Nonprofit internet strategies phần 7 ppt

2 3 45 6 7 8 Weeks Prior to Event EXHIBIT 15.6 Registrants by Week Although the open rates were less for this e-mail 67 percent, it still demonstratedthat the vast majority of participan

As the following e-mail analysis shows, participants opened the e-mail at a veryhigh rate: 78 percent.

Thank You E-mail Analysis

Total % of Total Received

A month later, the president sent another personalized e-mail, this time givingparticipants a sense of the impact that their fundraising was having on wildlife (seeExhibit 15.9)

EXHIBIT 15.3 WWF Canada Personalization Form

Power of the Few 203

EXHIBIT 15.4 Sponsor Acquisition Form

EXHIBIT 15.5 Donor E-Receipt

2 3 4

5 6 7

8

Weeks Prior to Event

EXHIBIT 15.6 Registrants by Week

Although the open rates were less for this e-mail (67 percent), it still demonstratedthat the vast majority of participants would open e-mail from this organization: aprivilege WWF Canada is careful not to overuse

Impact E-mail Analysis

Total % of Total Received

DEFINING THE DIGITAL DONOR ELITE

The story of Janet and her thirtieth birthday is exceptional, but it isn’t unique Allaround the world, the Internet is amplifying the impact that passionate people canhave on a fundraising campaign

When we looked at our data we found many examples of the digital donor elite:

One volunteer raised $9,010 from 139 donations

Another volunteer raised $15,059 from 98 donations

Still another raised $25,974 from 944 e-mails

Clearly these are exceptional individuals who have passion for their causes Theonline tools allowed them to share their passion in numbers and geographies thatotherwise would have been unthinkable with paper pledge forms.

When we studied online campaigns we found that the aggregate data told a ing story: on average, the top 10 percent of online fundraisers accounted for morethan 50 percent of all online dollars collected When we shared these statistics withexperienced offline fundraisers, the reaction we received was “Of course—we’veknown for a long time that it only takes a small percentage of people to account formost of our fundraising.”

strik-But this message hasn’t played a central role in online fundraising discussions.Too often, we find organizations with no plan, or insufficient plans, to follow up andcommunicate with this digital donor elite in a way that could be distinguished fromplans for their general online donors

Think of how your organization would steward someone who wrote a check for

$25,000 How about someone who e-mailed friends, family, and colleagues to lectively raise $25,000 online?

EXHIBIT 15.7 Online Measurement Tool

PEOPLE GIVE TO PEOPLE

High Tech and High Touch

For years we’ve heard how the Internet will radically change the operations of

non-profit organizations in the future But bear in mind that high tech without high touch

won’t go very far

EXHIBIT 15.8 Personalized Thank You

Recall the last time you made a contribution to a charity Did you wake up onemorning with the desire to give and then seek out a worthy organization to accept yourgenerosity? Or were you prompted to give? If you’re like most of us, the reason youdidn’t give to a cause is because you were never asked to give If you were asked to givebut didn’t give, then the wrong person is asking you.

EXHIBIT 15.9 Follow-Up E-Mail

The Internet gives us the ability to take this simple concept—getting the right son to ask you to give—to tremendous scale Imagine a charity that you care for deeply.Now imagine that charity asking you to ask two friends for a gift You’d likely callthem, or mention it to them the next time you met But what if the charity neededyou to ask 50 friends? At that point, you’d have to turn to e-mail.

per-Getting Your E-Mails Read: The Power of “From”

We’ve been fretting over e-mail newsletters for some time now At first we were zled by the ability to personalize the e-mail “Dear Philip.” If we knew something aboutPhilip (such as my past year’s gift), we could go even further: “Dear Philip, thank you

daz-so much for your gift last year of $100 .”

We would also play with the subject line, trying to measure which phrase wouldincrease the open rate of the e-mail Some of us would apply good direct-mail logicand create test cells to understand if the subject line “You can help today,” or “Today,you can help,” would be better

I’m sorry to break this news, but in e-mail much of this doesn’t matter! The realmagic is in the “From” field

Your inbox likely resembles the image in Exhibit 15.10 We all have too much

e-mail As you read this chapter, you might experience a slight sense of stress thatyou’ve spent too much time away from your e-mail inbox, and that as the minutestick by, it’s becoming more and more congested

EXHIBIT 15.10 Sample Inbox

How do we sort through too much information in our inboxes? We look to seewho sent it If it’s from our boss, our friend, an important client or donor, we’ll open

it first If it’s from someone we don’t know, we might delete it without opening it forfear of a virus In fact, I’ve found that there is a certain satisfaction in rapidly deletingany message that doesn’t appear at first glance to be important, thus pruning myoverflowing inbox

This trend of deleting messages that aren’t “From” the right person will only crease in the future If you’ve upgraded your Microsoft Outlook lately, you’ll noticethat much effort has been put into the Junk E-mail and Trusted E-mail filters With theclick of a mouse, I can label someone—or some organization—as junk As a nonprofit

in-organization, you never want to be labeled as junk And in the future, we might only

be able to reach some people who have labeled us as “trusted.”

People with the Right “From” Field Can Raise the Money You Need

Given this situation online, organizations should rely on their connected supporters.Let’s say I am a supporter of Charity A, and Charity A wishes to find new donorsand dollars

There are several big benefits for Charity A to ask me to leverage my online work First, I know many people that Charity A does not I also have abundant infor-mation about my personal network that Charity A does not (e.g., who would considergiving to Charity A, who just received a raise, etc.) Finally, I have the power of “from”that Charity A does not—my e-mail will be opened by my peers

net-If Charity A provides me with an easy way to help find donors (and possibly funincentives for doing so), I’ll help (see Exhibit 15.11) This is not rocket science We’resimply finding new ways to more efficiently execute old ideas

MANY THINGS CAN BE AN ONLINE SPECIAL EVENT

When we refer to special events, nonprofits typically envision some type of -thon

tivity: a walk-a-thon, a bowl-a-thon, and so on They tend to imagine large-scale tivities that involve street-closures, T-shirts, and waiver forms While these types ofspecial events will continue to do well and will continue to generate a tremendous num-ber of online donations for charities, the Internet has allowed many groups to reframethe online special events discussion

ac-Brainstorming activity: Sit down on the floor, take off your shoes, and take a deep

breath Exhale slowly Now, think of programs or activities that you currently age, and write them down on a set of Post-Its Use a different color of Post-Its and

man-write online on each of them Simply match up one of your activities with online and

consider the result

BAKE SALE + ONLINE = ?DOOR-TO-DOOR CANVASSING + ONLINE = ?

Golf Tournaments

A nonprofit named Kids Help Phone (http:// kidshelp.sympatico.ca) is dedicated to

providing online and telephone counseling to teens in distress It has become a leader

in online campaigning Its flagship special event is the Bell Walk for Kids, a nationalevent in two languages that has been online for three years

In the spring of 2003, the nonprofit was interested to know if it could take some

of its lessons learned in the Bell Walk for Kids and apply them to smaller-scale tivities Its focus was an annual golf tournament that attracted many of the city’s fi-nancial services community

ac-The plan: Utilize its Internet-based event management technology and ask golfers

to register and solicit pledges online Although many doubted that an activity such asplaying golf could generate pledge dollars (the common wisdom being that someonehad to at least sweat a little to ask for a donation), Kids Help Phone proved themwrong Golfers were asked to create a personal page explaining why they felt Kids HelpPhone was a worthy cause, and e-mail personalized solicitations to their coworkers,suppliers, and clients (see Exhibit 15.12)

EXHIBIT 15.11 Leveraging on Online Network

Many Things Can Be an Online Special Event 211

EXHIBIT 15.12 Online Golf

The results: an incredible $95,000 was generated through online pledges “Wewere extremely happy with the results and plan to expand this next year,” notes De-velopment Director Mary Proulx “It taught us once again that what matters most iswho is doing the asking, not whether that person is walking 5K or playing golf.”

Virtual Events

Across the continent in San Francisco, another organization is stretching the tion of online special events Nicci Noble, Internet Development Director and NationalProject Consultant for Salvation Army USA, describes the Salvation Army’s approach:

defini-“We felt we had to aggressively use the Internet to broaden our base of support, andspecial events seemed like a natural place to start.” Nicci led a team that developed

a Web site called “Angel Giving Tree.” The idea was simple: Focus online fundraisingefforts around a very special event—Christmas Individuals could go to the Web site,select from the wish list of a child in need, and then shop for that child online, thanks

to a partnership with a large online retailer The results: $144,000 was raised from1,582 donors with little or no marketing

Moving forward? Nicci observes: “Now that we’ve proven the technology works

and individuals do want to contribute in this way, our focus turns to marketing and

building awareness online to leverage the strong brand equity of The Salvation Armythat exists offline We understand that we must surround our technology with an in-tegrated marketing and communications strategy in order to continue our success.”

Engaging the Thirty-Somethings

Street Kids’ International wanted to grow a specific segment of its donor base: youngprofessionals between the ages of 25 and 35 It had tried golf tournaments and wine-tasting events, and these had been mildly successful, but it didn’t feel that it was speak-ing the same language as prospective thirty-somethings

“We found that many young professionals didn’t want us to determine the type

of event to attend they wanted more control They were willing to raise funds for

us from their social network, but it had to be on their terms,” notes board memberRobert Barnard

Club de Cent was the response The goal of Club de Cent (“Club of 100” in

French) is to recruit 100 young professionals who each agree to raise $1,000—anyway they see fit (see Exhibit 15.13) They may hold a dinner in their home, organize

a pool tournament, invite their friends to watch the Oscars—they are in control to termine what’s appropriate based on their peer network

de-“I started my fundraising with what I called a ‘Lame E-mail Campaign,’” saysRobert “I have an extensive contact list of associates who have plenty of money, butvery little time I explained in my e-mail that I wasn’t asking them to buy tickets, orattend a gala and that I wasn’t going to run 5K All I was going to do was e-mailthem; all they had to do was pull out their credit card and give and we’d all save timeand support a terrific cause I raised over $500 in the first day.”

These creative organizations are but a few examples of groups thinking outsidethe box when they consider the possibilities of online special events

Are there existing events or campaigns you run to which you could apply onlinesolicitation?

Are there groups of your supporters who would happily solicit their influentialnetwork if given a good excuse? Are there opportunities for you to create a “non-eventevent” that would save everyone time but allow them to express support for your ter-rific cause?

WHAT ABOUT SMALLER ORGANIZATIONS?

Many of the online fundraising success stories have come from large organizations withhousehold names, robust technology budgets, and multisite special events But whatabout smaller organizations?

The National Colon Cancer Campaign does not have any full-time staff AmyLerman-Elmaleh created it, in memory of her mother who succumbed to the disease

in 1998 To help fund research to find a cure to this type of cancer, Amy establishedthe foundation and manages it as a part-time volunteer in addition to her full-time job

“I wanted to create a special event that could jump-start our fundraising, butdidn’t have the staff or time to do it in a traditional, offline manner The data input andreceipting would have taken more hours than I had,” Amy said She turned to theWeb (see Exhibit 15.14)

Amy explains, “In some ways I feel small groups are better suited to gaining theadvantages from online event management than big groups For one, we didn’t have

a large offline process that we had to re-engineer to fit the Web; we were pretty muchstarting from scratch We didn’t have any staff, so we had to look for ways that wouldallow participants and donors to perform their own data input And given our abilities

EXHIBIT 15.13 Entry Page to Club de Cent

to receipt online, we saw this as a natural fit.” Her results: More than $40,000 wasraised online in the first year.

BUT WE DON’T HAVE ANY E-MAILS

A classic reason for many charities to defer the leap into the online fundraising world:

“We don’t have many e-mail addresses.” That might be true, but it’s not a good excusefor delay Online special events and campaigns will be a tremendous source of newe-mail addresses, and need only begin with a few excited supporters

Your organization may not have many e-mail addresses, but it’s likely that each

of your board members, in their own Outlook contacts file, have many e-mail

ad-dresses It’s those e-mails that you need to leverage in an appropriate manner Or how

about a “Friends and Family” campaign that begins with the e-mail addresses thatyour staff have in their own personal contact files?

IF YOU CAN’T AFFORD IT, GET SOMEONE ELSE TO PAY:

THE ROLE OF SPONSORSHIP

The costs of online fundraising technology often deter organizations But two tant trends are helping charities get online: (1) the costs of online fundraising solutionsEXHIBIT 15.14 From Amy’s Personal Donation Page: Photo of Amy and Her Mother

impor-are dropping, and (2) many sponsors impor-are eager to defray the start-up costs in exchangefor some tasteful recognition Online special events and campaigns are natural ways toengage an existing or new corporate sponsor or supportive philanthropist.

Online special events and campaigns appeal to sponsors for a variety of reasons,but four reasons stand out in particular:

1 It’s a great naming or branding opportunity to put a logo in the header or footer

of each Web page since the online special event or campaign site will be “touched”

by hundreds or thousands of people

2 It appeals to many sponsors’ desire to help the charity become more efficient in

fundraising

3 It has a unique ability to provide back to the sponsor deep statistics and reports

regarding the adoption of the technology (how many visits, when, how long, etc.),which sponsors love!

4 It still has a sizzle factor.

For many corporate sponsors their interest goes beyond doing the right thing fortheir community and presenting a positive public image for their customers: It is theiremployee base that is their focus Corporations are searching for ways to motivate andretain talented staff, and have long realized that philanthropy is an important activ-ity for this

Online special events and campaign tools provide greater ability for a corporation

to engage and measure the activity of an employee base (See Exhibit 15.15.) Today’sonline applications can allow teams of employees from HR to challenge those in fi-nance Some corporations have a separate point of entry to the online application for

“employees only.” And the reporting produced from the applications can allow seniormanagement to see which employees took on leadership roles within the charitableactivity

BEYOND THE BASICS

So you’ve selected an online provider whose tools, pricing, and culture fits your ganization You’ve incorporated online registration and solicitation in your first spe-cial event or campaign Now what?

or-If you’re like most of our clients, your statistics will look something like this for

a first year-effort:

Percentage of your registrant population who registered online: 15–30

Percentage of online registrants who solicited gifts from others (in other words,went beyond paying the registration fee online and asked their friends and fam-ily for a pledge): 25

The ratio of average gift online to average gift offline: Double

Average gift online: $60

We also know that, on average, your total online dollars will double from year

1 to year 2 So how do you improve your results? How do you perform better than

“average”?

According to Brian Pendleton, president of CauseForce Inc., whose company ganizes “Weekend to End Breast Cancer” (see Exhibit 15.16) events, strategic andtimely communication makes a big difference:

or-The event starts the day the person registers In our events each participant

is required to raise $2,000 to participate, so from the very start we wanted to promote the quick and convenient benefits of online fundraising We knew that our participants would be watching their fundraising results very closely and would want real time fundraising totals so we promoted online as the preferred method of fundraising.

EXHIBIT 15.15 Example of Online Fundraising Appeal to Employees: Support Kids Help Phone

Beyond the Basics 217

EXHIBIT 15.16 Example Weekend to End Breast Cancer E-Mail

We took them through step-by-step training for the online tool during ipant orientations sessions, using event information guides and e-mail communi- cation And we maintained frequent, creative, and direct e-mail contact with participants once they registered.”

partic-Brian’s tips and tricks are:

Get sophisticated online fundraising technology

Make sure your communication differentiates you from the pack

Speak to your participants specifically and directly

For an event Brian coordinated for Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation in

2003, he feels the results speak for themselves:

More than 60 percent of participants registered online

More than 50 percent of all donations were processed online

70 percent of registrants conducted fundraising

Average online gift was $78.00

There are many ways to improve your online special event or campaign results

If you haven’t already, you can join other organizations that are experimenting withthe following:

Reduced registration fee payments for online participants

Special coupons from sponsors for online registrants only

“Fast-track” lines at event day sign-in for online registrants (similar to e-ticket lines

at airports)

Gold-club membership for top online fundraisers

Incentive prizes available only to online fundraisers

E-mail newsletter featuring top online fundraisers throughout the campaignNEW DONORS, NEW DOLLARS

Online special events and campaigns are exciting new options for many organizations,and can provide a powerful channel for participants and donors to interact with theircharity of choice Depending on the prices paid for online technology, there is a com-pelling cost-saving argument to be made for saving printing, mailing, data input, andother hard costs

But very quickly, champions of these tools will be challenged by fundraisers and

board members to prove that they are, in fact, bringing in new donors and new dollars

to the organization Review of data from the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundationshows how this works (see Exhibit 15.17)

The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation manages the largest single-day

fundrais-ing event in Canada (The CIBC Run for the Cure www.cibcrunforthecure.com ) and

has been allowing participants to register and solicit sponsors online since 1999 And

as Exhibit 15.17 demonstrates, each year it has become more and more successful withits online fundraising

In 2003 alone, CBCF managed 41,131 registrations and 46,626 donations throughits online system, which links automatically to their Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge backendsystem This represented an increase in online registrations of 44 percent from 2002,and an increase of 115 percent in online donations.

For the past two years the board has asked staff to calculate what percentage ofdollars was new to the organization due to the online tool, and what percentage ofdollars may have come to CBCF offline had they not used online tools (albeit through

a less-efficient channel)

The first part of the calculation involved isolating donations that came from out

of country Since CBCF had given its supporters easy-to-use online tools to solicit itsfriends and family, and since supporters have friends and family residing outside ofCanada, CBCF noted that in 2003 donations arrived from 47 countries outside ofCanada—up from 35 countries in 2002 These out-of-country donations totaled 5.5percent of all donation dollars

CBCF then looked at the relationship of the postal (or ZIP) code between an erage solicitor and their donor They determined that in their offline population 13

av-percent of all donations came from distant relationships (which was defined as a

dif-ference in the first letter of the postal code between a solicitor and their donor).When compared to the distant relationships in the online population, which rep-resented 31 percent of the total dollars, they determined that the incremental differ-ence was 18 percent (or 31 percent, less 13 percent)

When this 18 percent of distant dollars was added to the 5.5 percent of country dollars, staff argued that 23.5 percent of all online donations were new toCBCF, and the donations would not have occurred had not the online tools been used.Board accepted this calculation, and noted that likely it was a conservative estimategiven that the average donation online ($44.27) was more than double the averageoffline donation ($21.33)

EXHIBIT 15.17 Run for the Cure: Online Dollars Raised