debunking online fundraising myths
TRANSCRIPT
#onlinefundraising
Debunking Online Fundraising Myths
Richard Dietz, Nonprofit R+D,KELL Partners
#onlinefundraising
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Myth #1
Our Website Only Has
a Small Impact on
Overall Donations
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Myth #1 - Website Impact
• Donors are using your site– Over 40% of donors visit an orgs website before giving– Over 65% of current donors visit your site– Why not make it easier to give?
• More and more donors are looking to transact online– Online Shopping, Airlines, iTunes
• Online versus Offline– What the “stats” tell us– “Fair Test”?
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Myth #2
All You Really Need
is a Donate Button(Above the fold, big, red, etc.)
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Myth #2 - Donate Button
• Donate button is not enough anymore
• Need to think in terms of “Fundraising Campaigns”– Specific Goal– Clear call to action– Create urgency, Timeline– Contextual Giving
• Peer to Peer Fundraising
• Online tools can help with this:– Peer to Peer, Contextual Giving, tracking donor actions, built
in social media
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Myth #3
One Generic Donation
Form is Sufficient
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Myth #3 - One Donation Form
• One size does not fit all– Fundraising campaigns / Contextual Giving– Better able to hit the emotional trigger
• Find donors where they are– They are not coming to your site everyday– Engage them where they are - blogs, social media– Airlines do this well - Orbitz.com, Expedia.com
• Online Tools again make this easier– Multiple forms on your site– Forms on other sites - supporters, partners, etc.
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Myth #4
The Technology Needed
for Online Fundraising
is Too Expensive and
Too Hard to Use
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Myth #4 - Expensive / Difficult
• Traditionally this is pretty accurate– However, new technologies are emerging– Low barrier to entry, easy to experiment, easier to use
• The new technologies are learning from the mistakes of the past
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Myth #5
You Can’t Do
Anything Online That
You Can’t Do Offline
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Myth #5 - Online Advantages
• Should have much higher ROI– Cheaper to launch and test new initiatives– No postage, envelope stuffing, bank depo
• Use of Video
• Social Media / Forward to a Friend
• Embed the form in multiple locations– Constituent blogs, partner sites, etc.
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Myth #6
The Only Real Way to Measure Fundraising
Success is the Amount of Money Raised
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Myth #6 - Measure Success
• Think of the business world– “Sales funnel” = “Donor funnel”– Online donor >> Major Donor
• “Raising Friends” is another measure– Peer to Peer fundraising– Friend of a friend could be major donor
• Engagement is yet another measure– 7 touches before giving– More on this in the next webinar……….
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Conclusion
• Experiment / Try new things
• Only YOU can figure out what works for YOUR organization
• Check out the new online tools like Sage Fundraising Online
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Register for the next webcast in the series
http://bit.ly/apHuSp
Contact Richard Dietz:[email protected]
512-850-6501
Contact Sage:
www.sagenonprofit.com
800-811-0961
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