Building A Strong Online Fundraising Program

Building a StrongOnline Giving ProgramUsing Email and Web
Shirley Sexton
Director, Interactive
Marketing and Fundraising

Training by
Shirley Sexton
See3 Communications

Web Design & Development
Video Production
Interactive Marketing
www.see3.net

Shirley Sexton | See3 Communications
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Agenda

Online Fundraising Growth
Creating Your Online Strategy
Web site Usability
Email Marketing
Measuring Progress
Resources

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Online Fundraising Growth
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Online giving bucks overall trend
Overall charitable giving declined in 2008, the first drop since 1987.*
Giving USA 2009: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2008.
Online fundraising grew in 2008 (compared to 2007) in the range of 14-26% (dependent upon source *)
*The Convio Online Marketing Nonprofit Benchmark Index Study
*2009 eNonprofit Benchmarks Study

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Why?
Overall giving fell with the economy, specificallyConsumer confidence Index at lowest in Feb. 09 since '67 inception.
Online giving on the rise due to:

Multi-generational eCommerce adoption
Mega-trend to “go green”
Advent of social networking

7/24/09
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Shirley Sexton | Management Information Exchange Fundraising Conference
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Creating Your Online Strategy
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Internet Strategy Checklist

Review your org’s mission and business plan
Secure support from leadership
Prioritize objectives and audiences
Get commitment from stakeholders
Study your audience(s) needs, what do they want?
Invest in people and tools

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Prioritizing online objectives
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Prioritizing online audiences
Is there overlap for your audiences in what they want, and you want them to do?
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Web Site Usability for Donors
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Stop focusing on home page
Treat every page like your front door.
Only 25% of Web visitors enter sites via the home page.--Nielsen Norman Group, 2008
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What Donors Want Online
Donors want to quickly and easily find:

Mission (simply explained)
Goals
Objectives
Examples of work and first person stories, especially video
How donations are used, specifics

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What Donors Look for

Text field to search
Links (make them obvious)
Next steps/Instructions
Answers

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What Kills Donations

Users can’t figure out how or where to donate!
Cluttered pages
Mistrust of 3rd-party payment pages

Nielsen Norman Group Report: Donation Usability: Design Guidelines for Improving the Donation Process and the Usability of Essential Information on Charity and Non-Profit Websites
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Email Marketing
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Email Marketing: Building Your List

Communicate with permission to retain trust and respect privacy
Request email registration on every page
Collect email addresses (with permission) at events, offices

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Email Marketing: Schedule
Create calendar of email communications
Monthly email newsletter
Campaigns (respond to opportunities when your mission and national/world news intersect)
Test frequency
Industry standard is 3-10 per month
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Email Marketing: Design
Key elements for response
Subject line
From field
Call to action (link)
Signature
Light on graphics and formating
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Measuring Progress
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Measuring Progress
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Measure your key metrics before undergoing major changes.
2. Determine realistic intervals to measure (monthly, quarterly, annually)
3. Compare against industry benchmarks:
eNonprofits Benchmark Study www.e-benchmarksstudy.com/

Measuring Progress: Web giving
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Online giving totals
Average gift size
# of gifts
“Offline giving” impacts (major and planned gifts)
The Wired Wealthy: Using the Internet to Connect with Your Middle and Major Donorshttp://nonprofit.about.com/od/onlinefundraising/a/wealthywired.htm

Measuring Progress: Email
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Metric (2008 industry benchmark)
Open rate (14%)
click through rate (.6%)
response rate (.12%)
registration rate (3%)
list growth (17%)
list churn (19%)

See eNonprofits Benchmark Study www.e-benchmarksstudy.com/

Web Resources
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Web marketing resources
Jakob Nielsen’s Web usability research: www.useit.com
Network for Good: A Fundraising Guide for the Overworked Nonprofit: www.fundraising123.org
Search engine marketing tips: www.searchenginewatch.com
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Technology resources
Idealware: Candid reviews and information about nonprofit software: www.idealware.org
TechSoup: The technology place for nonprofits www.techsoup.com
NTEN: Your Nonprofit technology community: www.nten.org
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Contact Me
Email: shirley@see3.net
See3 blog: http://blog.see3.net
LinkedIn: http://shirleysexton.com
Facebook: http://profile.to/shirleysexton
Twitter: http://twitter.com/webbarbie
Flickr: http://flickr.com/photos/webbarbie
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