Online charitable giving revenue in Israel increased 289% in 2010, according to IsraelGives.org, Israel’s largest charity portal.

The company’s report, based on online giving to 600 organizations in the 19 months from June 2009 to December 2010, shows a distinct growth in online donating by Israelis:

• In the second half of this period, the number of online donations grew by 197%.
• During this period, the amount of money donated online by Israelis grew 289%.
• The average online donation grew from 235 shekels to 343 shekels.

IsraelGives also reports a distinct growth in total online revenue collected by Israeli charities (which includes donations made by non-Israelis):

• An increase of 70% in the total number of online donations received.
• A revenue increase of 85% between 2009 and 2010.
• The average online gift now stands at 401 shekels.

Other important statistical conclusions:

• The average donation size made by an Israeli is only 2/3 (67%) the size of the average donation made by a non-Israeli (515 shekels), but this is a growth of 23% over 2009, when the average Israeli gift was only 44% the size of the average non-Israeli gift.
• Israeli donors now account for 60% of online donors and 49% of total online revenue collected by Israeli non-profit organizations, an increase of 17% over 2009.
• The largest donating periods in Israel are during Jewish holidays associated with giving: Rosh Hashanah, Passover and Purim. December is also a major donation month, second only to September.

“The rise in Israeli e-philanthropy is tremendous, but also not surprising, considering the rate of computer and Internet use in Israel, among the highest in the world. It makes sense that the Internet would become the means that Israelis use to connect and donate to charitable organizations”, said (Mr.) Yonatan Ben-Dor, Founder and Director of IsraelGives. “Israel is still many years behind the U.S. in its e-philanthropy, but we see a very clear trend towards online giving in Israel, and growing usage of the web and social media as fundraising tools by non-profit organizations”.

A 2008 survey by the Israeli Center for Third Sector Research reported that while 47% of active Israeli charities were making use of the Internet as a tool for fundraising, only 22% found the benefits to be greater than the costs. This contrasted markedly with American surveys, which showed that American charities were fundraising 20 dollars for every dollar they invested in Internet-based staffing and technology.

Ben-Dor credits this to inexperience and poor technology: “Many Israeli non-profit organizations jumped into the Internet and attempted online fundraising without understanding how the rules had changed, how online fundraising and engagement was different from other forms of fundraising that they were accustomed to. They were used to asking for money, and not engaging, to treating the public as ‘bank machines’ and not as partners. And then they asked the public to donate using unsecured and flimsy donation forms. It’s not surprising that few succeeded, until major technology providers and fundraising experts started to guide their work”.

about: IsraelGives operates IsraelGives.org and IsraelToremet.org, Israel’s largest charity portals, allowing donors in Israel and abroad to donate online to any of Israel’s 27,000 charities. In addition, IsraelGives works to promote giving and philanthropy in Israel, and provides fundraising services to hundreds of non-profit organizations in Israel and abroad.