most generous large cities list.
Hansen says Pittsburgh has been in the top 15 in each of the three years of study, and the number of donations online by Pittsburghers has increased 35% from 2009 to 2010 and the dollar amount rose by 42%....
"That's a great trend to see for any city. That's something that everyone in Pittsburgh should feel good about."

Hansen says online in all 273 cities, $389 million was contributed in 2010...up 27% from the previous year. The average gift online went from $62 to $65. "People are definitely getting more comfortable contributing online. So, we are seeing some shift from other channels to the online channel and that's been a long-term trend over the last 10 years."

Hansen says this information can be helpful to non-profits "that they can use to their advantage, can inform the way they're pointing themselves and connecting with their donors and supporters."

While Pittsburgh was 12th nationwide, the next most generous Pennsylvania city is Philadelphia, ranked 139th.

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