1 A Beginner's Guide to Online Fundraising & Marketing Nonprofit 911 Teleconference July 7, 2009 Jono Smith VP, Marketing Network for Good
2 Key Takeaways Why online fundraising is the great equalizer The basics of an effective online marketing and fundraising strategy Selecting and implementing online marketing & fundraising tools Bottom line: A few good ideas to test right away!
3 Why Online Giving is the Great Equalizer At Network for Good, 50% the donations go to 1% of charities (excluding crisis giving) The rest 25,000 nonprofits are spread out along the long tail Small to medium-sized nonprofits account for 70% of giving via Network for Good
4 How much can a small nonprofit raise? Budget: under $250,000 910 nonprofits $9.3 million raised Monthly average: $858 Annual average: $10,296 Network for Good s Custom DonateNow (April 2008-April 2009)
Who is Giving Online? Greatest + Silent Generations (1901-1945) Direct mail & telemarketing donors Account for less than 15% of online giving* Occasionally visiting your website and reading your emails Baby Boomers (1946-1962) Multi-channel donors Account for 52% of online giving* Active web users at home and at work Generation X (1963-1980) The web generation Generally not responsive to direct mail or telemarketing Account for about 30% of online giving* ** 2006 donorcentrics Internet Giving Benchmarking Analysis 5
Why Are They Giving Online?* It s easier than writing a check It s a fast way to provide disaster relief It can be anonymous They like recurring donations *Network for Good Study, The Young and Generous 6
7 Key Takeaways Why online fundraising is the great equalizer The basics of an effective online marketing and fundraising strategy Selecting and implementing online marketing & fundraising tactics and tools Bottom line: A few good ideas to try at the office
8 First Things First! 1. Is your URL guessable? 2. Do you use website design strategically? 3. Do you provide relevant content? (Marketing + Journalism!) 4. Do you tell your story through pictures, videos, or podcasts? 5. Can you accept online donations on your website? 6. Can you collect email addresses on your website? 7. Do you use email marketing to drive traffic back to your website? 8. Can people find your website in search engines? 9. Do your publish your URL on every communication, both online and offline?
9 Rule #1: Online Strategies vs. Tactics An online strategy is a plan of action for using the internet and other digital mediums to achieve a goal or set of goals. Your website, Email Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Facebook, etc. are all tactics that can be used to accomplish that end.
10 Sample Online Strategic Plan Strategies: Expand online giving opportunities Grow our database of emails Tactics: Optimize our website & donation page for success Monitor our online reputation Increase our findability on search engines Use email marketing to build relationships and drive traffic back to our website Analyze & measure, revise tactics, and optimize strategies
Rule #2: Focus on the Donor Experience What kills online donations? Usability is the donation killer Turn-off factors: 2 in 10 people can t find where to donate 4 in 10 people don t donate because of poor design, cluttered pages and unintuitive layouts. 4 in 10 people can t find the information they need or find the website content unclear. Source: Donation Usability: Increasing Online Giving to Non-Profits and Charities 11
Rate the Donor Experience 12
Custom DonateNow from Network for Good 13
14 Rule #3: Optimize Your Donation Page in 10 Steps 1. Does your donation page look like your website? 2. Do you offer support for one time & recurring gifts? 3. Can donors make anonymous donations? 4. Do you provide both online & email tax receipts? 5. Do you offer tell-a-friend? 6. Can you ask custom questions? 7. Do you offer an email opt-in? 8. Can supporters make tributes or memorial gifts? 9. Can your supporters designate specific programs? 10. Can you offer thank you gifts & premiums?
Rule #4: Make your Donate button obvious 15
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Rule #5: Listen to Understand Tools to find supporters & monitor them 17
18 Rule #6: Break the Outlook Habit Still sending your newsletter from Microsoft Outlook? Six reasons you need an email service provider 1. Your emails may look terrible. 2. You may get blacklisted 3. Say hello to your recipients spam, junk or bulk mail folder. 4. Send emails to thousands of recipients, and you'll get all the bounce-backs and auto-replies from them. So much for free time! 5. You might be breaking the law. According to the CAN-SPAM law, if someone requests to be removed from your list, you must do so within 10 business days. 6. You won't know if anyone is reading your emails.
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Rule #7: Grow your Email List with Tell-A-Friend 20
Rule #8: Get serious about email outreach What makes a good email campaign? Get serious about the subject line June Newsletter 5 Tips to Fight Global Warming Focus above the fold Most people use a preview pane when perusing their inbox, so it s important when laying out your email s content to put a lot of attention on the top four inches and use that prime real estate to the best of your abilities. 21
22 Rule #9: Make your organization easy to find Sponsored Organic
23 Rule #9: Make your organization easy to find Sponsored Organic
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Rule #10: Put yourself in your donor s shoes. The biggest mistake you can make is making it about you. It s about the audience. Online marketing is not a monologue. You are not the target audience Marketing is about looking at the world from the point of view of our audience rather than our own. The Mission Megaphone 25
26 Rule #10: Put yourself in your donor s shoes. Make Your Messaging Sing Alopecia Areata Society Disease: makes your hair fall out Support group: makes you feel ok about it Benefit: Self-esteem Awareness: Bald + women does not always equal cancer.
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28 10 Rules for Online Fundraising & Marketing 1. Understand Online Strategies vs. Tactics 2. Focus on the Donor Experience 3. Optimize Your Donation Page in 10 Steps 4. Make your Donate button obvious 5. Listen to Understand 6. Break the Outlook Habit 7. Grow your Email List with Tell-A-Friend 8. Get serious about email outreach 9. Make your organization easy to find 10. Put yourself in your donor s shoes.
29 Next Steps Subscribe to Network for Good: Get donations on your website with DonateNow Send email appeals & newsletters with EmailNow Apply online at www.networkforgood.org/apply Contact Us: Tel: 1.888.284.7978 x1 Email: fundraising123@networkforgood.org Web: www.networkforgood.org/npo
30 Bonus Tip: Inspire Your Supporters Next time you find yourself agonizing over how to inspire someone to care about your issue whether its frogs or children, hunger or unspayed pets back up a step. Put aside your faceless statistics of catastrophe, step away from the Canaries, and think about telling us something personal and true. Don t tell us why we should care, tell us why you care. We really want to know.
31 Bonus Tip: Inspire Your Supporters Tell your organization's founding story once a year. Communications guru Andy Goodman calls this one of the "sacred bundle" of stories - a profound reminder of the deep values and moral struggle that gave rise to your organization's existence.
32 Bonus Tip: Inspire Your Supporters Have a genuine cultivation strategy and calendar. Send emails to donors that thank them, that report back on how you've spent their money and then offer an inspiring anecdote or factoid. You can't thank donors enough, and chances are, you don't. Make it a point not to ask for donations in these communications.
33 Bonus Tip: Inspire Your Supporters Ask your donors for their feedback and opinions on a regular basis. Remind them that you know there are people behind those email addresses.
34 Bonus Tip: Inspire Your Supporters Offer periodic live chats or phone-in briefings with your CEO. This is a staple of major donor fundraising, inexplicably absent from the online giving scene.
35 Bonus Tip: Inspire Your Supporters Offer real-life glimpses into the life of your organization. We are entering an era when authenticity is arguably the paramount value in marketing communications - a potentially massive shift from the fakey-fake formula that still guides most direct mail.
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