This study from Luth Research fits nicely into the mantra that Ben and Jackie have been preaching over at Church of the Customer.

In a survey of 1,751 Luth Research panel members concluded that over 58% of respondents worldwide say personal correspondence is their top motivating factor for making a contribution.

Think about that. If NPR, which we've seen many discussions on lately, offered their listener/donors to send creative emails from their site, similar to how you can send all of your friends a discount on the books you just purchased from Amazon, they could potentially, at least according to this study, raise the success ratio of their donations among peer groups!

The Luth and Kintera survey, conducted in December 2003, also determined that 22.4% of people around the world have made an online donation. Furthermore, 17.8% planned to make a contribution to a political candidate or party in 2004. Among those people who have made on online donation before and are likely to donate to a politician or political party this year, 15% say they respond to solicitation e-mails sent from a person they know, whereas just 3% respond to e-mails from people they do not know.


[via eMarketer]