Asian Banker Research has found that nonprofits of all shapes and sizes are rapidly moving online to sustain and grow their organisations, as well as pursue new opportunities that are emerging in a market that is estimated to be worth $42 billion. While these organisations are establishing individual digital identities to enable donations, they are also taking advantage of collective online fundraising drives — and the public is responding in kind.

Giving Tuesday, a one-day generosity movement asking people to donate their money or their time to charity raised $511 million in the United States in 2019. It is now extending its reach globally. Social media giant Facebook launched its fundraising feature in August 2017, which allows users to solicit donations for causes they care about. As of late 2019, over $1 billion had been raised globally through a feature that allows users to request donations to a cause of their choice — with over 750,000 organisations available — on their birthday.

Indeed, social media appears to be a crucial element to any nonprofit wishing to engage donors and supporters, with over 90% of global charities now regularly using the medium for awareness as well as fundraising.

As our lives increasingly turn digital, it is expected that the public will demand more from the causes they support, such as transparency on how they spend their money. So far, only 27% of nonprofits have a system in place to track and report return on investment on social media campaigns. Charitable organisations will also need to keep pace with online trends, such as the rapidly expanding mobile financial management when developing their fundraising strategies in the coming years.