Research / statistics

The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) now has its own Web presence.

SCVO, the umbrella body for voluntary organisations in Scotland, with offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, has published details online of its services to members and other voluntary organisations.

Service club Rotaract, which is affiliated with Rotary International, now has a Web page and an e-mail discussion list.

Rotoract has more than 140,000 members in its target 18-30 age group in 6000 clubs around the world.

The number of households in the UK that have Internet access has doubled within a year. There is now even less reason not to start testing and investing in online fundraising.

By June 1997 there were 960,000 households online, compared to just under 400,000 in June 1996, according to NOP.

You can now give online to the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund via Worldpay/NatWest.

If you need US charity statistics then the National Center for Charitable Statistics has plenty of them.

The Center, a program of the Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy at the Urban Institute, is publishing a variety of nonprofit statistical information. This includes a database of 164,000 public charities that receive public support, detailing total expenses and total assets.

Online fundraising site iGive has shared its results after the end of its second month.

Innovative online fundraising site iGive, formerly eyegive, was featured in last month's News on UK Fundraising. At the end of its second full month of operation iGive has revealed the following results:

• average donation per visiting member - $1
  

Just how big is fundraising in the UK? How many fundraisers are there?

The Institute of Charity Fundraising Managers' Annual Report 1996-7 lists some impressive figures that show the dimensions of fundraising in the UK.

• The charity sector has an annual income of between £12 and £16 billion.
  

Last month's outpouring of giving following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, was astonishing.

Donations to the nascent Memorial Fund have exceeded in one week the total amount that the largest and most successful UK fundraising charity could raise in a whole year. CAF have published a page of information about the Fund and the charities that Diana supported.

Continental Research has found that 17% of people in the UK have now used the Internet, compared to 13% a year ago.

Eight per cent now use it at least once a month, compared to six per cent a year ago. It is therefore an important medium for fundraisers to test and explore.

CharityNet is receiving "13,000 hits per day", according to Charities Aid Foundation.

The most popular areas on the site are Resources and CAF's press releases in the Information Store. Of course "hits" can be misleading as a measurement tool since it covers all files on the Web site, including graphics and Web pages.