Class #7, March 11, 2010 Online Fundraising Leah Kopperman,

Online Fundraising in 2009 According to Network for Good, online giving in December 2009 grew 25% compared to According to Blackbaud, it grew 32%. The average online gift size in December 2009 remained about the same as in December The average gift processed via Network for Good was $153 (a 4% drop), and the average gift processed via Blackbaud was $ (a 2% drop).

Online Fundraising Statistics Resources Big Duck sletter_detail/fundraising_2009_was_it_go od_for_you sletter_detail/fundraising_2009_was_it_go od_for_you Blackbaud via SlideShare 09-online-giving-trends 09-online-giving-trends

“Community building is fundraising – you cannot separate the two.” Stephen R. MacLaughlin Fundraising should be a central focus in your online strategy, but that doesn’t mean that everything should be a solicitation. Just like offline, people give to organizations they feel connected to in some way. Your online strategy should work to build personal connections with your constituents.

Constituent Expectations People who live online spend time in places with well-developed services; their expectations are shaped there. –Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Wikipedia, eBay, Amazon raise the bar for everyone online.

Constituent Expectations Online audiences expect: –to find what they’re looking for quickly, easily and accurately –to have a wide variety of choices –to shape their own experience –to have unrestricted access to the information they seek –to connect and share easily with their friends and other people

Planning, compromise, coordination Your organization’s online strategy must serve a number of needs simultaneously It should not be drive by solely by the communications office or the IT staff; all important parts of the organization must participate in online planning and strategy Play nice with others, be willing to give and take

Online Strategy Development Resources We Are Media (NTEN) NonProfit Web Strategy NTEN

Turn Supporters into Fundraisers Online strategy should include support for developing peer-to-peer (social media) connections –Recruitment (how do you get them to come to you?) –Cultivation (how do you keep them interested in you?) –Activation (how do you get them to do something for you?)

Turn Supporters into Fundraisers Offer them tools to do what they want (widgets) Steward them: treat them as if they themselves gave you all of the money that they raise for you. All the things that work offline for you can work online: incentives, matches, live events

Volunteer Fundraiser Resources ChipIn WeAreMedia “Social Networks (and widgets) for Community Building, Taking Action and/or Fundraising” “Widget toolkit” Facebook Causes Widgetbox (design your own) Firstgiving

Don’t Forget the Basics: Data, , Gift Forms You can’t tailor your online services to your constituents unless you know what they want. Keep track of their interests. is still the best way to reach constituents –Have a schedule and stick to it –Plan stories in advance –Majority of should NOT be solicitations, but should provide what your constituents want; keep them connected –Track, analyze, test, change

Don’t Forget the Basics: Data, , Gift Forms The more clicks it takes, the more gifts you lose. –Gift form should only be one click down from homepage –Gift form shouldn’t have too much information that will distract donors or links off to other pages –Gift form should be as short as possible (each click to next step will lose donors)

Things Change Fast Examples from readings, updated – – /k.8604/Donate_Today/apps/ka/sd/d onorcustom.asp?kntaw30544=32D67BA6FE3 84A7F9A254E5F4A8185B7https:// /k.8604/Donate_Today/apps/ka/sd/d onorcustom.asp?kntaw30544=32D67BA6FE3 84A7F9A254E5F4A8185B7 – onation%20Pages/wp4_donate_generalhttp://support.madd.org/site/PageNavigator/D onation%20Pages/wp4_donate_general

Additional Resources Live chat widget for your website Google for nonprofits (Google grants, checkout, analytics, maps/earth, apps, monthly newsletter, YouTube) Online fundraising professional resources – – (from Network for Good)

Additional Resources testing Facebook glossary htm htm Web 2.0 trends for nonprofits Commoncraft “Twitter in plain English”