Tag Archives: lls

New Ways to Approach Online Fundraising in Tough Times

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According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, online giving continued to increase in 2008, but at a slower percentage than in 2007.   M&R Strategic Services reports that while the average online gift has decreased, the number of online donors has gone up, more than making up the difference for most organizations.  And while online donations are still a small piece of total giving for most nonprofits, some such as the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society have raising a significant portion over the Internet.  Some techniques that are most effective:

  • Including deadlines in e-mail appeals
  • Seeking small sums
  • Combining text messages and e-mail appeals
  • Asking corporate sponsors or like-minded charities to send ‘chaperoned’ e-mail messages on an organization’s behalf
  • Using multiple channels, e.g. social networks, video, e-mail, and text messages

Many nonprofits (including mine) raise significant revenues through athletic events, such as walks and endurance type events.  But the Chronicle reports this too is also getting harder, encouraging us to provide lower-cost ways to participate, adding new types of events, encouraging more constituents to actively fundraise, and aggressively seeking more participants.  This article encourages us to stay positive and seek creative approaches to stay afloat.  Helping supporters to raise funds through third party events is sometimes overlooked as a further stimulus to overall fundraising.

More online fundraising tips are available from Alica McKee of Sea Change Strategies at Nonprofit Marketing Guide and the Nonprofit Blog Carnival.

Online Fundraising over $10 Billion in 2007

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Ted Hart provides a look at how online fundraising has grown from $0 in 1999 to $10.44 billion in 2007.  A graph and brief write-up is available at Slideshare.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy recently pointed out that while online giving still represents a small part of most nonprofits’ fundraising, for some charities they have become a major source of revenue,  These five organizations have done especially well, raising at least 10% of their donations online: Heifer International (28%), Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (27%), Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund (21%), National Multiple Sclerosis Society (15%) and Make-A-Wish Foundation (10%).

Are you waiting for ephilanthropy tools to work perfectly before taking the plunge?  If so, read Vin Crosbie’s take on Ted’s People to People Fundraising site on why tools are ‘good enough‘ to use now.

Tips for Online Success

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  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.

Are Special Events Worthwhile?

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A report released earlier this month by Charity Navigator raises interesting questions on whether special events are an effective way for nonprofits to raise funds.  Its main points were:

  1. About half of all charities use special events as a way to fundraise.
  2. Special events generate 15% of all contributions to organizations
  3. Overall, special events are inefficient in comparison to overall fundraising activities
  4. The most efficiently run special events are held by organizations that are the least likely to use special events as a fundraising mechanism, e.g. religious charities
  5. Health and arts charities are the most likely to hold special events
  6. Charities in the Northeast are more likely than their peers in other areas to hold special events
  7. Many health charities would benefit from shifting their fundraising focus away from special events
  8. Almost half of are reporting special events data incorrectly, with no recourse from state or federal regulators

These five organizations receive the most from special events: American Cancer Society, Muscular Dystrophy Association, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, March of Dimes and Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International.

Since I currently work at a health charity in the Northeast which relies heavily on special events, these conclusions make sense.  I’ve felt for a while that it may be time to start moving away from events and take advantage of new methods of fundraising.  Charity Navigator’s report also points out, however, that “there are advantages to special events that cannot be measured: raising awareness, rewarding members, cultivating prospective donors, PR exposure, and brand building to name a few. These benefits are impossible to measure, and vary greatly from organization to organization”

Charity Navigator is a site that guides donors towards nonprofits that are run efficiently and make the best use of donations.  For that reason alone, this report suggests that special events be carefully evaluated, especially since many new types of online fundraising, e.g. widgets (see Chipin for an example) are now available which further empower our constituents.