new media fundraising, digital fundraising, on-line fundraising

1. I hope you have heard of New Media
Fundraising. I am sure you would have
at least heard of something called online
fundraising or Internet fundraising.
If you have not, don’t despair, for in the
next 15 minutes, you will have! Are you
wondering if there is any real difference
between new media and online
fundraising? Yes, there is a bit of
difference. In fact, online fundraising is
a part of New Media Fundraising.
Just a few years ago online fundraising
meant that you created a website with a
payment gateway and sent emails to
people asking for contributions. While
this form of fundraising continues to
exist, over the years, due to increased
ease in sending out bulk emails,
effectiveness of this tool is being
seriously questioned. The other aspect
of online fundraising used to be buying
or bartering online banners. Here, you
could advertise your fundraising
message and motivate people to click
and donate on your website. I am sure
all of us have seen if not clicked on such
banners!
In the previous decade emerged the
trend of user-generated content. This
meant, an NGO’s online presence was
incomplete unless it gave opportunity to
users to express themselves. Therefore,
some NGO websites started giving
opportunities to people to put their
comments, which would be moderated
by the NGO and published later. But
user-generated business was not
stopping here. With the advent of blogs,
the ‘publish’ button went to the user.
The user became the king. One could
write whatever one wanted without
being at the mercy of an editor. This
increased the number of online
publications several fold. While earlier,
media houses and organisations had
portals for people to visit, this power got
transferred to users now. It sure
increased the clutter in the cyberspace.
It also augmented the relevance of
search engines like Goggle. People could
search and reach a website or blog of
their choice.
With this shift of power to people, also
came in social networks – Orkut,
Facebook... People now not only had the
publish button, they also had their
network of people. These people read
what their ‘friends’ put online and even
reacted to it. And then Twitter arrived.
Heard of New Media Fundraising!
With power in the hands of people, it dawned
that whatever was blogged about or shared
with friends on Facebook and Orkut or even
broadcast through Twitter, could carry
fundraising or awareness messages for NGOs
People no longer wrote something and
waited for people to visit and read. They
became broadcasters.
With such power in the hands of people,
it was increasingly felt that whatever
people blogged about or shared with
friends on Facebook and Orkut or even
broadcast through Twitter, could carry
fundraising or awareness messages for
NGOs. That is how the staid online
fundraising became New Media
Fundraising.
New Media Fundraising today is about
having your fundraising message on
blogs of people, their social networks
and tweets so that it reaches audience
in their networks and even networks of
people in their networks. This increases
chances to motivate more people to
donate. It makes donors get involved.
They not only give but also advocate.

2. What is the cost for all this? Well,
nothing! But as you know nothing in this
world is absolutely free. While there is
no fee for capitalising on this medium,
you have to invest in staff with special
skills and in the development of certain
online promotion material like widgets.
Widgets are button-like display banners
that allow people to put your message
in an easy, cut and paste manner on
their blogs or Facebook and Orkut
pages.
New Media Fundraising today is also
about managing search engines like
Google. A very critical factor is, how
high in the search results your website
or fundraising message is. For example,
if you are an NGO working for the cause
of women and if people search ‘India
women NGO donate’ what is the number
at which your website emerges? If it is
not right on the top, chances of your
being a beneficiary of generosity of the
searcher reduce.
Managing the search engine broadly
involves two aspects – search engine
optimisation (SEO) and search engine
marketing (SEM). SEO is inexpensive
and meets a long-term goal. Through
various tools available even free of cost
like Google Analytics, you can analyse
what ‘key words’ people use while
searching. In the example ‘India women
NGO donate’ that we used before, the
analysis would show that these are the
most popular key words on the subject
that people use. Then you have to
ensure that these key words feature in
the most important sections of your
website. In the case of fundraising, it is
donation and other allied pages. I say
long-term goal because this is difficult
to achieve overnight. It may take
months of analysing and monitoring
popular key words and incorporating
them in your website.
SEM costs money. These are sponsored
links, indicated separately on the top of
all search results. With SEM you can link
your website across blogs and websites
through ‘Google affiliates network’.
Please see the adjoining picture on how
these appear visually. The costing
mechanism mostly followed for these
links is called ‘pay-per-click’, which
means you pay when someone clicks on
your fundraising link.
In India, NGOs like Greenpeace, UNICEF,
Save the Children, World Vision, Save
the Tiger and CRY have been quiet
active in New Media Fundraising.
Greenpeace uses the medium both for
campaigning and fundraising. At the
click of button, a person can join a
campaign, sign a petition on
environmental issues and donate.
UNICEF has recently launched a new
media campaign on universal right to
education called ‘Awaaz Do’. In its first
few months, it had more than 200,000
people signing-up. This campaign also
added a new dimension; that of mobiles
and telephones to online campaigns.
Similarly, the ‘Save the Tiger’ campaign
used TV, print and outdoor advertising
in addition to new media, which made
people sit up and take notice.
Is new media raising money?
This is a question on minds of people,
especially those involved in fundraising.
What has become clear is that new
media campaigns generate a lot of leads
that can be converted. This has to be
done as a system; people are called,
sent emails and donations are attained
from them. This does not mean people
do not donate directly. Greenpeace gets
campaigners and supporters through
their new media campaigns. World
Vision is also getting child sponsors
using the new media. But the key here
is follow-up, otherwise you just warm-
up people and no fundraising happens!
Anup Tiwari heads Asia wide
fundraising and communications for a
leading
international child
development
organisation. He
frequently blogs on
www.fundraisingasia
.org and can be
reached through it.
The views
expressed in this
article are his own and not ascribable
to his organisation.