The NonProfit Times - March 1, 2008 - (Page 19)

SPECIAL REPORT ETHNICITY OF THOSE WHO GAVE 20% OF WHITE DONORS 13% OF BLACK DONORS 20% OF HISPANIC DONORS opportunities for their donors to meet each other and not really view the art.” In fact, the largest percentage driver for single individuals was search engine or Web site visits (16%) followed by special events and online solicitations, both at 13%. Nearly a quarter (24%) of respondents who were divorced or separated were driven by search engines or Web site visits. Respondents with children 18 and older were most likely to go online after a direct mail appeal (27%) while those with children 10 and younger were most likely (19%) to respond because of a search engine or Web site visit. It’s clear from the data that marital status and household composition drove the response mechanism.“It’s interesting that men said they were driven online by direct mail and special events, and women by search/Web or print. Here’s an area where gender differences may exist,” said Christ.“While I’d answer most of the basic questions the same as my wife, as to general household giving, I’d likely not know what drove her to give online, but I might remember what drove me to give online, and there might be a real difference. Maybe that’s because women more likely are readers of the kinds of magazines that drive to Web. Maybe women stay ‘in channel,’ more,” he said. NPT 10 Online Marketing Strategies For Fundraising in Challenging Times his is going to be a challenging year. In addition to the economic slowdown, there are some other troubling indicators. Direct mail-based donor acquisition is getting more expensive due to postage rate increases and is harder to deliver because of mailing list fatigue and postal mail delivery challenges. According to Vinay Bhagat, chief strategy officer at online fundraising provider Convio in Austin,Texas, current economic conditions, the increased use of online marketing and the trends in donor empowerment make a strong case for investing in an effective online marketing program. Here are 10 basic best practices for nonprofits to get started online: T 2 1 Ensure your Web site makes the right first impression. Prospective 8 Make fundraising appeals tangible and compelling. People are predonors, including potential major donors, are very likely to visit your site before making a gift in any channel. Collect email addresses of current donors. Communicating online with donors enhances their value. Few organizations have emails for more than 30% of their active donors. sented with lots of appeals and offers.Does yours stand out? Does it compel an immediate response? 9 Empower volunteers. Raise money for your organization through online peer-to-peer fundraising software tools. 3 Optimize your Web site to convert visitors to email subscribers. Most nonprofits still do a poor job in this area.Target a 3% conversion rate of unique visitors to new subscribers. 10 Encourage monthly giving. The lifetime value of monthly donors is much higher than single-gift donors -- they give more per year and have higher retention rates. Present monthly giving as an option to new donors and create pathways to encourage single-gift donors to become monthly donors. If you’re already practicing the basics listed above, according to Bhagat, you’re ready to incorporate more advanced strategies into your online marketing program to drive results: 1 Identify key audience segments and create “relationship pathways” consisting of tailored Web site content, emails and appeals that are congruent with your development objectives for that segment. 2 Integrate your online and offline fundraising efforts. Ensure your communications calendar, messaging and themes are congruent online and offline. Adopt a multi-channel communications and solicitations approach. 3 Create a presence on social networks such as Facebook and MySpace to extend your brand and reach constituents where they reside. Empower existing supporters to promote your organization on social networks, to recruit new supporters, and to raise money.While you are not likely to raise much money in the short-term, social networks are here to stay and will emerge as a cost-effective way to recruit future generations of supporters. 4 Make every communication count. Consumers are inundated with marketing messages.Write emails with a constituent-centric view and steer clear of sending non-compelling material just because your calendar indicates it is time to send a newsletter. 5 Inspire. Provide value and be transparent to your donors about how funds are spent. 6 Ask for money, regularly. Include a soft ask in every communication and send direct email appeals at least four times per year -- as long as you are providing updates regularly outside of appeals. 7 Use multiple emails in a series to lift appeal response rates. Suppress those who respond to earlier appeals in the series. Software tools make it easy to automate this process. MARCH 1, 2008 THE NONPROFIT TIMES www.nptimes.com 19 http://www.nptimes.com

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The NonProfit Times - March 1, 2008 Fuel Costs Eating Up Food Banks California Legislation Pushing Foundation Funding Diversity Estate Tax Won't Die Contents Who...When...Where...How...What? Red Cross Cuts Jobs, Regional Support In $200 Million Deficit General Ramblings: What the....? Briefs Taxing Issues: New for 2008 Foundations: Rebooting At Gates Mail Drove Donors to Give Online Streetsmart Nonprofit Manager: The Power of the Founder Software: Technology Innovation Calendar Fundraising Guide NPT Jobs Resource Directory AFP International Conference Insert

The NonProfit Times - March 1, 2008

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