Smart fundraising programs for
surviving the summer slump
A Firstgiving.com Webinar with:
James Campbell, Firstgiving
Mike Hennessy, Special Operations Warrior Foundation
May 20, 2009
www.firstgiving.com

Today’s agenda
• Peer-to-Peer social fundraising
• Special Operations Warrior Foundation case
study
• Three simple fundraising programs for the
summer slow down
• About Firstgiving
• Question time (answers, too!)
www.firstgiving.com

Social Fundraising
Your NPO Supporters = Fundraisers Friends & Families = Donors
• Your volunteers make personalized appeals to their
friends and family for your cause
• Allow your volunteers to leverage their social &
professional networks to raise money
• Empower those who want to do more than make a simple
donation
www.firstgiving.com

Put a personal face on your cause
• Eliminate “fear of asking”
• Donors feel more compelled
to support their friend
• Lack of familiarity with your
nonprofit has little bearing on
the decision to donate
• Convenient, easy and secure
donation
• Automatic donation
acknowledgments
• Online reporting
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So, why online fundraising?
• In this economy, it’s not enough to simply rely on
unsolicited general donations on your website, grants,
corporate sponsorship
• It’s imperative to diversify your overall development
strategy now
• Think beyond your events
• When evaluating fundraising services understand features
& benefits, not just the bottom line costs
• It’s more cost effective and it’s easier
• We’ll discuss some simple, cost effective, quick, & creative
fundraising programs later, but right now….
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Welcome Guest:
Mike Hennessy
Communications & Events Manager
Special Operations Warrior Foundation
http://www.specialops.org
http://www.firstgiving.com/specialops
www.firstgiving.com

Special Operations Warrior Foundation:
The Special Operations Warrior Foundation
provides full scholarship grants and
educational and family counseling to the
surviving children of special operations people who die in
operational or training missions and immediate financial
assistance to severely wounded special operations people
and their families.
www.firstgiving.com

Fundraising Program
www.firstgiving.com

What’s the impact of e-Fundraising?
• How our supporters use online fundraising tools:
– Public events
– Grassroots campaigns
• Our Staff or Board hesitations and concerns with:
– Cost
– Security/Privacy
– User experience
• Our experience:
– Fundraising results
– User feedback
– Donations growth
– What’s next
www.firstgiving.com

Individual fundraising on Firstgiving
$200,000
$175,000
$150,000
$125,000
$100,000
$75,000
$50,000
$25,000
$0
2007 2008 2009
$44,900 $75,700 $180,000
projected
($77,000 YTD)

Thank you Mike, and to the
Special Operations Warrior Foundation
http://www.specialops.org
http://www.firstgiving.com/specialops
www.firstgiving.com

Three simple fundraising programs
for the summer slowdown

I. Create a Summer Fundraising Campaign
• Give it a name… i.e. “Dog Days of Summer Program”
• Set an end date… i.e. “All donations in by August 1”
• Provides fundraising goals… i.e. “$300 per person”
• Plant ideas, show examples… Top fundraisers spotlight
• Constant contact… website, newsletters, emails
• Set realistic expectations
www.firstgiving.com

II. Get an early start on your
Fall event or campaign
• Don’t wait until August to start
• Start marketing & event promotion now
• Recognize fundraisers and teams over the summer
• Keep fundraisers engaged & motivated throughout long
summer
• Leverage our Fundraising Planning Guide
www.firstgiving.com

III. Leverage active people
already outdoors this summer
• You need to ask everyone in your database who is running,
kayaking, swimming, cycling, hiking, camping, etc.
• Ask them to dedicate their time to “(fill in above activity)
for a Reason”
• Offer to pay event entry if they raise “x” amount
• Ask us to turn on event creatable
• Again, set realistic expectations
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Before I get to your questions,
3 minutes about Firstgiving
www.firstgiving.com

Firstgiving partnership
• Understand your campaign, goals, and
tactics
• Consult on your communication and
fundraising strategy
• Reinforce online fundraising best practices,
follow up with fundraisers
• Mutual partnership means better
fundraising results for your organization
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www.firstgiving.com

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Question Time
• If you have a question for James or Mike,
type it into the question box in Go to
Webinar
• If we don’t get to it now, we will reply by
email shortly
• We will send a link to the slides and
recording a couple of days after the session
• Slides will be posted at
www.onlinefundraisingblog.com/summer
Any nonprofit can join Firstgiving at
www.firstgiving.com
call (617) 591-2121
or email sales@firstgiving.com
*Ask about a $100 rebate when you join before June 30th and raise $2,500

Thank you again!
Join Firstgiving or learn more
www.firstgiving.com
Call (617) 591-2121
or email sales@firstgiving.com