**2. Theoretical background**

Internet has made a vast range of activities accessible to a huge number of individuals. In contrast to other types of social exchange, the internet is quick, efficient, and direct, so that minimal efforts are required to accomplish goals. DC is thus important for conveying information and increasing contact with stakeholders. Even though computer-mediated

contact lacks the social and physical clues that are essential for good communication, individuals prefer to use DC as a medium with a social presence commensurate with the task they wish to accomplish (Hollingshead & Noshir, 2002), whether for employment, leisure, to broaden personal horizons, or for attaining social status (Cnaan, Handy & Wadsworth, 1996). These assumptions are at the core of the "functional" approach to DC that covers a wide range of aspects such as selective processing, channel complementation etc. (Dutta & Bodie, 2008). The common factor underlying this functional approach is "gratification", i.e. tailoring media features to individual needs.

Individuals who contribute to nonprofits may choose to make donations via DC, or participate in discussions and increase their levels of civil engagement. At the organizational level, it is clear that DC enables easy and quick access to information. In today's global economy, this is identified with improved organizational performance (Ducheneaut & Watts, 2005). Earlier studies in voluntary organizations in the United Kingdom (Burt & Taylor, 2003) showed increased use of DC to reconfigure key information flows in support of enhanced campaigning and more effective user services. There is also evidence that nonprofits are able to exploit opportunities for radical shifts in organizational arrangements and thereby increase their social, economic, and political spheres of influence. The authors pointed out that the use of advanced technological communication devices has improved both efficiency and potential by comparison with previous periods, as have levels of integration of information within organizations, while the level and quality of coordination have risen substantially as well. Combining individual levels of contribution through DC with organizational criteria of performance - DP - in nonprofit settings is thus possible as long as DC approaches the stakeholders' needs and expectations properly, so that nonprofit DP is possible by increasing either effectiveness or efficiency (Mano, 2009).

Stakeholders are those individuals or groups who support an organization. According to Abzug and Webb (1999), stakeholders of NPOs include the community, competitors, clients, managers and employees, government suppliers, and private founders of organizational goals. Researchers of NPOs (Freeman, 1984; Winn & Keller, 2001) stress the dependence of the organization on its stakeholders, namely any group or individuals that may influence or be influenced by an organization working to achieve its goals. Similarly, Donaldson and Preston (1995) claimed that stakeholders are the investors (of financial or human resources) who have something to lose or gain as a result of organizational activities. Others view stakeholders as those with power, having legitimate and justified claims on an organization.

The stakeholders approach involves three dimensions: first, type of performance effectiveness vs .. efficiency; second, two types of stakeholders, i.e. public - recipients and providers of services at the national level; and private - i.e. all individual and organizational agents of support that does not involve public funding; and third, individual and organizational outcomes of DC. We apply the above dimensions to two basic types of nonprofits, namely service and advocacy.
