Click to Donate? Not So Fast

Your intentions are good. You'd like to donate to a charity. But you're busy, and you can't find the time to identify and research a worthy cause.

You are not alone. The biggest inhibitor to charitable activities is a lack of information, according to a study released last week by Roper Starch Worldwide.

The survey found that 84 percent of respondents were not confident that the organization was putting donations to good use, and 76 percent said they didn't have enough information about an organization's goals.

The Internet can help. Web sites have popped up promising to cure just about every problem that ails society today--from feeding the hungry and fighting homelessness to saving the rain forests and curing cancer.

But while the Internet gives you quick access to these organizations, how can you be sure that their claims are true? There is virtually no regulation of charity Web sites, and there likely won't be for some time.

Unregulated on the Net?

Charities are regulated at the state level, with organizations required to register in the states in which they intend to solicit donations. But on the Internet, it is virtually impossible to know where your site will reach. No organization exists to oversee Web-based charities, and although there are several organizations offering guidelines, including the Federal Trade Commission, there is no enforcement organization.

So, while the Internet has the power to make charities more accessible, it also is more susceptible to fraud. How can you make sure that your charitable donations find their destination?

There are four primary ways to do good deeds through the Internet: donating directly to a charity through its Web site; donating to a charity through a third-party organization that filters donations to charities; shopping at so-called "charity malls" that send a portion of the proceeds to a certain charity; or by "clicking to donate"--simply click on a site and view ads, and the advertisers donate money to charity for each page view their ad receives.

The click-to-donate charity model originated with The Hunger Site, founded by a private Indiana citizen in mid-1999. It allows you to click once a day to make a donation and view the sponsors' ads. Word spread so quickly that the site's founder soon quit his job to work full-time on the Hunger Site. In February 2000, Greater Good, an organization that also runs a charity mall, took over the site.

The Hunger Site is the most popular charity site on the Web; it was the only charity site that was reported on the Neilsen/NetRatings traffic report for March 2000. In order to be included on this list, a site needs to generate at least 126,600 unique visitors. The Hunger Site had almost 1.1 million unique visitors in March.