Nonprofit Bridge

Social media expert Beth Kanter updated her list of listening, monitoring, engaging and management tools.  It’s not easy to measure the results of social networking, but it’s important to pick at least some of these programs, most which are free, to evaluate your efforts.   Here’s some questions to help evaluate your social media initiatives.   (Thanks also to Harish Rao for highlighting this topic for GrassrootsCamp at a live event this week in NYC.)

Network for Good‘s Katya Andresen explains why you can’t just focus on older donors, even though they have traditionally been the most reliable givers.   Older constituents are also getting more active in social media , per reviews in The Agitator.net and the Chronicle of Philanthropy of a recent Pew Internet report.

It’s challenging to change the name of a major event, but the March of Dimes used a variety of strategies to rebrand its major fundraising event (not all which worked well).

Courtesy of Big Duck’s blog, use these tips to revitalize your email subject lines.  (Sorry, email is still a valuable way to reach constituents, despite the rising role of social media.)

Finally, TechSoup asks what does your organization look like from the outside, reminding us of the importance of clear, consistent messaging across our online (and offline) communications.

Have a safe and restful Labor Day weekend.

This week’s installment of the Blackbaud webinar series Cultivating Lifelong Donors:  Stewarship and the Fundraising Pyramid presented by Lawrence Henze focused on how nonprofits have traditionally focused on entry level giving and major donors, but have not paid attention to mid-level donors.  Interestingly, I had lunch with a friend who is a director of corporate giving for a NYC nonprofit, and he mentioned the same issue.  A few takeaways from this session:

1. Identify what giving levels are ‘mid-level’ for your organization – will vary depending on your constituent base
2. Focus on patterns such as how long these donors have been supporting you, at what time of year, and what age or life stage they are at (there are ways to append this information from other sources if you don’t usually collect it)
3. Develop stewardship strategies to develop closer relationships with these supporters, e.g. personalized thank yous or opportunities to interact directly with organization staff.

To do this effectively, you must have a central database which everyone uses, and where you enter each ‘touch point’ you have with a constituent.  The product you select doesn’t have to be expensive, but you need to develop an organization mindset where staff are accustomed to tracking and sharing information.  This can sometimes be a greater challenge than finding the right product.

I asked these questions during the Q&A session:

• Who in development should be assigned to mid-level donors?  The first response was ‘whoever is willing to take it,’ but generally it should be given to those who work with major donors.  After all, the hope is that many of these mid-level contributors will eventually advance to the major donor level.
• What about having the same person work with a donor as she/he rises through the fundraising pyramid, providing continuity and allowing a solid relationship to be built?  Lawrence said that he hasn’t often seen this in over 30 years of working with nonprofits, and that it might be difficult due to the high turnover of development staff.  But he added that if it could be done, it would most likely be successful.

Think of how you feel when you get to know a salesperson when preparing to buy a software product, then as soon as you make the purchase, you have to deal with the normal support staff, who then have to learn all over about your organization’s needs.  Wouldn’t you feel more comfortable if you could continue to work with the person you started with?  Try this with your constituents and see if it encourages them to move further along the fundraising pyramid.

As I’ve done for several years, I went to the Long Beach Arts & Crafts Festival last weekend, an event held two weekends each summer on the boardwalk in Long Beach, NY.  There were the usual vendors and food stands, and the appeal of the nearby ocean.  But this time I had an experience that I didn’t expect, meeting J.S. Russo who displayed In Sickness and In Health: A Memoir of Love, a book he wrote about living with his late wife Sue and her fight against cancer.  After Sue’s death, he created the Susan Satriano Foundation to help high school students attend college who have a parent who has died from cancer, or is currently fighting the disease.  The foundation is funded from Sue’s life insurance policy, as well as donations from friends, family and local businesses.

Joe says his book is not about sadness but about hope – hope that confirms it’s a wonderful life when you focus on what is good.  While he kept insisting that he’s ‘only a teacher,’ Joe not only created a touching memoir to his wife (and is currently writing a sequel) but also formed a foundation which helps others dealing with cancer.  What better way is there to commemorate a loved one’s life than to do such good work in her name?

Of course I bought the book and told Joe I would help spread the word about his cause, which is also being funded by many events taking place in and around Long Island, NY.  This certainly wasn’t something I expected to find at an arts and crafts fair, but somehow it was the only ‘exhibitor’ that I will long remember.

As much as I’m on the web, I’m also a big reader, especially of books in ephilanthropy.  Here’s some selections from my summer reading list:

1. The Networked Nonprofit – Beth Kanter & Allison Fine – as discussed last week, Beth & Allison offer advice on how to use social media to make your nonprofit more ‘open’ and is authored by two of the most respected experts.  More about live book release events here.
2. Fundraising When Money Is Tight – Mal Warwick – Having long advised fundraisers, Mal focuses on how to survive in tough times.
3. Raising Thousands (if Not Tens of Thousands) of Dollars with Email – Madeline Stanionis – Email marketing is still the nucleus of many organizations’ fundraising campaigns;  Madeline advises on how to use it most effectively
4. The Nonprofit Marketing Guide – Kivi Leroux Miller – Kivi has always been generous with her knowledge on the web;  the book offers advice on “high impact, low cost ways to build support” for your cause
5. Internet Management for Nonprofits – Ted Hart, James Greenfield, Steve MacLaughlin, Philip Geier – Recommended by Nten‘s Holly Ross, this book offers individual chapters by a wide range of ephilanthropy experts
6. The Ask – Laura Fredericks – While not heavy in online techniques, Laura offers many specifics on ‘how to ask anyone for any amount for any purpose.’
7. Developing Your Case for Support – Timothy Seiler – I haven’t started reading yet, but my sense is that many nonprofits can benefit from a systematic approach of demonstrating to potential contributors why they should help
8. Open Leadership – Charlene Li – Follow up to her popular Groundswell, Charlene describes how social media can help your organization

A few more that are not nonprofit specific, but are still very relevant:

9. Rework – Jason Fried & David Hansson – Authors are founders of 37signals, developers of project management software Basecamp.
10. Switch – Chip Heath & Dan Heath – I am always fascinated by books about the change process;  Chip & Dan’s suggestion of focusing on what works, not on what doesn’t, is particularly enlightening.

You may be able to get some of these from your local library.  (If you’re in New York, please help the New York Public Library, which is facing drastic funding cuts.)  Above (affiliate) links are through Amazon, which usually has the best prices.  So if you’re heading for the beach, take one of these books along.

When my wife and I moved to a smaller home last year, I was faced with the daunting task of reviewing a batch of papers that I had accumulated over the years, many which were articles clipped from magazines or printouts of web postings that relate to online fundraising and marketing.  To my surprise, some of these articles are still very much relevant.  A sampling is below:

Multi-Channel Fundraising: Tips of the Trade (2007) – David Lawson, then with Kintera (now part of Blackbaud) and now with DonorTrends, offered seven tips in how nonprofits can establish a multi-channel fundraising initiative:

1. ask constituents their preferences on how they prefer to be contacted and what they want to be contacted about
2. use web analytics to learn what constituents are most interested in and which channels are most utilized
3. add communication preferences as another way to segment the database
4. set up a social networking page (Most of us have done this by now but still struggling to prove its value)
5. create cross-functional campaign integration teams so that multiple departments within an organization are accustomed to working together
6. enable incoming multiple-channel communications – give constituents multiple ways to respond – e.g. phone, email, web site etc.
7. maintain consistent messaging so that ‘overall message the image the organization would like to convey remains consistent across channels.’

Tips to Energize Your Donor Newsletter (2009) – This article from FundRaising Success Magazine details what many nonprofit enewsletters do wrong:

1. focusing too much on organization and not enough on what donors care about, e.g. how did my contributions make a difference?
2. not using the word ‘you’ to further focus on the constituent
3. lacking emotional triggers
4. not making donors feel that they are essential to how you achieve your mission
5. including long articles instead of short paragraphs, bulleted lists
6. using statistics instead of anecdotes
7. lacking a strong headline that will encourage a constituent to read the content

Also provided were 15 ideas on what content to include in a enewsletter (many nonprofits still wait until the last minute and struggle with what to write about).

Accentuate the Positive: How to Bridge the Divide between Fundraising and Marketing Efforts (2007) (only accessible online if you are an AFP member) – As I’ve often suggested, Network for Good‘s CEO Bill Strathmann describes the roles of marketing and fundraising are “complementary,” explaining how in many nonprofits, marketing is fundraising since it exists primarily to encourage support of the organization.  Jo Sullivan, now with CDR Fundraising Group,  previously managed both functions at ASPCA and described how she successfully build a strong organization brand.

(On the same topic, see Nancy Schwartz’s 2008 post on how to Make Your Communications Planning a Team Effort.)

In an effort to be more ‘green’ – and to avoid the problem of clipping articles that I won’t easily find again – I eventually switched to saving articles on my computer and then to referencing in my blog and social networking sites such as Twitter.  This is much more satisfying since not only do I reinforce my personal brand in ephilanthropy, but am also able to share interesting information with my nonprofit colleagues.

Implementing the recommendations above is difficult because it may require us to restructure our organizations and change how we think about developing and implementing online campaigns.  Have you been able to do this at your nonprofit?

Attended this week’s NYC chapter meeting of the Internet Strategy Forum, where we discussed the latest changes on Facebook.  View the presentation;  plan to attend our future meetings (remote access is available even if you’re not in NY).

Kivi Leroux Miller, in addition to having released her new book Nonprofit Marketing Guide, also wrote an excellent post on Beth Kanter’s blog about the importance of knitting together your website, email and social media content.  Since each constituent may choose to connect with your organization in different channels, why not offer a consistent message throughout?  Also consider taking Idealware‘s webinar next week on Choosing the Right Communications Mix.

Beth also offered a simple process to use actionable listening to learn from other nonprofits when planning your social media outreach strategy.

Gail Fredricks spoke to ABC News about How to Ask for Money – great summary for those of us who are still learning about fundraising.

Many of us are now managing or working with colleagues across the country or even in other countries.  Nten has just kicked off a webinar series, Virtual Team Leader: Training for Managers of Remote Teams (a recording is available of yesterday’s first of four sessions).  Tip: Don’t rely only on email as your main communications device.

For some email marketing tips, read about the importance of personalized messages and 3 things that will actually improve your email campaigns.

This week I picked up my car after having some work done which resulted in my radio ‘forgetting’ the preset stations.  So I quickly reprogrammed them back to what they were.  But after I did so, it occurred to me that perhaps there were some new stations which might be worth listening to.  So I manually tuned in to some other frequencies, some which provided some interesting options and which I later added to my ‘memorized’ channels.

When you develop your fundraising strategy, are you just following the path of what you’ve done in the past?  If so, you may be missing out on some new approaches that have worked for other nonprofits.  For example, many organizations have had success with peer-to-peer fundraising events and other similar campaigns where devoted constituents are asked to encourage those in their network to support them, not your mission.  The down side – while these donors have a relationship with the person who solicited them, they may not feel any connection to your cause, making future appeals more difficult.  But their contribution at least gives your nonprofit an opportunity to reach out to these individuals and convince them why your cause is so important.

As I discovered with my car radio, sometimes you need to open up your options, not just continue to raise money the way you have in the past (which may no longer work as well as they have).  Take note of organizations like charity:water, which recently announced it has raised over $2 million through mycharitywater.org, a web site designed for supporters to develop personal fundraising campaigns to help provide clean, safe drinking water for everyone.

Have a safe and restful Memorial Day weekend.

Jocelyn Harmon and Geoff Livingston had an interesting discussion this week on the perennial question, Is It Possible to Raise Money with Social Media?  As I’ve suggested, Geoff pointed out that while social media can be used for fundraising, its main value is in building a social community that is engaged with your cause.   While Facebook Causes has worked for some nonprofits, it doesn’t allow organizations to retain contributors’ contact information for further cultivation efforts.   A private, house network may also be a viable option;   Geoff offered the example of TuDiabetes.

At this week’s NYC 501 Tech Club meeting, I also gave a short presentation on the recently released Nonprofit Social Network Benchmark Report, which also analyzes the results of a survey of almost 1,200 nonprofit professionals conducted earlier this year.  Search Twitter for #501techNYC for more details on meeting.  Nten is also offering a webinar series which explores the State of Social Networking in the Nonprofit Sector 2010.

Another interesting topic is the intersection of Marketing and Fundraising, explored in the Fundraising Well (and also by Steve MacLaughlin in When Marketing and Fundraising Collide).   Nancy Schwartz offers four ways that these departments can work better together:

1. Start at the top.  Your management team must support this partnership and establish a structure which facilitates collaboration.
2. Articulate shared priorities to serve as the core of a common agenda.
3. Focus on what’s working well in both areas – and do more of it
4. Share success stories where collaboration has resulted in positive results with constituents.

Finally, has your organization considered mission inspired gifts / gift catalogs?  Also see 7 Tips for Successful Online Fundraising.

Please follow NonprofitBridge on Twitter for more.

I will be moderating two sessions at next week’s International Fundraising eConference which brings together many of the nonprofit sector’s leaders in online fundraising and building a strong constituent base.  If you can’t listen live, all sessions will be recorded and available for replay at your convenience.    In addition, Fundraising Success is sponsoring a free Virtual Conference & Expo which is described as a way to learn the latest and most effective strategies and tactics for engaging, enlightening and empowering your donors.

If you’d prefer a live event and you’re in NYC on Wed, May 19, join us at the May NYC 501 Tech Club meeting which will recap lessons learned from last month’s Nonprofit Technology Conference.

Finally, if like me you still like to enjoy books, don’t miss the recently released Internet Management for Nonprofits: Strategies, Tools & Trade Secrets, including contributions from many ephilanthropy experts.

In the just released 2010 eNonprofit Benchmarks Study, small nonprofits showed better email marketing metrics than larger organizations.  Statistics also varied based on types of nonprofits, which is consistent with results of the recent Nonprofit Social Network Benchmark Report.  Some highlights:

1. nonprofits with small email lists (under 100,000 subscribers) had higher open rates, click-through rates and double the email fundraising response rate of medium and large nonprofits.  (However, unsubscribe rates were also significantly higher.)
2. while overall online fundraising grew 4.5%, results varied by segment;  for for half of the nonprofits surveyed, 2009 online revenue either remained the same or declined from 2008.
3. average email message open rate was 14%;  surprisingly, email newsletters had a slightly higher open rate than advocacy emails, but advocacy messages had much higher click-through rates and response rates.
4. environmental and rights organizations had the best click-through rates;  international nonprofits had the lowest.
5. health organizations get a large bulk of their online revenue from event fundraising;  international groups show the largest portion of monthly gifts, not surprising since monthly giving has traditionally not been as prevalent in the US as overseas
6. tribute gifts – as well as online catalogs / symbolic gifts – definitely seem to have more potential to be promoted more prominently
7. average one-time gift was an amazing $81, with international organizations showing the best results ($136)

There is much useful data here.  In addition to downloading the report, see summaries in the Non-Profit Marketing and Frogloop blogs, and also review Convio’s Online Nonprofit Benchmarks Study.  Thanks to M&R and Nten for sponsoring this study.