I've learned quite a bit in the past 14 years working with non-profits about online fundraising. From engagement ladders to building bridges between fundraising tools, it's been a fun ride. Here's 145 slides of goodness packing in a bunch of lessons learned with morsels of actionable tactics and strategies in every bite. Fundraisers and marketers will enjoy as much as techies. Thanks to the Direct Marketing Fundraisers Association for hosting me to present this at their October 10, 2012 meeting in Washington, DC. I hope you enjoy it!
Tech-Forward - Achieving Business Readiness For Copilot in Microsoft 365
What I've Learned About Online Engagement
1. What I’ve learned about
online engagement
Ryan W. Ozimek
CEO, PICnet
President, Joomla! project
Purveyor of affordable tech, the Internets
October 10, 2012
@PICnet
5. Agenda
• The big picture and motivation
• Strategy and the online ladder of engagement
• Demographics
• Preparation and discovery
• Tactics and examples
• Questions and answers
@PICnet
45. 5 ways I’m very biased
• open source evangelist
• open data, open data schemas supporter
• less is more (especially in the tech world)
• accidental techies rule
• make it affordable or talk to someone else
@PICnet
47. Agenda
• The big picture and motivation
• Strategy and the online ladder of engagement
• Demographics
• Preparation and discovery
• Tactics and examples
• Questions and answers
@PICnet
48. What makes people take action?
Motivation +
passion =
actionable
goodness
@PICnet
53. Their findings
• Carrots and sticks do work, but...
• Really works only when the task required utilizes
rudimentary cognitive skills
• Even crazier...
• At some point, when you provide higher monetary
rewards for more critical thinking tasks, you
actually start to get worse results
@PICnet
57. For how much?
How can we align
this with online
engagement?
@PICnet
58. Agenda
• The big picture and motivation
• Strategy and the online ladder of
engagement
• Demographics
• Preparation and discovery
• Tactics and examples
• Questions and answers
@PICnet
61. Agenda
• The big picture and motivation
• Strategy and the online ladder of engagement
• Demographics
• Preparation and discovery
• Tactics and examples
• Questions and answers
@PICnet
63. Demographics - generational
• Oldest generation: 79% donated in 2011
• Baby boomers: 67%
• Gen X donors: 58%
• ...what about the youngest generation?
Source: U of North Carolina
@PICnet
64. Demographics - generational
• Generation Y are born givers...
• 80% of gave either fiscally or with goods in 2011
• 70% educated peers on a cause
• 68% volunteered
• 56% fundraised
• 49% joined/created online social networking group
based on social good
• 35% texted donations, voted, or organized
@PICnet
66. The generational takeaway
• “As Gen X and Y age and donate more, and
Boomers and elders become more familiar
with technology, the future of giving will go
digital.”
- University of North Carolina
@PICnet
68. Online donors more valuable
• Donors that have their originating solicitation
online give on average $62, versus $32 from
those that are solicited via mail.
Source: U of North Carolina
@PICnet
69. Online giving YOY by org size
• August 2012
• Small orgs: +13.6%
• Mid-sized orgs: +7.3%
Source: Blackbaud
@PICnet
70. Bottom line
• online giving is continuing to grow
• it has strong potential for higher future
donations
• younger generations are having more of their
first donations online with an organization
• engaging younger generation donors via
multiple, non-fundraising channels can likely
increase future fundraising rates
@PICnet
71. Agenda
• The big picture and motivation
• Strategy and the online ladder of engagement
• Demographics
• Preparation and discovery
• Tactics and examples
• Questions and answers
@PICnet
73. 5 ways to create online personas
• List your audiences, drill deep
• Aim for your online influentials
• Avoid the org chart
• Make it clear where personas should start
• Give clear calls-to-action
@PICnet
75. Agenda
• The big picture and motivation
• Strategy and the online ladder of engagement
• Demographics
• Preparation and discovery
• Tactics and examples
• Questions and answers
@PICnet
81. 7 long steps to giving a donation
1. register for an account
2. open email to confirm registration
3. sign-in
4. fill-out donation form
5. go to shopping cart
6. fill-out credit card information
7. grab a water after the exercise
@PICnet
82. 3 easy steps to giving happiness
1. fill-out donation page
2. smile that you’ve done good for the world
3. take another action
@PICnet
83. Kill the shopping cart, always?
One exception to
the rule...
@PICnet
88. The mobile challenge...
• There’s a good chance you don’t have...
• one of the worst natural disasters in the Western
Hemisphere
• two US presidents personally supporting you
• entire phone companies making it easy to give
@PICnet
89. The mobile challenge...
• You can still make it easier to give by...
• thinking mobile giving at events
• building “responsive” mobile-friendly designs
@PICnet
96. Snowmageddon results
• significant PR with more than 30 news outlets,
including NPR, Wired Magazine and
Washington Post providing coverage
• 130 incidents reported in the first 24 hours
• 30 connections made within first 24 hours
• could have had more impact if followed up
with other activities for fundraising
@PICnet
98. Providing multiple on-ramps
• follows from the online engagement ladder
• can include a variety of activities, like...
• newsletter sign-up
• event registration, attendance
• advocacy (i.e. write your representative, petition
signing)
@PICnet
100. Providing multiple on-ramps
• New organization started in Sept 2011
• Sponsored by Auburn Seminary in NYC
• “To combat hate and build love in response to
violence against Muslim and Sikh Americans.”
• “We provide avenues for people of all faiths
and walks of life to take strategic social action
around shared moral imperatives.”
• Needed to hit the ground running
@PICnet
108. Top 5 results for Groundswell
• Organization starts on Sept 11, 2011 with
20,000 supporters
• Doubles to 40,000 supporters in 2 months
• Receives 25,000-35,000 petition actions/month
• On pace for 100,000 supporters by year’s end
• 5x increase in potential donor pool in just 1.5
years based solely on ladder of engagement
principles
@PICnet
110. Online donors more valuable
• New donors whose first gift is online
• 2007 - 9%
• 2008 - 12%
• 2009 - 14%
• 2010 - 16%
Source: Blackbaud
@PICnet
111. The path...
• Compelling story (motivation)
• Sign the petition (action)
• Give money (financial contribution)
• Social networking (sharing)
@PICnet
112. Brand consistency
• Keep your design and brand the same through
all your touch points
• mail
• email
• website
• blog
• call to action
• donation page
@PICnet
123. ABC’s of online CC processing
• Three pieces to online credit card processing
• website’s donation page
• gateway
• merchant account
• What should you expect to spend?
• 2.2% - 2.7% per transaction + $0.30 per transaction
• potential additional charge from website host
@PICnet
124. ABC’s of online CC processing
• Popular gateways and processors
• PayPal (Payments Pro, Standard)
• Authorize.net
• IATS
• tons more...
@PICnet
125. Tip jar to cover tranx costs
• 30% of folks presented with a small request to
cover transaction costs will pay it...so just ask!
@PICnet
131. External Web fundraising
• online fundraising doesn’t need to be limited
to your own website
• engage where the crowds already exist
• social networks
• crowd-fundraising
@PICnet
139. Thinking about external tools
• Upsides
• fast and easy to set up
• communities and networks already formed
• Downsides
• often times can be more expensive in long-run for
larger campaigns
• lack of strong branding, consistent design
@PICnet
140. Bringing all the tools together
• CRM tools like Salesforce, example case
• donor gives online
• real-time transaction
• data stored directly into system
• email response auto-generated
• drip marketing depending on cycle of donor
begins
@PICnet
141. Bringing all the tools together
• different call to action made on thank you page
• pre-built reports show real-time data
• dashboard available
• scoring and rewards for fundraisers
• share the donation online, have donor get
more donors
• the virtuous cycle continues!
@PICnet