Raising Money & Awareness – One Click at a Time
May 5th, 2008 by Glenda Johnson
Remember when Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential campaign raised eyebrows around the possibilities for using the Internet to fundraise? With the huge success of the Obama and Clinton campaigns raising millions online — Obama: 45 million last February, Clinton: 3 million within 24 hours after her Pennsylvania win — the Dean phenomenon seems as if it occurred during the height of direct mail days.
Now, more organizations are looking online for their fundraising efforts. According to Michael Hoffman, chief executive of See3, a Chicago consulting firm that specializes in nonprofit fund raising and communications, the old way of using direct mail to reach supporters is less effective (and relevant) than it was a few years ago. “Direct mail is on life support,” says Hoffman “New Rules of Attraction”, an article in the April 3rd issue of The Chronicle of Philanthropy. Although the article stated that many charities still raise most of their contributions with the direct mail, it contends that it is losing its attractiveness with new donors. “In 2007, the number of new donors who responded to charity mailings dropped by a median of 6.2 percent in a study of 72 of the nation’s biggest charities, on top of another 10.4-percent median drop in 2006.”
So, what’s your organization’s online fundraising strategy?
Word has it that…
“nonprofits are testing online social networks to raise money through these networks, betting that the Internet’s viral nature will open fresh avenues for fundraising and marketing.” (This being the word in the article, How non-profits are using social networking to raise money and awareness, Chicago Tribune, April 30, 2008.)It’s a brave new online world, and nonprofits are venturing down creative paths for raising funds. And if recent history speaks to the enormous possibilities…a 3 million dollar day could be merely a few clicks away.
Tags: campaigns, nonprofits, online fundraising
May 5th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
Glenda - Thanks for the mention. A really terrific blog you have here.
The potential online is huge for connecting people to causes. The context really is the fragmentation of media more generally and the decreasing impact of traditional advertising. This gives aggressive organizations willing to join the online conversation a way to grow and is a danger sign for the larger more bureaucratic charities.
May 7th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Great post. NGO and Non-profits really have to take advantage of the social network technologies. The reach is greater across the board, and it’s relatively inexpensive. There is more credibility online now than there were just a few years ago. If an organization can’t win the online environment, it may be difficult to win the offline crowd. More people are converting online and it’s where we have to reach to get their *cough* money.
May 8th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
And the great thing about using online technologies to create awareness, build relationships, and raise money is that it no longer requires people with computer science degrees on staff. Nor does it require huge technology acquisition budgets. You do need staff who are web literate and willing to learn new approaches, but there are lots of services out there that you can use to help build these capacities for your npo. From the big ones like Convio and Kintera to open source programs that provide for single functionalities, you can do a lot with people time, and not much money.
The most important lesson, I think, is that there needs to be ongoing staff time and input. It’s not a matter of “getting it done” and then going on automatic pilot, the way you used to be able to do with a direct mail progrm for 12 or 18 months. It takes constant refreshing, updating, and improvements to make a direct mail strategy work. Oh, and did I mention outreach and marketing, so that your audience knows about and uses your online capacities? If you don’t know where to start, I suggest http://www.techsoup.org, which has lots of information on how to plan, start, and carry out online campaigns for nonprofits .
So don’t wait til the next budget cycle; empower one of your employees to start working on web-based technologies NOW. Cheers, Sandra Whisler, DFO, PolicyLink