(MONEY Magazine) – Charities have had a rough few months. A late September survey from GuideStar.org indicates that 58% of organizations expected contributions to decrease in 2001. Some charities lost support to groups aiding victims of Sept. 11. Others saw donors stop using the mails due to anthrax fears. Still others were hurt by an anemic economy. As Daniel Borochoff, president of the American Institute of Philanthropy, puts it, "Non-Sept. 11 charities were sucker-punched by the terrorists."

Well, I have a thought--a way, perhaps, to alleviate future fund-raising crises. It's time for charities to promote automated giving through payroll and checking account deductions or monthly credit-card charges. My logic: I can't imagine that Americans who were having $25 a month withheld from their paychecks or charged to their credit cards would have called their beneficiaries after the attacks to say, "Don't take the money this month. I want to give it to the Twin Towers Fund." They would simply have reached deeper, given more.

That's precisely what happened at organizations that have made inroads in automated giving. At Greenpeace, for example, where 40,000 members participate in the monthly giving program, there has been no drop-off since the attacks. Ditto at Community Health Charities, which raises money through payroll deductions for 64 health-related organizations.

Unfortunately, these groups are anomalies. Automated giving hasn't really caught on here. Payroll deductions, in particular, have been considered the home turf of the United Way, which hasn't traditionally offered donors the kind of control that many say they want. There have been other barriers as well. Not-for-profits, focused on getting their websites up and secure for online donations, didn't push automated giving. And, says BBB Wise Giving Alliance COO Bennett Weiner, "People didn't really understand how it worked."

Those obstacles don't exist anymore. The quick $100 million in online donations since Sept. 11 shows that the Web works. And Americans are so used to having money zapped from their accounts for everything from IRA contributions to health-club dues, giving by the same method shouldn't be a tough adjustment. In fact, many analysts believe the anthrax scare will kick electronic payment into high gear.

If that happens, the charities won't be the only ones to benefit. Sure, their fund-raising costs will be substantially lower. And overall contributions should be higher, since payroll givers contribute four to six times more than individuals who write a yearly check. But we'll all gain too by achieving our giving goals. Charity experts advise sitting down once a year and developing a giving plan--a list of causes you'd like to support and how much you want to give. But unless you're meticulous about setting aside enough money--and about turning down other appeals--the money may not be there when you get around to writing those December checks. Donating automatically through regular deductions or credit-card charges makes fulfilling your plan much easier. As Waltham, Mass. publicist Chuck Kabat, who's been giving 2% of every paycheck to the United Way, notes: "After a little while, you just don't miss it."

Editor-at-large Jean Chatzky appears regularly on NBC's Today. You can contact her by e-mail at moneytalk@moneymail.com.