In their efforts to help victims of the Kosovo crisis, many nonprofit aid agencies are trying big-business strategies for the first time, the Wall Street Journal reported in its June 18 issue.

Relief organizations facing increased competition for funds are also being held more accountable by donors to show that contributions are well spent.

The Kosovo crisis marks many agencies' first foray into Internet outreach efforts. Both large and small groups are using online fund raising to aggressively appeal to private citizens and big businesses alike, the Journal reports.

Save the Children reports that Internet fundraising accounts for 15 percent of its total contributions -- ten times more as in other recent crises, says spokesman Andy Mollo. And the International Committee of the Red Cross secured $100,000 in web donations during the first six weeks of the crisis.

"With Kosovo, we've seen an increase in donations from U.S. corporations," says Elizabeth Nolet, the chief of corporate funding procurement for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. A $1 million gift from media mogul Ted Turner's U.N. Fund for International Partnership is among its biggest.

The effort is receiving more than just financial support. A group of companies, led by Microsoft, is donating tech equipment and expertise to create a database of displaced refugees. Hewlett-Packard and Compaq Computer are giving computers, and two European companies are supplying the know-how.

But there are obstacles to gaining corporate support for Kosovo relief: some corporations don't want to be linked to a messy political conflict, and none want to be perceived as capitalizing on tragedy, the newspaper reports.