Yahoo! Inc. kicked off Cyber Giving Week on December 25, 2005, in recognition of the significant growth in online charitable donations as well as the trend of year-end spikes in giving. In partnership with Network for Good, Yahoo! launched a Cyber Giving Week microsite that provided donation links to a variety of charities as well as resources and tools for making decisions about contributions and maximizing annual tax breaks.

Online donations have increased dramatically year-over-year, with contributions reaching annual highs during the last days of the year. According to The Kintera/Luth Nonprofit Trend Report (June 2005), U.S. households donated more than $3 billion online in 2004, representing an estimated increase of nearly 60% over online giving in 2003. The same study found that the Internet played a role in influencing more than 65% of donors before making a donation. In addition, data from non-profit organizations over the past several years indicate up to 40% of giving occurs during the month of December, with the final days accounting for the heaviest donations.

The Yahoo microsite provided a number of resources to help users choose and evaluate charities, determine how much to donate based on tax-deduction thresholds, understand current tax breaks and find coverage from around the Web on the latest philanthropy and volunteer issues. Donations from the site were facilitated by Network for Good, which allows users to contribute to ten pre-selected charities as well as search for charities in their local communities.

“The Internet facilitates a real-time sense of gratification and also allows people to quickly and efficiently maximize their annual tax breaks in this last week of eligibility,” said Meg Garlinghouse, director of Yahoo! for Good, the company’s program that connects users with products and services that inspire them to make a positive impact.  “At a time when the Internet is playing an increasingly vital role in facilitating charitable contributions, we want to make it as simple as possible for our users to donate to their favorite charities.”

“More and more people are doing their giving with a few clicks of a mouse rather than writing and mailing checks because it’s faster, easier and more cost effective for the charities they support. That’s especially true in December, when people make most of their donations,” said Bill Strathmann, CEO of Network for Good. “This December, we’re seeing the online giving trend on a remarkable scale with double last year’s contributions, despite the fact that people already gave so much online for disaster relief this year.”