Michael Stein's Aether Madness: Online Fundraising for Tsunami Relief Heralds the New e-Stakeholder

Michael Stein's Aether Madness: Online Fundraising for Tsunami Relief Heralds the New e-Stakeholder: "Online Fundraising for Tsunami Relief Heralds the New e-Stakeholder

By Michael Stein

Tsunami2Within hours of the deadly tsunami hitting the coastlines of Southeast Asia in December 2004, organizations worldwide began soliciting funds to help with relief efforts. This solicitation occurred via the media, via direct mail and telephone, and over the Internet. The Internet accounted for over $350 million in tsunami relief contributions, eclipsing the previous online record of $211 million after the September 11 attacks in the United States. The tsunami online fundraising experience is a harbinger of some important changes in how individual stakeholders are making charitable contributions today, and in how nonprofit membership organizations need to adapt with respect to the role that the Internet is playing in those stakeholders’ lives."