A Small Change- Fundraising Blog

I had the incredible opportunity to talk with a few online fundraising experts. Through our discussion they laid out for me some of the major mistakes that they see nonprofits making in their online fundraising campaigns. Thank you Sarah Hoddinott, from Advanced Solutions International, and Shane Davis, from Artez Interactive, for you expertise and input. Below I have included what they described for me as the seven deadly sins made with peer-to-peer fundraising.

1. Forgetting your demographic. Who supports your organization is it alumni or past patients? If you have a strong group that things already work with build on it. Don’t think that people will come just because you built something, build a system that complements what you are already doing.
2. No call to action. Donors need to be asked you can’t assume that people will respond the way you want them to if you do not ask. Don’t create a great message and have no way for people to respond to it.
3. Losing the key message. Campaigns need to be designed with simplicity in mind – don’t make it confusing; preserve the “click path” for donors. When creating your message don’t try and be everything to all people. Your organization can do some things really well but can’t do everything.
4. Lack of creativity. Don’t be afraid to try something new even if it doesn’t work. Great campaigns come from great ideas.
5. Peer-to-peer happening only online. Peer-to-peer fundraising encompasses all of the ways in which people leverage their personal networks for philanthropy. Make sure to integrate your online and offline campaigns.
6. No building on past success. Make sure to talk to you’re your top fundraisers. Ask them what worked and what didn’t work and thank them. Pull together focus groups around what made your campaign successful. Feedback is crucial from connectors and first-time donors; reward programs are can play a key role in dealing with the 20% of people who indirectly generate 80% of donations.
7. Fixing things that aren’t broken. Switching technology is costly and time consuming, and should only be done if the new technology adopted is really going to make an impact beyond novelty.

I am hosting the Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants and I thought this would be a great opportunity to get a bit of input on what makes a great capital campaign. I heard back from a couple people on this topic and have included their submissions below. But I’d love to hear more so I will keep the offer open. If anyone posts on the topic of capital campaigns and wants me to link to their post in the future send me an email and I with highlight it here.

Joanne Fritz talks about what a capital campaign is at About.com. Visit the article about capital campaigns to find some really useful information.

Definition: A capital campaign is a time-limited effort by a nonprofit organization to raise significant dollars for a specific project.

Sandy Rees has some great insights on how to run a successful capital campaign. She talks about the need to start preparing your donors years in advance, and to have the right people on board. Check out her post on her blog, Get Fully Funded.

At its heart, a capital campaign relies on the same things as other fundraising efforts: a compelling case, relationships with donors, and the right person asking for the right amount at the right time.

Robert Guinto from Nonprofit Capital Management sent me a few pointers about how important messaging is to a capital campaign. Check out his blog.

The branding and marketing of the message is critical to capital campaigns. There is a need to have the capital plan designed in a manner that strategically seeks funding from foundations, businesses and individuals… Another element of a campaign is that it does not just state and end on a short time period. It is important to note that your organization needs to be in front of an individual several times before there may be a positive outcome.

I thought I would highlight some examples of capital campaigns online for you to check out.

• The Elevation Church kicked off their capital campaign, Dominate, giving away $40,000 to their congregation in increments of $5 and $10. Congregation members had so spend the money on other people. An interesting way to share the vision of their campaign but resulted in huge success.
• The University of Rio is trying a video approach to bringing university alumni.
• Do you have any links or stories to successful capital campaigns?

In a few weeks make sure to check back to read my interview with a few capital campaign leaders. I have asked The Collins Group, Convio, Lipman Hearne, and Tavro Lund and they will be sharing their expertise.

I have posted many times about online fundraising and I think I’ve explained some of reasons why. With online fundraising the stakes are the same for a large multi-million dollar organization as they are for a small $100,000 charity. Here are a few thoughts and tips about merging together online and offline funding campaigns.

Why? At this point online fundraising is growing but for most organization is only represents a small (but growing) portion of the organizations giving. But many people want to have the online option available to them but will use a paper mail product to initiate their gift. Richard McPherson in his book, Digital Giving, says “direct mail is a calm port in a storm of electronic demands. And it’s often easier than giving online.” You will find me quoting his book a number of times in the coming weeks he has a lot of incredible tangible tips on how to fundraise online.

With online giving growing and how easy it is for a donor to use it is something that your organization should start to think about. I would like to advocate for an integrated model of online & offline fundraising. In any of your paper direct mail appeals make sure that your website is on them & that there is a one click link to your donation page. Put a link to donate or visit your website at the bottom of your email signature.

What ideas do you have to integrate your current mailings & emailings?

Earlier this week I talked about Starting a Food or Fund Drive. Now I want to provide you with some specific ideas in talking with and approaching businesses. Businesses want to make a difference and are a great environment to raise grassroots support.

Some great ways to get the word out with local businesses are to approach local Chambers of Commerce, Kiwanis, or Rotaries. Ask them to put something in their weekly or monthly newsletters about your upcoming fund drive. Ask these groups if you can come to a meeting and talk about your organization. There are also a lot of online communities specific to local industries or locations and they can be a great place to get the word out there. Approach the community managers or local bloggers and ask them to talk about your fund drive program.

When sending out to direct mail lists or email lists make sure that you are following up by phone. Businesses are busy places so you might have to call a few times and leave a few messages. Target team leaders and human resource professionals when trying to run employee drives. They can be great people to connect with to set-up a drive in their business.

When working with businesses for a special fund drive campaign it can be a great idea to talk with members of the executive team. Talk with them about matching their employee’s gifts or sponsoring the program for logo or other kinds of corporate recognition.

Community drives are a great way to get businesses & community groups involved in your organization. They are also a great way to build and grow your donor base. How do you get started? What are some important things to think about?

The key to success in grassroots work is to make things simple and easy to multiply. Take a core issue connected to your organization and create an easy to use package. Where I work we do food drives and fund drives. Fund drives are the easiest because they take the least amount of supplies. You need to have a quick and easy idea that can be explained in a few sentences or less. Create a document explaining the program, and start to plan who you are going to approach.

Set up a multi-tiered approach where you send out a letter to your regular community & business supporters (or volunteers) asking them to get involved. Post some sign-up information on your website and include some info in your e-newsletter. I would suggest setting a time line so that your program can doing something in a specific issue or program. Individual fund drives usually raise more when they are for 2 weeks or a month instead of an designated time or a couple of months. When the drive over a short set amount of time everyone involved is focused during that time.

Set things up so that each drive is specific to your organization with a financial connection to your mission with equivalences. Like a gift of $10 will feed one family, or provide books for one student. This way you are setting up everyone with a specific expected gift amount per individual person. If you are a food bank incorporate a food drive option. Or maybe it makes sense to collect coats or cell phones or something like that. Be creative.

Does your organization or has your community group run a program like this before? Tell us about it. Was it a success? What tips and pointers do you have to share?