Tag Archives: convio

What’s New in ePhilanthropy

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Social media expert Beth Kanter summarizes recent studies on how to increase Facebook engagement – it’s also a great way to find out what issues your constituents are most interested in.  Beth also outlines how to set SMART social media objectives.

To better understand how multichannel marketing works, read the recent DonorCentrics report and these write-ups from Frogloop, NonprofitTimes, The Agitator and Katya Andresen.  One step in the right direction – make sure your marketing/communications and fundraising are planning campaigns together.

How much resources should your nonprofit devote to a Twitter strategy?  Here’s Pew Internet‘s latest update on who’s using Twitter.  And in addition to having a Facebook like button on your website, you can add a Twitter follow button also.  Here’s also advice on the best days/times to tweet.

If you’re using integrated software like Convio, what stops you from using the tool most effectively?  Recent options like @ConvioHelp and live chat can be helpful, but my experience shows that issues with product usability often get in the way also.  My suggestion – make sure you take the time to train your staff on an ongoing basis.

Idealware also offers its own guideline on how to allocate your time between website, email and online outreach.

Attending Fundraising Day in New York this week?  If so, please look for me there.

I Will Join Jewish Funds for Justice in 2011

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I am pleased to announce that I have accepted an offer to join Jewish Funds for Justice to direct their online initiatives and will begin Monday, January 3, 2011.   I will be managing the relationship with Convio (they are using both Convio Online Marketing and Common Ground) as well as enhancing their website, which was recently redesigned using Drupal.  Although my role will be within Communications, I will be working actively with Development as well as advising on all technology issues.  In addition to continuing my blogging here, I hope to also contribute to the organization’s blog and action center.   Social media will also be a part of my focus, although my strategy will be to integrate the newer and more traditional engagement tools, as I have always recommended.

In addition to the private thanks I’ve been sending out to my network this week, I’d like to publicly thank everyone in my network who has been supportive and encouraging during my search for a new gig.  I’d also like to thank my new colleagues at Jewish Funds for Justice, especially Mik Moore, who were especially helpful in structuring a role that will allow me to follow my passion for ephilanthropy and also meet the organization’s needs.  Thanks also to those who agreed to be references or who advocated on my behalf.

Wishing everyone a peaceful and joyful holiday – stay tuned for my special New Years message next week.

Highlights from My Twitter Stream

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Social networking continues to be everyone’s favorite topic.  Convio released a Nonprofit Social Media Guide for Nonprofits.  Nten  shared more about its social media strategy, and is following up with a more detailed Nonprofit Social Media Decision Maker’s Toolkit, highlighting Idealware‘s research.  But selling the benefits to management can still be a challenge.

No matter how long you’ve been a project manager, you will be familiar with Harold Kerzner’s Twenty Common Mistakes Made by New or Inexperienced Project Managers.

Direct Mail Can Drive Online Giving provides a reminder why you should integrate old and new ways of reaching constituents.  Video can be very effective, but your audience may only watch them briefly.

Do you describe issues at your organization as obstacles or challenges?  It makes a difference in how successful you will be in handling them.

Coming up next week is an online event about successful online fundraising as well as an in person NYC 501 Tech Club event about Greening Your Nonprofit’s IT.

How to Succeed Online – Even When You Think You Can’t

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This week I had the pleasure to be featured on Nten’s Facebook page (Thanks, Holly) of responding to some questions on implementing ephilanthropy strategies.  One commenter mentioned the difficulty of working in an environment with extremely limited financial and staff resources.  Most of us who have worked in nonprofit can relate, but this doesn’t mean that nothing can be done.  Using the Web, especially social media, is available to all, and often the smallest organizations have the most dramatic success.  Here’s a few simple tips that any nonprofit can take advantage of:

  1. Hire people that are enthusiastic about your mission, and who can spread the word to their networks.  As Beth Kanter points out in her recently released The Networked Nonprofit, this also means recruiting those outside of your organization who are also willing to help.
  2. Keep building your email list.  While it’s nice to have followers on Twitter and friends on Facebook, it’s still important to be able to directly communicate with supporters by email, and not only when you want to ask for donations.
  3. Learn from what other nonprofits have done, such as the wildly successful Charity:Water, and don’t be afraid to ask others for help (try Progressive Exchange);  nonprofit professionals are usually very generous with their knowledge.
  4. Read publications such as Convio’s Nonprofit Online Fundraising Guide and Blackbaud’s Index of Online Giving, as well as this recent publication focusing on grassroots environmental organizations, but which has ideas which can be helpful to all nonprofits.
  5. If you’re not already a member, join organizations such as Nten, where you will be able to share ideas with colleagues, attend online trainings and keep yourself motivated.

Small Nonprofits Shine in New eNonprofit Benchmarks Study

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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.

Best Nonprofit Strategies for 2010 and a Look Back at 2009

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Care2′s Frogloop surveyed some of our brightest stars to summarize the Best Nonprofit Strategies for 2010.   Network for Good’s  Katya Andresen and Blackbaud’s Steve MacLaughlin provide some early statistics on 2009 online giving.   Convio, which offers a a 2010 Resolutions Guide to help plan online initiatives, recently asked nonprofits what they most want to focus on in the New Year:

  1. Reconnect with donors by giving new options of engagement
  2. Increase fundraising for participant-led events
  3. Use social media to reach the next generation of supporters
  4. Improve multichannel engagement/integration
  5. Evaluate website’s effectiveness

Some of my thoughts:

  1. Despite the recession, online giving continued to be a strong fundraising source.  If you already accept online donations and regularly communicate with your constituents, congratulations.  But if you haven’t worked to optimize your forms and don’t analyze how well your email marketing is working, you’re probably leaving money on the table.
  2. Don’t obsess about the ‘best’ tools to use for online fundraising.  It’s more important that you select a vendor / product that will likely be around for awhile (ask colleagues at other nonprofits for recommendations) and that you consider how it will connect to your other systems.
  3. Social networking is not a fad.  Yes, it’s still better to make sure your web site, database and email marketing strategies are in place first, but don’t overlook tools such as Facebook and Twitter.  Remember that conversations about your cause and organization are going on all the time;  make sure you’re a part of them.
  4. Fundraising is everyone‘s responsibility, not just the development department.  Ideally, marketing/communication and fundraising/development strategies should be planned together since one supports the other.
  5. Still think that your constituents won’t respond to online fundraising initiatives?  Think again;  use all available channels and let your supporter decide which to use – direct mail recipients often choose to respond online.

Just getting started online?  Here’s a helpful online fundraising primer.

Preparing for Philanthropy’s Black Friday

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Most nonprofits get the bulk of their donations during December.  So what can we do to get the word out this month?

Heavyweight Salvation Army has stepped up its digital marketing efforts, switching its radio budget to online communications.  There is now an online version of the red kettle, which have already appeared at many locations I pass daily.  They’ve also embraced newer tools, such as an Iphone application and have established a strong presence on Facebook and Twitter.   After long relying on direct mail for new donor acquisition, Salvation Army is now focusing on online community building and on attracting younger donors through online strategies.

Convio estimates that more than 111 million constituents will donate over $4 billion online this holiday season.   At last month’s Convio Summit and Blackbaud Conference (oddly held during the same week in different parts of the country), the theme was the same – web giving continues to increase, even while overall donations have dropped a bit during the recession.  In his overview of online fundraising, Steve MacLaughlin suggested that we segment our audiences by generation – and communicate with them differently.  He also suggested we build relationships with constituents by asking for small actions first before asking for financial help.

How do you keep up with the many communication channels now available, e.g. email, RSS, Facebook, Twitter etc.   In her recent presentation at the Blackbaud event, Nten’s Holly Ross suggested we use filters to find what’s most relevant and not try to “keep up with everything.”  The volume of information available through social media can be overwhelming, but we have to find a way to keep abreast of conversations that are already taking place about our organizations and our causes.   Looking for a tool to integrate email with social media?  Take a look at Threadsy.

What’s the fundraising outlook for 2010?  According to Mal Warwick Associates, we should try to get donors to give more frequently, even if they can’t make the large contributions they’ve given us in the past.   In addition, we should continue to use a multichannel approach because “the number of donors who choose to respond by writing a check will only continue to dwindle.”

Wishing everyone a prosperous end of year fundraising season.

Notes on Meetings Near & Far

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The NYC 501 Tech Club returned this week with a new format – presentation + networking.  Big Duck’s Farra Trompeter moderated a discussion on multi-channel fundraising – a topic I often discuss, joined by Simon Moloney of Npower NY and Rebecca Willett of Planned Parenthood.   Also this week, Convio held its annual Summit in Austin, TX.

For those in the NYC audience who don’t yet integrate multiple channels in fundraising efforts, Farra asked that we strive to break down silos within our organizations because “donors see us as one nonprofit.’  So there shouldn’t be a competition between money raised by direct mail versus email marketing or other online fundraising tools.  Multichannel appeals are most effective, especially this time of year (make sure you plan to email your donors on Dec. 30 / 31).  Farra also asked the attendees who we blend personal and organizational priorities in social networking content;  this may be addressed further in a future meeting.  (My take – a personal touch breathes life into a blog posting or tweet, as long as the focus isn’t removed from the nonprofit’s mission.)

Rebecca reviewed Planned Parenthood’s multi-channel strategy which she described as a ‘collaborative effort of the national office and affiliates.’  In response to my question on what content to put on each channel, Rebecca suggested first finding out which audience(s) are on each channel, then asking ‘what are they looking for’?  Planned Parenthood has some interesting enhancements planned, such as a 24×7 chat / text hotline, as well as a mobile phone application.

Slides from the NYC 501 Tech Club gathering on Multi-Channel Fundraising are available on SlideShare.  (Thanks Farra)

While I missed seeing other Convio users at the Summit, I was pleased to see Convio’s Nonprofit Live TV – an attempt to bring the event to me.  Congratulations to those nonprofits that were honored for innovation in in Online Marketing, Fundraising, Advocacy and Email Marketing.

Online tools make it easy for us to keep in touch with colleagues and friends, but it’s still nice to connect in person.  At the 501 Tech Club gathering, I met someone from Catholic Medical Mission Board, an organization I worked at while I was in college – long before I joined the nonprofit community full time.  Although many people I worked with have moved on, it was still nice to make a new connection.  Thanks to Nten and to organizers Charles Charles Lenchner and Thomas Negron for getting our group back in gear.

Addendum 11/24/09 – Here is Farra’s write-up of the 501 Tech Club event.

Report from NYC Convio User Group

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As we enter the most important part of the year for fundraising, Convio’s Blake Groves and Marc Cannon provided many useful pointers at this week’s NYC Convio User Group meeting, held at YAI in New York City.  Most of these ideas don’t require that you use Convio, nor do they need a large capital inflow.  But they do require a willingness to do things a bit differently than you may have in the past.  For example:

  1. When you provide downloadable content on your web site, do you first ask for name and email address so you can build your list?
  2. Have you explored ‘chaperoned’ email, where a partner organization provides your messaging to its own constituents?
  3. Do you use petitions to ask constituents to take a stand on issues other than advocacy (also so you can build your list)?
  4. Have you included surveys in enewsletters as a way of getting data to segment your audiences?
  5. Do you plan a campaign approach / series of messages for year-end fundraising, filtering out those who have already donated?
  6. Are you absolutely certain that you will have a final email appeal ready to be sent on December 31st, when many constituents are most likely to give?
  7. Have you implemented a welcome series for new subscribers to your elist?
  8. Do you encourage constituents to ask others to get involved with your organization (personal appeals are always more effective than when they come from the nonprofit)
  9. Have you clearly identified who your audiences are – and developed separate ways to communicate with each?
  10. Finally, have you tried A/B testing on your donation form, email messages, landing pages to determine what works best with your constituents?

Marc asked the group what mostly stops us from fully utilizing these approaches.  The responses (not surprising): limited resources, changing/competing priorities and lack of support from senior management.  Perhaps by using a prototype approach, how can you optimize fundraising and outreach efforts at your organization?

Why Organization Structure Matters

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Convio’s report The Secret of Online Success: Why Structure Matters examines how nonprofits staff for ephilanthropy.  Major themes:

  1. Nonprofit organizations are resource constrained – no kidding :>).  “Insufficient staff resources” (mentioned by 90% of 60 nonprofits surveyed) is the major barrier to succeeding online, followed by “budget constraints” (64%) and “senior management not understanding the value of online marketing” (48%).  But having the right people is more important than simply having more staff.   Especially if a nonprofit only has a few people devoted to online efforts, it’s unlikely they’ll have the many skills (see below) required to manage ephilanthropy.
  2. Organizational structure matters – will make a big difference on how well online strategy is implemented.  Usual options are: centralized (20% of nonprofits surveyed – all online staff in one department), decentralized (39% – spread across organization – this is model at my organization) and hybrid (41% – somewhere in middle).  While there is no one “best” model, my take is that there has to be multi-department involvement, due to the many types of expertise required for ephilanthropy implementation: strategy, web administration, creative, campaign/project management, analysis and usability.  (Usability is the skill that’s often overlooked but which can have a major impact on how effective a web site is.)
  3. Not having a (Internet marketing) plan is planning to fail – Yes, but to be most effective, the online ‘plan’ needs to be integrated with offline campaigns to derive the full benefits of a multichannel strategy.
  4. Structure impacts performance – A centralized group may perform best in maximizing online revenue, but a hybrid group may do better in building an email file.  I’m not sure structure matters as much as the level of collaboration that exists within an organization.  Some nonprofits have too many silos where staff prefer to work within their own department and actually avoid contact with other areas.

Convio’s report suggests we take the time to think out what type of structure makes sense in our organizations, and what types of skills may need to be brought in from outside.   It’s also valuable to think about career paths, especially where there isn’t a centralized department (traditional promotion paths may not make sense).  Sometimes in a decentralized setup, online goals may actually conflict with those of the department you’re in.   While we often fear internal reorganizations, in this case in may make sense to consider whether changes are needed so that staff can effectively work together to achieve online goals.

Convio also provides a summary of this report and will offer a webinar to discuss it later this month (I don’t see it on their web site yet but received an email invitation – please contact me if you can’t find it.)