3 Tips for Marketing Your Organization on a Limited Budget

December 5, 2023 Ann Green Communications, donor engagement, email, marketing, newsletter, social media, website Communications, donor engagement, email, marketing, newsletter, social media, website

Marketing your organization on a budget is easy when you know the right strategies and tools to use. Explore these top tips to step up your marketing strategy.

By Olivia Mode-Cater

Picture this: your organization is about to host another fundraising event. You’ve assembled a fundraising team, booked a venue, and put together the perfect program agenda. Once it comes time to get the word out about your event, you quickly realize you don’t have that much money left in your budget to create promotional materials and decide to deprioritize marketing. However, this results in low attendance numbers, causing you to miss the mark on your fundraising goal.

If this sounds like a situation your organization has been in before, you need to update your approach to marketing. Even if you’re strapped for cash, there are a variety of ways to get the word out about your events, campaigns, and current initiatives without spending a single dollar!

In this article, we’ll go over three money-saving tips that you can use to market your organization and get the support you need:

Keep your website content fresh
Generate quality social media content
Create compelling email newsletters

Whether you’re a dance studio hoping to promote your donation form for your year-end campaign or a nonprofit that wants to market its monthly giving program, the right marketing strategies and tools can help. Let’s dig into the essentials.

Keep your website content fresh

Your website is a rich information hub that acts as the focal point of your digital presence, but are you harnessing its full potential? By updating your website regularly and using it to spotlight your upcoming events, campaigns, projects, and more, you can successfully expand your reach and bring in new audiences for your organization.

Leverage these cost-effective strategies to shape your website into a powerful marketing tool:

Create event and campaign landing pages: Dedicated landing pages can help you dive deep into the details of your upcoming events and spotlight why it’s worth your audience’s time to register, donate, or take another relevant action. Cover all the logistical details, including the date and time of your event or campaign, its purpose, and how to get involved. Be sure to embed your registration or donation form directly into your landing page to help drive conversions and streamline your users’ actions.
Share testimonials: Testimonials can provide great social proof that drives prospective audience members to support your organization. Create a testimonials page that features varied quotes from community members explaining why they support your organization or are eager to receive your services. For example, a dance studio might collect testimonials from students, parents, and alumni to show the value in signing up for classes. Similarly, nonprofits can feature testimonials from beneficiaries, explaining how your organization has made a difference in their lives.
Generate blog content: Consistent blog content can keep community members tapped into your organization and eager to sign up for your upcoming events. Write content regularly, such as posting every other week to communicate important updates about your organization. To help offload the burden of creating content, you can also ask your beneficiaries, volunteers, donors, or loyal customers to create content reflecting on their experiences.

As you refresh your website and create new content, make sure to widely promote these links to your audience. For example, if you recently created an event landing page to spotlight your upcoming peer-to-peer fundraising event, you could summarize the purpose of this event in your email newsletter and include a link to your landing page for people to learn more and register.

Keep in mind that taking a multichannel approach, such as sharing links on social media or through QR codes in your direct mail, can help you direct multiple audiences to your website and keep your organization at top of mind.

You might also leverage a dedicated communication app so you can more easily reach your target audience and ensure you have their support for your upcoming project. There are many cost-effective marketing platforms available that have built-in communication tools, so do your research to find the best solution for your organization. While investing in a marketing solution might seem like a big expense upfront, you’ll be able to derive a high ROI from it year over year, ensuring your organization can make back its investment and more.

Generate quality social media content

With audiences spending more time on social media than ever before, regularly posting social media content is an easy money-saving strategy to ensure your content gets in front of your target audience. However, spamming content about your upcoming event or campaign can have the opposite effect, turning prospective audiences away from your organization and decreasing your engagement levels.

Instead, construct a quality and intentional social media strategy that is tailored to your audience and supports your marketing goals. Use these tips to get started:

Share a variety of visuals: Posting the same type of content over and over can quickly bore your audience. Generate a variety of visuals, such as photos from your latest event or infographics that highlight your organization’s impact, to grab your followers’ attention. You could also tap into the power of video, which can help you convey important information in an easily digestible format. Double the Donation’s guide to fundraising videos recommends keeping your video short and sweet and ending in a firm call to action so audiences know how to get involved.
Use catchy hashtags to expand your reach: Hashtags can open up your community to new audiences and boost brand visibility. For example, if you’re a dance studio hosting a dance-a-thon, you might use the hashtag #DancingForACause or #DancingForDollars to create interest. You can also feature your dance studio name or city in your hashtag to draw local audiences to your event, such as #YourCityDanceAThon or #YourStudioNameDanceAThon. When participants post about your event, encourage them to pair it with your dedicated hashtag.
Consider hosting social media contests: A social media contest is a great way to rally your whole community around your organization while growing your reach. You might ask supporters or customers to post videos about why they support your organization, and then award the audience member with the greatest number of likes or comments with a prize. Pair a hashtag with your contest and ask audiences to tag your account in their post so people in their personal networks can learn more about your organization.

As you share content on social media, track metrics, like impressions and likes, to assess your performance. You may have to make adjustments to your content to better appeal to your audiences and drive greater engagement levels.

Create compelling email newsletters

Your email newsletter is the perfect place to remind people of your upcoming activities and include links to your website and social media accounts. To strengthen your email newsletters and maximize their value, use these best practices:

Include an eye-catching subject line: Your audience receives anywhere from tens to hundreds of emails a day. To stand out from the crowd you’ll need to create a brief, yet compelling subject line that piques your subscribers’ interests. For example, a subject line like “Don’t Miss Out On Our Annual Halloween Fundraiser!” or “Register Tonight for the Event Of the Season!” summarizes the central purpose of the newsletter while drawing the reader in so they feel motivated to open your email.
Break up your content with visuals: Make your email newsletters even more engaging by adding a variety of visuals, like photos, videos, and graphics. Ensure these elements are reasonably sized to create a positive user experience and avoid using too many visuals so your audience isn’t overwhelmed.
Use clear calls to action: Firm calls to action direct your audience to their next step so they can easily complete it. Create call-to-action buttons that stand out from the rest of your newsletter content and ensure they are hyperlinked to the relevant resource, like your donation page or event registration form. You’ll also want to use succinct, clear language that creates a sense of immediacy. For instance, a call to action like “Donate by midnight to get your gifts matched!” gets to the point quickly while using time-bound language to spur action.

DanceStudio-Pro’s guide to dance studio marketing also recommends using email to show appreciation to your audience. Once your supporters complete a target action like donating or registering for an event, automate a thank-you email conveying your gratitude for their continued support. This practice will help you develop strong relationships with your audience that will benefit your organization for years.

Wrapping Up

Marketing your organization doesn’t have to cost your team an arm and a leg when you have the right tools and strategies! Assess your existing toolkit and make adjustments to your marketing plan as needed to optimize your promotional strategies. Keep in mind that adding an all-in-one marketing platform to your tech stack can streamline your approach and help you save money in the long run.

Olivia Mode-Cater is an industry leader in dance education and dance entrepreneurship, having presented on these topics on a national and international level. Olivia’s work draws on her experiences as a veteran dance educator in all teaching settings: higher education, PK-12 schools, and studios. Olivia proudly joined the DanceStudio-Pro team in 2021 and now serves as the Director of Strategic Initiatives.

5 Ways to Optimize Your Web Presence for Mobile Donors

September 20, 2022 Ann Green email, fundraising, multichannel, social media, website email, fundraising, mobile, social media, website

Your website is the main factor in increasing your nonprofit’s online visibility. Here’s how to attract more mobile viewers by optimizing your website.

By John Killoran

Social network user login, website mock up on computer screen, tablet and smartphone

Developing your website and ensuring your donors have the ability to notice you, learn about your story, and donate to your organization online was a great undertaking for you. You probably saw a spike in donations and donor engagement. But did you know there’s a way to make online giving even more effective?

Mobile search traffic has increased over time, and it shows no sign of stopping. The majority of nonprofit website traffic came from users on mobile devices — 54%, with 46% of traffic from users on desktop devices. So, your nonprofit should invest in optimizing your donation page to be mobile-friendly to accommodate these users. By adjusting your nonprofit website design and donation opportunities to appeal to mobile donors, you open up a new avenue for giving to your nonprofit organization.

In order to effectively appeal to and communicate with your mobile donors, your organization should:

Optimize your donation page.
Launch a text-to-give campaign.
Maximize your social media campaign.
Incorporate mobile-optimized emails.
Host a pledge campaign.

Ready to learn more about mobile-friendly design? Let’s get started!

1. Optimize Your Donation Page

Your online giving form is the first place to start your mobile optimization processes. Submitting online donations is already incredibly convenient for your supporters. But making your online giving form mobile-optimized makes it easy for people to give from any device, further growing your potential donor base.

Your donation page is a crucial aspect of your website and should be mobile-responsive. A mobile-responsive site is one that automatically adjusts to fit the screen on which it is displayed. This means the online resource is visually appealing and accessible on smartphones, tablets, and desktops alike. Make sure your online donation platform provider offers the ability to adjust form elements such as:

Images. There’s nothing worse than having to scroll across a webpage on your phone to try to see an entire image! Make sure your images are visible, clear, and size-adjustable depending on the screen they’re viewed on.

Straightforward text. Eliminate unnecessary “fluff” text from your donation page. Lots of text can look bulky on a smaller screen. Limiting this text to only include essential information and calls-to-action will make it easier for donors to read or skim the page.

Customized (and limited) information fields. Typing lengthy information onto a form on a computer is much easier than on a cell phone. Most of us type much faster with a keyboard than on a touchscreen. Therefore, limit the amount of information you require from mobile donors on your donation page to speed up the process.

Page Speed. A speedy page load time is important because conversion rates drop heavily on slow sites. In fact, the probability of a bounce (when users quickly exit the page) increases by 37% from 1 second to 3 seconds of loading time. You certainly don’t want your donor to click off because the page speed is wasting their time! Increase your page speed by minifying code, reducing redirects, and compressing images.

Ensuring your donation page is welcoming to all visitors, whether they access it from their computer or from their mobile device, is a key factor to improve higher donation rates. So, be sure to accommodate your givers who are on the go!

2. Launch a Text-to-Give Campaign

In addition to optimizing your usual online fundraising page, a great investment to encourage mobile donations from your donors is including giving options on native texting platforms, otherwise known as text-to-give. As the name suggests, text-to-give encourages donors to text their donations to organizations.

Depending on the software you choose, you may encounter different models of the text-to-give collection process. Your provider should:

Offer your organization a text-to-give number. This is the number your donors can text in order to donate. The number may be a complete 10-digit phone number or simply 5 digits. Whichever you choose, your donors can text their gift amount to your organization’s number when prompted.

Collect your donor’s contact information. This is especially relevant for first-time donors who have not yet filled out any contact information with your organization. They may receive a link that will redirect them to a complete contact form. This information is critical for follow-up communications and increasing donor retention.

Mobile giving with a text-to-give campaign is a great resource to combine with other unique fundraising ideas and marketing materials. For instance, if you host a fundraising event, announce your text-to-give number over a loudspeaker so your attendees can donate from the event. Or, you can post your text-to-give number on your social media platforms so your mobile viewers don’t even have to put down their devices.

3. Leverage Your Social Media Presence

One platform nonprofits often already take advantage of is social media. Social media is a huge driver of mobile phone use, so it makes sense to integrate it into your mobile fundraising strategy!

Increasing your social media presence increases the likelihood your followers will see your organization’s latest updates when scrolling through their news feed and interact with your content. Bolstering your presence by posting is just the tip of the iceberg to using your social media to its fullest extent.

You also have the ability to spread fundraisers through social media platforms for people to view (and donate to) from their mobile devices. Two of the online fundraisers most suitable for social media promotion are:

Crowdfunding. Crowdfunding enables your organization to collect small donations from a wide audience, making the vast reach of social media the perfect platform to promote such campaigns. Conduct research on the various providers to make sure you choose the website that will best suit your organization in terms of fees and platform capabilities. Then, determine what incentives you’ll offer to donors at different tiers. A popular prize that your nonprofit might already produce is branded merchandise.

Peer-to-peer fundraising. Peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns are similar to crowdfunding in that you are collecting small donations from a wide audience. However, these campaigns differ in how those donations are collected. With peer-to-peer fundraising, you invite your supporters to create fundraising pages and raise money on your behalf across their respective networks. This works perfectly on social media because your participants can effortlessly share their campaigns on their accounts for their followers to see and donate to.

Both of these fundraising opportunities are more frequently accessed on mobile devices as opposed to computers because of their reliance on social media. Therefore, increasing your visibility with more frequent posts and starting a mobile-minded fundraiser is a great way to entice your wide audience of donors who are checking social media on their smartphones.

4. Incorporate Mobile-Optimized Emails

One of the cornerstones of online fundraising outreach is email. Chances are, your nonprofit already uses this tried-and-true method. But, are your emails optimized for mobile viewers?

Optimizing your email content is very similar to optimizing your general website or donation pages. Take the necessary steps to ensure your emails are visually appealing on screens of all sizes. This includes properly sizing your images, limiting the amount of text you use, and resizing the font for a mobile screen.

In addition to optimizing your emails’ visual appearance, you can do even more to increase the success of your donation emails. For instance, you can:

Include actionable donation buttons. Ensure the buttons you use in your emails quickly and easily lead donors to your donation page. You may also choose to include a link to your text-to-give number or your campaign information landing page. Increasing the size of these buttons for mobile viewers can make them easier to see (and click!) from a smaller screen.

Connect your emails to other platforms. Be sure your donors have an easy way to access the other donation platforms you have available online. For instance, including linked social media buttons will instantly connect your supporters to your profiles, and by extension, marketing for future campaigns.

Feature a calendar with donation opportunities. Be sure your supporters know about your nonprofit’s upcoming events by using a calendar feature. This may include volunteer opportunities for them to donate their time as well as upcoming fundraising campaigns to get involved in.

Marketing emails, such as email newsletters, are a donation opportunity that your nonprofit should leverage. Many of your supporters likely check their email from their phones, so be sure they have direct access from that device to other donation opportunities.

5. Host a Pledge Campaign.

Imagine you’re hosting a fundraising campaign that your donors are excited about. However, there are a number of your supporters who can’t give to your organization right at this moment, even though they want to.

Pledge campaigns are designed to help your organization still profit in these types of situations. You can appeal to those people who can’t give right now, but have the heart and the desire to show their support and donate in the future.

Pledges are the promises of future donations. For instance, a donor can pledge $100 now, then actually give the money to the organization next week once they cash their paycheck. Choose an online tool with the option to optimize your pledge campaign for mobile devices. Situations in which a mobile-optimized pledge campaign may come in handy include:

Social media fundraising pushes. In addition to your typical fundraising promotions featured on social media, give people the option to participate in your pledge campaign. This gives them a quick option to give while they’re feeling inspired by your or your supporters’ messages.

Busy holiday seasons. While the year-end months are an extremely charitable time, some donors might need to postpone their giving until after the holiday season due to money spent on presents, food, and travel. A pledge provides the flexibility for them to get back on their feet and still make a difference for your nonprofit once they’re able to.

Be sure to pick a pledge fundraising tool that offers mobile customization for your organization. Pledge buttons included on these screens can help boost the user’s ease of using the tool as well.

Optimizing your web presence over a variety of pages and platforms can help boost your donations by increasing the available giving opportunities. So, it’s worth putting forth your time and money towards whichever strategies work best for your nonprofit. After all, who wouldn’t love the opportunity to give to your organization without having to put down their phone?

John Killoran is an inventor, entrepreneur, and the Chairman of Clover Leaf Solutions, a national lab services company. He currently leads Clover Leaf’s investment in Snowball Fundraising, an online fundraising platform for nonprofit organizations.

Snowball was one of John’s first public innovations. It’s a fundraising platform that offers text-to-give, online giving, events, and peer-to-peer fundraising tools for nonprofits. By making giving simple, Snowball increases the donations that these organizations can raise online. The Snowball effect is real! John founded Snowball in 2011. Now, it serves over 7,000 nonprofits and is the #1 nonprofit fundraising platform.

3 Strategies to Find New Nonprofit Supporters Online

February 23, 2022 Ann Green Communications, donor relations, fundraising, social media Communications, donor relations, fundraising, social media, thank you

Are you ready to build your nonprofit’s online audience in the new year? Consider these three innovative strategies to connect with new supporters in 2022.

By Cassie Losquadro, Solutions Executive at GoodUnited

There are many strategies for discovering new donors for your nonprofit. Perhaps you rely on word of mouth and encourage existing supporters to share their stories and bring their peers into the fold. Or, perhaps you use direct mail to send information about upcoming events in your local area.

These strategies aren’t bad, by any means. However, there is power in embracing entrepreneurship and taking a risk on innovative strategies to find new supporters online.

For example, your nonprofit likely has an entire audience of potential supporters online that you haven’t encountered or attempted to engage with before. By embracing the third wave of giving, social fundraising, you can not only find those online supporters but also retain them for the long term.

This guide will focus on three social fundraising-driven strategies for finding new supporters online, including:

Virtual-First Fundraising
Thank-You Notes
Conversational Messaging

The GoodUnited team specializes in helping nonprofits elevate their social giving practices, so we’ve seen firsthand the power that these strategies can have when discovering new supporters online. With that in mind, all three of the following strategies are related to social giving— whether it’s virtual-first fundraising experiences, thanking existing supporters, or stewarding social supporters for long-term relationships.

Let’s dive in.

Virtual-First Fundraising

Virtual-first or virtual-native fundraising experiences describe fundraisers that are created to take place entirely online through social networking sites. Rather than planning a traditional, in-person fundraiser and formulating ways to incorporate online engagement into it, virtual-native fundraisers are conceptualized with the internet in mind from step one.

This is part of what we call the third shift in fundraising, a new frontier for nonprofit efforts. First, nonprofits were fundraising through direct mail and using mailing addresses to send and receive gifts. Later, the second shift occurred as nonprofits embraced online fundraising through email and websites. Now, the third shift— fully in-channel fundraising and engagement through virtual-first fundraising— is here.

Virtual-native fundraising is so powerful because research has shown that it’s an additive fundraising method.

With more traditional fundraising efforts, your nonprofit likely carefully builds a fundraising calendar in which campaigns don’t overlap (or if they do, they target different audiences). This is because you don’t want to target the same donors over and over again in a short time period. Soliciting donations soon after a supporter has given to your organization can lead to donor burnout.

However, the additive nature of virtual-native fundraisers alleviates this concern. “Additive” essentially means that the fundraisers build on top of your existing campaigns, rather than drawing support away from them in the form of donors giving to the virtual campaign over another one. This is possible because virtual-first fundraisers connect with an entirely new audience — an online audience that is likely to be interested in your nonprofit but hasn’t engaged with it before.

This is noticeable in the Challenges on Facebook hosted by Susan G. Komen in 2021. The nonprofit connected with 13,000 new supporters, 90% of whom were new to Komen.

To make the most of virtual-native fundraising in 2022, consider following Komen’s lead and incorporating Challenges on Facebook into your strategy. A Challenge is a time-bound peer-to-peer fundraising effort. During the Challenge, participants complete a task (such as running, walking, or calisthenics) while raising funds for your nonprofit using a Facebook fundraiser. Participants are added to a Facebook group to connect with one another and experience a digital community.

Here are the basic steps of hosting a Challenge on Facebook:

Choose a Challenge task.
Create the corresponding Challenge group on Facebook.
Use Facebook ads to spread the word about the fundraiser.
Once participants sign up and the Challenge begins, engage with the group by sharing discussion topics, fundraising tips, and more.

To maximize the audience-discovery potential of these fundraisers, target your ad campaigns to groups that are outside of your normal audience— such as lookalike audiences that haven’t engaged with your nonprofit before. Additionally, hold multiple events throughout the year. By layering Challenges on Facebook into your fundraising strategy, you’ll have a diverse, multichannel fundraising calendar that maximizes revenue.

Thank-You Notes

Online fundraising has evolved— now, with social fundraising tools, your supporters can start fundraisers on behalf of your nonprofit and drive those fundraisers across the finish line before you’re even aware of them. This is a major benefit of online fundraising, as donations can come in without any additional work from your nonprofit. However, it’s also a challenge as you may have existing online supporters that you’re simply unaware of!

The best way to capture one-time social supporters— for example, individuals who conduct a birthday fundraiser for your nonprofit on Facebook but haven’t engaged with you otherwise— as long-term champions is by thanking them for their efforts.

One example of expressing appreciation virtually is posting thank-you comments on all fundraisers started for your nonprofit on Facebook.

While Facebook won’t notify you when users create a fundraiser on your behalf, you can discover newly-created fundraisers using the Sort & Filter tool. Essentially, you’ll navigate to the “Fundraisers” section of your nonprofit’s profile and use the tool to:

Sort to show recently-created fundraisers first.
Filter out any fundraisers on which you’ve already posted a thank-you note.

This tool is crucial as the default “Fundraisers” view will first show campaigns that are closest to their goals or that are almost at their end date. This means you could be overlooking newer campaigns, especially if those campaigns take longer to raise a significant amount.

Once you’ve sorted and filtered your campaigns, go through and post thank-you notes on each individual campaign. Admittedly, this can be a time-intensive process, especially for nonprofits that have a significant amount of social support. Consider working with a social fundraising services provider, which can automate much of this process for you.

Discovering new supporters online isn’t always finding entirely new people to connect with— sometimes, it’s making the most of the support you already have, but that you’re unaware of.

Bonus! This section focuses on how to thank individuals who start fundraisers on your behalf. But what about the supporters who donate to those fundraisers? GoodUnited has a full guide to thanking donors on Facebook to help you get started.

Conversational Messaging

Discovering individuals online who are interested in your nonprofit and willing to fundraise on your behalf is only part of the challenge. The second part is engaging with those individuals, building a relationship between them and your nonprofit, and retaining them for years to come.

One of the best ways to do this online is through conversational messaging, or one-on-one conversations between a representative from your nonprofit and an online supporter held via a social media chat functionality. For example, in the thank-you notes from the previous section, you can invite supporters to start a chat with your nonprofit using Messenger. In Messenger, you can share:

Gratitude: Thank the supporter for their work on behalf of your nonprofit and discuss the impact that the funds they raised will have. The more specific you can get, the better!
Educational Information: From the donation payout process to whether Facebook fundraising has fees— it doesn’t— your supporters will likely have many questions about how social fundraising works.
Opportunities: You can share upcoming fundraisers and volunteer campaigns that the individual can participate in. Or, you can share information about matching gift programs so the supporter can speak with their employer about beginning the gift match process!
Questions and Surveys: This could be as straightforward as asking the supporter about what types of opportunities and communications they’d like to receive in the future, or more complex such as sharing a link to an external survey where they can provide additional information.
Additional Contact Data: One of the biggest controversies with social fundraising is that Facebook retains most donor and participant data, which can make it challenging for nonprofits to connect with supporters off of the platform down the line. In your messaging sequence, ask them to share additional contact information such as their mailing and email addresses. This way, you can connect with that supporter in your multichannel efforts as well!

Conversational messaging is so powerful because it can be customized to each of your individual supporters’ interests and needs. Rather than sending out information en masse, which is how social media has been used previously, you can tailor your communications to build a relationship with each individual.

And, if you’re worried about holding conversations with hundreds or even thousands of social supporters, there are social fundraising services providers that can assist with that task as well. They can create custom automated messaging sequences that are tailored to both your nonprofit and your supporters, creating a realistic and valuable experience for each individual who opts in to chat with your organization via Messenger.

Wrapping Up: Next Steps After Discovering New Supporters Online

When you discover a new audience online, you’ll suddenly have access to a wealth of information— contact details, preferences, demographics, and more. Prioritize your nonprofit’s data hygiene as you expand your online engagement efforts to ensure your organization’s constituent relationship management (CRM) system isn’t overwhelmed by all of your new supporters.

From there, it’s up to you to continue engaging with these supporters and building relationships over time! Aim to treat your newfound online supporters as you would those discovered through more traditional means. By embracing the third wave of giving, social fundraising, you’ll be set up for success in the coming years. Good luck!

Cassie Losquadro is a sales leader at GoodUnited, the social giving solution. Cassie has spent the last 5 years in the fundraising technology space. Cassie is energized by working with nonprofit leaders and changemakers who are to a person, saving the world through their initiatives. Hailing from Rhode Island, Cassie lives in Charleston, SC with her husband, two children, and a rescue pup, Bella. Connect with Cassie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cassiefaella/

Setting Goals, Reaching Donors, and Other Crowdfunding Tips

November 4, 2020 Ann Green Communications, email, fundraising, planning, social media donor relations, email, fundraising, planning, social media

Crowdfunding is a flexible and relatively easy way to tap into supporters’ generosity. Learn the best tactics to see long-term benefits from your campaign.

By Lomesh Shah

As a result of COVID-19, it’s now more important than ever to actively engage your supporters and keep them up to date with your nonprofit’s latest happenings. With year-end fundraising campaigns quickly approaching, you want your nonprofit to be at the forefront of your supporters’ minds.

The needs that your constituents and communities face are still as present as ever, so it’s crucial to continue raising support and awareness for your cause.

The technique of crowdfunding helps individuals and nonprofits alike raise needed support quickly and across a large donor base. Not only does crowdfunding raise funds and awareness for your nonprofit, but it can help you recruit donors and strengthen those donor relationships.

Curious about what the crowdfunding process looks like? It’s a fairly straightforward technique whether you’re raising funds as an individual or as a nonprofit. Organizations create campaigns with fixed, often short-term timelines that are designed to raise funds for a specific project.

First, you select your platform and set up your campaign. Next, promote your fundraiser and watch your progress. Finally, thank your generous donors for their support!

Today, we’ll take a look at the best practices for maximizing your crowdfunding efforts and a few other helpful tips to benefit your nonprofit as a whole. Here’s an overview of the tips we’ll suggest:

Embrace the Versatility of Crowdfunding
Keep Your Donors Updated
Promote Matching Gifts to Donors Post-Contribution
Actively Promote Your Campaign Supporters
Utilize Engaging Content

Ready to learn more about the best way to improve your fundraising? Let’s dive in.

Tip #1: Embrace the Versatility of Crowdfunding

One massive benefit of raising money through crowdfunding? Its wide array of options! You can raise funds for pretty much any project you or your organization can think of. Crowdfunding campaigns can be adapted for any type of nonprofit project, occur on shorter time frames, and typically have lower goals than full-scale fundraising campaigns. These give you a lot of flexibility that you wouldn’t necessarily get with a major campaign that requires more investment of your time and resources to plan.

For nonprofits, crowdfunding reduces many restrictions and provides unmatched flexibility for your fundraising needs.

While crowdfunding is extremely versatile, you have to make sure your supporters will be motivated to support your campaign. A specific, timely project related to your nonprofit’s mission or operations will be the most effective choice. This will engage existing donors and attract new donors who will be likely to stick around with your organization after the crowdfunding campaign ends.

Tip #2: Keep Your Donors Updated

As you set up your crowdfunding campaign and invite donors to contribute, it’s vital to keep those generous supporters up to date on your campaign. Set up a system to inform donors on the latest happenings in your organization and your progress towards your crowdfunding goals. Do this weekly, if you can.

Remember, donors want to see and hear about the ways their money is having an impact on your mission, so keeping them informed not only keeps them happy, but encourages them to give, and give again. In order to keep these donor updates professional and consistent, it’s a good idea to invest in a high-quality constituent relationship management system (also known as a CRM).

Consistent updates show your supporters that you’re personally invested in your campaign and encourages them to share it with their own networks. According to Fundly’s statistics, crowdfunding campaigns that updated their supporters at least every 5 days raised 3 times more in donations than less communicative campaigns.

Communicating updates on your campaign’s progress is vital for its success. Having a weekly outlet to do this makes it easier to boost energy if you’re falling behind or to give donors new ways to engage with your nonprofit if your campaign is attracting a lot of support.

Tip #3: Promote Matching Gifts

One commonly forgotten aspect of crowdfunding is additional promotion of donations and engagement after your supporters have contributed.

After receiving a generous contribution, try engaging even further with your supporters by promoting matching gifts. Through these programs, donations might be financially matched by the donor’s employer. Donors love to see their contribution grow, so by reminding them to check on matching donations, you’re giving your supporters the opportunity to see their gift literally double. Ask them to check their eligibility in your follow-up messages after they make a donation.

Contrary to popular belief, many companies are actively growing their matching gift programs amid COVID-19. These gifts are often underused, so take advantage of the opportunities that most people easily miss! While some companies offer matching gifts at a 1:1 ratio, many also offer 2:1 or 3:1 options! Matching gifts are a great way to help your fundraising team succeed, and they also lay the groundwork for long-term engagement and support after your crowdfunding campaign ends.

Tip #4: Actively Promote Your Campaign to Supporters Via Email & Social Media

Crowdfunding doesn’t work unless you spread the word. Without successful promotion, supporters will be less likely to see and engage with your campaign. When you raise awareness, you give your organization the opportunity to speak for itself.

Promoting your campaign on social media is a great way to get it in front of a wide audience and encourage supporters to share it with their own networks. Additionally, email marketing is still one of the most efficient ways to get your message out and see tangible results, so embrace the ability to put a message directly in your supporters’ inboxes and see higher numbers in giving. Check out these email statistics from DNL OmniMedia:

Run, walk, and ride fundraisers that used email marketing raised 76% more than those that didn’t.
Email messages drove 28% of all online fundraising revenue for nonprofits in 2017.
Over 50% of people who receive an email about a crowdfunding campaign donate.

Email marketing is an extremely effective way to share updates with your existing supporters and generate more interest in your crowdfunding campaign. Once you’ve successfully captivated your audience via email, you can encourage them to share your campaign on social media to reach new supporters and begin building more relationships.

Tip #5: Put Your Heart Into Your Content

In a time when maintaining your audience’s interest is everything, prioritize content that will grab their attention and hold it. Whether it’s through offering incentives or using multimedia, your message needs to get across in an engaging way.

Your organization is fighting for a cause that’s near and dear to your heart. It’s crucial that your audience gets a window into that emotional connection that your organization holds. Let your prospective donors see how much your campaign means to your organization by creating unique photo and video content that tells the story of your mission and how your specific project (and their support) will help fund it.

Incentives are another fantastic way to make content worth engaging with. For various giving levels of your crowdfunding campaign, offer gift incentives that will excite your audience. Whether it’s a free t-shirt or tickets to your organization’s next virtual event, offer a gift that will engage your audience and thank them for their contribution. When your donors are excited about what they’re getting, they’re more likely to turn to social media and share their big news, resulting in more shared content for your organization.

At the end of the day, nonprofits are in uncharted territory when it comes to effective fundraising in a pandemic. As your organization heads forward, remember to focus on doing your best and not get too dragged down by new challenges.

Fortunately, people want to help and support those most hurting. It’s important to not get too discouraged and instead focus on all the good your organization can bring to the world with the money you raise.

Crowdfunding is a flexible and relatively easy way to tap into supporters’ generosity and investment in your mission. You’ll just have to back it up with the right communication, engagement, and promotional tactics to see long-term benefits from your campaign.

Lomesh Shah has over 25 years of experience in international corporate leadership with a strong emphasis on marketing technology and data management systems. Lomesh has worked with small to mid-size businesses, privately-held companies and Fortune 500 corporations in various capacities; from sales and marketing to overseeing automation and re-engineering of processes and operations.

As CEO of Fundly, Lomesh spends much of his time immersed in the nonprofit industry both as an industry leader, speaker, and in service to several organizations as a board member and volunteer. Outside of the industry, Lomesh is a technology junkie and will give anyone willing to listen an assessment of the latest trends in anything from espresso makers and mobile gadgets to electric cars and wind power.

Nonprofit Fundraising: 5 Ways to Expand Community Engagement

August 27, 2019August 28, 2019 Ann Green Communications, donor relations, donor-centered, fundraising, social media Communications, donor relations, donor-centered, fundraising, planning

By Wayne Elsey

Fundraising is the lifeblood of nonprofit organizations. But, planning and executing effective fundraisers is not an easy task to juggle while pursuing your mission. However, without crafting and enacting successful fundraisers, nonprofit organizations would not be able to continue their charitable work.

While many fundraisers focus on the amount of funds you earn, what has a greater impact on the progress of your organization is the amount of support you receive.

Rather than focusing on just revenue, your nonprofit organization should be focusing on building relationships with your donors and expanding your engagement with your community.

Bring your nonprofit’s fundraising success to new heights by focusing on these 5 ways to expand community engagement:

Donor Communication
Social Media Fundraising
Community Events
Community Drives
Corporate Philanthropy

Let’s delve into the top strategies to expand your community engagement and your organization’s fundraising strategy!

1. Donor Communication

Think of pursuing your mission and engaging your community as twin sides of the same core goal. You have to put time into both tasks to succeed as a nonprofit organization, and hosting fundraising campaigns is where they meet.

Nonprofits need to fundraise effectively to garner support from their community of donors. For the best results, and to ultimately make more of an impact, you must keep your communication donor-centric.

Donor-centric communication shows your donors that you care about them and their community. Focus on your donors’ interests, acknowledge them in your appeals, and recognize donor differences to enhance your donor communication.

Do not fall into the trap of writing generic donation appeals and other communications— it’s boring and irrelevant. Become fluent in the language of your donors and talk with them, not at them.

For example, if your organization is located within a school district, try to organize fundraisers to be held throughout the school year. Reach out to parents, teachers, and the district’s board to promote all of the benefits incorporating fundraisers would provide their children, their families, and their communities.

If your nonprofit, for example, holds a shoe drive fundraiser, focus your communication efforts on the points that truly matter to your donors. Emphasize the impact donors will make if they participate in the fundraiser. Emphasize that by engaging with your nonprofit, donors can teach students the benefits of philanthropy and unite their community by aiding others.

Before sending your next donor message, make sure that it follows these donor-centric tips:

Stay focused on your donors and their needs. Your organization’s communication with your donors should remain focused on your donors, their aspirations, and how your organization aligns with their interests.

Lose the jargon to gain donors. While your organization’s office may be up-to-date on all the latest nonprofit jargon, many of your donors are not. Do not patronize, confuse, or bombard them with unfamiliar language. Opt for decisive and donor-centric communication instead.

Glow with gratitude. Your thank you letters should demonstrate your appreciation for the donor’s gift. Your appeal should be teeming with compliments, praise, and recognition of your donor’s efforts.

Illuminate their impact. Show your donor more than your gratitude, show them how their gift made (or is going to make) a valuable impact. Specify the exact ways their contributions will be used—can $25 feed a family of four for one week? Include photos, personalized messages, or videos from those impacted by your donor’s contribution. Personal appeals to your donor will create stronger bonds with your organization.

Recognize each donor specifically. Storing information in your database and referring to this relevant information about your donors is vital to the success of donor-centric communication. The way you address each donor should differ depending on whether this is a first-time donation, an increased donation, or a recurring donation.

Build relationships and trust with your donors. Ensure that your appeal is directed toward the correct segment of your donor base. Your message to a committed donor of five years should not sound the same as your message to a new donor. Personalizing messages to your donors will foster trust and build relationships.

With these facets of donor-centric communication incorporated, the next message your organization sends to your donors should illustrate how much your nonprofit cares about the individual donor and your community of donors.

Once you’ve got your messaging down-pat, it’s time to think about how you’re going to distribute those messages. By using the powerful features of social media fundraising, your nonprofit can create stronger ties between your organization, your donors, and your community.

2. Social Media Fundraising

As the popularity of online fundraising among donors continues to rise, ensure that you are maximizing your community engagement by investing in your online outlets for both communication and fundraising.

The useful aspects of social media have allowed for two very prominent nonprofit fundraising techniques to stem from this central concept:

Crowdfunding

What if there were a way to grow your organization’s social media presence and use your online prominence to secure more donations? With crowdfunding, there is.

Crowdfunding not only provides the opportunity to increase your fundraising revenue but also enables your organization to strengthen and widen the scope of its community support. By fostering a sense of camaraderie and teamwork with crowdfunding, your organization can capitalize on community support and the power of social media to spread awareness. Crowdfunding enables your organization to:

Collect small donations from a broader audience by convincing them to fund your cause
Make your fundraising appeal outside of your usual donor base
Grow your donor community
Share your mission, fundraiser, and impact
Promote your campaign on all social media avenues

Check out this list of some of the ultimate crowdfunding websites. Choose a platform that will help expand your community engagement and your crowdfunding campaign’s success.

Crowdfunding, however, isn’t the only social media fundraising tool. With peer-to-peer fundraising, social media gives supporters the chance to fundraise on your behalf.

Peer-to-Peer Fundraising

With crowdfunding, your nonprofit organizes the campaign and solicits donations. With peer-to-peer (P2P) fundraising, your donors act on your behalf. Your supporters are given the opportunity to make more of a direct impact and take on more responsibility by creating their own fundraising pages for your organization.

When donors engage with your organization through peer-to-peer fundraising, they:

Share their fundraising content with all of their social circles across their various social platforms
Raise money in support of your organization through online promotions
Convince their friends to join your organization’s fight and invite them to your events
Expand your organization’s reach to new prospective donors
Persuade their peers with personalized appeals

The absolute magic of P2P fundraising comes from the relationships that your organization will build. Carefully cultivating donor relationships can be a tricky process, but with peer-to-peer fundraising, your organization reaps the reward of previously developed relationships between existing and potential donors.

Through networking with your donors, your organization receives an immediate donor referral. It’s a boost of trust and authenticity to prospective donors to hear about the amazing work that your organization does from someone that they already know and trust. Remember to follow the donor relationship advice in section 1 to help you keep these new donors.

With social media fundraising, your organization can more easily optimize your web presence for mobile donors while gaining new relationships. With these relationships primed, you can continue to grow them by inviting donors to community events.

3. Community Events

Communities are built on trust. Without the stability of trust and transparency, your organization’s donor base would dwindle, and your fundraiser’s effectiveness will suffer. After all, donors need to trust that you’ll responsibly steward their gifts. One way to expand your nonprofit’s community engagement, your community trust, and, thereby, your fundraising efforts is to host community-oriented events.

Whether you hold an open house or coordinate a silent auction, you need to do something special for your donors as a way to thank and encourage them. There are so many fundraising ideas out there that can engage, enliven, and educate your donors about your organization’s cause.

Your community events do not need to be elaborate productions— in most cases, that will work against your goals. Forgo the glamorous for the authentic.

Keep it informal and informative. Let your donors drop by after work, with their children, or in any way they can. Do not exclude donors with any formal dress code. The gathering should be a chance for your organization to meet and impress donors, not for donors to impress one another.
Keep it personal. Embrace the proximity of your donors. You have an opportunity to speak with each donor personally. Take advantage of this opportunity instead of speaking on stage.
Keep it focused on the community. The point of these community events is to bring people together, inspire community spirit, and achieve donor unity. If your donors can work together to solve a problem in front of them— like seeing which team can surpass the others in collecting and donating running shoes—they can work together with your organization to help the people/community you serve.
Keep it fun! Make sure your donors are having a good time. Do not allow donors to leave your community event without a smile. It will not bode well for their loyalty to your organization or the community’s trust in your organization.

To maximize your organization’s community events, your fundraisers must increase community engagement. One of the most potent events you can do to harness community spirit is a community drive.

4. Community Drives

Hosting community drives highlight the ties between your organization and the community, ultimately strengthening your bond. Community drives not only support your organization, but they support your community.

Hosting community drives is an innovative and inexpensive fundraising idea for your organization to grow your community connections. Because these types of fundraising events are low-cost, your organization can build your community without blowing your budget!

Try coordinating one of these drives into your next community fundraiser

Used book sale
Used cell phones
Running shoe drive fundraisers
Prom dress drive
Recyclable drive

There are plenty of ways that your organization can inspire your community into action and demonstrate the power of teamwork. While it is certainly essential to unite your organization with your community, it is equally important for your organization to partner with your community’s corporations.

5. Corporate Philanthropy

The rising generation of donors and consumers are socially conscious and philanthropic. That means that for both nonprofits and corporations to secure these incoming prospective donors and consumers, they must work together. They must engage in corporate philanthropy.

Corporate philanthropy creates opportunities for both nonprofits and corporations to expand their community engagement through corporate giving programs.

Corporate giving programs allow:

Nonprofits to secure more financial backing to achieve their missions
Corporations to gain socially philanthropic equity among their consumer market
Both to expand community engagement because employee donations drive the programs

With matching gifts and volunteer grants, the two main types of corporate giving programs, your nonprofit can maximize the number of donations it receives and encourage further community involvement.

Matching Gifts

Matching gifts are the buy-one, get-one coupon of the nonprofit world. The matching gifts process is a simple one:

A donor makes a gift to your organization
They check their eligibility in a matching gifts database
If eligible, they submit their application for their matching gift request before their company’s deadline
Your organization receives the donor’s initial gift plus a matching gift from the donor’s employer based on their matching gift ratio.

Without any extra work on your organization’s part, you have just increased your organization’s fundraising efforts and your donor’s impact two-fold!

The more your organization expands its community engagement and encourages matching gifts, the more success you will have with your fundraising.

Volunteer Grants

Volunteer grants are the premier way for corporations and nonprofits alike to encourage direct community engagement. When employees of eligible corporations volunteer their time to better their communities, companies donate financial compensation to match their employee’s efforts.

With volunteer grants, donors in your community can now directly impact your organization through both hard work and financial benefits.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Your nonprofit is all about one thing: achieving your mission. But your nonprofit’s fundraiser is all about another thing: your community.

You cannot achieve your mission without the support of your donors and your community. Try incorporating these 5 ways to expand your organization’s community engagement and the impact your supporters have on your nonprofit’s fundraisers.

Wayne Elsey is the founder and CEO of Elsey Enterprises (EE) and a member of the Forbes Business Development Council. Among his various independent brands, he is also the founder and CEO of Sneakers4Funds, which is a social enterprise that helps schools, churches, nonprofits, individuals and other organizations raise funds while helping to support micro-enterprise (small business) opportunities in developing nations.

Why You Need a Multichannel Fundraising Campaign

October 23, 2018 Ann Green appeal letters, email, fundraising, multichannel, planning, social media email, fundraising, multi-channel, planning, social media, year-end appeal

Year-end fundraising season is here and it’s the busiest time of the year for most nonprofit organizations.

You need to plan carefully. If you just send one fundraising letter and wait for the donations to pour in, you’re chasing rainbows. Your donors are busy and may put your letter aside to handle later, and never get to it.

You may be thinking of not using direct mail at all because it’s too expensive, and only sending email appeals. That’s a mistake. Direct mail is still a viable way to communicate and well worth the investment.

Of course, you can also send email appeals, but you’ll need to plan to send more than one appeal due to the massive volume of email people receive. Some donors will respond to the first appeal, but most are going to need a few reminders.

Your fundraising campaign will be more effective if you use a combination of mail, email, social media, and phone calls. Some donors may respond to your direct mail piece but donate online. Others will see your email message but prefer to send a check.

You’ll have a lot of competition since you’re not the only organization seeking year-end donations. Plus, you’re competing with a deluge of email and social media posts from a variety of sources, even more in the US since it’s an election year. The fact that it’s an election year may not affect nonprofit giving, but it does factor into the amount of communication your donors are receiving. Fundraising in an Election Year: Much ado about (almost) nothing

All this is why you need a multichannel campaign with a series of asks.

BEFORE YOU START

Clean up your mailing lists

If you haven’t already done so, clean up and organize your mailing lists. Do you have both postal and email addresses for all your donors? Be sure to segment your donors into different groups, as well (current, monthly, etc).

6 Steps to Direct Mail List Management

Clean Up Your Email List With These 3 Simple Steps

Make it easy to donate online

You must have a donation page that’s engaging and easy to use on all platforms, including mobile. Test all links in email messages and social media posts. The last thing you want is a donor contacting you about a broken link or have to hunt around on your website for a link to your donation page.

When you’re ready to launch your campaign, include a blurb on your homepage that says your appeal is underway. Make sure your donate button is in a prominent place and stand out even more by including an engaging photo to draw people in.

Which channels do your donors use?

Don’t spend a lot of time on channels your donors aren’t using. Figure out in advance where you want to focus your efforts.

SAMPLE SCHEDULE AND STRATEGY

Come up with a schedule of when the appeals will go out. I’ve created a sample schedule below. Of course, you can adjust the timeframe as needed, and use this for campaigns at other times of the year. That said, I do recommend starting your year-end campaign sooner than later.

October 31

Give your supporters a heads up by email and social media. Let them know your year-end appeal is underway and they should receive a letter from you soon, provided you have their mailing address. Encourage them to donate online right now. This means your donation page needs to be in great shape.

Keep in mind that the fact your year-end appeal is going on will matter to some donors and not to others. Use an enticing subject line such as How You Can Help a Family Move Into Their Own Home.

Make sure it’s obvious your message is coming from your organization so you have a better chance of getting it opened. Get noticed on social media by using an engaging photo.

Week of November 5

Mail your appeal letters.

Week of November 12

Start sending follow-up reminders via email and social media. If possible, don’t send reminders to people who have already donated. Otherwise, be sure to thank your recent donors. You can even phrase your reminders as more of a thank you or an update.

Thanks so much to all of you who donated to our year-end appeal. We’re well on our way to our goal of helping more families find a home of their own. If you haven’t donated yet, please help us out today by visiting our website (include a link to your donation page) or sending us a check (provide address).

Week of November 19

Send another reminder, along with a Happy Thanksgiving message. Share a success story in your appeal.

Week of November 26

November 27 is #GivingTuesday so you could tie that into a reminder message. You may already have a campaign planned.

Keep in mind that your donors’ inboxes will be bursting at the seams on #GivingTuesday. Make your messages stand out and throw some gratitude into the mix.

Don’t just send generic weekly reminders. Also, keep it positive. Don’t make your donors feel bad because they haven’t donated yet.

Week of December 3

Start making reminder calls, along with sending electronic messages. If time is an issue, you could just call people who have donated before. That’s probably most effective.

It’s a busy time of the year and your donors may need a gentle prompt.

The rest of December and beyond

Keep sending reminders throughout December. It’s tricky because you want to get your message across without being annoying. This is another reason why you should only send reminders to people who haven’t donated yet.

Be sure to keep sending your newsletter and other updates. You don’t want the only messages your donors receive to be fundraising appeals. December is also a great time to show some #donorlove and send holiday greetings.

The end of December is the busiest time of this busy fundraising season. Send two or three reminder emails during the last week of December, including one on the 31st. This is especially relevant if your fiscal year ends on December 31 or your donor wants to give before the end of the calendar year.

Even though you’re trying to secure donations, don’t forget about building relationships, too.

Look to see who hasn’t contributed yet. Concentrate on people who are most likely to donate, such as past donors. You may need to send another letter or a reminder postcard to donors who don’t use electronic communication.

In addition, plan to get in touch with your lapsed donors at the beginning of January (more on that later).

Your fundraising campaign will be more successful with multiple asks and by using multiple channels. Good luck!

More on multichannel fundraising

How to Make a Multichannel Fundraising Ask: the Basics

6 Tips for Planning a Multi-Channel Fundraising Campaign

5 Ways to Optimize Your Web Presence for Mobile Donors

October 3, 2018 Ann Green email, fundraising, social media, website email, fundraising, mobile, social media, website

By John Killoran

Developing your website and ensuring your donors have the ability to donate to your organization online was a great undertaking for you. You probably saw a spike in donations and donor engagement. But did you know there’s a way to make online giving even more effective?

By adjusting your website design and donation opportunities to appeal to mobile donors, you open up a new avenue for giving to your nonprofit organization.

In order to effectively appeal to your mobile donors, your organization should:

Optimize your donation page.
Launch a text-to-give campaign.
Maximize your social media campaign.
Incorporate mobile-optimized emails.
Host a pledge campaign.

Ready to learn more about mobile responsiveness? Let’s get started:

1. Optimize Your Donation Page

Your online giving form is a great place to start your mobile optimization processes. Submitting online donations is already incredibly convenient for your supporters. But making your online giving form mobile responsive makes it easy for people to give from any device, further growing your potential base of donors.

Make sure your donation page is mobile responsive. Mobile responsiveness is when a website or other online resource automatically adjusts to fit the screen on which it is displayed. This means the online resource is visually appealing on smartphones, tablets, and desktops alike.

It should be easy to read your online giving form from any screen. Make sure your online donation platform provider offers the ability to adjust form elements such as

Images. Make sure your images are visible, clear, and size-adjustable depending on the screen they are viewed on. There’s nothing worse than having to scroll across a webpage on your phone to try to see an entire image.
Straight-forward text. Eliminate unnecessary or “fluff” text from your donation page. Lots of text can look bulky on a smaller screen. Limiting this text to only include essential information will make it easier for donors to read or skim the page.
Customized (and limited) information fields. Typing lengthy information onto a form on a computer is much easier than on a cell phone. Most of us type much faster with a keyboard than on a touchscreen. Therefore, limit the amount of information you require from mobile donors on your donation page to speed up the process.
Page Speed. Page speed is an even more important element for mobile users than desktop users because many people are more willing to wait for a page to load from their computer than from their phone. Increase your page speed by minifying code, reducing redirects, and compressing images.

Ensuring your donation page is welcoming to all visitors, whether they access it from their computer or from their cell phone, is a key factor in higher donation rates. If more people can access the page more often, you don’t turn off the donors who would have otherwise given while on-the-go.

2. Launch a Text-to-Give Campaign

In addition to optimizing your usual online fundraising page, a great way to encourage mobile donations from your donors is by including a text-to-give option. As the name suggests, text-to-give encourages donors to text their donations to organizations.

Depending on the software you choose, you may encounter different models of the text-to-give collection process. Your provider should:

Offer your organization a text-to-give number. This is the number your donors can text in order to donate. The number may be a whole phone number or simply 5 digits for simplicity. Your donors can text the amount of the gift they wish to give to your organization when prompted.

Direct the donor to necessary giving information. This is especially relevant for first-time donors who have not yet filled out any information with your organization. They may be directed to a pre-written email that when sent will complete the donation after they fill out the necessary fields on the donation form or the gift could be added to their cell phone bill at the end of the month.

A text-to-give option is an easy method of giving no matter which of the submission options is offered by the provider. Be sure to consider your donors when deciding between these methods to ensure it will be the easiest for your particular donor audience.

Mobile giving with a text-to-give campaign is a great resource to combine with other unique fundraising ideas. For instance, if you host a fundraising event, announce the donation opportunity over a loudspeaker so that your attendees can donate from the event.

3. Maximize Your Social Media Campaigns

One platform nonprofits often already take advantage of is social media. Social media was built to be viewed from mobile devices using sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. Therefore, that is where the majority of people are viewing their social media feeds.

Be sure to use social media as an integral part of your optimization strategies to appeal to mobile donors.

Increasing your social media presence increases the likelihood your followers will see your organization’s latest updates when scrolling through their news feed. Increasing this presence by posting more frequently is just the tip of the iceberg to use your social media to its fullest extent.

Crowdfunding. Crowdfunding enables your organization to collect small donations from a wide audience, making the wide reach of social media the perfect platform to promote such campaigns. Conduct research on the various providers to make sure you choose the website that will best suit your organization in terms of fees and platform capabilities.

Peer-to-peer fundraising. Peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns are similar to crowdfunding in that you are collecting small donations from a wide audience. However, these campaigns differ in how those donations are collected. With peer-to-peer fundraising, you invite your supporters to create fundraising pages and raise money on your behalf across their respective networks.

Both of these fundraising opportunities are more frequently found from a person’s mobile device as opposed to their home computer because of their reliance on social media. Therefore, increasing your visibility with more frequent posts and starting a mobile-minded fundraiser is a great way to entice your wide audience of donors who prefer to work from their smartphones.

If peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns or crowdfunding sound like opportunities from which your organization could benefit, launch into further research with Double the Donation’s nonprofit guide.

4. Incorporate Mobile-Optimized Emails

When you are considering the optimization of your web presence, you probably think of your website or online donation pages. Don’t forget that your emails are another online resource frequently accessed from mobile devices.

Optimizing your email content is very similar to optimizing your general website or donation pages. Take the necessary steps to ensure your images are properly sized and adjust with the size of the screen. Limit the amount of text you use in your emails and be sure the font size is appropriate for a mobile viewer. Be sure the email is visually appealing on screens of all sizes.

However, in addition to these general tips, there is more you can do to increase the success of mobile donations from your emails. For instance, you can:

Include actionable donation buttons. Optimize the buttons you use in your emails in order to quickly and easily lead donors to donation options. Increasing the size of these buttons for mobile viewers can make them easier to see (and click!) from a small screen such as a smartphone.

Connect your emails to other platforms. Be sure your donors have an easy way to access the other donation platforms you have available online. For instance, including social media buttons will instantly connect your supporters to future crowdfunding campaigns. You may also choose to include a link to your donation page and the number for your text-to-give campaign to regular emails.

Feature a calendar with donation opportunities. Be sure your supporters know about upcoming opportunities for more donations with a comprehensive calendar feature. This may include volunteer opportunities for them to donate their time as well as upcoming fundraising campaigns to get involved in.

Regular emails, such as email newsletters, are a donation opportunity that should be taken advantage of more often in the nonprofit world. Many of your supporters likely check their email from their phones, so be sure they have direct access from that device to other donation opportunities.

5. Host a Pledge Campaign.

Just imagine you’re holding a fundraising event. You’ve set up a text-to-give number and the success is overwhelming. However, there are a number of people at the event who can’t give to your organization right at this moment. Even if they want to, they just can’t for some reason or another.

Pledge campaigns are designed to help your organization in these types of situations. You can appeal to those people who can’t give right at this moment, but have the heart and the desire to show their support and give in the future.

Pledges are the promises of future donations. Someone can pledge $100 now, then actually give the money to the organization next week. Choose an online tool with the option to optimize your pledge campaign to mobile. This will make it especially effective for the situation above. Other situations in which a mobile-optimized pledge campaign may come handy include:

Social media fundraising pushes. In addition to your typical fundraising promotions featured on social media, including your other fundraising campaigns or advocating for your organization’s cause, give people the option to participate in your pledge campaign. This gives people the opportunity to pledge money, then go to your website and see more information about the organization before they give.

When there is a lot going on in the world. For instance, if your organization is tied to a world event that went on recently, let’s just say clean up from the devastation of a hurricane, the event will be in the news for a couple days. At that point, many people will forget their drive to give, even if they still care about the cause. The pledge to give money helps keep your cause in the forefront of your donor’s mind.

Many times people will hear about and see news events, social media fundraising efforts, and other donation opportunities from their phones. Even if they don’t have time to give right away, they’ll pledge to make a donation in the future.

Be sure to pick a pledge fundraising tool that offers mobile customization for your organization. Pledge buttons included on these screens can help boost the user’s ease of using the tool as well.

Before starting your pledge campaign, be sure to check out resources like Snowball’s guide to collecting pledges so that every stage of the pledge campaign is executed to the best of your ability.

Optimizing your web presence over a variety of pages, platforms, etc. can help boost your donation amounts by increasing the available opportunities to give. These 5 tips can help you optimize your overall online presence to benefit both your donors and your organization.

John Killoran is CEO of Snowball, an exciting new fundraising technology that makes it easy for people to donate in two clicks from text, email, web and social media sites. John pioneered SMTP payments and has been a major innovator in the mobile payments space for the past 5 years. When he is not running a company, he is cooking food for his family and telling his dogs to stop barking.

5 Fatal Donor Communication Mistakes Nonprofits Should Avoid

October 26, 2017October 27, 2017 Ann Green Communications, donor relations, planning, social media Communications, donor relations, email, multi-channel, social media

Donor communication can be the key to growing your nonprofit’s community and reaching your fundraising goals. Be wary of these 5 fatal communication mistakes!

By Steve Page

When your nonprofit’s fundraising efforts are in full swing, it can be easy to get caught up in a numbers game of trying to reach your fundraising benchmarks.

However, if your team wants to raise as much money as possible for your cause, there’s one area of your fundraising strategy that you shouldn’t disregard: your donor communications.

Having an air-tight donor communication strategy in place is one of the fundamentals of perfecting your fundraising strategy. Without optimizing how your organization connects with donors, your nonprofit could be missing out on some of your most important supporters.

Not sure if your nonprofit is making the most of how you communicate with donors? Look out for these five fatal donor communication mistakes that could derail your fundraising efforts:

You don’t have a donor communication strategy in place
You’re failing to communicate through diverse channels
You’re discounting traditional donor communication channels
You’re not thinking through your social media strategy
You’re not making the most out of your email communications

Ready to learn how to overcome these common donor communication missteps? Let’s dive right in!

Bonus! Is your nonprofit looking to strengthen all areas of your fundraising strategy? Check out MobileCause’s fundraising software buyer’s guide to learn about how investing in the right online tools can help your team fundraise better, as well as improve your donor communications.

1. You don’t have a communication strategy in place

One of the biggest mistakes nonprofit organizations make is failing to identify where and how they want to see their communication strategy grow like they would for their fundraising strategy as a whole.

It’s important that your team takes the time to develop an overarching communication strategy to shape each individual strategy from its foundation. As your team makes changes to improve the way you connect with donors, consider some of the following tactics.

Identify your communications goals.

While the ultimate goal of your communication strategy should be to increase donations and achieve the goals of your fundraising strategy, you also need to identify tangible benchmarks to meet that are specific to donor communications, such as adding new supporters to your email list or increasing profile views on your social media pages.

Create a communications calendar.

When your team plans out a fundraising campaign, you likely create a fundraising calendar to structure how the campaign plays out. Similarly, your team should create a communications calendar that accounts for each channel of your communications with donors. This way, you can easily keep track of what each channel is responsible for and when you will communicate.

Keep your plan flexible and responsive.

Now that you’ve developed actionable goals for your overall communication strategy, periodically follow up on them throughout your fundraising calendar and see what’s working. If you’re not progressing as planned, make the necessary changes across all arms of your communication with donors.

Bonus! Thinking through your nonprofit’s communication strategy should be one of the central parts of developing your fundraising plan. Check out Aly Sterling Philanthropy’s guide to crafting your nonprofit’s fundraising plan for more tips to get ahead!

2. You’re failing to communicate through diverse channels

When it comes to your nonprofit’s community of supporters, your team should know better than anyone that they have donors from many different walks of life.

To paint them with the same brush would be shortsighted, and your fundraising strategy likely already accounts for differences in giving capacity, age, gender, region, and more.

That being said, with supporters coming in all shapes and sizes, it’s doubly important that your donor communication strategy takes account of these differences by thoughtfully implementing multiple channels of donor communication.

Put simply, your team needs to have a targeted multichannel donor communication strategy in place if you want to effectively communicate with your supporters.

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket! Develop specific communication strategies for:

Social media
Email
Phone
Direct mail

Many of your donors will respond better to certain communication channels over others. Some may not even use a particular channel of communication and will be completely blind to any calls to action, invitations to upcoming fundraising events, or other information that might be primarily shared on that channel.

To avoid missing out on members of your donor community, you can assess the reach of campaigns on different communication channels by using A/B testing as a means of comparison.

Additionally, by carefully segmenting your lists of supporters, you can more accurately identify the demographics of your donors and volunteers. With this knowledge, you’ll have a better idea of which communication channels to prioritize and how to better approach communicating across all channels.

The next sections will show you how to communicate more effectively on specific channels.

3. You’re discounting traditional donor communication channels

These days, when nonprofits talk about donor communication the conversation usually circles back to one thing: social media. Having an effective social media communication strategy certainly is important and your team should take the time to hone how you communicate with donors within that important medium.

However, although donors are increasingly turning to digital means of accessing and engaging with nonprofits online, that doesn’t mean your organization should completely discount more traditional communication channels.

In particular, communicating with donors via the phone and through direct mail can both be useful ways to build relationships with supporters who might not respond well to email communication or who don’t spend much time on social media.

Even better? Just because these methods have been around for a long time, that doesn’t mean they can’t be brought into the 21st century! You can easily integrate online fundraising tools and tactics into your phone and direct mail donor communication strategies.

For example, your team could set up a phonathon run by staff or volunteers. They can call potential supporters and process their donations using your online donation forms in a matter of minutes. With this method, you can access potential donors who may need assistance in completing their online donation or those who simply need an extra reminder to give.

When it comes to direct mail, you could include a QR code or the URL of your online donation form in any mail communication you have with donors. Because this communication is on paper, these supporters can keep the letter up on their fridge or desk if they’re not immediately able to donate, which serves as a more permanent reminder of your ongoing campaign.

4. You’re not thinking through your social media strategy

In much the same way that a nonprofit might lean too heavily on social media communications to connect with donors and end up neglecting more traditional communication methods, it’s just as easy for your team to fail to think through your social media strategy entirely.

Many nonprofits seem to see social media communication as a new frontier for connecting with donors. Because of this, some organizations think that any form of social media communication will be effective and that just having an active Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram page will help boost their fundraising efforts.

Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as it appears! Effectively using social media to engage with donors should take time, research, and a strategic approach.

Your team can start this process by asking yourselves the following questions.

What are we posting about?

Your nonprofit’s social media profiles should be sharing a variety of relevant information with supporters, but not overwhelming them with a lot of white noise. Aim to consistently post 3-5 times each day, and vary the types of posts you share. You should share upcoming events, call supporters to action with donation requests, post impact videos, and even interact with supporters’ own posts.

Are we steering supporters toward donation tools?

Some of your supporters will only encounter your organization on social media and never venture onto your nonprofit’s main website. Because of this, it’s important to get your online donation form in front of these visitors while they’re on your social media pages. By sharing links to your forms or even embedding these forms in your Facebook page, these supporters are more likely to give.

How can we learn more about our community through social media?

What’s great about social media communication with donors is that it can tell you a lot about who you’re interacting with, their habits, and the types of engagement strategies that work with them. Track metrics such as post views, click through rates, and more by analyzing how your supporters respond to your social media strategy. Armed with this knowledge, you can tailor your approach to better serve your social media audience in the future.

5. You’re not making the most out of your email communications

In much the same way that your team should take a dynamic approach to communicating with donors via social media, the same can apply to how your nonprofit uses email to connect with donors.

Right now, your organization may simply be using email to remind supporters about upcoming donation deadlines or the next big fundraising event. However, your email communication strategy can do so much more!

Consider some of the following ways your team can maximize email communications with your donors:

Enable giving through email. Just as you should enable giving through your social media pages, your team can make giving easier for supporters by directing them to your online donation form right from your email messages.
Pair email campaigns with text-to-donate messages. Strengthen your email campaigns with text-to-donate reminders. When you pair email calls to action with a text reminder to give, you can increase your nonprofit’s email open rate from an average of 14% to 90%!

Track campaigns with shortlinks and keywords. Be sure to create unique keywords and short links for each of your fundraising campaign’s donation pages. This way, by including these in your email communication with donors, you can track engagement.

Use email to thank your donors and send updates. Your donors need to feel appreciated and receive regular updates from you. Email is a great way to stay in touch.

Just like with social media communication, it’s important to not relegate your email strategy to simply performing one task. Make the most of your email communications by using them to both steer supporters toward donating and to learn more about your community.

Keeping in touch with donors can be daunting! Now that your nonprofit knows what missteps to look out for, it’s time to start perfecting the way you connect with your supporters.

Steve Page is a blogger, marketer, and webmaster for MobileCause, the world’s leading mobile and online fundraising platform. MobileCause helps organizations reach their goals with a full suite of mobile-friendly solutions that allow donors to connect and give to your cause from any device. When he’s not working at MobileCause, Steve can usually be found helping organizations with their websites, learning the latest marketing trends, or working on his golf game.

Low-Cost Fundraising: 6 Innovative Ideas

October 12, 2016October 13, 2016 Ann Green Communications, donor relations, fundraising, planning, social media building relationships, communication, donor relations, fundraising, planning, thank you

By Kerri Moore

It’s hard to raise money and it’s more difficult if you have limited resources. In this post, Kerri Moore of Booster has some low-cost fundraising ideas for you. Some don’t even involve asking for money but emphasize building relationships with the donors you already have.

Low-cost fundraising isn’t just about saving your nonprofit some extra cash.

After all, a cost can be:

The time it takes to plan and execute a fundraising campaign or event.
The labor of your staff, volunteers, and fundraising team.
Net fundraising expenses, which you can measure as cost per dollar.

This might sound paradoxical, but to keep all of your costs low, your organization will need to make an investment. 1

An investment in your donors, that is.

It’s much more expensive to acquire new donors than it is to work with the supporters you already have.

That’s why building up donor relationships is the best way to keep fundraising costs low.

Check out these six innovative ideas that focus on your nonprofit’s relationship with your donors:

Brand t-shirts and products.
Strategize with social media.
Host a thank-a-thon.
Leverage your supporters.
Host a community drive.
Appeal for recurring donations.

Let’s get started with number 1.

1. Brand t-shirts and products.

Low-cost product fundraisers are an effective way to entice donors to give without breaking your budget.

But to create long-term low-cost fundraising, you’ll need to brand your products so that donors become invested in your organization.

T-shirts are one of the most effective products, but there are plenty of options that can suit your organization’s needs, whether it be a school, church, or traditional nonprofit. 2

That said, t-shirts for your fundraising campaign allow supporters to:

Support your organization with a donation.
Promote your nonprofit by wearing the shirt and spreading the word.
Remind your supporters of your nonprofit and their connection to your cause.

That’s why it’s vital that you brand your t-shirts or products with the name of your fundraising campaign and/or your nonprofit’s name and logo.

Make your cause tangible on the shirts, so that anyone who sees them can understand your message. 3

Since t-shirts can be extremely affordable, or even free (with a cost per shirt sold, rather than an upfront charge), they’ll help keep your costs low. 4

2. Strategize with social media.

With rising print costs, communicating and advertising over mail can be a strain on your organization’s budget.

While we would never advise that you forgo print communication channels, a strong social media strategy can supplement your print efforts and diminish your donor acquisition costs.

After all, social media allows your supporters to share information about your nonprofit with their own networks. Many peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns capitalize on social media for this very reason.

Producing quality material for social media is important and the internet offers plenty of free or affordable software to help you advertise on the web. 5

Social media integration for your online fundraising platform is important, and mobile-friendly pages are a must. 6

Beyond the technical basics, how can you use social media to keep your costs low?

Spread awareness with a hashtag. A hashtag is the perfect tool to advertise your fundraising campaign, and they’re free to make! You will, however, want to take the time to choose a hashtag that encompasses your campaign. Something simple, something catchy, an alluring alliteration — all of these factors are elements of a strong hashtag.

Host a soft launch. One of the most cost-effective means of building hype for your campaign is hosting a soft launch, where your supporters and board members donate to your campaign before it’s launched to the public. A soft launch taps into social psychology. If people see that others have already donated, then they’ll be more inclined to give themselves.

Live tweet your campaign. Twitter allows you to update your followers on your fundraising campaign — for free! A social media coordinator can post live updates about your campaign. A little wit goes a long way. You could, for example, tie your campaign into current, trending topics to attract retweets and favorites.

Creating an effective social media strategy is the perfect low-cost way to advertise your campaign and connect with more supporters.

3. Host a thank-a-thon.

If you’ve heard of walkathons, you’ll get the gist of a thank-a-thon. 7 Your fundraising team, as well as volunteers, board members, and supporters, come together for an hour or two of pure gratitude to thank people for their recent donations.

If you can’t call everyone during the thank-a-thon, call major or mid-level donors with major donor potential. Calling first-time donors often results in repeat gifts.

This fundraising strategy does not involve asking for money.

Instead, you’re building stronger donor relationships in a single, deliberate effort, which will ultimately benefit your fundraising down the road. 8

A thank-a-thon is a low-cost activity that you can modify to suit your needs.

Besides making calls, you can, for example:

Hand-write thank you notes.
Thank each social media supporter in the comments.
Have each team member hold up a sign with a donor’s name, take a picture, and post it to your campaign’s Facebook page.

The possibilities are endless.

The goal is to go beyond your typical thanking strategy to ensure that your donors feel more appreciated at your organization than they do anywhere else.

4. Leverage your supporters.

Keeping your fundraising costs low means using the resources you already have to your advantage.

You can reach out to your supporters directly, or you can perform preliminary research and make targeted appeals. 9

Here are just a few ideas of how you can leverage your supporters:

Board members can host events. A fancy, intimate event is a staple of major donor relations, but venues, food, and entertainment costs can add up quickly. A board member may be able to offer a nice property or valuable connections that can cut overhead costs. Take 10 minutes during a meeting to have each member write down three possible contributions that they could offer.

Hold a skills clinic. Everyone has talent. Your organization is probably full of people with unique skill sets. A skills clinic allows your supporters to contribute to your organization and the community, all while having fun at a unique and cost-effective event.

Promote matching gifts. Many companies offer matching gifts opportunities, where a company will match their employees’ gifts. Taking a look at your supporters’ business affiliations can indicate who’s sitting on a donation that could be doubled. You can also promote matching gifts to your entire organization so that everyone is aware of the opportunity.

Whether you’re looking for business affiliations or valuable connections, keeping an organized database of your supporters can help you identify the people with the potential to offset costs — and further your cause! 10

5. Host a community drive.

A community drive not only benefits your nonprofit, but it helps your community!

There are plenty of different ways that this type of campaign can work, but the concept is the same: supporters supply the products, and your nonprofit makes a nearly pure profit.

Here are some ideas for community drives that your organization can try:

Bottle and can drive.
Upcycled artwork.
Prom dress drive.
Used batteries.
Old cell phones.
Used book sale.

You can even turn some of these drives into an event or an auction to promote more fundraising. 11

Ultimately, your product drive should help people in your community or the environment.

The most important part of pulling off a community drive is spreading awareness so that people donate their recyclables or gently used products.

6. Appeal for recurring donations.

A fundraising campaign can reap great rewards for your nonprofit, but part of keeping your cost-to-benefit ratio in good territory means planning for long-term success.

Recurring donations are a means for donors to continue their support after your fundraising campaign ends.

Creating a strong appeal for recurring donations can encourage supporters to make more than a one-time, in-the-moment donation when they give to your campaign. 12

You can, for example, emphasize the simplicity and ease of recurring donations (especially at churches, where recurring tithes are an easy way for supporters to make their weekly contributions). 13

Or, you can craft your campaign’s focus around recurring donations. For example, you can suggest that supporters give up one $30 meal per month to feed hungry children for 30 days. Hashtag with #30for30, and you’re set for low-cost fundraising!

Are you ready to innovate your low-cost fundraising? Well, don’t forget to keep your donors in mind.

Their relationships with your nonprofit are priceless, so building strong connections is the most cost-effective fundraising you can do!

Sources

Kerri Moore is the Director of Marketing at Booster, Created by CustomInk. She and her team help create content aimed at maximizing organizers’ fundraising potential and furthering their mission to raise awareness for the cause or passion that means the most to them.

Choose Quality Over Quantity – Part Two – Social Media

June 27, 2012August 12, 2014 Ann Green Communications, marketing, social media

One of my favorite quotes is this one from marketing expert Seth Godin. “Is more always better? Sometimes, better is better.” I’ve been exploring ways this applies to nonprofit communications. In Part One I covered email newsletters. Choose Quality Over Quantity – Part One – Your Email Newsletter Part Two is about social media.

If you are on social media, you know it often seems to be more about quantity than quality. People will post just about anything, such as what they ate for lunch or that they are at Starbucks. But to be successful on social media you need to focus on quality.

Social media is social

In this post, I’m going to focus on Facebook and Twitter. For both of these, the number of followers you have isn’t as important as how good they are. Some of your followers may not be paying that much attention to you. How often do people comment on or share any of your content? If you receive a comment, do you respond back? Don’t forget about the social in social media.

Putting your face on Facebook

Post content your followers will be interested in. This can include links to success stories on your website, links to newsletter articles that show how you are making a difference, engaging photos, and high-quality videos.

One of the great things about Facebook is that you can start a conversation. Ask questions and encourage feedback from your followers. Respond to comments you receive. Keep the conversation going.

Navigating the Twitter stream

To me the Twitter stream is more like a fire hydrant. A lot of information is pouring out of it. Some of it good – some not so much. Make whatever you send out something that will rise above the waves of constant information.

You only have 140 characters, so use them wisely. Can you make your tweet clear and compelling? Don’t abbreviate so much that your message is not understandable. Make sure it looks professional and not like teenager’s text message.

Remember that good social media is sharing other people’s content. Retweet messages your supporters might be interested in. You can also use Twitter to engage in a conversation. Ask questions. Replying to tweets is another way to engage. If someone retweets any of your content, be sure to thank them. Keep it social.

Think it through

Social media can be an “in the moment” type of communication, but it shouldn’t be when you use it professionally. It should require just as much planning and strategy as your other types of communication. Also, be sure your content is consistent with your organization’s messaging.

Bridgegspan recommends organizations spend between two and six hours a week posting to Facebook and Twitter, and one to four hours a week responding to comments. You can use Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, or a similar program to set up posts in advance. But some spontaneity is good, too. That’s why you should try to go on at least once a day to see what’s new and to check if you have received any comments.

You can post several times a day, as long as you have quality content to share. But don’t send out a lot of messages at once. Spread them out over of the course of the day.

Be consistent with how often you post. If you only have time for one or two posts a day, then stick to that. What’s most important is that you have something good to share. Quality trumps quantity.

Get organized

Use an editorial calendar for all your communication including social media. This way you can keep track of when your newsletters go out, events, and other relevant dates, and use social media to promote these. LightBox Collaborative’s 2012 Editorial Calendar

In addition, keep track of your engagement. Both Facebook and Twitter have analytical tools to help with this, so do platforms such as Hootsuite.

How to Manage Social Media for Your Nonprofit

Social Media Analytics for Nonprofits: What Factors You Should Track

Still the new kid on the block

Social media is still fairly new, and may not be your primary mode of communication right now. That doesn’t mean it’s not worth investing a little time in creating well-written, high-quality content so you can engage with your supporters.

Quality check

Before you post anything on Facebook or Twitter, ask yourself:

Does it include information our supporters care about?

Is it high-quality?

If in doubt, don’t send it out.

Quality counts!

How does your organization use social media?