Catholic Relief Services
HOW CRS IS USING
TECHNOLOGY TO BOOST
ONLINE GIVING
May 11, 2009

Online Giving
CRS showed 44% growth in online giving
from 2007 to 2008.
Q: What changed?
A: Use of technology to further the reach of our
appeals

Online Giving Strategy 2007

Online Giving Strategy 2008
Social Networks
E-mail
Campaigns Google
Adwords
Media & PR
Banner Ads on
Integration with Homepage, Blog
Direct Mail and eNewsletter

What Changed From 07-08?
• Launched an e-mail marketing program
• Employed a social networking strategy
• Better use of internal advertising space
• Integration with direct mail
• Instituted an agency-wide editorial calendar
• Google Grant allowed for more AdWords
• Developed engagement pathways
• Use of video in e-mails

In other words...
Since 2008, for every campaign we attempted
to push the “ask” to our supporters, and go
out to where people are to pull people to
our website to donate.

Why Social Networking Matters
EIGHT REASONS CRS IS ON
SOCIAL
NETWORKING SITES

Eight reasons CRS is on social
networking sites
1. Critical Mass:
Of the Top 5 Most
Visited Websites in
the US:
– Facebook is #3
– YouTube is #4
– MySpace is #5
– (Twitter is #16)
(Source: http://www.alexa.com/topsites/countries/US )

Eight reasons CRS is on social
networking sites
2. The incredibly
powerful, viral
nature of these
sites. When
supporters act on
our behalf, it
broadcasts this
action to their
network of friends.
These online
actions often
inspire offline
conversations. See more comments like these on
our Facebook Fan Page (click here)

Eight reasons CRS is on social
networking sites
3. Users often self-
identify as
Catholic, meaning
often we can
target specifically
to this audience.

Eight reasons CRS is on social
networking sites
4. These sites enable a new opportunity to
tell our story and increase awareness.
5. We can establish relationships with
younger donors/supporters (be where
they are).

Eight reasons CRS is on social
networking sites
6. Two-way Communication:
We can interact directly
with supporters who reach
out to us.
With tools such as Google
alerts, Technorati and
Who’s Talkin* we can
listen to what people have
to say about us.
Google Alerts
Technorati
Who’s Talkin

Eight reasons CRS is on social
networking sites
7. Multi-channel engagement – we
encourage many of our house e-mail
subscribers to find us on social
networks as well, and vice versa.
8. It’s “almost” free (with the exception of
some staff time) and the understanding
that “you get out of it what you put
into it.”

The Why and the What
CRS’ SOCIAL NETWORKING
STRATEGY

Social Networking Strategy
The twin goals of having a presence on social
networking sites are:
1. Increase awareness in a new audience of
online Catholics (SO1: Expand Base)
2. Use these sites as our own news channel
and drive people to crs.org (SO3: Increase
Awareness)

How we are using social
networking sites
• As a news channel we control - posting
links to web stories/blog posts/press/new
videos
• Increasing engagement/contests
• Cross-promotion
• Fundraising Appeals/Emergencies
• Advocacy Actions
• Communicating directly with supporters

Additional Considerations:
• Better metrics are needed to influence
future decisions. We are investigating how
best to track RIO.
• Analysis of overlap and “superfans.” Study
who is supporting us through multiple
networks and channels, and if this impacts
giving in any way.

Additional Considerations:
• Facebook Causes (a Facebook fundraising
application) has not been a great source of
donations for nonprofits.
It may be that the perfect app for this has yet to
be created, or this may never be a revenue
channel . What remains to be seen is if
engagement in this space influences action in
other channels (online, direct mail), or if investing
in awareness building will pay off in future
donations.

A word about niche sites
(Ex: Catholic social networking sites)
• Numbers are small; many currently <1k members.
• Hard to maintain too many sites consistently.
• Plenty of Catholics on Facebook/Twitter.
• Catholic niche sites’ members tend to focus on life
issues – hard to get attention on global poverty,
etc.
• Keeping an eye on them for future efforts.

Looking back
SOCIAL NETWORKING
SUCCESS STORIES

Success Stories
GOAL: Grow our networks. In February 07:
• MySpace: 13 Friends
• Facebook Fan Page: 36 Fans
• Facebook Cause: 401 Supporters, $320 raised
• Twitter: Started in March 2007 with zero followers.
• YouTube: Nonprofit Partner application approved –
zero subscribers.

Success Stories
RESULTS: Fifteen months later...
As of 05/15/09:
• Facebook Fans – 3,646 members (View page)
• Facebook Causes – 3,197 members, $2,663 donated
(View page)
• Twitter – 1,334 followers (View page)
• YouTube - 104 subscribers; most viewed video has
been viewed 16,037 times! (View page)
• MySpace – 2,747 members (View page)

Success Stories
GOAL: Make our Facebook Fan page more
interactive. Backpack Contest:
RESULT: 225 new fans
in 9 days - 5x the rate
we would typically see
over the same time!
And about 70 amazing testimonials from supporters!

Success Stories
GOAL: Increased traffic to www.crs.org
RESULTS: Through Google Analytics we can see it is working.

YouTube
GOAL: Increase number of people viewing our nonprofit channel on YouTube.
RESULTS:

Success Stories
GOAL: Mobilize the power of our networks to take
action:
CRS recently won a $200,000 grant from Green Mountain Coffee
Roasters for our proposal helping coffee farmers adapt to the impacts
of climate change.
Part of the process was online voting by the public and we asked our
social networks to go to the site and vote for us.
RESULT: The same day we posted this request, our votes
increased fourfold and we kept that lead until the end.

...and so
• Maybe we should stop thinking of social
networking as the new holy grail for fundraisers
and recognize the viral power that lies within your
networks can be harnessed for other means.

Digital Storytelling
USE OF VIDEO IN E-MAIL
APPEALS

THANK YOU VIDEO
Sent Nov. 12:
Subject line:
In their own words
Timed to coincide with delivery of
the Donor Appreciation mailing
and pre-Thanksgiving.
Cultivational e-mail meant to
thank donors and show how
their generosity impacted the
lives of three beneficiaries
overseas.
View the e-mail

THANK YOU VIDEO
Recipients who clicked on
the video image in the e-
mail were taken to this
landing page that housed
the video.
View the landing page and video
The video link was also distributed
on Twitter, Facebook and
MySpace, as well as the video
being posted to YouTube.
See Thank You video on YouTube

THANK-YOU VIDEO
RESULTS: We specifically did not include an ask in this
campaign, so while it did not raise funds, we received over
25 heartfelt e-mails from recipients who had watched the
video telling us how much it moved them. (see next slide)
The following month we raised $2.1 million dollars online.

THANK-YOU VIDEO
How extremely humbling it is to hear these Thank you for sharing the joy of these
people thanking us in the US. I was people with me. I am privileged to be
deeply touched to hear such able to help. God bless you and all you
appreciation from those who have help.
overcome adversities I will never be
able to so much as imagine.
A sampling Thank you for sharing this video with me. It
of the helped put faces on those I try to help
It is great to be reminded of the excellent with the very modest gift I give. It was
work you do, and wonderful to hear
feedback very touching to see.
first hand about what a difference it from the
makes in people’s lives. Keep up the Thank You I was deeply moved watching the video!
awesome work. video Thank you for presenting it.
Thank for sharing such inspiring stories and
Thank you so much for this video. It has
kind words expressed by people
helped to open my eyes. Thanks!
touched by CRS support.
Thank you very much for sharing with me
Against any hope, we're trying to give hope.
the many 'Thank You's.
God bless the whole CRS family.

YEAR-END 2008
Our most successful online fundraising campaign to
date (non-emergency).
• Three e-mail messages in this campaign (based on
a direct mail piece)
• Banner ads on our website
• Posts on our social networking sites.
• Coordination with Google AdWords
This campaign raised $594k online.

YEAR-END 2008
Dec 11:
Subject line:
Urgent Appeal: Your gift to
CRS is vitally important!
Straight Appeal
Static donation form
Raised $112k
View the donation form

YEAR-END 2008
Dec 29:
Subject line:
Only 48 hours left to make a tax-
deductible gift!
Added “hotspot” text
Added video message from our
president (that plays right on
the donation form)
Added a strong pull-quote
Raised $112k
View the donation form with video

YEAR-END 2008
Dec 31:
Subject line:
Final Deadline: Last chance to
make a tax-deductible gift
New “hotspot” text
Kept video message from our
president
New pull quote
Raised $119k
Watch the video

YEAR-END 2008
Watch the video that raised $244k

Social networks
Direct mail
Bringing it all together
INTEGRATED CAMPAIGNS
E-mail
Banner ads

INTEGRATED CAMPAIGNS
We are currently testing sending integrated
campaigns for on and offline; mail, e-mail and
social networks.
Time will tell how this is impacting giving behavior.
The following slides show two examples.

EASTER/RAY OF HOPE
This postal mailing
was delivered to
297k households
just prior to
Easter, containing
beautiful
postcards with
the theme of
good news,
highlighting
success stories in
CRS programs.
Offline has raised over
$400k so far.

EASTER/RAY OF HOPE
Apr 14:
Subject line:
In this season of Easter, let us
rejoice with more good news
We turned the postcards into e-mail
cards and recipients were invited to
“share the good news” with loved
ones.
Raised $7k online
View the e-mail
View the donation form

MOTHER’S DAY
E-mail
View this e-mail
Banner ad on crs.org

MOTHER’S DAY
View our Facebook Page
View our Twitter page
Social Networking Channel

THANK YOU!
Laura Durington
Online Community Manager
Catholic Relief Services
ldurington@crs.org
410-951-7210