how national wildlife federation uses online community to drive offline action

HOW NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION

USES ONLINE COMMUNITY TO DRIVE

OFFLINE ACTION

Introducing…

Courtney Cochran (EcoLeaders Community)

Community Manager, National Wildlife Federation

Lindsay Razzaz (Small World Labs Platform™)

Community Consultant, Small World Labs

Hello and Welcome!

Agenda

• Online Communities - The Rationale, Strategy and Tool

Set

• Interview with the National Wildlife Foundation: Behind-

the-scenes look at EcoLeaders Community

• Online Community and Your Organization

• Question & Answer

ONLINE COMMUNITIES: THE

RATIONALE, STRATEGY AND

TOOL SET

Giving Voice to the EnvironmentOrganizing & amplifying the work of advocates

Giving Voice to the EnvironmentOrganizing & amplifying the work of advocates

Although charitable giving to the environment and

animal-focused nonprofits has risen 7.5% since

the recession, it only amounted to 2.9% of total

charitable giving in 2013.

Source: Giving USA 2014: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the

Year 2013

Engagement Pyramid

•Leads others in carrying out organization’s work

•Subject matter expert, group leaderLeading

•Invested in the mission and success

•Answer questions, join & participates in groupsOwning

•Thoughtful & habitual contributions

•Volunteer, contribute contentContributing

•Simple, transactional actions

•Likes, ratings, sharesEndorsing

•Receive and read direct communications

•Provide contact information, followFollowing

•Attend event. See commercial or flyer

•Visit website or see social media updatesObserving

Source: Groundwire, Small World Labs

Engagement Pyramid

•Leads others in carrying out organization’s work

•Subject matter expert, group leaderLeading

•Invested in the mission and success

•Answer questions, join & participates in groupsOwning

•Thoughtful & habitual contributions

•Volunteer, contribute contentContributing

•Simple, transactional actions

•Likes, ratings, sharesEndorsing

•Receive and read direct communications

•Provide contact information, followFollowing

•Attend event. See commercial or flyer

•Visit website or see social media updatesObserving

Source: Groundwire, Small World Labs

Maximizing and recognizing engagement at every level

0.229%

0.049%

0.002%

2,163,590 Page Likes

4,958 Post Likes

1, 073 Post Shares

44 Post Comments

Contributing: Facebook

0.229%

0.049%

0.002%

2,163,590 Page Likes

4,958 Post Likes

1, 073 Post Shares

44 Post Comments

Contributing: Facebook

Less than 1 in 2,000 SharedLess than 1 in 49,000

Contributed

VS.

Contributing: What’s the Next Step?

The Online Community Strategy

An integrated social hub

• Highly configurable interactive platforms

• Seamlessly adopt the design of an

organization’s web presence

• CRM integration

• Use social media and other channels to

create a highly-impactful system for

communication, collaboration, and

action

Endorsing: Integrated Social Sharing

Contributing: Open Pages and SEOHome-turf advantages

Source: Groundwire

Small World Labs Online Community Toolset

Modules, widgets, and features galore…• Design & configuration flexibility

• Member segmentation

• Action workflows

• Engageable resource libraries

• Forums & blogs

• Photo, video, and file sharing

• One-click advocacy

• Events and task manager

• Badging, leaderboards & gamification

• Collaboration groups

• Analytics & CRM integration

Purpose-Driven Communities

Working across goals, across the sector

Volunteer Communities

Advocacy Communities

Resource & Knowledge-Building Communities

Membership Communities

Fundraising Communities

Event Communities

Environmental Community In Action

An Interview with the National Wildlife Federation

Who is your audience and what is the goal of your community?ONLINE COMMUNITY IN ACTIONNATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION

#15NTCdriveaction

CAN YOU PROVIDE A LITTLE

BACKGROUND ON THE

NATIONAL WILDLIFE

FEDERATION?

National Wildlife Federation

Campus Ecology Program

• NWF is the largest private, nonprofit conservation education and advocacy organization in the U.S., with over four million members and supporters, and 49 state and territorial affiliated organizations.

• NWF is a voice for wildlife, dedicated to protecting wildlife and habitat and inspiring the future generation of conservationists.

• 25 year history of working with colleges and universities through its Campus Ecology program to protect wildlife and habitat, and improve campuses overall green educational programming and onsite sustainability and student leadership.

• Recognizing that students are the catalysts for change, NWF EcoLeaders was launched in 2014 to support emerging leaders in their on-the-ground efforts to support and protect wildlife.

WHO IS YOUR AUDIENCE AND

WHAT IS THE GOAL OF YOUR

COMMUNITY?

Audience and Goal

EcoleadersEnvironment

• NWF’s Campus Ecology program has been working in

higher education for more than 25 years, working with

nearly 1,000 campuses each year.

Community Goal

• To facilitate individual and group environmental projects and Youth Leadership for the

environment on campuses and in communities.

• Thousands of certified leaders for wildlife and the environment

Audience

• Current college students, recent grads, and young

professionals.

HOW DOES YOUR COMMUNITY

ACHIEVE THIS GOAL?

Community Performance EcoLeaders The EcoLeaders community empowers

young people to transform environmental

interest into real collaborative action and

earn national recognition for their leadership.

• Online community supports and extends

NWF Campus Ecology program

• Students create ecology-related projects

alone or with others in project groups

• Step-by-step structure

• Submission & staff review process for

certification & recognition

• Cross-project assistance from other

members & staff

Community Performance

EcoLeaders

EcoLeaders can:

• Network and collaborate with

peers across the country


EcoLeaders

EcoLeaders can:

• Network and collaborate with

peers across the country

…or right in their neighborhood.


EcoLeaders

EcoLeaders can:

• Choose an environmental

pathway of interest, then:


EcoLeaders

EcoLeaders can:



Find related resources


EcoLeaders

EcoLeaders can:




Join or follow active projects


EcoLeaders

EcoLeaders can:




Take recommended online advocacy actions

Join or follow active projects


EcoLeaders

EcoLeaders can:• Build their own projects

• Have projects certified by NWF

• Earn national recognition for their leadership and impact through the “continuous improvement framework”

#15NTCdriveaction

HOW DO YOU BRIDGE ONLINE

WITH OFFLINE ENGAGEMENT?

Bridging Online with Offline Engagement

EcoLeaders

One Word: Millenials!

• Passionate about taking

action

• Very “plugged in”

• We meet them where they

are, and facilitate:

– Telling their story

– Finding inspiration

– Connecting with and

recruiting peers

#15NTCdriveaction

Project Scale:

• Key projects on different scales (campus,

local, bi-national)

• Individual projects often have large reach

Bridging Online with Offline EngagementEcoLeaders

Forum Discussions

Inspiring Action-Example: Campus move out

waste reduction

Bridging Online with Offline EngagementEcoLeaders

WHAT HAVE THE RESULTS BEEN

SO FAR?

Results

EcoLeaders

Pilot stage (< 1 year) metrics

• Over 600 members– From roughly 260 campus and 43 states

Plus D.C., Puerto Rico and Canada

• 62 projects initiated

• 20 individuals and projects officially recognized by

NWF

• 10,500+ tracked actions, including:

– 2,080+ pieces of original content and comments

– Nearly 2:1 member to forum post ratio

Results

EcoLeaders

Scalability

• It has been easier to:– Connect with students in an organized way

– Track communications / projects

– Connect students with staff and peers

– Recognize their great achievements with our new certification processes

Central Team Focus

• Bringing all of our expertise to one central project allows us to better focus

our energy and reach more students in the process.

HOW DO YOU SUPPORT THE

COMMUNITY?

Supporting the Community

EcoLeaders

NWF Staff

• Our whole team supports the community in a variety of capacities.

• Adding a position to oversee the community build-out.

Adding Capacity: Peer Leadership / Community Members

• 3 college students will serve as EcoLeader Ambassadors

Adding Capacity: Marketing & Research Fellowship / Grad Students

• Graduate students to conduct research around marketing and help develop content for the site.

DID THE COMMUNITY BRING

COLLATERAL GAINS OR

UNEXPECTED OPPORTUNITIES?

Unexpected Opportunities

EcoLeaders

Broaden Reach

• Connect with more students

• New ways and a tangible “place” to partner with a wide range of

affiliate nonprofit organizations

• Professors are now using the community as a classroom tool to

help their students research, track and promote environmental

campaigns

HOW DOES THE COMMUNITY FIT

IN WITH OTHER SYSTEMS AND

CHANNELS?

CRM

Integration with other Technology & Channels

EcoLeaders

Technical: CRM Integration!

• Single Sign On with Luminate (“Convio”)– Profile fields sync bi-directionally

– Enabled:

• Convio group to community segment mapping (staff, students,

young professionals)

• Convio group to community project syncing

• Member activity push from community to CRM

• Capture usable information about new members.

Integration with other Technology & Channels

EcoLeaders

Communications: Messaging Cohesion

• Helping us to better streamline our communications.

– More cohesively brand around the central missions of

the community.

– Exploring strategies to use social media, e-newsletters

and constituent lists together to maximize impact.

#15NTCdriveaction

NEXT THINGS PLANNED FOR

COMMUNITY?

Next Big Thing

EcoLeaders

Career Center for Young Professionals

• Environmental job skills resources

• Webinars

• Event promotion

• New young professional credential

ONLINE COMMUNITIES: BEST

PRACTICES & GETTING STARTED

Getting Started

Best practices from across the industryAcross use cases in the nonprofit sector, there are similarities shared by

successful communities:• Goal and data-driven

• Personalized to audience and workflow

• Properties and processes integration

• Communication channel integration and strategy

• Engagement support and strategy

• Content, content, content!

Choosing an online community platform• Know your organization’s needs in these areas before platform shopping, as there are

differences in configurability, native capabilities, integration, analytics and engagement support services among providers.

End to End Community Partner

Platform: Small World Labs Community

Approach: Social Business Strategy

Support: Platform & Engagement

Approach: Social Business Strategy

• Organization & Community

Goals

• Interactions and Outcomes

• Organizational Workflows

• Mapped to Small World Labs

Platform

Support: Community EngagementAdvanced

Configuration

Member Acquisition

Member Engagement

Member Retention

Workflow Mapping

Ongoing Training

Technical Customizations

ROI Reporting & Analysis

WhateverIt Takes

Getting Started

Is the time right?Audit your audience• Technology / engagement-friendly?

• Does the group already communicate offline, or on a different platform?

• Possibility for crowd-sourcing knowledge or inspiration? True collaboration?

Consider your current content, communications & goals• Already generate great content for newsletters, email campaigns, social media, or your website?

• Is there a resource library or training process that could benefit from automation or engageability?

• Programs, events, or campaigns that could build momentum and longevity through an online

home-base?

QUESTION & ANSWER

Upcoming Events

International Fundraising Conference

3/29 – 3/31Baltimore, MD

Booth #603

Personify Annual Conference

4/13 – 4/15Columbus, OH

Booth #108

TSAE Tech Talks

4/29Austin, TX

Booth #100

Online Community Blog

Schedule a Live Demo

Contact Jeremy Demers

512.474.6400 x 22

[email protected]

Connect!

Lindsay Razzaz (Small World Labs Platform™)

www.smallworldlabs.com

[email protected]

Courtney Cochran (NWF EcoLeaders Community)

www.nwfecoleaders.org

[email protected]

Many thanks to …The Kendeda Fund, Bank of America Charitable Foundation, and Energy Action Coalition for key financial support that has made this student leadership community for the environment possible!

APPENDIX

Attract

Online Community

Post-Volunteer EvaluationVolunteer Mission Team

Volunteer Opportunities

Volunteer Management: Operation Smile

Actions

Supporters

Groups

Clubs & Campus

United Nations Foundation

Creates Group

Invites Friends

Joins Group

Sends Message

Asks Question

Downloads File

Fills Application

Likes Content

3,000+ Actions Per Month

20X Increase in Fundraising

Advocacy & Fundraising: United Nations Fnd.

69

Needs

• Increase the value of paid AHA membership,

attract new members, retain

Solution

• Interactive knowledge sharing

• First look at research and events

• Networking, councils & committees

Results

• 70% increase in membership upgrades

• 50% increase in attendance at paid events

• 10% increase in paid member retention

Membership: American Heart Association

Join Relay Nation

Register for Event

StartFundraising

87 Days Earlier

Not a Relay NationMember

Relay Nation Member$

Do

llars

Rai

sed

352% Increase in $ Raised Per Participant

Events: American Cancer Society

how national wildlife federation uses online community to drive offline action

Documents

community composting

nwfs ecoleaders community

ongoing community management

national wildlife foundation

agendaonline communities

different communities

speakers courtney cochran

offline results