Best Practices in Online Fundraising: Maximizing your Springtime Event

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Presented by: Kurt Steiner, Firstgiving Liz Dorsett, Scleroderma Foundation Best Practices in Online Fundraising: Maximizing your Springtime Event

Agenda
Person-to-person online fundraising
Scleroderma case study
Firstgiving and spring events
Demonstration
Firstgiving Account types

About Firstgiving
Who we are
- A leading provider of online fundraising tools
Some history
- Established in 1999 in London and expanded to the US in 2003
Our mission
- Make possible for anyone, anywhere, to raise money for important causes
Since 1999, we have raised over $300 million for over 5,000 nonprofits worldwide!

What is Person-to-Person Fundraising? Donors
People making personalized appeals for causes that are important to them
Giving your supporters the ability to leverage their social network to make a difference
Your Nonprofit Supporters/ Fundraisers Donors

Example Fundraising Page
They work to put a face to your organization
They eliminate the “fear of asking” for people who don’t like asking for money in person.
Gives donors a convenient option to give by using their credit card
Automatically generates donation receipt , which may be used for tax purposes.
Progress thermometer Personal appeal Donations and comments

Donors Give to Their Friends and Leave a Comment “ Good luck with your recovery, I admire you more than you know!!!” “Glad to help! H.S. classmate of your dad.” “I am so proud of you!” “ Better late than never” “ I Gave More Than Martha, Thus I Care More....” “You are an inspiration”

Best Practice 1: Appeal to Your Whole Community Family and close friends Other friends and coworkers Acquaintances from the past or far away Online community

Please Welcome Guest Speaker, Liz Dorsett Communications Manager, Scleroderma Foundation

Before Firstgiving
Walks raised $521,419
After Firstgiving
Following year $819,600

In year 2, 58 fundraisers raised an average of $ 445 online In year 3, 109 fundraisers averaged $ 689 online Case Study : Tri State Chapter

Best Practice 2:
Put information about Firstgiving everywhere:
“ Save the date” card
Email newsletter
All walk materials
Your website

Best Practice 3:
Show thought leaders (board members, dev. director) how to make fundraising pages
Lead by example and set up your own fundraising page
Encourage walk committee and staff members to follow suit

Why Firstgiving?
Cost effective
Easy-to-use for employees, fundraisers and donors
Efficient online registration process
Fundraisers love personalizing fundraising pages and say it makes raising money much easier!
Easy team integration to help motivate fundraisers to increase their fundraising efforts
Friendly and knowledgeable Firstgiving support team
MORE MONEY RAISED!

Fewer admin headaches and greater donor reach means MORE MONEY RAISED!

More Best Practices: Thank you, Liz!

Best Practice 4: Use Social Media
Blogs and social networking sites (MySpace, Facebook): With over 100 million
MySpace accounts and over 62 million Facebook accounts, Social Media
presents an easy and popular way to reach people all over the world.
People tap into a wider range of relationships
33% of Firstgiving donations are from out-of-state
Tip: Remind your supporters to use Social Media sites as another way to collect more donations to their fundraising pages
Oftentimes, fundraisers collect donations without even having to ask!

Firstgiving on Facebook Your users place their fundraising efforts directly on their profile, thus tapping into a vast online community.

Fundraisers may add a You Tube video and personal Flickr pictures to their fundraising page.

Firstgiving and Spring Events: Streamline the process online!
Reduce mass mailings and pledge forms: simply direct your supporters to your Premium Start Page
From there, they register for your event and create their own fundraising page
Participants answer custom questions, such as t-shirt size, or anything else you need to know
Fundraising pages expire 2 months after the event, which means people can still donate after the event is over.
In fact, approximately 10% of donations come in the day of the event or in the weeks following—these are often donations you would not have received otherwise!
Best Practice 4:
Ask your participants to send out an email
after the event to thank those who have donated
and nudge those who haven’t

Demo: Firstgiving Experience

Premium Start Page Organization and/or event description Total raised online Easy call to action for fundraisers Your banner Top Teams Top Fundraisers Nonprofit Resource Center Up to 3 custom Images

Cost
Creating a fundraising page and making a donation are free
We deduct a 7.35% transaction fee from donations
Credit card processing charges are included in this fee

Firstgiving Nonprofit Accounts
Nonprofit Account
Cost: Free
Start Page
Unlimited fundraising pages
Online reports: fundraiser and donor contact details
Premium Nonprofit Account
Cost: $300/annually
Branded Start Page
Branded fundraising pages with your logos and banner
Includes:
Event registration
Event reports
Team functionality

Example Start Pages Premium Start Page: www.firstgiving.com/sonh Start Page: www.firstgiving.com/npo/3179

Interested in learning more?
Visit our website
Sign up for a nonprofit account today
www.firstgiving.com/signup
Email [email_address]
Thank You For Joining Us

Best Practices in Online Fundraising: Maximizing your Springtime Event

by FirstGiving .com on Apr 29, 2008

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Best Practices in Online Fundraising: Maximizing your Springtime Event — Presentation Transcript