April 15, 2010

OBSERVATIONS OF MARKETING TRENDS

FOR DONATION SYSTEMS2010 NONPROFIT

TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE

Green Moon Solutions

2 MARKETING

Q: How do we market our donation system to our supporters?

Get mentioned in more newsletters – online and traditional

Work with schools, scouts, other local organizations and reciprocate links

Facebook – set up a Causes page; become parts of giving programs like ChaseCommunityGiving

After some people have used it, ask for testimonials and post them on your website (example)

See steps 9, 10, and 11 in the Survival Guide; see chapters 2-6 in the Online Fundraising Handbook (includes case studies).

3MARKETING IDEAS -

WEBSITE

Set up online sign-up for membership.

Tailor the donation message – e.g., on your 10 Things to Recycle page include a button labeled “Donate to improve Roswell recycling!”.

Gather email address on your site even for those who don’t donate right away. Newsletters (sign-up on your site), polls, events, letter-writing campaigns all provide opportunities.

For Newsletters, use email broadcasting software (see resources slide).

Use “tell a friend” features to help spread the word.

Use a “contact us” form for questions and capture email addresses.

Add a “Find us on Facebook” button. Use AddThis or ShareThis links.

Interaction ideas: comments, discussions, wikis.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – tweak your website so that you are easily found by search engines – 10 steps.

4MARKETING IDEAS -

EXTERNAL

Charity shopping malls, such as iGive.com, GiveBackAmerica.com, We-Care.com

Portal sites like care2.com, enature.com, and enn.com.

Newsfeeds, such as enn.com and moreover.com.

Join and contribute to newsgroups and listservs.

Print your web address on giveaways, stickers.

Attend local events and set up a table: farmers markets, fairs, parades. Sign people up on the spot.

Write a periodic column for the local newspapers.

Get your events covered by the local news.

5MARKETING – SURVIVAL

GUIDE

Network for Good’s Online Fundraising Survival Guide

Step 9 – Dust off your email list

Clean up your list

Clearly ID your organization

Remind your supporters they are supporters

Make it personal, conversational

Step 10 – Build your email list

Drive people to your website and capture them

Put your donate button where they are likely to be

Incentivize them to sign up

Google Grants – free promotion

Step 11 – Make your emails sparkle

6BARE BONES

APPROACH

By comparison, a bare bones system can be set up with a donation button on your site

The button would be linked to an inexpensive processor such as PayPal (website payments standard)

You would have to download the data from PayPal to a spreadsheet. Alternatively, a simple database could be set up to capture transaction responses.

One step up is a service like Network For Good’s donation system. The cost is $30 per month. It includes recurring donations, tell a friend, demographic questions, track donors from multiple sources, and minimal reporting.

7 SUMMARY

Marketing is a constant effort

It involves the traditional and the latest social media trends

There are many approaches – some will cost money, others will just require time

8 RESOURCES

We have PDF and other resources we can provide (soon to be posted on our website)

The following websites are quite helpful:

http://idealware.org/topics/fundraising

http://www.idealware.org/field-guide

http://www.fundraising123.org/

http://www.techsoup.org/

9 EMAILRESOURCES

Email Tracking Software

Vertical Response -- 10,000 emails per month free for 501c3 ( > 10K can be expensive)

Network for Good Email Now -- strong features and templates $30 for up to 20,000 emails and $2/thousand after

Mail chimp -- free up to 500 subscribers up to 3000 emails a month

Constant Contact -- $10-$12 per month

10 CONTACT US

Feel free to contact us at any time

John Dukovich, john -AT- greenmoonsolutions.com, 703.827.2687

Lisa Patrick, lisa -AT- greenmoonsolutions.com, 412.585.2521

www.GreenMoonSolutions.com