Learn how you can increase funding by integrating social media into your nonprofit's strategies and campaigns.

1. Using Social Media to Increase
Donations
C-CRM18
Lara Brown
Senior Marketing Manager
Sage Nonprofit Solutions

2. Online giving and social media usage is exploding
• Online giving
– 140 large nonprofits surveyed raised a combined $1.2 billion in
online donations in 2010 compared to $887 million in 2009. That’s
an increase of 35%!*
• Facebook
– There are > 500 million active Facebook users. 50% log on to
Facebook on any given day. Largest growth is 35+, with 55+
growing at 922%.
• Twitter
– Users now send a billion Tweets every 8 days—by comparison, it
took 3 years, 2 months, and 1 day to reach the first billion Tweets.
• YouTube
– 179 million people watch video online, 77% on YouTube
* The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

3. How does social media promote online giving?
• Contributes to each stage of the giving cycle
• Keeps donors engaged online
• Expands your audience
• Promotes advocacy
• Builds stronger ties with donors
• Mobilizes supporters
• Taps into human nature

4. Social media enables each stage of the giving cycle
Aware
Advocate Respond
Donate

5. Strangers
Fundraisers Friends
Donors
Source: Seth Godin, Flipping the Funnel

6. Social media helps keep donors engaged online
• It’s far cheaper to retain a donor then recruit a new one
• Engaged donors are more valuable:
– Donate more often with larger donations
– Take more actions: volunteering, recruiting donors, attending
events
– Tell more people about your organization
– Fundraise on your behalf, if you enable them to

7. Social media taps into the human need to feel:
• Connected with others
• In the know
• Heard and understood
• Recognized

8. Listen Participate Measure Evaluate

9. Listen before you participate
“It’s about conversations,
and the best
communicators start
as the best listeners.”
Brian Solis, Social Media Manifesto

11. Tips on Listening
• Don’t just listen on your own social properties.
– Go where conversations are already taking place and be a part of
them, commenting on blogs and Facebook posts, Tweets
• Subscribe to RSS feeds and use Google Reader to
manage and categorize them by area of interest
• Track what other successful, like-missioned organizations
are doing so you can leverage it

12. Tips on participating
• Be a human
• Make it personal
• Use conversational language
• Keep it jargon free
• Show your passion
Above all, be authentic!

13. You can’t manage it if you can’t measure it
• Establish goals and metrics and re-evaluate them
– Number of social mentions
– Increase in Facebook likes and Twitter followers
– You Tube video views
– Blog comments
– Increased traffic to your web site
– Influence (Klout score)
• Social media measurement tools
– www.socialmention.com
– www.tweetreach.com
– www.search.twitter.com

14. Who can name at least 6 of these social media
properties?

15. Best practices for social media success
• Social media is about strategy, not tools
– Understand where it fits within your mission, goals, audience
– Integrate it with other online and offline strategies and tactics
• On Facebook, focus efforts on your page
• Drive traffic back to your core web site
• Make it easy for supporters give and get involved
• Develop content to keep donors engaged

16. Social media is about strategy, not tools
• How does social
media fit within
your mission,
strategy and
goals?
• How can you
integrate social
media with
existing online
and offline
strategies and
tactics?

17. Focus on your Facebook page
• Gives you the
greatest return.
• Nonprofits raised $3
Million on Facebook
Causes in 2008, but
at an estimated cost
of $300 Million to
sector.
• Livestrong raised
an average of only
$.13 per member.

18. Drive traffic from social properties to your core web site
• When people want to learn about a cause they go the charity’s
Web site
• Your website and email is still where you see the majority of
engagement.
Offline
Social
Email
Properties
Core
Website

19. What people want to know when they get to your
website*
100%
90% 80%
80% 74% 71%
70%
60%
50% 43%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Impact Success Stories Details About the Financial
Organization Accountability
* Source: Community Web 2.0

20. Make it easy for them once they get there
• Simplify donation pages
– No need to sell them at that point
– Reduce the number of clicks
– Don’t send them off to a third-party site to donate
• Everyone is a potential advocate
– Give them multiple ways to get involved (register, subscribe)
– Make sure they have the tools to share your story
– Lower the barrier to entry for people to engage with you.
• Allow them to give in context
– Provide donation forms on every page with high-value content
• Ask! For time, for money, to share your story

21. What the Jazz Foundation is doing right
• Explain their mission
• Provide case studies
• Offer multiple ways to get involved
• Make it easy (minimize clicks)
• Show a progress bar
• Stay on website instead of going to another site to give
• Enabling sharing (share this page, embed the form)
• Giving in context

22. http://www.jazzfoundation.org

25. Soft ask:
Low barrier to
entry

26. Good content should accompany every giving
opportunity
• Assign resources
• Do a content audit
• Create an editorial calendar
– Include holidays and events
to spark ideas
• Make and upload video

27. Video is a great way to show it, not tell it
• Easy to create and upload
• Share your story
• Include a call-to-action at the end and point it to your site with
supporting content.
• Keep videos short (1-2 min), focused, authentic, use humor
• Get free YouTube account: youtube.com/nonprofit
– Benefits include ability to add a call-to-action overlay on your
video.

28. Common fears around social media
• Lack of internal
resources/time/budget
– There is cost associated with it
• Lack of knowledge/expertise
– Deputize someone in your organization
– Familiarize yourself with the tools
• No guidelines in place
– Create a policy, there are many
examples online

29. Common fears around social media
• Lack of support by leadership
– Start small, show results
• Not convinced about the
value/ROI
– Will need time to prove out
• Losing control of the
conversation
– Create a plan to respond to
negative comments/PR like
the Bronx Zoo

30. Questions to ponder
• Where does social media fit within your mission, strategy, goals
and audience?
• How can you integrate social media with existing strategies,
campaigns and tactics?
• Are you driving email and social media users to your website?
• Does your website make it easy for visitors to take action?
• Do you have existing content you can leverage for videos / blogs?
• Are fears about social media keeping you from getting started?

31. Contact Me
• Lara Brown
• lara.brown@sage.com
• Twitter: @laraeliz