August 3rd, 2010 by vwakeman
“Is offline fundraising dead?” This is a repeated question we are hearing from our nonprofit clients and friends. While I will never throw in the towel on those important face-to-face encounters with donors, I do believe organizations find new opportunities to generate support online. Online donation campaigns typically require fewer funds and labor hours to accomplish lofty fundraising goals.
Best practices in the nonprofit sector aren’t always the most efficient fundraising techniques. Instead, many organizations cling to the way things have always been done and old habits die hard. In the offline world, those best practices are very present. In the online world, nonprofits are revealing a new side of their personality – boldness! Nonprofits of all sizes seize their moment to be seen and heard. They also happen to collect money to support their mission at the same time.
I must caution that neither approach will work without proper planning and goal setting. Every organization needs a unique strategic approach to reap the greatest rewards. Both online and offline fundraising require clear communication with constituents and building an emotional connection. Offline, the Rainmaker, aka Executive Director, President or CEO of the organization leads the charge – shaking hands, making connections and developing relationships that will hopefully lead to commitments of financial support. Online, an organization has the ability to take the conversation from 1 to millions, minimizing the time required for the Rainmaker to participate, but still keeping the ability to generate much needed funds.
Annual appeals, friend-raisers and fundraising dinners all come with price tags much greater than creating a Twitter campaign or adding a fundraising widget on Facebook. In my opinion, both channels of fundraising are critical to the vitality of an organization and neither should be ignored.
For those organizations whose fundraising traditions are deeply rooted in offline strategies, continue to do so. But don’t ignore the power of the online world to strengthen those relationships and develop new ones. At your annual fundraising event, incorporate text to pledge donating, arming your Host Committee members with the tools they need to collect micro-donations in the weeks leading up to your event. Finally, identify ways to keep the conversation going online so that your online presence can be a continual source of revenue. All of these techniques allow a greater pool of people to be a part of the change you seek to create.
To all of our friends making noise in the online world, like the Great Wizard of Oz, eventually you must reveal yourself from behind the curtain of the virtual world. Find ways to bring your donors together and share your plans. Honor those individuals that have exhibited exemplary work. With any face-to-face event you decide upon, you can place your spin on it. No matter how successful your online campaign is, remember at some point you do need to take it offline.
Here are a few links to check out for examples of online fundraising success:
Fundraising 101
Secrets of Micro-Fundraising
TechSoup
Neoaid Leverages the Web
We’d love to hear about your success — let us know what you’re doing!
Tags: Communication, Donations, donors, fundraising, Special Events
Posted in Communication, Special Events, fundraising, nonprofits | 1 Comment »
June 28th, 2010 by vwakeman
Most large organizations spend significant time and money creating a culture. The Walt Disney Company holds a two-day class for all new hires called Traditions. While various human resources policies are covered, the primary goal is for every cast member to know what it means to do things the “Disney Way” and how to execute it. As a result, no matter when a guest visits the park, the experience is consistent; cast members are led to always go the extra mile in preserving the magic. And let’s not forget about Zappos. Their billion dollar success was built on a culture of happiness and killer customer service.
So what is your organization’s culture? Have you defined it? Don’t know where to start? One simple way to get feedback is starting with anonymous surveys with team members to make them answer a few key questions. How are we currently operating? How could we improve operations for our key stakeholders? Do you feel empowered to in your current role in the company?
As you open up the dialogue, you can build a vision of your organization’s culture and strengthen it with the team signing on with support. Once a positive organizational culture is formed, employee actions stem from a consistent and positive place for the organization. Sometimes small organizations don’t consider the importance of creating a culture. The perception is that we’re too small to worry about it. What usually ends up happening is a culture is formed based on the lack of culture – yikes!
As the CEO of a small company I know both sides of this coin. Sitting in a staff meeting with a few employees sharing the vision to change the world may feel a little silly and maybe even obnoxious, but chances are if you don’t engage your staff and help them to understand exactly how they fit into the plan, you will miss your mark.
Learn from my mistakes. With a mix of full-time and contract employees working on an ever growing project load, I have from time to time ignored the culture norms that make us who we are. What I’ve found is each time that happens a new culture emerges that doesn’t reflect who we are and how we want to be viewed.
In my next post, I’ll share more about our experiences. Stay tuned!
Tags: Communication, Employees/Staffing
Posted in Communication, publicity | No Comments »
June 23rd, 2010 by vwakeman
Hey folks, I was speaking at an event for entrepreneurs recently and was asked for some quick tips about how to get some ink. These same rules apply to nonprofit organizations. Definitely helpful if you’re just starting your PR journey. For those that have mastered these tips, we’ll post some advanced tips in a future post.
1. Do your research. Before you contact any media outlets, spend some time getting to know which outlets are likely to cover non-profits, and familiarize yourself with the style of the reporters that cover your beat and/or the format of the radio and television show hosts.
2. Trends and Forecasting. Look at current events — is anything happening now that relates to your business? Are there any trends that you can share with the media? If you are unsure as to what specific aspects of your charity will be newsworthy look at trends in your sector and help the media to spotlight your predictions based on your expertise.
3. Share the spotlight. If you offer yourself as an expert as part of a story and can suggest to the media other sources that can also provide useful information on the topic, you will not only increase your chances of getting some ink, you will also be seen as a valuable resource to the media and they will call upon you time and time again.
4. Training required. No matter how savvy the spokespeople for you organization are, it is important that proper time is given to craft the message. Rarely will you have the luxury of knowing before the interview the exact questions that the reporter will ask you. Instead of focusing on this, think about the three key messages you would like to share and spend some time crafting them so that they fit well with the interview. You will reiterate these throughout the interview changing the actual words but the message stays the same. If this sounds impossible, think back to the Presidential debates. No matter what they are asked they will always find a way to bridge it back to their key messages.
5. Quote me. A reporter can interview many sources for a story and not everyone will always make the final cut. Make sure that you do get included by offering a few sound bites; energy charged quotes that help to bring life to the story that the reporter simply can’t live without.
Tags: media training, PR 101, PR tips, Pr tutorial, publicity
Posted in Public Relations, media training, nonprofits, publicity | No Comments »
June 17th, 2010 by vwakeman
While annual appeals are still an effective way to raise funds, nonprofit organizations can benefit from looking at other ways to generate passive revenue streams by leveraging the emotional power of their core services.
With Father’s Day approaching, I can’t help but notice the clever but effective and highly valuable tie-ins that some savvy nonprofits have created. One that I really love is charity: water . charity: water allows gift givers an option to purchase gift cards that will provide safe drinking water to people in developing nations. In their online store, you can create a personalized Father’s Day card and make your purchase on behalf of dear old Dad. What a great way to show Dad that you were listening when he told you about the importance of helping others.
Tie-ins like this offer a great opportunity for do-gooders and the rest of us to make major impact. For nonprofits that don’t think this could work for them, think again. With some creativity and planning every nonprofit can increase their revenue stream by simply making charitable opportunities more accessible.
Has your organization found new supporters from a recent promotion or tie-in? We’d love to hear about it.
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
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