The Beginner's December Downturn!

Guide to Online Fundraising & Marketing

Jono Smith | Event 360

National Philanthropy Day | November 12, 2009
©The Brandywine
Event 360 | Page 1 Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals
Agenda & Key Takeaways

• The business case for online fundraising

• Why December is the most important month for

online fundraising

• 11 rules for online marketing & fundraising success

• Bottom line: A few good ideas to try at the office

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 Download the slides tomorrow morning from www.event360.com
or leave your business card and I will email you a copy.

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 Rumors Facts
• Offline donors do not • 50% of offline donors
donate online research their gift online

• Online fundraising is for • Online donors are

small gifts only generous – ($163 avg);

• Middle and major donors • Internet is a favored way

don’t want to hear from for middle and major
you online donors to engage

© Event 360 | Page 5 Source: The Young & the Generous and Wired Wealthy
 Who is Giving Online?

• Greatest + Silent • Baby Boomers • Generation X

Generations (1901- (1946-1962) (1963-1980)
1945) • Multi-channel donors • The web generation
• Direct mail & • Account for 52% of • Generally not
telemarketing donors online giving* responsive to direct
• Account for less than • Active web users at mail or telemarketing
15% of online giving* home and at work • Account for about
• Occasionally visiting 30% of online giving*
your website and
reading your emails

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** 2006 donorCentrics™ Internet Giving Benchmarking Analysis
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

• Easy way to convert impulse to action

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*Network for Good Study, “The Young and Generous”
How much can a small nonprofit raise?

• Budget: under $250,000

• 910 nonprofits
• $9.3 million raised
• Monthly average: $858
• Annual average: $10,296

Source: Network for Good’s Custom DonateNow (April 2008-April 2009)

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Why December Is So Important
• Over 45% of annual giving via Network for Good’s donation
processing system is during December; this percentage of
annual giving has remained consistent within 5% since 2003.

• In December, nearly half of the donations for the month are in

the last 6 days, when nearly each day NFG is processing $1
million or more in donations.

• Average donation is higher in December; in 2007 it was $189

versus $135 the rest of the year.

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10-Point Online Check-Up
1. Is your URL guessable?
2. Do your publish your URL on every
communication, both online and offline?
3. Do you use website design strategically?
4. Do you provide relevant content? (Marketing + Journalism!)
5. Do you tell your story through pictures, videos, or podcasts?
6. Can you collect email addresses on your website?
7. Do you use email marketing & search marketing to drive traffic
back to your website?
8. Can you accept online donations on your website?
9. Do you have a blog?
10. Can people find your website in search engines?
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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.
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Sample Online Strategic Plan
• Strategies:
§ Expand online giving opportunities
on our website
§ Grow our database of emails,
including collecting email addresses
for current donors
• Tactics:
§ Optimize our website & donation page for success
§ Monitor our online reputation
§ Increase our ‘findability’ on search engines with great
content and Google Grants
§ Use email marketing to build relationships and drive traffic
back to our website
§ Analyze & measure, revise tactics, and optimize strategies

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Online Fundraising & Marketing Framework

Audience

Objectives

Strategy

Tactics
Email Video /
Website Marketing Blog Search
Pictures

Measurement

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Downturn Strategy: Maximize Net Revenue

Before you spend another dollar on your existing

marketing or fundraising programs, I would ask three
questions:

1. Does it increase donations?

2. Does it boost net revenue?
3. Does it protect an existing revenue stream?

Some nonprofits don't measure net, they measure gross.

And so they may be thinking they're producing a lot of
money, but they're actually losing money.

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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.
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Source: Donation Usability: Increasing Online Giving to Non-Profits and Charities
 Rate the Donor Experience

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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?
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Rule #4: Make your Donate button obvious.

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Rule #5: Listen to Understand
Tools to find supporters & monitor them

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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

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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.

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December 26-31

Send your donors a

fundraising email the
day after Christmas.
Test two different
versions.

The growth in online giving is especially notable in the last week of December, when
online giving’s advantages of convenience and immediacy are crucial. Nearly 45% of
annual giving via Network for Good’s donation processing system is during
December. Nearly half of the amount processed December 2007, which was $20M,
was donated in the last 5 days of the year.

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December Strategy

• In addition to your core mailings your have

planned in December, be sure to send out an
extra appeal between the 26th and the 31st.
• The last week in the year is always hectic
which means your message should be short
and simple; reminding people how easy it is
to make their year-end gift online in the last
few days of the month.
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December Strategy

• Many organization’s top performing mailing is

sent on the 30th with a short and simple
reminder, “Still Time to Donate in 2009!”
• This year especially, when people may have
less money, remember to highlight monthly
donations as a way to afford the same level
of giving spread out over time.

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Rapid Donor Cultivation (RDC)

• In the online retail industry, savvy retailers

noticed that online prospect affinity is
typically highest for the first 30 days after
the visitor opts in to the retailer’s email list.
• This honeymoon period—the high-affinity
phase—is characterized by higher email
open, click, and conversion rates.

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Rapid Donor Cultivation (RDC)

• It turns out that this behavior is also

demonstrated by new nonprofit e-
subscribers.
• You can capitalize on this high affinity period
by sending a stream of carefully crafted
emails with select content and calls-to-action
to the new subscriber over the first 30 days.
• TIP: Test a 5 or 10-email stream, ending
with a targeted fundraising ask.
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Sample RDC Campaign

Issue Call-to-action
1. Welcome Read article on website
2. Elephants Visit blog
3. Elephants Petition
4. Whales Quiz
5. Whales Survey
6. Eagles Photo Contest
7. Eagles Audio
8. Puppy Mills Video
9. Puppy Mills Donate
10. Puppy Mills Donate
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RDC Results

• The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW)

was one organization to explore this innovative
concept of Rapid Donor Cultivation
§ The time to first gift decreased by 17 days
§ Rate of conversion of subscribers to donors increased
by 83%
§ Rate of conversion of subscribers to activists increased
by 110%
§ Average value of first gift increased by 15%

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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

The Mission Megaphone

• Marketing is about looking at the world from the point of

view of our audience rather than our own.

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Rule #10: Put yourself in your donor’s shoes.

“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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Rule #11

Social media is not a

silver bullet for online
fundraising.

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What is Social Media?

Social media includes tools (like

blogs & video) and websites
(like Facebook & Twitter) to
share content and have
conversations online.

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 Shiny Object Syndrome:
“Don’t Be Another Fool With A Tool”

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5 Steps to Social Media Success

Questions to Answer Before You Start

1. Who is our audience? Build personas

2. Where are they online? Do your research

3. What do they want to do; what are they currently doing

online? Observe and participate

4. What do we want them to do? Test different calls-to-

action

5. How will we measure success? Set quantifiable

goals
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How A Blog Helped Save the 4th of July

• The Celebrate Kirkland team had a

daunting task: to raise at least $30,000 in
just a few months.

• Without donations, Kirkland, Washington,

wouldn't put on its annual Fourth of July
celebration.

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Blog Strategy - www.celebratekirkland.blogspot.com

• Fundraising widget with current donation total

• YouTube video of a previous fireworks show
• Slideshow of Fourth of July photos
• Badge linking to the Facebook page
• Link to the Twitter page
• Poll of how many times viewers have
attended a 4th in Kirkland
• Brief bio on Celebrate Kirkland
• A link to celebratekirkland.org

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Blog Strategy - www.celebratekirkland.blogspot.com

• Notifying past, current and potential

supporters to follow
• Searching for other relevant blogs to
request info
• Commenting on local or regional blogs
that would have an interest in our blog and
campaign
• Notifying Media about the blogs
• Pushed out through all of out other
communications channels

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 To blog?
1. Are you listening to your online
community?
2. Do you have something unique
to say?
3. Are you willing and able to say
it?
4. Are you willing to be challenged
and criticized?
5. Are you willing and able to
dedicate the resources to
succeed?

Source: Matt Dickman, Techno//Marketer blog: http://technomarketer.typepad.com/

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Causes on Facebook

The Causes
application for
Facebook adds the
ability to solicit and
make donations
from within
Facebook.
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What’s Working? Contests

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11 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
11. Social media is not a silver bullet

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 CONTACT

JONO SMITH
VP, Sales & Marketing
Washington, DC
jsmith@event360.com
773.247.5360 x130
www.event360.com

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APPENDIX: Event 360 Case Studies

• Global Race for the Cure Case Study

• Florida AIDS Walk Case Study
• Memory Walk Case Study

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GLOBAL RACE FOR THE CURE CASE STUDY
Unleashing the power of e-Communication

Challenges
• Increase fundraising
• Add value to sponsorships
• Revitalize the event

Solutions
• Utilize Convio to segment participants and developed an e-communications
plan based on those segments
• Re-engineer the event itself to tailor different experiences for walkers and
runners; ensure participants finish in the sponsor marketplace

Results
• Increased overall fundraising 20%
• Greater visibility added value for sponsors
• $4.3 million raised for Susan G. Komen for the Cure
• Client feedback: “Event 360 knocked it out of the park”
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AIDS HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION CASE STUDY
Delivering results while reducing costs

Challenges
• Increase fundraising
• Increase day-to-day ownership of the event
• Reduce costs and streamline production

Solutions
• Provide production oversight while training staff to better manage more
aspects of the planning
• Refine vendor needs
• Revisit event costs and eliminate waste

Results
• Increased net profit for the 2008 event by 130% over 2007
• Nearly tripled the amount raised per walker nearly tripled from 2007 to 2008
• 8% increase in donations per walker over 2008
• Further decreased costs by $15,000 from 2008 to 2009

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MEMORY WALK CASE STUDY
Consulting to uncover inefficiencies

Challenges
• Unify and maximize the performance of over 600 events held by
more than 80 individual chapters
• Improve link between events and mission
• Increase fundraising

Solutions
• One-on-one interviews with key stakeholders
• In depth quantitative analysis of fundraising performance
• Benchmarks were set and goals were established

Results
• Chapter participation has shown amazing new strength
• Total dollars raised increased by 15% in the first year alone
• 25% of walks grew by 25% or more

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