Nonprofit Benchmark Study Shows Nonprofits Are Raising More Money

Last month we reported that online fundraising response rates declined 27% between 2011-2012, according to the eNonprofit Benchmark study. The latest Blackbaud Online Marketing Benchmark Study for Nonprofits that analyzed data from 500 organizations using the Luminate platform also indicated a steep decline in fundraising response rates. According to the report, response rates on appeals declined by more than 18%. “Declining response rates illustrate a saturated channel with undifferentiated messaging and campaigns, said the report. “This is present in direct mail, telemarketing, and face-to-face solicitation.”

The average online gift was $89.

While open rates were 14.72% (slightly up from the previous year), the average click rate on online fundraising appeals were .7%

Online Revenue and Advocacy Growth

On a more positive note, median online revenue grew by 11.6%. Online fundraising was driven primarily by recurring donors and repeat donors, which grew 27 percent and 20 percent, respectively. First time gifts grew 3%.

Advocacy saw an 8.7% increase in actions taken and 11.9% of advocates that also made a donation online. It’s worth noting that Jewish organizations experienced an increase of advocates by 23.6%, and environment and wildlife had an increase of 22.46%. This illustrates that that if cultivated properly advocates can also be converted to donors.

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Don't Let Endless Meetings Derail Decision-Making

Does your organization have trouble making decisions? Perhaps you have endless meetings discussing whether to launch a campaign? Or debates about that rapid response to a recent development around a core issue that your organization is working on. Sound familiar? Our discomfort with taking action and making decisions quickly stems from our desire to want everyone at the table to be supportive and feel good about the decisions being made within the organization. But having too many cooks in the kitchen and this desire to please everyone actually derails our progress to make decisions, especially when it comes to rapid response. This is why organizations miss important opportunities during key moments to take the lead on national or local conversations relating to their advocacy campaigns.

I was reminded of this quandary we face after seeing Hugh MacLeod’s recent illustration that says “You don’t need more time. You need to decide.”  It was inspired by a post from Seth Godin and Dr. Len Schlesinger, President of Babson College who wrote a book on the subject, "Action Trumps Everything."

“Sometimes we feel that we need more time, more information, more... before making a move. Endless meetings, analysis and discussion will likely not get you any closer to a better decision. You need to make your move. Inaction is one of the greatest curses of life,” says MacLeod.

So the next time someone at your organization asks for another meeting to make yet another decision about a campaign, have this poster on hand to remind you that your organization does not need more time, you just need to make a decision. And “carry on” as Tim Gunn so eloquently says.

The Art of Petition Delivery

So you got 10,000 people to sign your petition - awesome! Now let the fun begin...

We all know that petitions are effective for list growth and influencing policy when combined with a strategic campaign plan. But really, what to do with all those juicy signatures to move your issue?

Join Care2 and Salsa Labs on a 'tour de petition' as we explore how organizations like Protect Our Defenders, ForestEthics, Environmental Defense Fund and more are making the most out of their hard earned signatures.

Join Care2, Salsa Labs and organizations from the Mississippi River Delta Restoration Campaign for this Expert Webinar on TUESDAY MAY 28th at 2pm ET

In this webinar you'll learn how to use petition signatures to:

• Impact decision makers
• Gain media exposure
• Engage your members
• Build on your campaign momentum

About the Presenters:

Jeanette Russell – Organizing Director, Salsa Labs
Nonprofit leader Jeanette Russell brings nearly 20 years of nonprofit experience to her role as organizing director for Salsa Labs. She has extensive knowledge of NP technology, organizing and fundraising, gathered in part from her role as a co-founder of a national coalition to protect national forests from industrial logging. Jeanette has planned hundreds of workshops, events, rallies and webinars for progressive nonprofits nationwide. In addition, she has served on the board of the WildWest Institute and co-founded the Missoula chapter of the New Leaders Council.

Ryan Rastegar – Campaign Coordinator, Mississippi River Delta Restoration
Ryan is the Campaign Coordinator for the Mississippi River Delta Restoration Campaign whose primary goal is to restore Louisiana’s coast (which is losing a football field of land every hour!). It is a coalition effort comprised of National Wildlife Federation, National Audubon Society and Environmental Defense Fund. Ryan works jointly for all three groups as part of the central campaign team. He organizes the coalition’s internal structure and work plan and also leads the coalition’s online action team.

Ryan got his start as an organizer with Green Corps back in 2008 and has been working to build large movements on behalf of the environment ever since. He has worked on a multitude of issues from climate and energy policy to food issues to conservation. Ryan’s specialties include field organizing, online organizing, coalition work, media outreach, strategic campaign planning, leadership development, public speaking and fundraising.

Molly Connors – Director of Nonprofit Services, Care2
Molly learned first hand the power of having a ready and dedicated list of supporters to turn to during her many years with PBS. As part of the original PBS Interactive team, Molly was instrumental in the launch of PBS Online in the mid 1990s, the precursor to pbs.org.

With over 20 years of marketing and business development experience with media brands such as C-SPAN, PBS, TLC and founding and managing a women-owned small business, Molly brings a unique perspective to nonprofit fundraising. At Care2, Molly helps small and large nonprofits grow their donor and supporter base through targeted online engagement campaigns.

REGISTER NOW and attend this FREE Expert Webinar on TUESDAY, MAY 28th at 2PM ET

If You’re Going To Use Social Media, Do It Right

Last week Amy Sample Ward and I held a webinar with Care2 on Social Media: You’re Probably Doing it Wrong. We had a terrific conversation about some of the themes we discuss in our book Social Change Anytime Everywhere such as how to manage an online crisis and avoid alienating your community. We also discussed how to foster meaningful conversations with your community. Here are three of our favorite tips that we shared.

Don’t Rely On Automated Updates

What was the first thing you did after hearing about the shooter that killed 12 people and injured 58 at the Aurora movie theater in Colorado? Perhaps you jumped on to Twitter or Facebook to look at what friends were saying or sharing. Maybe you turned on CNN to watch the story unfold. I bet you did not expect to see these tweets from the NRA.

It turns out, that this tweet was sent out via Hootsuite and was posted as an automated tweet by one of the official NRA accounts. It’s times like these when you realize how automated tweets can make your organization look insensitive and out of touch to breaking or tragic news that is unfolding. We recommend that if you need to schedule social media posts, you do so sparingly and be prepared to delete them quickly if breaking news is happening.

Don’t Insult Your Followers

There is a lot we can learn from branding guru Guy Kawasaki who has over 1M followers on Twitter including how he mishandled constructive feedback about his automated tweets about a German Shepard eating like a human video following the Boston Marathon bombings. After his followers asked him to stop sending out the automated tweets, Guy tweeted back “Loving how people with less than 1,500 followers, are telling me how to tweet...”

It’s natural to have moments when we feel annoyed about something someone has said to us on Twitter and Facebook. But as representatives of our organizations it’s critical that we not take things so personally and certainly not take it out on our community by insulting them. Instead a better approach would have been for Guy to say “Thanks for the suggestions folks. I hear what you are saying.” This situation caused Guy negative publicity, which could have been avoided if he did not lash out and insult his community. While Guy is not an organization, he is a well-respected thought leader, so his personal profile is a significant part of his brand and business.

Apologize When You Mess Up

When the revolution in Cairo was taking place, the marketing folks at Kenneth Cole thought they would send out a "clever" tweet about this historic moment. The tweet said: “Millions are in uproar in Cairo. Rumor has it they heard about our Spring collection.”

People were livid with Kenneth Cole because they found it tasteless to hijack this moment for marketing purposes. Things bubbled up very quickly. People began blasting Kenneth Cole publicly on social media. The media also began writing about the tweet and the negative response they were receiving. After the company heard the negative feedback, Kenneth Cole himself issued an apology on Facebook, Twitter, and on their blog.

What are your favorite tips for doing social media right?

Crowdsource This… and That: Getting Creative with Crowdsourcing Strategy (Internet Advocacy Roundtable, April 2013)

Crowdsourcing is all the rage.

From micro-fundraising on Kickstarter.com to mapping craters on the Moon, people are coming up with creative ways to harness large groups of online volunteers. April's Internet Advocacy Roundtable featured speakers who’ve used crowdsourcing in some very creative ways to great effect.

Crowdsourcing is not just a new idea born out of social media. It has deep roots in social science research. Every time you read the results of a scientifically rigorous opinion poll, you are learning from the crowd. Large, probability samples of citizens can accurately tell us a lot about the opinions of the nation at large.

In the newest manifestations of crowdsourcing, we are turning to the crowd to create economies of scale for projects that can use large groups of people to do the work. Marty Kearns, of NetCentric Campaigns has long framed the challenge thusly: most organizations historically, would be unable to take advantage of 10,000 simultaneous volunteers. But with today’s social media tools, any organization can now turn those 10,000 volunteers into a productive force.

Watch April's Internet Advocacy Roundtable: "Crowdsource This… and That: Getting Creative with Crowdsourcing Strategy" to hear insights on crowdsourcing from some very smart people doing very interesting projects.

*Are you in DC on May 16th? RSVP for the next Internet Advocacy Roundtable:  "Solving Your Biggest Social Media Headache: Integrating Social, Email & Your Website for Advocacy"

New Data Shows Why Donors Breakup With Nonprofits

Ever wonder why your nonprofit donors decide to stop supporting your organization? Check out this data by Bloomerang and the Rockefeller Corporation that compares why donors leave compared to why customers leave commercial companies. One of the reasons I appreciate research like this is because it demonstrates the importance of providing the best constituent experiences no matter if you work in the nonprofit world or the for-profit world. If we don’t alwas focus our attention on building these strong relationships, we lose people.

Thanks to Marc Pitman for finding this great gem of a graphic.

Creating a Virtuous Cycle of Engagement For Millennials

While members of the Millennial Generation, now the largest generation in our nation’s history, are widely known for a desire to give back to their communities or be part of large social change movements – the way Millennials define their engagement tends to be very different from the way organizations do. 

When you ask a Millennial, “Do you support a nonprofit or social cause?” The resounding answer is, “Yes!” When you follow that up by asking, “How do you support that organization?” You’re likely to hear answers like, I signed a petition, changed my avatar on Twitter, or liked them on Facebook.

Now, ask an organization if Millennials are supporting their cause, and they say, “No, we just can’t figure out how to reach them.”  There in lies the disconnect between Millennials who believe they are supporting activism versus what organizations see as truly engaged participation.

With that in mind, organizations must embrace the notion that how they define engagement will be different. A one-size-fits-all approach is nearly impossible and will only meet the needs of a small segment of your audience – typically the super-engaged Millennials.

So, how do we convert a new generation of organizational champions into loyal and passionate advocates and donors? And how can we best position organizations so they are able to capture the limited time, dollars and attention spans of a generation always on the go? We’ll be the first to say, there’s no silver bullet. But there are a few concepts that we introduce in Cause for Change: The Why and How of Nonprofit Millennial Engagement that we hope will help your organization navigate this ever-changing space.

In Cause for Change, we introduce the Virtuous Cycle of Engagement as the core to building an organization’s Millennial engagement strategy. Here’s what the Cycle looks like – starting with the inquisitive and conscious consumer and moving toward deeper engagement as activists and ultimately true influencers or peer agents.

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