Nonprofit Technology Conference Online Fundraising Basics: How to Get Started Presented by: Kathleen A. Sherwin Director, TechFoundation

Nonprofit Technology Conference 04 Barack Obama raises $6.9 million online in the 1st quarter of ‘07 Obama 13 million Americans make online donations in response to Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina Dean shatters Clinton’s record of raising most money in single quarter, thanks largely to online donations. UNICEF raises $18 million online for Tsunami relief in 1 week Howard Dean, Tsunami Brief History of Online Fundraising

Nonprofit Technology Conference Let’s Get Started!  Basics: Fundraising with -What You Need to Know -Planning Process -Preparing for Success -Numbers  Breakout Session  Online Fundraising: Beyond  Breakout Session  Next Steps & Resources  Q&A

Nonprofit Technology Conference ➡ If you’re actually serious about online fundraising ➡ Ingredients for an online fundraising program ➡ What makes an online fundraising program successful ➡ How to tell if it worked What You Need to Know

Nonprofit Technology Conference Website/ + Online Donation Processing Vendor + Donation Pages+ Supporter List + Calendar of Appeals... Planning: Ingredients…

Nonprofit Technology Conference Planning: What You’ll Be Doing  Establishing a calendar  Writing good copy  Designing / implementing web pages  Coding HTML  ASP Implementation (message/pages)  Testing and Sending  Reporting/Number Crunching

Nonprofit Technology Conference Planning: Technology You Need  Website  Website data tracking/reporting  Donation form(s) and processor  Broadcast tool

Nonprofit Technology Conference Planning: Donation Pages  Customized for your campaign  Ask for lots of info  Require only what’s necessary  Pre-populate fields, if possible  Keep copy short and sweet

Nonprofit Technology Conference Planning: Donation Processor  Vendors process donations for you, take cut of amount processed (2%-5%)  Many options: -Paypal -Google Checkout -eTapestry -Entango -Network for Good -Groundspring -Democracy in Action

Nonprofit Technology Conference Planning: Know Your Supporters  Have an active, engaged list of supporters  Know who they are  Know what they are interested in  Know why they signed up - that issue is what they’ll give $$ to

Nonprofit Technology Conference Planning: Calendar of Appeals

Nonprofit Technology Conference 1,000 people must receive your If you want to generate 10 gifts must read it (‘open’) 50 must click donate (‘click- thru’) Avg response rate to fundraising messaging [for NPOs] = 0.3% Online Fundraising Math

Nonprofit Technology Conference Ok, I want to get started. For real.

Nonprofit Technology Conference ✓ Is it up to date? (programs, events, services) ✓ Do you tell people what you want them to DO? Over and over again? ✓ Good, clean writing? ✓ Easy to navigate? (cut the fat; and no silos) ✓ Does everything actually work? ✓ Opportunities for dialogue, engagement? ✓ Quick and easy signup? ✓ Is it compelling? ✓ Transparency? (how is $ spent? privacy policy?) Preparing for Success: The Website

Nonprofit Technology Conference ✓ is large and responsive ✓ receives steady stream of trusted and relevant communications ✓ has opportunities for meaningful online engagement -- other than giving $$ Preparing for Success: The List A good list is key to successful online fundraising. A good list:

Nonprofit Technology Conference Size Matters: List Building  Bring your offline donors online  Conduct engagement campaigns (issues, advocacy, etc.)  Do fun stuff to show you care (Flash, quizzes, e-cards, contests, etc.)  Buying names (carefully!)  Chaperone another organization’s list and have them do the same for you  Hijack the news cycle (aka have a disaster)

Nonprofit Technology Conference Preparing for Success: The Copy An appeal is NOT your latest direct mail piece sent out via .

Nonprofit Technology Conference Preparing for Success: The Copy  Keep it short  Make it engaging  Get right to the point  Be specific  Be relevant -Timing (send it after a big disaster) -Topic (target to portions of your list who you know are interested in saving the banana slug)  Have a good ask (the best writing won’t save a bad idea)

Nonprofit Technology Conference Madeleine’s Patent-Pending Criteria for Successful fundraising campaigns It gets opened It converts It’s concise It gets noticed Think subject lines & timing Think thank you pages and follow-up Think specificity, transparency Think scan-ability, length, and getting to the point Think creative & design It minds its manners

Nonprofit Technology Conference Consider Your Donor’s Inbox

Nonprofit Technology Conference …and BREAK THROUGH the noise

Nonprofit Technology Conference

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Nonprofit Technology Conference How to Tell if it Worked

Nonprofit Technology Conference A Language Lesson  Delivery  Open Rate  Clickthrough Rate  Conversion Rate

Nonprofit Technology Conference Make the website work for THEM (not you). Write good s, regularly. (Only some can be asks for $$.) Watch the numbers, experiment, and adjust. 3 Steps for Raising $$ with

Nonprofit Technology Conference And a 4th Step Say "Thank You"

Nonprofit Technology Conference Breakout Exercise - 15 min  Taking Stock -What is your organization doing now? -How is that working for you?  Easy Next Steps? -What have we covered so far that you can implement right away?

Nonprofit Technology Conference Not-so-basic  Many offline tactics work online: -Matching Gifts -End-of-year Giving  offers unique opportunities: -Appeals to help reach a goal, showing real-time (or nearly) progress

Nonprofit Technology Conference Beyond  Donations as gifts  Selling stuff  Affiliate programs  Have your supporters do the work for you

Nonprofit Technology Conference Have Supporters Ask for You  Encourage supporters to invite their friends to donate with e-cards  Create Personal Fundraising Pages -Allow supporters to recruit friends to donate  Create badges for supporters to post on blogs, that link to your donate page  Facebook Causes

Nonprofit Technology Conference Other Factors for Success  Cohesive narrative arc -Communication with your supporters is consistent, tells a story  Organizational buy-in -- from the top!  Willingness to experiment and test and adjust campaigns accordingly

Nonprofit Technology Conference Breakout Session - 15 min  Get creative: What do you want to try?  What have you tried?

Nonprofit Technology Conference Wrapping Up  Plan ahead, get your tools ready  Send the right message, to the right people, at the right time  Test, test, test  Analyze results

Nonprofit Technology Conference Tools and Approximate Costs  Donation Processing Vendor -Ex: Paypal, transaction fee 2%-4%  Broadcast Tool -Ex: Constant Contact, $15-$150/mo  OR All-in-one Tool, combines broadcasts and donations -Ex: Democracy In Action, starts at $200/mo + setup fee  Also: Facebook Causes (free!)

Nonprofit Technology Conference ASP VendorsConsultantsResources  NTEN  TechFoundation  Network for Good  Grassroots.org  TechSoup  Vendors that offer training: - Democracy in Action - Convio - Kintera

Nonprofit Technology Conference ASP VendorsConsultants If You Need to Bring in Help  Watershed  EchoDitto  DonorDigital  M+R Strategic Services  Sea Change Strategies  Lots of small consulting firms  Lots of big firms who’ve added online