Nick Allen from See3 Communications presents about the fundamentals and benefits of social fundraising.

1. Social Fundraising
presented by Lisa Colton and Nick Allen
February 18, 2014

2. About Lisa and Nick
Lisa Colton, Chief Learning Officer, See3
Communications and President, Darim
Online. Academy Tour Guide!
Nick Allen, Partner at See3 Communications
• Founder of Donordigital, leading online
fundraising and marketing agency
• Clients include U.S. Fund for
UNICEF, Habitat for
Humanity, AJWS, Amnesty International
• Based in Northern California. Last week
got 19 inches of rain in 5 days

3. What is “Social Fundraising”?
• Giving your supporters the online tools they
need to fundraise and engage their
community on your behalf
• Your core supporters kick it off, then recruit
champions—parents, alumni, teachers and
others—to set up their own pages and
encourage their networks to give.
• AVI CHAI Foundation will match unique
donations $1:$1 up to $500 (max $10,000)!!

4. Requirements for the Project
• Try something new—a new tool, a new group
to raise money from, a new approach that
asks people to raise money on your behalf
(usually for a specific project)
• Use social media, such as sending suggested
messages that your fundraisers or champions
can share
• Submit a proposal that your coach will review
and Darim/See3/Foundation will approve

5. Your goals
• Raise $$$$$ (hit or
exceed target) … AND…
• Flex new muscles, try
new things
• Grow your social
networks for the long
term

6. More goals
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Engage the school community
Engage new donors, esp. young alumni
Identify “ambassadors” and “champions”
Create culture of philanthropy in your school
and community

8. How they did it:
Robert M. Beren Academy (Houston)
1. Strategically craft a campaign – project would
benefit entire PreK-12, broad appeal, “Music
and Movement Challenge.” Got admin buyin.
2. Create campaign on crowdrise.com
3. Tell the world – messages to entire school
community, champions for the campaign

9. 4. Train the champions – in a Powerpoint
presentation, we told the campaign champs how
to create their own personalized crowdrise.com
pages
5. Incentivize the champions – Amazon.com gift
cards to champions who raised the most
money, and secured the largest number of
individual donations
6. Watch the money roll in – within hours, our
champions were talking up the campaign and
bringing in gifts.
Thanks: Samantha Steinberg and
Rachie Jacobson Gold, RMBA’s
Directors of Marketing/Admission
and Development

12. Kickstarter “First Class Hoodie”

14. Likely donors (and champions!)
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Parents
Grandparents
Alumni
Alumni parents
Local philanthropists (double match?)
Existing donors to the school
Students (show your commitment)

15. What makes people
donate/fundraise?
1. A friend or family member asks
2. A friend or family member asks
3. A friend or family member asks

16. 4. To support a friend, family member,
colleague
5. To support a school/project
6. To support the Jewish future
7. To feel good
8. To look good in front of others
9. To….???

17. Making an effective
crowd-funding page
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Set ambitious but realistic goal
Set deadline (4-6 weeks away)
Make the case for giving (tell a story)
Show a short video (30-60 seconds)
Provide “gift handles” - $18 will buy X, $180
will buy Y, $1,800 will buy Z
6. Show progress (We’ve raised 2/3 of goal!!)

18. Invite people to participate
• Ask for donations, specify amounts
• Start at $5, $10 to make it easy for everyone (but
how high to go?)
• Encourage additional participation from donors –
share on FB, email, ask your parents or
grandparents or friends
• Identify the “influencers” and encourage them to
spread the word to their networks (after they
have made their own personal commitment!)

20. How to invite
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School Web site
Email (school and personal)
Facebook (school and personal)
Twitter
YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram (if…)
Community Web sites (JCC, Jewish
weekly, synagogue, etc.)

21. Keep them in the loop
• Post updates on campaign site, your Web
site, social media, and by email
• Convey urgency by showing your fabulous
progress: “Just $1,500 left to go. Help put us
over the top!”
• Remind supporters that they are a key part of
large group that’s achieving the goal together

22. Show your
• Thank your
supporters across
channels, publicly!
• Praise your
supporters
• Broadcast your
appreciation for
your supporters

23. • Read what people write on
fundraising page
• Read Facebook, Twitter
• Ask your supporters via
email, Facebook, Twitter
“how can we make the
campaign even better”
Listen

24. Facebook strategy (+Big Duck)
• Share videos, photos, quotes, testimonials, celebrities
• Work the people already connected to you – school
community, Facebook friends, Twitter followers, etc. -- they’re your
advocates
• “Join the conversation” is a common tagline used in social
media, which implies that using social media is as much about
receiving from your audience as it is about reaching out to them.
• Pay attention to the feedback or the lack thereof; you’ll learn if the
ways you’re amplifying your message resonates with your audience.
Then you can adjust your posts as necessary.

25. Getting “shares”
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Ask for Shares
Cute, clever, intriguing photos/captions
Share by DEADLINE and help us ….
Show value – Share this and help us raise $18

26. Getting shares

28. Finding the “influencers”

29. Your influencers could be:
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Best loved teachers, administrators, alums
Friends or family very active on social media
Journalists, esp. online (Jewish weekly)
Celebrities

31. Twitter 115th most followed (7.7m)

32. Twitter #1 Katy Perry (50m)

33. 5 keys to success
1. Come up with great campaign
2. Build compelling fundraising page –
project, gifts, deadline, video, fun
3. Promote it across your best channels –
Web, email, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc
.
4. Ask people to fundraising for you
5. Report back, remind people of deadline and
how they can help

34. Keep learning…
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Darim Online
Big Duck
Razoo.com
Crowdrise.com
www.dayschoolacademy.org

37. Thank you!