I referred the other day to the rising importance of small-dollar fundraising online.

So how important are they? Can nonprofits really adopt smallball as a development strategy?

More than one might think.

A breakdown of online contributions received by all our organizations in 2006 by gift range reveals, unsurprisingly, that smaller gifts are by far the most frequent -- with gifts of exactly $50 (the most frequent donation amount) or less accounting for over two-thirds of all contributions.

Obviously, gifts of larger denominations represent a greater portion of the amount given, as opposed to the number of gifts. But perhaps not so much as you'd think.

Of the total sum (some $7 million) contributed in 2006, nearly half was given in increments of $100 or less, with three-quarters in gifts of no more than $500.