Remember when Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential campaign raised eyebrows around the possibilities for using the Internet to fundraise? With the huge success of the Obama and Clinton campaigns raising millions online — Obama: 45 million last February, Clinton: 3 million within 24 hours after her Pennsylvania win — the Dean phenomenon seems as if it occurred during the height of direct mail days.

Now, more organizations are looking online for their fundraising efforts. According to Michael Hoffman, chief executive of See3, a Chicago consulting firm that specializes in nonprofit fund raising and communications, the old way of using direct mail to reach supporters is less effective (and relevant) than it was a few years ago. “Direct mail is on life support,” says Hoffman “New Rules of Attraction”, an article in the April 3rd issue of The Chronicle of Philanthropy. Although the article stated that many charities still raise most of their contributions with the direct mail, it contends that it is losing its attractiveness with new donors. “In 2007, the number of new donors who responded to charity mailings dropped by a median of 6.2 percent in a study of 72 of the nation’s biggest charities, on top of another 10.4-percent median drop in 2006.”

So, what’s your organization’s online fundraising strategy?

Word has it that…

“nonprofits are testing online social networks to raise money through these networks, betting that the Internet’s viral nature will open fresh avenues for fundraising and marketing.” (This being the word in the article, How non-profits are using social networking to raise money and awareness, Chicago Tribune, April 30, 2008.)

It’s a brave new online world, and nonprofits are venturing down creative paths for raising funds. And if recent history speaks to the enormous possibilities…a 3 million dollar day could be merely a few clicks away.