Nonprofit Bridge

I joined over 2000 colleagues who help nonprofits raise money at Fundraising Day last week.  Some takeaways:

Mark Rovner offered these tips:

1. Ask When the Time is Right – when your organization / cause is in the news
2. Avoid the Constant Ask
3. Synchronize Your Channels – direct mail, email, web site
4. Avoid ‘Soft Asks’
5. Ask for Feedback – surveys, online focus groups
6. Finish the Story, Close the Loop – don’t ask again after donation before informing how past donation was used
7. Don’t Ask for the Wrong Amount – know what levels your donors have previously gave
8. Recognize Cross Channel Behavior – many will donate online after receiving direct mail
9. Make Sure You Thank More Than You Ask
10. Test – Find Out For Yourself

Tom Gaffny demonstrated the value of asking for a specific amount for a specific purpose, rather than simply requesting a ‘general donation.’

A day later, I attended the ePhilanthropy Social Networking Symposium, where we debated the value of social networking tools to nonprofits.  Some highlights:

Steve MacLaughlin, Blackbaud‘s Director of Internet Solutions suggested that we ‘experiment first, plan later’ to make sure our organizations are represented in these new web environments.  He suggested a POST approach:

• People - who are you targeting?
• Objectives - what do you want to achieve?
• Strategy - what will it look like when you’re done?
• Technology - what tools will you use?

Philip King of Artez Interactive suggested the value of recruiting fundraisers instead of donors, and suggested that the ‘from’ line in an email will often be more important than the ‘subject’ line;  i.e. people give because of their relationship with people, not necessarily because they support the cause.  He also discussed the ‘game changing idea’ of Kiva, where people can donate without going through a nonprofit organization;  Oxfam Direct has also used this technique successfully.

To keep up with latest trends, many speakers mentioned the value of following sites such as Beth Kanter’s blog.

1. After sending out email blasts, are you reviewing reports to learn how many of them were actually opened and what links were clicked?  See the recently released eNonprofit Benchmarks Study
2. Have you tried ‘microsites’ – a separate page focused on a specific event or campaign with an strong call to action – see NothingButNets.
3. Have you created an organization presence on social networking sites such as FaceBook and MySpace?   See this blog posting on Best Practices for Non-Profits Using Web 2.0 and Idealware’s Should Your Organization Use Social Networking Sites.
4. Have you looked at Barack Obama’s web site, which has changed the landscape for online fundraising and engagement?
5. Do you get ideas from other nonprofit organizations that have done especially well in raising money online?  According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy (June 12 issue), these five organizations have raised more than 10% of their revenues online: Heifer International (28 percent), Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (27 percent),Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund (21 percent), National Multiple Sclerosis Society (15 percent), and Make-a-Wish Foundation (10 percent).
6. Do you participate in groups, both online and off, to share success (and failure) stories?  People in Nten are always willing to help.  Don’t forget about for profit groups – I recently discovered the Internet Strategy Forum, which discusses many of the online strategy challenges that we also deal with in nonprofit.
7. Are you too busy to leave the office occasionally for a conference, such as this week’s Fundraising Day and Social Networking Symposium in New York?  If so, you’re missing the opportunity to learn from our colleagues.

I joined over 1800 at last week’s Fundraising Day, sponsored by the Association of Development Professionals.   I focused on sessions covering online fundraising;  highlights are below:

• Many nonprofits are clearly still struggling to coordinate offline and online strategies.  Per Sheeraz Haji, President of Convio, only a handful of their clients are doing this well.  Steve Birnbaum of Jacobson Consulting suggested that the challenges are often not technical but organizational, e.g. getting people to talk to each other.
• Online fundraising continues to increase dramatically, but overall it’s still less than 1% of total fundraising revenues.  (Some large nonprofit organizations are doing much better than this, however.)
• Harry Lynch and Paul Habig of SankyNet offered a variety of techniques to accelerate online revenues – their presentation is available online.
• Tim Lash of International Rescue Committee offered tips on eadvocacy, and also suggested a simple three step approach currently in use by SaveDarfur.org
  1. sign a petition
  2. tell a friend
  3. donate
• A panel with representatives of Convio, Beaconfire Consulting & Carnegie Hall reiterated the need for synchronization of offline / online efforts, as well as how to make a site visitor ‘known’ by offering multiple reasons to submit an email address.  ASPCA is particularly good at doing this.
• Using peer to peer fundraising was also suggested since supporters will often prefer to use their own web pages for fundraising rather than an organization’s page created solely for an event or other fundraising initiative.