Using Facebook Timeline to Market your Nonprofit

Mark Zuckerberg stopped bathing in money the other week long enough to show the world how you can make your organ donation status a Facebook Timeline Life Event. Wondering how you can market your charity through Facebook timeline? I hadn’t given it much thought until one of my favorite charities tried a similar Facebook Timeline idea out on me, and now it’s seems like such an obvious strategy for every nonprofit.

Earlier this year I signed up to be a donor to the Bone Marrow Registry at BeTheMatch.org.  I’ve been thinking about this for a while, but a series of interactions pushed me over the edge. They were:

•    A public appeal for people to sign up to find a match for a child I didn’t know (online/social channel);
•    A personal friend who needed a match to cure his long-standing cancer (personal connection);
•    A segment on a morning talk show about how easy it is (television!).

(Multi-channel marketing nerds will note that it’s nearly impossible to capture this stream, and yet re-affirms everything we know about multi-channel marketing warming up a prospect and converting them.)

The two step technique was simple to execute, here’s how BeTheMatch did it.

1. They emailed me, pointing out that something small that I did was incredibly important to them and asked me to put it on my Facebook Timeline as a “life event”

Honestly I don’t think about my marrow donation much day to day, just when it comes up in conversation or when I see an ad of some sort.  I felt slightly emotional when they emailed me suggesting it was a life event. For someone else, if we match, it surely will be.  Once that realization clicked, I was hooked.

2. Provided me a catchy graphic to use in my timeline

BeTheMatch sent this one out along with these instructions.

If I was designing it I would have made the URL a little bigger, but hey, nobody’s perfect.  Also they encouraged me to write my own message.  I did, but my friend actually put the URL in there, something they forgot to tell me to do.  Look at these two examples and wonder which one is more likely to drive a click to your website.

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What's your X factor?

Some associations are very good at figuring out the key activities of their members, and developing services around them.  These services target something that each member does individually anyway, but they realize significant benefits from joining in a group version.  They are centralized services.

Race for Relevance, the ASAE book being read by nonprofit boards across the country, highlights the use of technology to provide centralized services.  For example, The Texas Trial Lawyers Association developed a centralized deposition service, which now reaches over 85,000 lawyers and generates revenue for each member association.  In addition it provides a real incentive for lawyers to join their local trial lawyers association, since membership is required to use the service. 

Another area of successful centralized member services is the college application services for the health professions.  The associations of graduate schools of medicine, osteopathic medicine, dentistry, nursing, public health, podiatry, and veterinary medicine have online systems to accept and deliver applications to their member schools.  These services are win-win.  The applicants have a streamlined service with clear deadlines, requirements and communication.  The institutions have state-of-the-art software provided by the central association.  And the association has a service, which generates both significant revenue and great value for members.

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New Study: Donations Decline for Nonprofits

Many of Frogloop's readers are professional nonprofit fundraisers who watch trends like a hawk -- at least when those trends affect fundraising results across sectors and channels.

Of the different trend-spotting resources, few are as important and authoritative as the "donorCentrics Index of National Fundraising Performance" published quarterly by Target Analytics, a division of Blackbaud.

Yesterday in Washington, DC, Target's senior fundraising analyst Paige Grainger gave a terrific "state of the nonprofit industry" talk, which summarized key findings from Target's latest, 2011 Index. The full report is here.  Paige spoke at a luncheon that Care2 sponsored of the Direct Marketing Association of Washington (DMAW).

Target's data this year was drawn from 80 different nonprofit organizations, 38 million donors, 79 million gifts and $2.5 billion worth of donations revenue (although it excluded any donations worth $10,000 or more). Channels covered included online, direct mail, telemarketing and canvassing.

So what was the big picture "headline?"  A sobering one, overall. But with a few very bright spots.

"The Increase in Revenue Per Donor Is Still Not Compensating for the Declining Quantity of Donors," Paige told us is the headline from the survey.

More key findings...

• Overall revenue from nonprofits in Target's index declined again in 2011. The median drop was 2.1 percent. There were many exceptions, though. In fact, 39 percent of nonprofits in the index actually had year-over-year revenue INCREASES last year.

• Human Services and "Social Benefit" nonprofits performed the best -- including in acquisition of new donors (Note, the "Social Benefit" category included Human Rights Campaign, ACLU, Public Citizen and other nonprofits that engage in lots of advocacy.) While just about all the other surveyed nonprofits saw drops in new donors acquired, Social Benefit nonprofits were experiencing increases in new donors acquired.

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Let’s Tell Stories to Each Other

Those of us who work in the nonprofit, “make the world a better place” sector, talk a lot about good storytelling. That’s because the craft of storytelling is hard, and takes practice. When you get good at it, though, it can transform your communications and fundraising.

But if all we ever do is talk about good stories – without telling some actual stories of our own – well that’s pretty unsatisfying. It’s like a bunch of chefs reading their gourmet cookbooks to each other, but never cooking for each other, and getting to taste each other’s actual food. What a tease!

Network for Good’s Katya Andresen and I want to feed all you hungry storytellers – and let you feed the rest of us, too. We want to create a stage to spotlight good storytelling by the same smart, cause-loving people who work in this great “make the world a better place” sector.

So we’ve officially launched an online journal called “Characters.” Now we are cordially inviting you to submit your short stories, your non-fiction accounts, and your photography for the inaugural issue, which will be out this fall.

Check it out: http://charactersmag.com/

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A Recipe for $uccess: Tracking & Converting for Maximum Results

So you've acquired them. Now what?!

Converting new subscribers to donors of course depends on the RIGHT communication strategy; but maximizing the return on your online constituency growth investment depends on the RIGHT data and the RIGHT interpretation.

Do you have a plan?  Do you know what to look for? ...and what it all means?

Join Janna Chan of the Center for Reproductive Rights (formerly of Lambda Legal and M+R Strategic Services) and two Grams (Jaime Grams of Integral and Dane Grams of Care2, formerly of GLSEN and HRC) for our latest Expert Webinar:

"A Recipe for $uccess: Tracking & Converting to Maximize Returns" on Tuesday 5/22 at 2PM ET 

Learn from this real-life example how to manage and track new online subscribers and how it can help guide you on your communications and fundraising, as well as pinpoint the real value of your nonprofit's supporters.

In this webinar you will learn:

• Why it is important to recruit new supporters
• How to keep online subscribers engaged, involved and converting to donors
• What are the right metrics for measuring success, short term and long term
• How to compare your online investment to other direct response and marketing channels

This Expert Webinar is FREE but space is limited, so please register today!

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Seven Secrets to Getting More Donors

Fundraising is your nonprofit’s lifeblood; it fuels the impact you make. Yet, most of us aren’t professionally trained fundraisers so it doesn’t come naturally to us.

How can you attract more donors? What are the secrets of professional fundraisers?

There’s good news. We launched a free 7-part video series on the secrets of getting donors with Ruthellen Rubin, a Certified Fund Raising Executive and professor of philanthropy.

She distills over 30 years of professional nonprofit fundraising experience and expertise into seven short videos. Here are her seven secrets to fundraising like a pro. 

1. Develop a case for support

Your prospective donors are asking why they should support your nonprofit. You need to clarify why you’re asking for a donation, and sell the successes of your nonprofit. Developing a case for support gets donors to invest in your organization. People don’t give to charity anymore; they invest in results.

2. Create real, personal, and urgent appeals

The most effective fundraising appeals are real, personal, and urgent. Use compelling storytelling with images and videos to connect a donor’s donation to a tangible impact or result of their donation.

3. Startup founders must have fundraising responsibilities

In a startup nonprofit, the founding team is responsible for setting an example: this team should be the first to donate to the organization so that others will follow their lead. The amount doesn’t matter; full team participation matters more.

4. Be good stewards

Committing to year-round stewardship will retain current donors and recruit new repeat donors. Their funds are an extension of their faith in the organization and the missions, so remember: you’re not only stewarding their money, you’re stewarding their trust. Care for your donors by investing in them -- send a personalized thank you note; a formal, written thank you note; mid-year update; and a personalized ask the following year.

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Eight Social Justice and Advocacy Conferences You Must Attend

There are so many great conferences coming up for the nonprofit community. With so little free time on your hands, it can be challenging to figure out which ones you must attend in May and June. Check out our top picks below.

Speed Learning: List Growth Strategies for Nonprofits – May 17th

Ok so technically this is not a conference, but it's going to be a fantastic event for the nonprofit community. Have you ever tried “speed learning?” Want to? If so, this event is for you! Join Salsa and partners for “Speed Learning: List Growth Strategies for Nonprofits” on Thursday, May 17 at 4:30pm. Care2 and other vendors will be on hand to offer tips, tricks, and best practices on how to grow your list. And it will all be done in a “speed dating” format. There will be five tables, each focused on a different list growth strategy – and you’ll get to visit them all to learn from list growth gurus Care2, Rad Campaign, Charity Dynamics, and Beaconfire.

After the speed session, head to the Salsa office where you’ll have a chance to network with other nonprofit do-gooders from the area. Register now!

Time: Discussion starts at 4:00 PM
Networking Happy Hour to follow at the Salsa Office at 5:30 PM

Place: FHI360, Vista Room
1825 Connecticut Avenue Northwest Washington, DC 20009

Women Who Tech TeleSummit – May 23rd

The virtual Women Who Tech Telesummit which happens via internet audio and the web provides some of the most web thought-provoking, inspiring, and skills building sessions for nonprofit campaigners and social change makers. Don't miss the panels Using Technology and Social Media to Build Social Movements with Amy Sample Ward of NTEN, Michael Silberman of Green Peace International, Claire Diaz Ortiz of Twitter, and April Pedersen of Salsa Labs. The panel on Changing the World with Open Source will discuss how open source is literally revolutionizing the world and offer some great case studies on how the wikimedia foundation used Drupal and CiviCRM to raise $16M online. Register now!

AFP TechKnow – June 4-5th

The AFP TechKnow Conference Presented by Visa will offer an interactive learning experience designed to connect nonprofit fundraising and management professionals with leading-edge information and effective practices in using technology to accomplish their organizations’ missions. The conference will position interactive websites and social media as core elements in today’s development mix via two tracks: strategy and technology. It will feature opportunities for learning, networking and exhibiting. Hashtag: #RewireToInspire

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