Online Organizing enables more people to spend more time with the Sierra Club to win our priority campaign work. Convio Overview What is Convio? The Online.

Online Organizing enables more people to spend more time with the Sierra Club to win our priority campaign work.

Convio Overview

•What is Convio? • The Online Toolset: Emails, Action Alerts, Surveys, LTEs, Call Alerts, and Events• Convio Data• Donations through Convio• Getting Started Using Convio: The Nuts and Bolts of Cost Allocation, Email Policy, Set-up, Training, and Scheduling.


What is Convio?

Convio is an advanced CRM, Constituent Relationship Management system, that the Sierra Club uses for Electronic Outreach. Convio provides a way for people to have an integrated online experience with the Club.

The system contains:•The Online Toolset: Email, Action Alerts, Surveys, Letter’s to the Editor (LTE), Call Alerts, and Surveys.

•Constituent Information: Each constituent who the Club has an email address for is stored in Convio so that we can engage them online.

•Reporting Features: Convio has a number of reporting features that will help you track the success of your online communications and fine tune your strategy.


Convio and HELEN

Convio and HELEN are integrated in such a way that information flows back and forth between the systems. The difference is that Convio has the ability to store constituent records that have only an email address, whereas HELEN can currently only store records that have a physical address included.

What does this mean? When doing data-entry into HELEN the information you enter will flow into Convio, however, any constituents that you gather via Convio outreach will only go to HELEN if they have provided a physical address. The benefit of Convio is that there will generally be more people for you to contact than are available via HELEN.

HELEN CONVIO


The Convio Online Toolset

Emails Action Alerts Surveys Events Call Alerts

Letters to the Editor


Email links to:

Action Alert SurveyEvent

Call Alert

Letter to

the Editor

Emails are the initial communication that is sent to constituents telling them about an issue and asking them to take an action. Links within the email go to specific types of actions.


EmailsThe Convio Email is an email message addressed to constituents that informs them of and asks them to take action on a particular issue, attend an event, take a survey, etc. The message body should contain links to the appropriate action item and pertinent information.


Action AlertsHave you ever sent an email to an official? How about a thousand? Now you can!

The Action Alert is linked either from a corresponding email or website. It provides a brief explanation of the issue to the constituent, and a form message that the constituent can customize then send to a decision maker.


SurveysWant to know more about your constituents? Want to get people to sign up for, well, anything? Here's how.

Surveys can serve a variety of functions: petitions, sign-ups, event registrations, etc. They provide powerful data that can be used to better reach out to your constituents, gather information, and facilitate follow-up interactions.


Events

Events can include options for ticketed events, RSVP’s, and event specific questionnaires. Data is easily accessible and can be used to generate follow-up emails, assist with event planning, and facilitate online communications with your constituents.


Call Alerts

Call Alerts ask constituents to make phone calls to their representatives on a particular issue. They include instructions for making the call, talking points, and appropriate phone numbers.


Letters to the Editor

The LTE function asks constituents to send a letter to the editor of a local, regional, or national newspaper on an issue. The LTE page features a form letter that constituents can modify before sending.


Convio Data

Convio has the ability to track data related to your email campaigns, individual emails, and actions. This data can be very useful for conducting follow-up with your constituents, tailoring your email audiences, and pinpointing people who are passionate about your issues.

A short list of what Convio tracks: • Who opens or clicksthrough an email or a unique link. • Who sends an action alert or an LTE, makes a phone call, submits a survey, or RSVP’s to attend an event. • The number of action alerts sent to each specified target from your constituents. You can also view each of the messages sent.


Convio Success Stories!

Grand Canyon Chapter and Save Our State Parks Rally:Promoted the rally via 2 Convio Emails and Event Pages. 200 people attended the Rally at the Capitol, 50 of them met with legislators, and 150 signed postcards in support of saving state parks.

Illinois Chapter and the Asian Carp Invasion:Sent an action alert asking decision makers to support a long term solution for invasive Asian Carp. Over 1,000 people took the action and Senators Burris and Durbin signed a letter supporting their position of hydro-separation.

Los Padres and Ormond Beach Wetlands: Sent a Convio email to around 6351 area recipients asking them to help protect Ormond Beach Wetlands. The email contained a link to an action alert targeting five individual City Council members. 660 people took action and judging from the comments by individual council members the action alert emails had a positive influence.

To learn more about these successes and those of other Chapters and get step by step information on how you can do the same check out our site: http://action.sierraclub.org/SuccessCompetition

http://action.sierraclub.org/SuccessCompetition

http://action.sierraclub.org/SuccessCompetition


Fundraising through Convio

Donations can be taken through Convio via a Chase Paymentech Merchant Account, which can be set up for your Chapter or Group by Development. There is a one time fee for this service.

Once you have set up your Paymentech Merchant Account with the Office Of Development, you can then solicit donations through a Donation Form that you can link to from your website or your emails.

If set up correctly, this information can automatically flow into HELEN, allowing you to use HELEN’s fundraising reports to help track, calculate, and acknowledge the donations you receive.

You can even set it up so folks can make recurring, automatic donations!

For information on how to set this up, see the HELEN How-To Guide http://clubhouse.sierraclub.org/people/members/helen/how-to/donations-convio.aspx


How to Fundraise in your Convio CommunicationsThere are several places in Convio Communications that fundraising asks can appear.

Website:A donation page can be linked from the Chapter’s website.

Stand Alone Fundraising Emails:March Window Fundraising- 2 messages completely dedicated to fundraising can be sent to the Chapter’s entire list.Outside of March- fundraising emails can be sent to anyone who has donated to the Chapter within the last 24 months.

Donation Asks as a component of an Email: A donation link can be placed in: the stationary used for sending emails such as alerts, in an autoresponder, or on an Action Alert Thank You Page.

Monthly e-Newsletters:A donation button and a short paragraph of text can be placed at the bottom of a e-newsletter. The paragraph can contain one link to a donation form as well.

Donation Page as Action Alert Thank You Page:Set a donation page to be the “thank you page” after someone takes an action online. Since alerts can be sent to a broader list this is an opportunity to acquire new Chapter donors.


Convio Cost Structure

The Convio cost structure is based on the number of members in each Chapter. The charge is a flat per month charge. There are no additional charges per email, etc.

> 25,000 members – 125.00 per month

10-25,000 members – 100.00 per month

2-10,000 members – 75.00 per month

< 2, 000 – 50 members – 50.00 per month


Getting Started Using ConvioTechnical Set – Up:

Date Upload -- If your Chapter is not using HELEN or is using another system in conjunction with HELEN it might be necessary to have your data uploaded to Convio to be able to fully utilize the system. The Data-Team will provide support for this step.

* National already has a number of names in Convio already, so by coming on the system your entity will be getting new additional email addresses. Stationery – Each Chapter has a unique stationery and pagewrapper that goes around their messages and provides a unique branding. This stationery also has specific links that allow your constituents to opt-out of your messages as required by our email policy. The web team will create your stationery and pagewrapper based on your desired design.

Staff Training:

Each Chapter gets three Convio Administrator positions. These people should be relatively technologically savvy and willing to dedicate approximately 1-2 hours to creating a Convio email. If a Group wants to send out Convio messages as well, then the three positions must either be shared or an agreement should be reached on how best Chapter Admins can do Convio work on behalf of the Group. The initial training lasts 1.5 hours and is conducted via a webinar program. After the training each attendee will receive their Convio Admin Username and Password and will then have access to using the system.


Our Email Policy

The Sierra Club has a single email policy that applies to all Club communications sent out by: National, Field, Chapters, and Groups.

The power of our online communication systems and use of a single comprehensive database make it critical to have policies to operate most effectively, comply with regulatory and legal requirements, and not alienate our online community.

•The Email Policy defines that no individual should receive more than one email from the club per day.• All messages must apply to regulatory, fundraising and legal requirements. • All staff and volunteers developing and sending emails must have appropriate training and adhere to the Club’s best practices. This means that you can not share your log-in information with anyone else.

For more information: Email Policy: http://clubhouse.sierraclub.org/communications/convio/policies/emailoutreach.aspxBest Practices: http://clubhouse.sierraclub.org/communications/convio/bestpractices/

http://clubhouse.sierraclub.org/communications/convio/policies/emailoutreach.aspx


Email Allotments

Chapter Email Allotments are per month and include:

2 Broadcast emails: These are emails that go out to all of members and non-members in your state. * Can be sent twice per month.

1 E-newsletter: These are sent to active members and people who have specifically opted-in to receiving your e-newsletter. * Can go out once per month.

Opt-In Emails: These are sent to people who have specifically opted in to a particular type of message. For instance: Chapter opt-ins, people who have opted in to specific topical messages such as Water Sentinels, Wildlife message, Energy messages, etc. Follow-up Emails: * Can be sent anytime. However, it is always good to bear in mind not hitting these people too often.

Follow-up Emails: These are sent to people who have take a previous action, submitted a survey, attended an event, etc. * Can be sent anytime. However, it is always good bear in mind not hitting these people too often.

** There are ways to send more emails through careful targeting. You can work with [email protected] to strategize how you want to send your messages.


Scheduling Convio Emails

Emails and Convio Actions are created by the Chapter and then sent out via the Online Organizing Department.

Scheduling Your Emails:

Black Out Days – are set aside so for National Fundraising Emails and can be viewed on the Blackout calendar on Clubhouse: http://clubhouse.sierraclub.org/communications/convio/emailcalendar.aspx

3 Days before the date you wish to send – Contact [email protected] and let us know the date and audience you would like to send to. - If you do not know the audience or the topic of the message but do know when you would like to send something out you can still schedule a date on the calendar. - If an emergency should arise and you need to send something out you should always contact us and we will do our best to accommodate your needs.

24 Hours before the date of your send – Contact [email protected] and let us know that your message is entered into Convio and is ready to go out. - Your message will be reviewed by two fellow staff members and checked for technical and grammatical issues. - It will then be sent to your desired audience on the date appointed.

* If a message is not ready 24 hours before we can not guarantee that it will go out on the scheduled time or date.


Coordinating with the Field

There are a number of Field Organizers also working in each state who are using online outreach as an important part of their strategy as well. To ensure that we adhere to the email policy it is often necessary for Chapter and Field to communicate with one another and coordinate their outreach.

There are a couple of strategies for effective Field and Chapter organization:

Google Calendar: National uses Google Calendar to coordinate all email outreach. This way everyone can log-in, regardless of their location, and add something to the calendar or see when something is going out.

Plan Ahead: If you know there is a vote coming up, a big event, or anything you want to send an email about let others know – even if your plans are not finalized. This way everyone know you

have something in the works and can communicate about any potential conflicts.


That’s a wrap!

What is Convio? Convio is a powerful Constituent Relationship Management tool that can help your Chapter build a strong online presence.

How do Convio and HELEN work together? Convio and HELEN can talk to each other and exchange data with a few exceptions.

The Convio Online Toolset - Convio has a variety of functions including: Email, Action Alerts, LTE’s, Call Alerts, Surveys, and Events. These tools can help your Chapter engage your constituents while creating real world results that will further your conservation goals.

What kind of data is available? Convio has the ability to track data on your online outreach. This data can be very useful for conducting follow-up with your constituents, tailoring your email audiences, and pinpointing people who are passionate about your issues.

Can I Fundraise in Convio? You can fundraise in Convio by using a donation page or links to donation pages that can be incorporated in various degrees throughout your online communications.

Getting Started – There is a process for getting started using the system that includes some set-up by National and additional training for staff or volunteers.

Email Policy - Our email policy is club-wide and helps us use the system effectively, comply with regulatory and legal requirements, and not alienate our online community. Still have questions? Please contact [email protected]

Online Organizing enables more people to spend more time with the Sierra Club to win our priority campaign work. Convio Overview What is Convio? The Online.

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