Digital Fundraising strategy guide with online fundraising campaign examples and case studies. This online fundraising presentation also makes recommendations on the systems and infrastructure you need to put in place and getting the right resources into the team. Digital fundraising includes Email, Websites, Mobile, Social Media, Search, Content Marketing and more. There is a shorter version of this presentation that just focuses on emerging Mobile, Content and Social Media fundraising.

1. What to remember
when building a
digital fundraising strategy
24 July 2012

2. Digital is
Constantly changing
Now in close proximity
Better ROI
Full of opportunities.

3. Digital is not a brave new world
• Don’t be afraid
Digital fundraising employs the same marketing principles
that you already know

4. Test, report, optimise, repeat
Strategy
Iden,fy
Analysis
prospects
Conversion
Messaging

5. Digital should integrate into your
existing fundraising strategy
• Digital should support, enhance and streamline your fundraising
Support
• Consistent messaging & look and feel
• Provide a destination for your messaging
• Provide the point of sale transaction
Enhance
• Continue to develop the story
• Engage & interact with the supporter
• Multiple touch points increase frequency & awareness
Streamline
• Automate systems & processes for efficiency
• Increase marketing return on investment
• Reduce processing times.

6. Digital makes sense, because it
gives you more options
• Good fundraising gives the supporter options,
right?
• Different ways to donate
• A choice of communication channels
• Multiple ways to interact and engage.

7. Different ways to donate

8. A choice of communication channels

9. Multiple ways to interact & engage

10. Just in case you weren’t sure,
Digital includes …
Content
Display
Mobile Social
Website
Search
Email

11. Email
• Email is the cornerstone of your digital fundraising strategy
What
Email
IS
What
Email
IS
NOT
Fast
&
simple
Unique
Direct
response
Highly
engaging
Personalised
Awareness
building
Measurable
Reten,on
(+
Acquisi,on)
Economical
Sta,c
or
dynamic
High
response
&
conv.
Rates
Compe,,ve

12. Prolific emailers
Dynamic emails that personalise content
based on the user behaviour will improve your
results – but it requires more content.

13. Mobile
• Mobile is
• the future, you cannot ignore it
• highly personal and can have an almost guaranteed open rate
• always on … even when its off
• Convenient
• practical, brief & task orientated
• Mobile includes: Mobile is NOT:
• Tablets, Phones, Bluetooth, Outdoor, NFC • highly visual
• Mobile websites • long form
• Apps
• complicated
• SMS
• Local
• Advertising – still very cost effective.

14. WEB
.mobi or m.domain.org
MOBILE

15. Mobi site versus Smartphone App
Smartphone App Mobile Site

16. Not for profit
Nature Conservancy WWF International

17. Who is doing mobile well?
Mobile Banking Automotive Social Networking

18. Always remember for mobile
• Must be practical and convenient
• Some people have fat fingers – make buttons and links BIGGER
• It’s about functionality, not design – help them achieve their goal faster
• Tablets are different to phones.
HOW TO DO IT
• Figure out what mobile solution suits your organisation best
• There are open source mobile CMS + Apps
• Get a plugin for your website that detects mobile devices
• Chunk up your content – reduce & simplify (see ABC example)
• Get a mobile specialist to plan and design your mobi site.

19. Content is King
• Content marketing is about expanding the telling of the story and
spreading it across every (digital) channel
• Content is
• Video
• Images
• Games
• Infographics
• Text
• Polls & surveys
• Petitions and campaigns
• And anything else you can think of.

20. Content comes in many forms
WWF + Ben Lee – Song for the divine mother of the universe
http://vimeo.com/11127915

21. Content is
emotional & powerful

22. Content gives the back story
Greenpeace – Ken & Barbie

23. Content keeps you engaged
http://pleasurehunt2.mymagnum.com/?lc=en_au

24. Websites
Websites are
Brand reputation
Validation
Research
Transaction/ eCommerce
Content and information architecture
Stories
Customer service
Your supporters EXPECT you to have a website.
If you don’t have a website, you don’t exist.

25. Social media
Social media is
• An organisation wide initiative
• harder than it looks – creating a
real 2 way relationship
• an excellent PR and
customer service channel,
IF its not censored
• LIVE and Public
• creates advocates.
The power of social media is in the opportunity created by
leveraging the friends of your fans.
For every fan, there are 34 additional friends of fans that can be
reached.
For Organisation Pages:
*Source: The power of LIKE study Comscore and Facebook in 2011
Only 16% of fans are reached

26. Cool stuff – Dalai Lama G+ Hangout

27. Social Media is a commitment, not a
campaign
Dermot O’Gorman is
the CEO of
WWF-Australia.
He has been tweeting
for less than a year
but he now tweets up to
10 times a day, with at
least 3 posts.

28. Having a cause makes it even better
36,000 people have liked
the Movember Australia site.

29. Amnesty Freedom Dictionary
http://www.freedomdictionary.org/
Over 125,000 words set free

30. Where to start with social
1. Listen first
2. Create social media guidelines & response timelines for your
organisation
3. Outline a content plan – but don’t plan and approve every tweet
4. Create content that will keep your stories going
• Video
• Images
• Infographics
• Survey’s
• Games
• Campaigns, promotions, competitions
5. Be committed – there is no start and end date
6. Put experienced, senior staff as social ambassadors. Social media is
not just for the youth
7. Social media is always on, it’s the front lines, full time
8. THEN go live.

31. Search – SEM and/ or SEO.
They’re already looking for you
• Search engine optimisation (SEO – natural search)
• Yes, its about keywords and content
• But, success is determined by inbound links to your website
• Long term strategy (SEO) and sustained commitment
• Search engine marketing (SEM – Paid search)
• Google Grant $10,000 month
• SEO and SEM must be aligned to reap greatest rewards.
Search is the best digital channel for
• qualified leads, when further down the consideration cycle
• Strong acquisition
• Immediate results (SEM)
• Highest ROI/ lowest CPA of digital channels in corporate world but
harder space for charities.

32. How search can support
Natural Search (SEO) Paid Search (SEM)
Search Tip:
Use SEM to test your
campaign messaging.
Google will automatically
optimise to the best
performing creative.
This gives you some insight
into what type of language
and call to actions motivate
people most.

33. Display banner advertising
• Low engagement (0.04% CTR) and conversion rates
• Should only be used to support large scale Brand campaigns
• Buy on CPA only – affiliate and performance networks.

34. Digital media channels
Of course it depends how you employ these channels
Digital
Channels
Acquisi9on
Reten9on
Engagement
Email
✔
✔✔
☐
Social
Media
☐
✔
✔✔
Paid
Search
✔✔
✖
✖
Video
☐
✔
✔✔
SMS
✔
✔
✖
SEO
✔✔
✔
✖
Display
Banner
☐
✔
✖
✔
Adver,sing
Website
✔
✔
✔
Mobile
–
sites,
apps
✔
✔
✔
etc
Website
-­‐
✔
✔
✔
eCommerce

35. Understand the similarities
Online and Offline fundraising
are not so different

36. Understand the similarities
• Digital fundraising should support and piggy back off of your
existing traditional fundraising channels
Offline
Online
Comparison
Online
Support
Direct
Mail
Email
SMS
Media
Social
Media
Website
Face
2
Face
NA
NA
Direct
Response
TV
Video
Telemarke9ng
-­‐
Outbound
SMS
Email
Supporter
Rela9ons
–
Inbound
Search
Website
Print
Adver9sing
Display
Banner
Adver,sing
Brochure/
Insert
Website
Email
Word
of
Mouth
Social
Media
Email

37. Start with the database
Digital fundraising lives and dies by the health of your database
• Segmentation
• Take the donor on a planned journey
• Fill the top of the funnel – drive traffic
• Cultivate relationships with relevant stories & convert
• Retain and upgrade the base
• Test & optimise the ask to increase the average gift
• Monitor, report & re-invest.

38. Digital fundraising funnel
Prospects
Visitors
Subscribers
Advocates
Supporters

39. Reduce, reuse, recycle
Many of your offline fundraising materials can be adapted for
digital
• Reduce the file size & the length of the copy
• Reuse the story, imagery and design elements
• Recycle the individual elements across each channel.

40. Integrated Fundraising Case Study:
WWF Christmas Tiger Adoption 2010
Offline
Online
Learning’s
DM
Email
Created
instant
demand
Supporter
Magazine
Website
Consistent
presence
eCommerce
Website
Offline
ac,vity
difficult
to
manage
inventory
Social
Media
Emo,onal
bragging
DRTV
SMS
Ability
to
easily
ac,on
Display
Banner
Adver,sing
Increased
frequency
&
sales
Search
Engine
Marke,ng
Spikes
aWer
DRTV
aired
The online & offline campaign were perfectly aligned – except for stock control.

41. Understand the differences
But digital does require a different
approach sometimes

42. Understand the differences
1. Invest in developing the right systems, processes and
2. Resources – get a digital specialist
3. Understand the role each digital channel plays in the engagement &
consideration cycle
4. Analytics is essential. Yes, there is lots of data.
But getting the tracking right takes time
5. Usability testing and focus on the user will be a differentiator
6. User experience is paramount
1. Shorter copy, less formal content, chunk it up
2. Functionality is more important than design
3. Content is King!

43. 1. Systems & digital infrastructure
CRM/
eDB
CMS
+
Email
Payment
3rd
Gateway
Analy-­‐ Party
,cs
Systems

44. 2. Skillsets and resources
• Web Developer + CMS
+
Digital Producer +
Content Curator/ Producer
• Digital Fundraising Manager Email
+
• Data Hygienist CRM/
eDB
• Fundraising Analyst Anal-­‐
y,cs
Payment
Gateway

45. 3. Consideration cycle touch-points
• Donors use search at both the beginning &
end of their consideration cycle
• Mobile is used for convenience during the
day, but is more integrated with other
channels & transactional at night
• Email can also be the first &/ or last touch
point for many donors
• Social media is sometimes the first contact
but is most often used during the
information/ sentiment gathering stage
• Websites are used for research, reputation
and transaction.

46. Donor journey’s cross over channels
First touch-point Message validation Follow up
& convert

47. User journey’s cross over
First touch-point Message validation Follow up
& convert

48. 4. Analytics is essential
Invest in some Google Analytics training
• Custom reporting
• Track user scenarios
• Apply a value to each goal,
especially the combination of
actions that show an engaged
user
• Setting goals and conversion
• Campaign tracking parameters
http://www.wwf.org.au/?utm_source=Adconion&utm_medium=CPA-
Banner&utm_campaign=Adopt-Tiger
• Understand where your direct traffic comes from (often email)
• Apply the secondary dimension metrics to find the hidden insights.

49. Data, data, data
• Use the data – but most people don’t even look at the data let alone
identify the insights that can be actioned
• Make sure your database is clean and you have taken the time to
segment your database
• Donors / Campaigners / Subscribers / Inactive
• Interests
• Donor Value
• Invest in cross-channel tracking
• What is the first click? Not just the click that converts
• What combination of channels provides the highest RMOI?
• How many touch-points do you need to use to get a conversion?
• Which channel drives the highest average gift?
• What channels shorten the consideration cycle?
• What content themes engage the user most?
• What content drives traffic?
• What content drives donations?

50. What to measure
• The days of measuring impressions and clicks are over but CTR still
shows relevance
• Focus on conversions – but also on engagement, time spent on site
(duration) and bounce/ exit rates
• Track month on month and year on year growth & conversion rates – not
raw numbers
• Know which content engages your users most, converts them faster,
compels them to share with a friend
• Monitor how much of your supporter base is using mobile
• Put a value on a Share or a Subscriber (non-financial supporters) as
well as a donor. These are still prospects
• Online is direct response – don’t let anyone tell you its for awareness!

51. 5. Usability is a differentiator
Usability measures the ease of use of your website by its visitors.
Basically, how easy is it for your audience to achieve their intended goal?
Usability looks at 3 primary areas of a website:
1. Accessibility
1. Page load times
Forrester’s are the
2. Colour contrast , font size leading usability experts
3. Optimised for screen readers globally.
2. Functionality
1. How intuitive is the process They carry out usability
2. Does the website behave as expected benchmarking and
3. Navigation & Content testing.
1. Clear & concise labels
2. Adequate linking
3. SEO and user friend urls
4. Design is consistent
Usability cannot be successful if its an after though. When planning,
Put the donor first.

52. 6. Online user expectations
People behave differently online.
Digital is about research, engagement & transaction.
Therefore, the content must fit the medium.
• Shorter sentences, less formal language, shorter
copy in general
• Keyword rich content for search engines – say
exactly what you mean, no puns or metaphors
• Engagement objects like games, video, infographics,
polls & images help tell the story at a glance
• Real time transactions & automated responses –
users expect their receipt immediately.

53. The role of online
Make sure that you are using digital
channels for the right reasons

54. Many reasons to go online
• Its where people are spending more time
• Direct Response
• Personalisation
• Data is power
• Automation
• Fast & reactive
• Always on – never miss an opportunity
• Interactivity
• Customer service channel
• Multiple touch-points
• Online will save you time and money.

55. The role of online
• Before creating and implementing a digital fundraising
strategy, your organisation must first understand the role of
online within your business
• Is it a broadcast communication channel?
• Is it a passive research tool?
• Is it to get to know your supporters better?
• Will it be a revenue stream?
• Is it a cost saving initiative?
• Is it a test?
• Do your supporters use/ want it?

56. But there are some drawbacks
• Few proven models
• There are risks
• Cluttered
• Hard to build trust
• It changes quickly, Innovation is a must.

57. Only when it works
• Like any other medium, you should only use online when it
makes sense and when it works
• Grow and invest in the channels that are providing results
• Hold online accountable to the same ROI models as your offline
fundraising (it should be better)
• If it doesn’t add value, don’t do it
• Innovate to achieve a goal, not just for the sake of it.

58. Achieve your objectives
Digital
Channels
Acquisi9on
Reten9on
Engagement
Email
✔
✔✔
☐
Social
Media
☐
✔
✔✔
Paid
Search
✔✔
✖
✖
Video
☐
✔
✔✔
SMS
✔
✔
✖
SEO
✔✔
✔
✖
Display
Banner
☐
✔
✖
✔
Adver,sing
Website
✔
✔
✔
Mobile
–
sites,
apps
✔
✔
✔
etc
Website
-­‐
✔
✔
✔
eCommerce

59. Digital fundraising is not a brave
new world. It’s about
More options
Richer stories
Personal engagement.

60. If you have a digital
problem,
I will create a
solution that will
work for you.
Call me for a
digital health check.

61. Parachute Digital
Digital Strategy
Digital Fundraising
Digital Training

62. Parachute Digital
Shanelle Newton Clapham
shanelle@parachutedigital.com.au
0406 691 030
www.parachutedigitalmarketing.com.au