Donors Say Many Nonprofits Aren’t Ready for Big Gifts Online

Chris and Jennifer Brown (with their kids) prefer to make even their six-figure gifts online. Chris and Jennifer Brown (with their kids) prefer to make even their six-figure gifts online.

May 1, 2011 | Read Time: 4 minutes

After Jennifer and Chris Brown make their standard charitable donation on an unsuspecting organization’s Web site, they expect to get a phone call asking them if perhaps they meant the last two zeroes to be cents. No, they didn’t; they meant to give $100,000.

The Browns, a Houston couple, get a few of those calls each year. Mr. Brown, 40, an energy trader, is used to doing all of his business online. So is Jennifer Brown, 34, a former mechanical engineer who now is a full-time mother of two. Ms. Brown, who is involved with several Houston charities, says she’s busy and likes to make the donations with a few clicks.

“With our generation, it’s going to be more online giving in the future,” she says.

They say they give 10 percent of their income to charities, often in $100,000 online donations to groups they have researched on the Internet. In 2010 one of the nonprofits that received an online gift of that size from the Browns was the Texas Children’s Hospital, in Houston.

They like not only the convenience but also the low-key nature of online giving. Says Ms. Brown: “I know people who like to give big checks and have a ceremony, but generally that isn’t our style.”

Web Site Obstacles

They have advice for charities that want to see major online donations increase: Make sure the organization’s Web site can accommodate six-figure gifts.

“We have given to charities over the past five years, and only about half can take that large a donation online,” Mr. Brown says.

“You don’t want to turn away the major donations because your system isn’t in place,” his wife agrees.

When she tried to make a donation last year to one organization, she says, she had to make several calls to her credit-card company because the gift kept getting rejected. Ultimately, she had to break the gift into installments of $90,000 and $10,000 because the charity’s Web site couldn’t handle a six-figure gift. “It was embarrassing for everyone,” Ms. Brown says.

Vetting Charities

Before making their gifts, the Browns say, they raised their credit-card limit. They like to use the same card for all online gifts, they say, and pay it off the next month—and they rack up airline miles in the process.

The couple has selected a few groups to support through the watchdog Web site Charity Navigator, typing in “Houston” and then looking for groups with good ratings. They give to social-service groups, and because three of their parents were educators, they include schools in their giving, too.

They made a big donation to the American Diabetes Association last year, they say, because Ms. Brown has family members with the disease and because their son participated in the group’s walkathon.

Some of their giving happens the old-fashioned way: A friend took Ms. Brown on a high-profile tour of the Texas Children’s Hospital, and she met with a top physician, which resulted in a donation—after she checked the hospital out on Charity Navigator.

The Browns carefully peruse charity Web sites. “It helps you understand the culture,” Ms. Brown says. “If a Web site or contact information isn’t updated, it makes you wonder what other aspects of the organization are neglected.”

Their decision to give 10 percent annually comes from their Methodist faith and their desire to be models of generosity to their children, who are 3 and 6 years old. The couple wants to use some of the airline miles they have earned via their online philanthropy to travel with their kids when the youngsters are old enough to appreciate it.

“Or,” says Mr. Brown, “maybe we’ll donate those miles somewhere.”

Where the Browns Give Online: A Snapshot

The Browns say that checking charity Web sites is a key part of how they decide which causes to support. Here is a sampling of nonprofits they have supported with gifts large and small after checking out their Web sites.