Being social is nothing new to non-profit organizations like GuluWalk. Online fundraising is of growing importance to charities of all sizes as it has the ability to turn supporters into fundraisers.

GuluWalk is an annual event which attracted some 25,000 people in 75 cities across the globe late last month. Groups walk a dozen kilometers to replicate the journey made by northern Uganda’s “night commuters” - children who travel every evening to safe towns to avoid abduction by guerrillas during the night.

Since its inaugural walk in 2005, the event has raised almost $4 million for Ugandan charities through online pledge and the use of social networking. “For me, the biggest advantage is how inexpensive it is and how easy it is to get it going,” said Adrian Bradbury, co-founder of parent charity Athletes for Africa.

The boom in charities use of social networking shouldn’t be of much surprise. The potential of online fundraising was well documented by Barack Obama’s presidential campaign where he raised almost $500 million USD through online contributions.

“Charities, don’t go searching for donors, search for fundraisers. Don’t try to blast the donors with direct mail. Try to share the message, so they’ll modify it and spin it out for you,” said Philip King, president of Artez Interactive, a Toronto-based developer of online tools for charities.

With a growing demand for all brands to get social, it’s not simply the donors who think its a good idea. According to a study by Ipsos Reid, 10 per cent of Canadians have donated online to date, which is up dramatically from the four per cent who reported doing so last year.

Of course a charities greatest concern in this space is the worry about security. Another study out of Ipsos Reid determined that information security concerns have kept more than 40 per cent of donors that were interested in giving through the Web from doing so.

“The brand is almost everything for charities because it’s all about trust,” King said, but he notes that modern communications give charities no choice but to let go a bit. “The change you fear has already occurred, and charities need to get ahead of this curve.”