• Top UK charities “punch above weight” re Facebook, Twitter and YouTube - compared with private sector giants.
• “Social media is ‘the great leveller’ in communications, with many smaller charities outshining larger ones – some even excelling huge retailers and big business” says Saxton

The Royal British Legion, RSA and Comic Relief are the top three UK-based charities with the largest “social media presence” - in terms of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube engagement - according to a major briefing out today.

While there are still significant numbers of people lacking access to the internet (some estimates suggest as many as 10 million[fn]The Guardian, 12 July 2010. The data which shows the digital divide. Available at http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/jul/12/digital-dividemartha....[/fn]), it is now widely accepted that it has become an integral part of daily life and that many people want to ‘have their say’.

A report on using SMS and mobile phones for fundraising and campaigning. Includes our ten top tips, and case studies from other organisations.

Results for charities with an income between £1m and £10m annually, taken from our 2008 Virtual Promise survey of how charities are using the internet.

Results from our 2008 Virtual Promise survey of how charities are using the internet, for charities with an annual income of more than £10m.

The results for charities with an income of under £1m, taken from our 2008 Virtual Promise survey.

Since 2001, we've been surveying charities to find out how and why they use the internet. These results are from the latest survey, conducted in the second half of 2008.

I can still remember the first fundraising appeal that moved me. I can remember where I was when I opened it and I can remember what it said. It was an appeal from the Head of Emergencies in Oxfam at Christmas 1987. He described the emotional and moral challenges of going to visit emergency situations, where children died in his arms, and then returning home to face the materialist world of Christmas. When will we say ‘enough is enough’ was his call to action.

This report is a culmination of four years of research into UK charities' use of the internet since the initial Virtual Promise report in 2000. The report is separated into three main sections. The first features the results from a 2003 survey of charities. The second section consists of a detailed write-up of a set of interviews conducted in mid 2004 amongst charity internet managers.

Results from our 2005 annual survey of how charities are using the internet. The most recent edition is 2008.