In our January 2005 Tracking Survey, 13% of American adult internet users, or approximately 17 million people, said they had made a donation to a charity online–about double the number who reported this activity in December 2002. At that time, just 7% of internet users, or roughly 8 million people said they had ever made a charitable donation using the internet.
While natural disasters like the devastating Tsunami that hit Southeast Asia and the hurricanes that descended on Florida last year might have propelled new users to make donations over the internet, the number of Americans who have made charitable donations online still pales in comparison to the number who have made offline donations. For example, in a 2001 survey conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates, 86% of all adults reported having contributed money or property to charities in the year prior to the survey.
