Americana: The Salvation Army's Red Kettle

Found this piece this morning on the Salvation Army's Red Kettle Campaign and its' success in 2008.


http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/news/story.jhtml?id=246300041

"The amount raised represents a 10 percent year-over-year increase in donations to the campaign — the largest one-year jump since 1997. The boost was due in part to an increase in corporate partnerships and the use of tech-based fundraising approaches, including cashless red kettles that allowed donors to pay by credit or debit card and a text-messaging service that enabled cell phone users to contribute via their phone bills. In general, Internet giving grew by 28 percent last year, reaching a total of $10 million."

Take note that Internet donations grew by 28%. It would interesting to discover whether donors were: 1) repeat donors, in contrast to the Target Analytics study covered in the New York Times earlier this week; and 2) whether these donors went online after seeing the iconic red kettle somewhere, the physical interaction serving as the impetus for the online donation.

Another interesting point was that 26% percent of the campaign's donations were received in front of big-box discount retailers.