Elder donors giving to charities online more.

• Position: Your Life - Brief article

Donors who are 60 and older continue to increase their participation in online giving, according to a recent Dunham+Company/Campbell Rinker national study. The percentage of donors 60 and older giving online has increased from 37% to 47% since a similar study was conducted in 2010. Overall, about one out of two donors has given a gift online, and the percentage has remained roughly the same since the study began: 48% in 2010 and 50% in 2013.

The study also reveals a continuing decrease in the impact e-mails have on online giving. In 2010, six percent of respondents said they had given online because of an email. In 2013, that percentage shrank to 2.7%.

By contrast, direct mail now is six times more likely to drive an online donation than an e-communication -17% indicate that it was an appeal letter mailed to them that motivated their online donation in the latest survey.

"There are three important lessons from this ongoing study," says Rick Dunham, president and CEO of...