building a strong online fundraising program

Building a Strong

Online Giving ProgramUsing Email and Web

Shirley SextonDirector, Interactive Marketing and Fundraising

Training by

Shirley Sexton

See3 CommunicationsWeb Design & DevelopmentVideo ProductionInteractive Marketingwww.see3.net

05/02/2023 2Shirley Sexton | See3 Communications

Agenda

Online Fundraising Growth

Creating Your Online Strategy

Web site Usability

Email Marketing

Measuring Progress

Resources


Shirley Sexton | See3 Communications

Online Fundraising Growth

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Online giving bucks overall trend

Overall charitable giving declined in 2008, the first drop since 1987.*Giving USA 2009: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2008.

Online fundraising grew in 2008 (compared to 2007) in the range of 14-26% (dependent upon source *)*The Convio Online Marketing Nonprofit Benchmark Index Study

*2009 eNonprofit Benchmarks Study


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Why?

Overall giving fell with the economy, specifically Consumer confidence Index at lowest in Feb. 09 since '67 inception.

Online giving on the rise due to: Multi-generational eCommerce adoption Mega-trend to “go green” Advent of social networking

7/24/09 6Shirley Sexton | Management Information Exchange Fundraising Conference


Creating Your Online Strategy

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Internet Strategy ChecklistReview your org’s mission and business planSecure support from leadershipPrioritize objectives and audiencesGet commitment from stakeholders Study your audience(s) needs, what do they

want?Invest in people and tools


Prioritizing online objectives

Activity: • write your org’s mission on index card

Activity:• Based on mission, write

top 3 online business outcomes (e.g. donations, referrals, volunteers)


Prioritizing online audiences

Activity: • Based on top 3

outcomes, write org’s 3 most critical audiences (e.g. donors, referrals, volunteers)

Activity:• Build a profile for each

of your top 3 audiences: age, gender, education, income, motivation

Is there overlap for your audiences in what they want, and you want them to do?



Web Site Usability for Donors

Stop focusing on home page

Treat every page like your front door.Only 25% of Web visitors enter sites via the home page.

--Nielsen Norman Group, 2008


What Donors Want OnlineDonors want to quickly and easily find: Mission (simply explained)GoalsObjectivesExamples of work and first person stories, especially videoHow donations are used, specifics


What Donors Look for•Text field to search•Links (make them obvious)•Next steps/Instructions•Answers


What Kills Donations

•Users can’t figure out how or where to donate!•Cluttered pages•Mistrust of 3rd-party payment pages

Nielsen Norman Group Report: Donation Usability: Design Guidelines for Improving the Donation Process and the Usability of Essential Information on Charity and Non-Profit Websites



Email Marketing05/02/2023 16

Email Marketing: Building Your ListCommunicate with permission to retain

trust and respect privacyRequest email registration on every

pageCollect email addresses (with

permission) at events, offices


Email Marketing: Schedule

Create calendar of email communications Monthly email newsletter Campaigns (respond to opportunities

when your mission and national/world news intersect)

Test frequency

Industry standard is 3-10 per month


Email Marketing: Design

Key elements for response Subject line From field Call to action (link) Signature Light on graphics and formating



Measuring Progress

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Measuring Progress


1. Measure your key metrics before undergoing major changes.

2. Determine realistic intervals to measure (monthly, quarterly, annually)

3. Compare against industry benchmarks: eNonprofits Benchmark Study

www.e-benchmarksstudy.com/

http://www.e-benchmarksstudy.com/



Measuring Progress: Web giving


Online giving totals

Average gift size

# of gifts

“Offline giving” impacts (major and planned

gifts)

The Wired Wealthy: Using the Internet to

Connect with Your Middle and Major Donors

http://nonprofit.about.com/od/onlinefundraising/a/wealthywired.htm



Measuring Progress: Email


•Metric (2008 industry benchmark)•Open rate (14%)•click through rate (.6%)•response rate (.12%)•registration rate (3%)•list growth (17%)•list churn (19%)

See eNonprofits Benchmark Study

www.e-benchmarksstudy.com/





Web Resources

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Web marketing resourcesJakob Nielsen’s Web usability research: www.useit.com

Network for Good: A Fundraising Guide for the Overworked Nonprofit: www.fundraising123.org

Search engine marketing tips: www.searchenginewatch.com


http://www.useit.com/

http://www.fundraising123.org/

http://www.searchenginewatch.com/

Technology resourcesIdealware: Candid reviews and information about nonprofit software: www.idealware.org

TechSoup: The technology place for nonprofits www.techsoup.com

NTEN: Your Nonprofit technology community: www.nten.org


http://www.idealware.org/

http://www.techsoup.com/

http://www.nten.org/

Contact Me

Email: [email protected]

See3 blog: http://blog.see3.net

LinkedIn: http://shirleysexton.com

Facebook: http://profile.to/shirleysexton

Twitter: http://twitter.com/webbarbie

Flickr: http://flickr.com/photos/webbarbie05/02/2023 27Shirley Sexton | See3 Communications

mailto:[email protected]

http://blog.see3.net/

http://shirleysexton.com/

http://profile.to/shirleysexton

http://twitter.com/webbarbie

http://flickr.com/photos/webbarbie