Digital Fundraising Highlights from the last 20 years – Matt Smith

As we continue to celebrate THINK’s 20^th birthday, we’re in a reflective mood as we look back on some highlights and memorable moments of the last two decades. In this piece Matt Smith reflects on three transformative moments that shaped digital fundraising.

1. The launch of JustGiving – 2001

It’s difficult to remember just how different the internet was in the early 2000s – with little to no social media, very basic websites, and few internet-enabled devices aside from slow, chunky desktop computers. The arrival of JustGiving in 2001 would completely transform digital fundraising in the UK first, and then across the globe.

In the twenty years since, the fundraising platform’s achievements are truly remarkable:

• JustGiving has now raised over £5 billion for good causes in almost every single country in the world.
• There have been more than 152 million donations made to causes on JustGiving
• With over 450,000 charities worldwide using the platform
• Over 95% of British postcodes have raised money or donated on JustGiving

 The online fundraising marketplace is now entirely different to when the platform first launched. But it is worth remembering just how revolutionary and impactful JustGiving has been in that time.

2. The arrival of the smartphone – 2007

Whilst the iPhone wasn’t the first smartphone to enter the market in 2007, it was a huge step up on the devices that already existed. Every single sector and market has been disrupted by the smartphone – and its impact on fundraising has been massive.

The iPhone was then followed by the App Store in 2008 and now there are 2.1 million apps on the App Store and 3.4 million on its Android competitor Google Play. Every single aspect of digital fundraising has been transformed by these two innovations, from email to social media, online banking, and fitness trackers. It is impossible to imagine digital fundraising without the smartphone and without the app infrastructure that supports them.

Perhaps most significantly they have turned every smartphone owner into a content creator and social fundraising champion.

3. The impact of social media fundraising – 2015

The evolution of social media-led fundraising first began in a meaningful way in response to the Nepal earthquake in May 2015. This was a particularly powerful event because of the wide media coverage it received, and Facebook seized upon the moment to launch fundraising on its platform by activating a simple way for its users to contribute to the emergency appeal via a “donate button” on top of the site – thus reaching out to its over 1.4 billion monthly users for help.

In 2017, Facebook tested and launched their birthday fundraisers and it quickly became apparent that not only did this new model of fundraising work incredibly effectively, but also it was not cannibalising other income for charities. Birthdays quickly became the catalyst for growth for fundraising on the platform.

As the below chart demonstrates, Facebook has built an incredibly successful and viral fundraising platform. They have, in effect, created the best social platform for fundraising the world has seen – almost by accident!

By comparison, it took JustGiving 16 years to raise £4 billion for the charities it supports, achieving this cumulative total raised in June 2016. It took Facebook just five years to raise $5 billion.

In summary, these three moments have shaped the digital fundraising world as we know it. Businesses like JustGiving, Apple and Facebook have put the power to raise money in the hands of millions of people. As with any disruptors, their impact has not always been entirely positive, nor without controversy. But the digital fundraising world of the 2020s would be drastically poorer without their game-changing impact.

Matt Smith, Head of Development & Innovation. 

April 2022

If you would like to learn more about the work THINK undertakes, or see how we might be able to help you with your fundraising challenges, please contact info@thinkcs.org. You can also find us on LinkedIn at THINK Consulting Solutions and on twitter @ThinkCS where we share useful industry insights.