Todd Wagner [Photo Courtesy Charity Network]

Today, 6 percent of donations to charities are done digitally or online, and a Dallas billionaire is touting that method of giving. 

Todd Wagner, the 56-year-old founder and CEO of Dallas-based Charity Network, is creating a one-stop shop for philanthropic fundraising. 

“I always say, ‘If you know 20 people who will each write a million-dollar check, good for you. But for everyone else, you need digital,’” Wagner told the Dallas Morning News. 

“Digital is 20 times more efficient per person hour in raising money.”
Todd Wagner

Wagner said it is important to go digital, to touch millennials and get that demographic involved in philanthropic efforts. 

Wagner made a fortune as a partner with Mark Cuban in Broadcast.com.

He has four subsidiaries that hold global online auctions and sweepstakes that produce videos and commercials, broadcast content, and making sure that the money being donated is being put to good use. 

Last year, for example, Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda used Wagner’s sweepstakes subsidiary, Prizeo, to offer a pair of tickets to Miranda’s final performance on Broadway and the opportunity to hang out with him as a grand prize.

The effort attracted almost 40,000 people to make donations and enter the sweepstakes, the Morning News said.

“Digital is 20 times more efficient per person hour in raising money,” Wagner told the Morning News. ”We’re going to put real statistics behind this.”

Read more about Wagner’s business here. 

Delivering what’s new and next in Dallas-Fort Worth innovation, every day. Get the Dallas Innovates e-newsletter.