Nonprofit Bridge

Peter Dietz, micro-philanthropy consultant, hosted a Nten webinar on group fundraising last week, reviewing many new services which allow constituents to do their own fundraising for charities they support.  Although funds raised in this manner still represent a small portion of online fundraising, this is clearly a growing trend that nonprofits should take full advantage of.  Major points:

• There are currently about 20 services of this type, all which have widely different revenue and commission structure, ranging for 0% for GiveMeaning (which is sponsored by corporations) to some that charge up to 10%.  It’s best to review what each offers and choose one to focus on, rather than confusing constituents with multiple options that work differently
• Chipin and FirstGiving heavily use widgets which allow placing fundraising buttons on pesonal web sites / blogs;  many of the other services will probably add this capability
• Group fundraising works best when funds are being raised for a specific purpose and the nonprofit organization makes it clear how the donation will be used
• Other differences between the available services:
  • whether they can be used only for 501c3 organizations or by anyone
  • whether they are intended to raise money for specific targets or for any purpose
  • whether they share donor data with the recipient organization
  • some are setup as for profit organizations, others are nonprofit
  • whether or not a fundraising goal can be established

More is available at Nten’s web site.  This is an area that should be explored by all nonprofits.  As Peter suggested, ‘give them (supporters) what they need,’ then ‘get out of the way.’

In a recent article in Fundraising Success, Karen Taggart of Care2 explores offline vs. online fundraising. Many points seem to point to the benefits of online initiatives:

• Online campaigns result in higher average gifts
• Online approaches are particularly effective for emergency / current events related campaigns
• Online giving is expected to continue to rise
• Online fundraising is considerably less expensive than offline efforts

But another article by Abny Santicola points out that the most effective strategy is a multi-channel approach, not using just one or the other: “Numerous studies have found donors contacted via multiple channels are more valuable and give larger gifts than single-channel donors do. But analytics and match-back for integrated campaigns can be tricky because it can be hard to demonstrate how communication through one channel affected response via another.”

As I’ve posted previously, I definitely agree that using both channels together is definitely the best solution.  The challenge, however, is to get different parts of an organization working together that are accustomed to working separately.  This will only happen if those who are responsible for online strategies also recognize the benefits of integrating offline campaigns which clearly still have much to offer in raising funds and engaging constituents.

Attended a very informative session yesterday by Katya Andresen of Network for Good on Cultivating Donors Online.  What was particularly helpful was her citing of specific nonprofit sites as examples of what she discussed, such as Make a Wish Foundation for overall fundraising expertise and MercyCorps as a model of how to recruit monthly donors.  Some major points covered:

• Organization home page should not be an ‘About Us’ page – it should be about ways to engage your constituents
• People give most frequently at year-end and in response to crises.  An appeal sent out between Christmas and New Years can be particularly effective
• It’s best to limit appeals for donations to 2-3 times / year.  However, there should be many more communications used to thank constituents and tell them how their contributions have made a difference (not asking for money)
• Three groups of people visit nonprofit web sites:
  • those ready to act now – make it very simple for someone to donate now
  • those interested, but not yet ready to take action – encourage email address submission (and explain why it will be in their interest to do so – most of us already get more email than we can handle)
  • those who just want information now but who may become donors later – make it easy to locate what they need
• Send out multiple version of email appeals to see what works
• Segment your database (an issue I’ve heard mentioned at many other seminars) – use simple criteria at first, such as who has attended certain types of events or who have been referred by specific sources
• Instead of organizing web site by departments of organization, organize by what types of information visitors are most often searching for
• ‘We need money’ isn’t enough of a message to attract donors
• Use Google Alerts and Technorati to keep current with what others are saying about your organization and main areas of focus and to find people who are passionate about your cause

Katya was cited in Fundraising Success Magazine for her expertise in online fundraising, and this presentation showed why.  I would highly recommend this session, which is being offered again next week.  Details on are at fundraising123.org

Recently I had the opportunity to chat with Paul Estey, VP Strategy at Artez Interactive, a Canadian based firm which helps nonprofits with “web and technology-based products and services that empower individuals to engage in active relationships with charities, associations, and other nonprofit organizations.”

Artez has also posted presentations held at their recent conference, including topics such as:

• Tech Innovation in Fundraising
• Building Better Events
• Solving the Integration Headache
• Empowering Third Party Fundraisers (which describes their new ‘Personal Events’ tool, which allows constituents to help nonprofits in whatever way they choose)

While Artez is not as well known in the US, it’s clear that they have many good ideas to help nonprofits with online fundraising initiatives.  I’m especially pleased that they chose to highlight the challenge of data integration, as well as the more traditional fundraising topics.