A new survey carried out by Eduserv and entitled ‘Optimising Charity Websites for Donations,’ discovered that the entire charity sector is failing to take the opportunities mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, offer to maximise on their fundraising efforts.

The survey revealed that only three of the fifty charities questioned had developed donation routes that had been specifically tailored for mobile devices, while one in four charity websites had not been optimised for mobile viewing at all. Four in five charities that had their home page optimised for mobile use then reverted to conventional desktop computer views for those areas dealing with donations.

The Charities Director at Eduserv, John Simcock, said: “Our digital-first world creates substantial opportunities for charities to reduce the cost per pound donated while increasing their fund-raising revenue. This study finds that while there are pockets of excellence in the way charities are approaching this opportunity, they need to work harder to keep pace with the changing consumer behaviour online.”

When it came to having the most mobile-friendly websites, animal charities came out top; demonstrating substantial efforts had been taken to make their websites easily viewable on mobile devices. At the other end of the scale, health and environmental charities were seen to have made the least effort to create donation-friendly websites.