Creating an online community for your college or university
1. 6/14/2013 1
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4. 6/14/2013 4
INDUSTRY TRENDS
2012 was a stable year for higher
education fundraising, which given
the current economic
conditions, isn’t a bad thing
Donors are giving more and making
more gifts, increasing overall
revenue per donor among nearly
every type of donor
(retained, reactivated, and new)
Alumni giving rose 9.9%
nationally, and accounted for about
26% of the donations colleges
received
YOY online giving grew by 16.2%
and the average online donation
amount was ~$150
SOURCES: 2012 Philanthropy Journal
Blackbaud Index of Higher Education Fundraising Performance
5. 6/14/2013 5
ONLINE MARKETING ISN’T JUST FOR
ONLINE DONORS
Offline-only donors
who get emails from an organization
give double
over a lifetime
SOURCES: 2012 Convio Online Giving Benchmark Study
6. 6/14/2013 6
DISTRIBUTION OF NEW ONLINE DONORS BY AGE
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 75+
7. 6/14/2013 7
WE FEEL YOUR PAIN
The inability to meet objectives for
increasing alumni participation rates along
with additional revenue pressures for the
school
Lack of a proper online strategy tools for
alumni management, communication and
engagement
The inability to distribute information with
personalized messaging and web
content, which negatively impacts
alumni/donor participation levels
Inaccurate contact records resulting from
poor online updating tools
8. 6/14/2013 8
SOLUTION THAT CAN HELP
An online management system to quickly
deploy content to different groups of Alumni
based on their relationships with your
school, levels of credentials, or other unique
details
Leverage multiple channels, in addition to
email, such as mobile, social, events and
full website content management system
Have a 360º online/offline understanding of
your relationship with each
alumnus, resulting in a more targeted and
effective fundraising initiative, leading to
higher interaction rates and online
donations
Create a fun and engaging website that
builds loyalty and acquires updated contact
information from your alumni
11. 6/14/2013 11
BRANDED DONATION PAGES
Branded donation pages
achieve, on average,
SIX TIMES MORE
donations than non-branded donation pages
Network for Good Q3 2012 Digital Giving Index
13. 6/14/2013 13
LINKEDIN GROUP JOIN FEATURE
- Over 75 million members on LinkedIn
- Over 65,000 academic groups
14. 6/14/2013 14
CUSTOMER SUCCESS
Blackbaud NetCommunity Customers
Receive an average online donation amount of $177
Experience a 66% increase in total online donations YOY
SOURCE: 2011 & 2012 NetCommunity Customer Data
15. 6/14/2013 15
NEXT STEPS
Learn More at:
https://www.blackbaud.com/online-marketing/netcommunity
Or Contact Us
solutions@blackbaud.com
In the 21st century, it’s pretty much a given that your visitors, and potential visitors are online, but this stat brings it home.A common misconception is that you are getting all the donations you can get through your offline efforts. That is false. You need to engage with your alumni regularly to stay top of mind and email is an easy way to do that.
A second misconception is that older alumni don’t care about online activity. This is also false. This chart shows the distribution of donors acquired through the internet. The high concentration from 45-64 is surprising to many people. According to this data, that argument is no longer valid. Of the people that were first time donors online, 64% were above the age of 45, with 36% coming from people 55-74. According the 2011 donorCentrics Internet and Multichannel Giving Benchmarking Report: https://www.blackbaud.com/files/resources/downloads/WhitePaper_MultiChannelGivingAnalysis.pdf
We’ve been speaking with Higher Education institutions for over two decades. During this time, we’ve come to know and help some of the common challenges they face, especially when it comes to online alumni engagement.
We’ve talked about some of the common challenges that institutions face when it comes to online, and now its time to provide solutions. In its simplest form, it all comes down to creating and maintaining alumni engagement. Being able to provide your alumni information regarding your mission in a personalized and preferred way.
Engagement begins with establishing a central location where your alumni can go for all their information needs – a community. In today’s online world, there are numerous avenues to leverage for outbound marketing initiatives towards your alumni. However, you need somewhere to drive your alumni so they can get more information (there’s only so much you can say in a Tweet!). An online community serves as a central location where you can continuously engage your alumni and provide them with relevant, targeted and updated information regarding your mission and ways they can help.
Once you’ve established an online community where you can provide your alumni with a personalized experience, your next challenge is to get them to visit and keep them coming back. The leadingemarketing tool used for alumni communication is email. And according to a recent study, offline-only donorswho get emails from an organization actually give doubleover a lifetime. So, while these supporters don’t necessarily prefer to make their donation online, they definitely prefer to receive their communication online. Being able to provide your alumni with personalized messaging, that’s branded with your organizations look and feel, allows your institution to stand out from other organizations and not be perceived as a “mass emailer” looking for money by alums. And personalization shouldn’t stop just at emails. In order to maintain alumni engagement, you need to ensure that all online tools provide they personal look and feel. In fact, branded and personalized donation pagesachieve, on average,SIX TIMES MOREdonations than non-branded donation pages. Additionally, personalization enhances your alum's user experience when they navigate through your site. For example, when registering for an event online, having the ability to pre-populate fields with your alum's profile information allows them to quickly and easily go through the process.
Because branded donation pages achieve six times more donations than non-branded donation pages! That’s easy math, and easy money. Make sure your institution is taking advantage.
I spoke earlier about the numerous ways to communicate to your alumni. From Facebook to Twitter to Mobile, instituions are faced with the challenge of providing relevant information through the right channel at the right time. These channels of communication should be intertwined into your website community, providing more ways to not only communicate, but to also receive donations. Smartphones are increasing in popularity and your organization has to be able to provide online content in a mobile optimized format.
By leveraging new channels to capture alumni information, for example by featuring your LinkedIn group on your website, it provides your institution with a simple point of entry method to establish your relationship with these supporters. Once established, you can then use other emarketing tools to develop and maintain that relationship for years to come.
As I mentioned, we’ve been working with Higher Education institutions for a long time. NetCommunity was actually created for Higher Education institutions and our customers have been successful using it. They’ve been able to increase not only the average online donation amount they receive, but also the total amount of online donations they receive. Just as important, they’ve been able to use NetCommunity to expand their communication efforts to their alumni, create a fun and engaging community for their alums, and establish long lasting relationships with these supporters.
Let Blackbaud help you form lasting connections with your alumni
