THE INTERNET PRESENTS a colossal opportunity for charities. Yet it is all too often neglected - to the detriment of charities themselves and their supporters.

Practically every aspect of a charity's work can be enhanced by embracing the Internet - campaigning, research and (of course) fundraising. It's a new frontier that is continuously evolving. Respected research house nfpSynergy recently published an article calling for charities to stop dabbling on the edges of the e-revolution – but these calls seem to have fallen on deaf ears.

You need only look at the websites of Coca-Cola and its corporate peers and compare them with those of many charities to see that non-profits are a long way behind the commercial sector. The difference in quality isn't to do with money. There are so many motivated, young Internet experts out there, willing to work for very little - or sometimes nothing. When you combine this with the amount of hi-spec, open-source software that's freely available, it is hard to understand why charities have been so slow to embrace the Internet.

"Why are so few charities on social networking sites like Facebook?"

It's not only charities' own websites that need an overhaul. Why do I find it so hard to find charities on social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace? The Royal British Legion (see profile), a beacon in this field, has created a Facebook application that allowed users to put a poppy on their Facebook accounts. With more and more Brits logging on to Facebook everyday it provides charities with a fantastic tool for getting in touch with young donors. But few charities have followed the Legion's example.

Burma Campaign UK asked me to experiment with the world of social networking for them, and I've found that the users of sites like Facebook, YouTube and MySpace are keen to get involved. They'll learn from the information you put up, invite their friends, create fundraising events and even make videos for you. When I realized the appetite out their for internet users to get involved I created DontForgetBurma.org to allow supporters to upload their own images showing that they hadn't forgotten Burma. In its first two weeks the site had 50,000 page views...

If you support a non-profit and are disappointed by their web offering, write and ask them why they are still stuck in the dark ages. After all, when you ask a charity why they plague our high streets with fundraisers (AKA 'charity muggers') the standard response is "It's because we can't 'connect' with young people in any other way." But if they're so keen to connect, I suggest they send their fundraisers home and concentrate their resources on improving their Internet outlets. That would clear up the high streets and almost certainly yield better returns.

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• Johnny Chatterton is an online activism co-ordinator at Burma Campaign UK

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