Top 5 Best Practices in Online Fundraising

Presented by Mack CampbellDFW Philanthropy Conference

Online Fundraising:Top 5 Best Practices

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IN THE NEXT

60 SECONDS…

Online = 7%of all giving

5,133,233.33%since 1997

Online Donation Growth

Online donors are more engaged than traditional direct mail donors.

Average Lifetime Value of offline donor: $197

$72

Average Lifetime Value of online donor: $197

$72

OMG, WOW & #FACEPALM

Name a Roach

Personal Story of crashing website

The Best Practices

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The Best Practices•Engage

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Engage

“…but they’ll remember how you made them feel.”

- Maya Angelou

Ways to Engage• Through Strategic Design

Strategic Design• Can a stranger know

what you’re about and why they should care within 2 seconds of opening your homepage?

Strategic Design• If they are not ready to

donate, give a visitor the ability and reason to take the first step toward a relationship.

Ways to Engage• Through Strategic Design• Through Targeted

Communications

Drip Marketing

Drip Marketing• New Donor Welcome Series• Event Registration Series• New Email Signup Series

Ways to Engage• Through Strategic Design• Through Targeted

Communications• Through Social Media

Why should I care about Social Media?

You Shouldn’t.If you’re only worried about money.

52% raised nothing.

2% of non-profits reported raising more than $10k through Facebook.

Social Media is donor and prospect enagagement tool.

18-29 30-49 50-64 67+

92% 73%

Social Media Usage by Age

? ?

18-29 30-49 50-64 67+

92% 73%57%

Social Media Usage by Age

?

18-29 30-49 50-64 67+

92% 73%57%

38%

Social Media Usage by Age

Where should I focus?

The Best Practices•Engage•Simply

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Simplify•Simply for the donor

NOT staff or organizational silos.

“Simply” is complex

•Personalize and Target.

Ways to Simplify• Through stories

15%

50%

Ways to Simplify• Through stories• Through design

Simplify•Are the images large

and engaging to emotionally connect with a visitor?

Simplify• Can a new visitor find the donate

button within 2 seconds?• Is the donate button:

– above the fold?– big and colorful?– surrounded by a sense of urgency?

Simplify

How many clicks to donate?

Clicks to Donate

>1 = -75%

Simplify

How many questions do you have on your donate form?

Design for Mobile

Mobile Traffic in 2012

30%70%

Mobile traffic is expected to eclipse desktop traffic in 2014.

The Best Practices•Engage•Simply•Think Ahead

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Think Ahead

• Immediate• 6 week• 6 month

Immediate Goals•Build report templates•SWOT Analysis•Honest Website Audit

6 Week Goals• Optimize donation form and

donor user-experience.– Including email confirmation

• Create email solicitation and social media timeline through year-end.

• Implement changes from website audit

6 Month Goals• Implement Drip Marketing• New Website? • Integrated Social Media Campaign

Set Goals•Assign responsibility•Equip to succeed•Hold accountable

The Best Practices•Engage•Simply•Think Ahead•Measure

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Measure

Know where you are first. Then figure out where you’re heading.

Measure

Set goals in accordance with industry trends.

Online Revenue

Email 33%Other

67%#AFPTop5

In 2012…

Online Donations rose 21%

In 2012…

Email Lists grew 15%

In 2012…

Facebookgrew 49%

For every 1,000 emails…

149 Fans

For every 1,000 emails…

53 Followers

For every 1,000 emails…

29 subscribers

Email Volume: Messages/Month

Email Benchmarks

Advocacy FundraisingOpen Rates 14% 13%

Click-Through Rates 3.7% .42%Response Rates 3.5% .07%

Translating Benchmarks

5k 10K 25k 50kResponse Rate .07% .07% .07% .07%

Avg Gift $60 $60 $60 $60

Revenue$21

0$420

$1,050

$2,100

Translating Benchmarks

100k 500k 1MResponse Rate .07% .07% .07%Avg Online Gift $60 $60 $60

Revenue $4,200$21,00

0$42,000

Measure• Learn from experience

– Test your subject lines– Test your email design

“Hey”

The Best Practices•Engage•Simply•Think Ahead•Measure•Fail #AFPTop5

Fail

Questions?

/OnYourMarkConsulting

[email protected]

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