GETTING YOUR BOARD ON BOARD: THE VALUE OF BEING ONLINE

November 18, 2010

Today’s Presenter

Zenia Wadhwani

Director, Program Development

CanadaHelps.org

What is CanadaHelps?

A public charitable foundation that provides accessible and affordable online technology to both donors and charities.

For Charities

A cost-effective means of raising funds online.

For Donors

A one-stop-shop for giving.

CanadaHelps is a charity helping charities.

EXPLAINING SOCIAL MEDIA

What is Social Media?

TECHNOLOGY

SOCIAL

• Online

• Interactive

• Conversational

• Real Time

• User driven

• Transparent

• Engaging

• Inclusive

• Genuine

So-cial Me-d-ia [soh-shuhl mee-dee-uh]

Social media is media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques.

Social media uses Internet and web-based technologies to transform broadcast media monologues (one to many) into social media dialogues (many to many).

It supports the democratization of knowledge and information, transforming people from content consumers into content producers.

Stolen from Wikipedia

So, why is that complicated?

WHAT YOUR BOARD MIGHT SAY

#1

“Our organization is based on people-to-people interactions.”

Connecting and communicating online is still people to people and is very much about building community.

Changes the “how you do”, not “what you do”.

Broader reach

Visible connections

Community building opportunities

More opportunities for peer-to-peer communications

More supporters More volunteers More donors =

GivingPages Examples

#2

“Online fundraising isn’t raising enough money.”

4% Proportion of overall online funds to charities in 2004

9% Proportion of overall online funds to charities in 2008

Online Giving is Growing

Online Giving Outpacing Offline Giving

Charitable giving in 2008 - 5%

Online giving in 2008 + 30%

Online Giving Median (U.S.)

$57

$81

$104

2006

2007

2008

An online presence isn’t only about $$$.

It is a source of information for your donors.

Provides a different way to get information to your supporters in a timely way

Are you doing it right?

Successful results are cumulative and they take time and effort.

49% more likely to give than

one who was dissatisfied with the overall experience

A visitor who is satisfied with their experience

with a nonprofit website is

Do you have a Donate Now button?

#3

“It’s a fad.”

Internet Usage by Canadians

Canadian Population About 34.1 Million

Internet Users About 29 Million

85%

Government

Mayor Miller (Toronto) on Twitter

Prime Minister Harper on YouTube

Businesses

Media

CBC Globe and Mail

Prominent Canadians

Nonprofits and Charities

It’s Here to Stay

#4

“Our donors aren’t interested in donating online or using social media.”

Who’s Giving Online?

The most significant

characteristic associated with online giving is

higher education.

Silent Generation

15%

Baby Boomers 52%

Gen X 30%

Millennials 3%

16+ million users in Canada

29.4%

29.2%

18.4%

16.3%

5.2%

Percentage of Users by Age Group

Aged 18-24

Aged 25-34

Aged 35-44

Aged 45-59

Aged 60+

43%

57%

5,500,000 6,000,000 6,500,000 7,000,000 7,500,000

Male

Female

By Gender

11th most visited site in Canada Most active users age range 25-34 With 35-44 year-olds trailing right behind 45+ and <24 are under-represented

Do these people look like your donors?

#5

“Why change what works?”

Because the way we communicate is changing.

Look to the future …

Future donors will be expecting these tools and interactions.

Importance of Adaptability

• Use for different initiatives

• For experiments

• Flexible

Mobilization

• Calls to action reach supporters faster

• React to current events (e.g. Haiti earthquake)

#6

“Online donors are not really engaged.”

People are sharing and chatting more online than offline.

• More than 5 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) shared each week on Facebook.

• There are over 40 million items shared on Twitter.

Engagement isn’t just what happens online, those conversations continue offline.

41% of online donors describe themselves as ‘loyal’ to the causes they support, compared to 26% of offline donors.

59% of online donors would urge others to support the same cause ... compared to 34% of offline donors.

Happy Bystanders

Listen

Spreaders

Share

Donors

Money

Evangelists

Solicit

Instigators

Create

Ladder of Engagement*

Involvement Supporter

*Adapted from Beth Kanter

#7

“It’s too risky. What if people say something negative?”

They’ll talk about you anyway, so start a dialogue with your critics.

Keep your message strong.

#8

“How will we know if we’re successful?”

Define success in the beginning.

Hard Stats

• # of followers or fans

• Amount of comments

• Click-throughs

• Amount donated

Balance quantity with quality.

Soft Facts

• Types of conversations

• Feedback from supporters

• Quality of comments

#9

“It takes too much time and costs too much!”

Online Communication is Fast

• Online tools let you reach supporters more quickly

• More convenient and simple than other ways of communicating

Many Tools Are Free

Time and personnel investment still required.

Not a cure-all; planning and integration is still important.

Can you afford to not be online?

DID YOU KNOW?

Credits Ladder of engagement: adapted from Beth Kanter

Internet Statistics: Internet World Stats

Facebook Statistics: Facebook Ads

Blackbaud Index of National Fundraising Performance, April 2009

ForeSee Results - Nonprofit Website Survey, Spring 2009

Chronicle of Philanthropy, May 2009

DonorTrends, 2005

2006 donorCentrics Internet Giving Benchmarking Analysis

Jakob Lodwick by Zach Klein (http://www.flickr.com/photos/zachklein/4263395/)

Pedrosimoes7 - Exchanging life experience (http://www.flickr.com/photos/pedrosimoes7/3717536433/)

Solitaire Miles - Torch and Jazz (http://www.flickr.com/photos/cunisdiabolis/476325171/)

dave_mcmt - CCDHS Classroom, Miles City (http://www.flickr.com/photos/dave_mcmt/187432802/)

AnyaLogic - coffee talk (http://www.flickr.com/photos/anyalogic/2315310261/)

The first few steps by Wildxplorer (http://www.flickr.com/photos/krayker/3089031277/)

Your Turn