More Donation News

Including an answer to the “big donation now or smaller donations over time?” question.

Although the actual figures will be outdated as soon as I type them, here’s what you need to know:

The ACLU has received record-breaking donations this week.

The ACLU Couldn’t Keep Up With Everyone Trying To Donate After Trump Won

The group’s donation website crashed under a crush of visitors Wednesday morning, ACLU spokesperson Gabriela Melendez told BuzzFeed News.

By Thursday morning, she said, the group reached a record for online donations in that timeframe: $2.4 million from 38,626 contributions.

That’s an average of $62 per donor.

Planned Parenthood hasn’t released any numbers yet, but they’re going to be high:

For Planned Parenthood, Trump Era Starts With Worried Calls and Defiant Donations

Planned Parenthood hasn’t yet tallied up the amount of donations it received after Trump’s victory, but the outcome of the election looks likely to become a sizable source of contributions. In Atlanta, to cite just one example, Elizabeth Hartman, 33, raised $1,900 for her local affiliate through Facebook. The group has seen this kind of politically motivated rush to donate before. In 2012, after 19 states passed an unprecedented number of abortion restrictions, such as mandatory waiting periods or ultrasounds, individual supporters gave $98 million — $25 million more than they had the year before.

I haven’t found any data on other popular organizations, like the Southern Poverty Law Center or RAINN or the Electronic Frontier Foundation—all worthy of your time and contributions—but yeah, a lot of us are making a lot of donations right now.

Yesterday Billfolder Aj Michel asked whether it was better to make a big donation or a bunch of smaller recurring donations:

What’s the difference between a one-time $150 donation, and a monthly $12.50 for a year donation? Does one benefit the charity more than another?

I have an answer from Freakonomics:

Charitable Giving: Why Fewer Is More – Freakonomics

Making two donations of $70 is a good deal more valuable to charity than making 70 donations of $2.

The reason lies in the fixed transaction costs. Many charities (unavoidably) get charged a fee for each deposit into their bank account. So two large donations create only two dollops of that fee, whereas 70 smaller donations attract 70 dollops.

So if you’re thinking about spreading out your charity budget over time instead of giving the same amount all at once, giving the big amount right now appears to be the better choice. Plus, we get more news stories about record-breaking donations!

Billfolder Andnowlights also reminded us that your employer might match your donations to charities and nonprofits, and that you should talk to HR about that if you think it might apply to you.

What else are we doing today, donation-wise?

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