Same Song Different Verse: New Tools to Help Accelerate Your Fundraising

Same Song, Different Verse: New Tools to Help Accelerate Your Fundraising

AFG 8th National ConferenceHigh Touch – High Tech FundraisingMay 20, 2010

Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CAEDirector, Marketing & SponsorshipNACHRI

Fundraising Hasn’t Changed• Identify Problem• Identify Goals• Identify Audience• Make the Connection – Why me? Why now? • Our Organization Can Help• What Do You Want Me to DO?• Thank Donors• Cultivate Relationships

INSPIRE people

Tools for Fundraising HAVE Changed

• Direct mail still wins• Major donors still key

BUT

• Online is coming on strong• Social media is the future

Data, Data, Who’s Got the Data?

• donorCentrics Internet Giving Benchmarking Analysis (2008) - handout

• Blackbaud Connections Blog Online Giving Trends (2009)

• Forrester Research data as reported by Business Week (2007)

• Network for Good’s Online Fundraising Survival Guide (2008) - handout

Online Giving

• 9% of donors give online• 11% of revenue comes in online

BUT

• 39% increase in online giving• 3% decrease in offline giving

Source: 2008 donorCentrics Internet Giving Benchmarking Analysis

Online Giving

Online donors are younger and higher income


Online Giving

And they give bigger gifts


Online Giving• Online revenue grew 46% in 2009 compared to 2008.• 65% of surveyed nonprofits had a median 21% increase

in online revenue compared to 2008.• The average online gift was $144.72, which represents

a 5% decline from 2008, but remains significantly higher than other fundraising channels.

Source: http://forums.blackbaud.com/blogs/connections/archive/2010/01/04/2009-online-giving-trends.aspx

Types of Social Media Interaction• Creators – create content (blogs, tweets,

podcasts, YouTube)• Critics – comment, rate, review• Collectors – RSS & tagging• Joiners – use social networking sites• Spectators – read blogs, watch videos• Inactives – online, no social media use

Source: Business Week Forrester Data June, 2007

Source: 2007 Forrester Research

Source: 2009 Business Insider

Source: 2010 pingdom.com


A few observations• The average social network user is 37 years old

– LinkedIn average age: 44• 35-44 age range are the top users of 11 of 19 (58%) of

profiled social media sites• There are more than 400 MILLION Facebook user

accounts (and it’s the leading social network only in western Europe, Australia, and North America)– Facebook average age: 38– 61% of Facebook users are over 35

• There are more than 75 MILLION Twitter user accounts– Twitter average age: 39– 64% of Twitter users are over 35


The Future Is Now

Social media is in infancy, particularly for fundraising…

…But it’s coming…

…So how do you get ready?

What is all this stuff anyway?

Guide to Web 2.0 – handout

Q&A?

Examples: Fundraising – BlogRaising• Beth Kanter

– Well-known blogger

– Donation challenge on blog

– Ask people to donate $10 each as a birthday present

– Network for Good Badge

– FB Birthday Causes applicationhttp://beth.typepad.com/

Examples: Fundraising – 12For12K• Goals:

– 12 months– 12 charities– $12,000 per charity – over $91,000 raised!

• How?– Blog– Sharable videos– Badges & banner ads– Donation buttons– Blogger resource center– Twitter (account and hashtag 12for12K)– Facebook group– Ning community

• http://12for12k.org/

Examples: Fundraising – Twestivals

“Tweet. Meet. Give.”• Volunteer run/driven• Organizer tools• Funds raised via tickets, donations, sponsorship, ads, etc.• Party or other event• Publicized on Twitter, other social media platforms• Twestival Global 2010 raised over $460K for international

education (Concern Worldwide) – over $6000 in DC alone• http://twestival.com/• http://washington.twestival.com/

Examples: Fundraising – Text 2 Give• Technology is driven by mGive (http://mgive.com/) & the

Mobile Giving Foundation• Text short message to 5 or 6 digit number• Confirm intent• $5 or $10 donation appended to monthly mobile bill• American Red Cross Haiti Earthquake Relief

– Raised over $10 million in a week• Other organizations using Text 2 Give

– United Way/NFL– Friends of the World Food Program– United Nations

• Next stage: TwitPay (http://twitpay.com/) – Previously a commercial service– Relaunched in February 2010 as 501(c)3 service only

Examples: Fundraising - Tweetsgiving

• Tweetsgiving (http://www.tweetsgiving.org/) – November 24-26, 2009– Tweet what you’re grateful for

(#tweetsgiving/@tweetsgiving)• Over 22K “thank you” tweets

– Donate $10 (or more)• Raised over $30K to construct a school in

Tanzania

Examples: Relationship Building - Twitter

Example: Relationship Building - FB Causes

Source: Washington Post, April 22, 2009

Top 5 FB Causes have all raised over $200K

#1 – Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta: $1.1 million

Money raised is going up – from $16K/week in January to over $40K/week in April

FB Causes is great for raising awareness – over 24 million monthly active users

Examples: Relationship Building - Blogging

YOUR Examples

Q&A

Resources• 7 Things Every Nonprofit Professional Should Know about

Online Fundraising & Marketing• How do I get my Nonprofit’s Facebook fans to donate?• A Procrastinator’s Guide to Year-End Fundraising • AmEx Charitable Gift Survey • Fundraising Online is Hard• Greenpeace & Me: Why some nonprofits need a better

“sidewalk strategy”• Who Uses Social Networks? • Blogger Outreach • Fundraising on Twitter • Using Social Media to Meet Nonprofit Goals

All linked from Thanks for Playing today (May 20) http://thx4playing.blogspot.com/

Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CAE

Director, Marketing & SponsorshipNational Association of Children’s Hospitals & Related

Institutions (NACHRI)

Email: [email protected]: 703.797.6041Twitter: @ewengelLinkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/ewengel Blog: Thanks for Playing http://thx4playing.blogspot.com/