Today social fund raising site Firstgiving released the results of a July 2008 donor survey. The findings indicate that that enabling support for a cause through a simple social platform brings both new donors and increased funds for non-profit organizations (NPO’s). Of the 326 donor respondents, 24.8% indicated that they would not have donated to an offline fundraiser.

Firstgiving also discovered that 68.3% of individual fundraisers found out about the Firstgiving website via communication directly from a non-profit organization and an additional 10.6% were brought to Firstgiving.com on the recommendation of a personal friend. The content presented on the customized fundraising pages helps individuals personalize their fundraising efforts and encourage new donors via new Firstgiving.com pages.

“The ability to put your personal stamp on fundraising expands the traditional norms of charitable giving,” said Mark Sutton, CEO of Firstgiving.com. “Fundraising is more effective when you create a connection to the emotional ties associated with a particular cause. The personal far outweighs the formal in communication about charitable giving.”

Firstgiving.com offers fundraisers a streamlined template that can be personalized with messages, photos and videos. Fundraisers then send links to their fund raising pages to family, friends and networks around the globe and ask for support in a walk, run, bike ride, growing an embarrassing mustache, or any other reason they can think of to raise funds for any certified charitable organization.

Screenshot : FirstGiving’s Fundraising Page