Online Fundraising for Museums and Cultural Organisations

Online Fundraising
for Museums &
Cultural Organisations

Presented by

Rich Mintz Alex Morrison
Blue State Digital Cogapp
rich@bluestatedigital.com alexm@cogapp.com

5th October 2010. ICA, London

Agenda

Introductions
Opportunity
Method
How To
General Discussion

Online Fundraising for Museums & Cultural Organisations

Introductions

Round the table introductions

Hashtag #mof10

Logistics and schedule

Online Fundraising for Museums & Cultural Organisations Blue State Digital Cogapp

Blue State Digital


Cogapp


The Opportunity


Arts are a luxury, but theyʼre a
really sticky one.


Remember how the internet
used to be?


What Changed?

In 2000 In 2010

Unwieldy Usable
Unreliable/rare Always on/everywhere
Unsophisticated At its best, an elegant
applications and uses experience
Part of mainstream life
Deployed by fringe
institutions “My grandmother is
on YouTube”
“My crazy uncle has a
dialup account”


In case you thought I was kidding...


The Opportunity

Online activity
Online giving
Case Studies


The Opportunity
Online Activity

Weʼre wired.

60% of the UK adult population i.e. 30.1 million adults
access the Internet every day or almost every day.

Nearly double the estimate in 2006 of 16.5 million.

source: Office of National Statistics


The Opportunity
Online Museums

Traffic on UK museum websites increased by 225%
between 2003-4 and 2007-8

Annual growth rate ≈ 35%

source: DCMS


The Opportunity
Online Museums

In the last 18 days the top four museum twitter accounts
(MoMA, Met, Tate, Smithsonian) all gained 7% more
followers.

Equivalent growth rate of 400% p.a.

Source: Cogapp/Twitter Statistics


The Opportunity
Online Giving

Just Giving is the market leader in the UK

Personal accounts ≈ 12 million [i.e. 20% of UK adults]
Charity accounts ≈ 9,000
Money raised to date £700m

Average donations per charity ≈ £77k [by inference]

Museums and gallery accounts ≈ 50 [i.e. fewer than 5% of UK museums]

Source:


The Opportunity
Stats Sources

All the stats above, and many more, can be found
online :-

delicious.com/cogapp/stats


The Opportunity
Case Studies

USA FIFA World Cup Bid
Airborne Forces Museum
Tate Campaign


The Opportunity
Case Studies


The Opportunity
Case Studies

Challenge:

Use the 2010 South Africa World Cup to build the Bidʼs list,
when soccer was in the global spotlight.

Gain supporters for the cause (List Goal = 1 million).

Organise the supporters already on the list to host watch
parties and recruit more friends.


The Opportunity
Case Studies

Response:

Our ﬁrst promotional video was seen by 65K people, with
almost no promotion or PR – mostly via organic SEM

New website is a home for stories, testimonials, and especially
visual (video) evidence of the popularity of football

Viral petition campaign, driven by social media, has
amassed a supporter base of over 1 million in about 8 months


The Opportunity
Case Studies


The Opportunity
Case Studies

List is currently 1M+ and growing…


The Opportunity
Case Studies
Airborne Forces Museum - Paradata

ParaData
Online archive & museum
Wanted to move from registration
fees to donations

What we did
Tweaked design
Set up forms
Linked to e-commerce
Reviewed and tested
Monitored


The Opportunity
Case Studies
Airborne Forces Museum - Paradata

Results
≈5% of registered users
donate
Average donation ≈ £15
> 1 donation per user !
Current max donation = £50


The Opportunity
Case Studies
Tate Campaign

Before

12 distinct links

Chronological prioritisation

No persuasive story-telling

Anonymous sender

100% information


The Opportunity
Case Studies
Tate Campaign

After

One link

Goal-oriented prioritisation

Tells story of Tate, past and present

Introduces curator

100% action


The Method


The Method

First principles: Relationships, authenticity, empowerment

Fundamental tactics: Lift people up the value ladder

Messaging: Action and engagement


The Method
First Principles

Relationships
Authenticity
Low barriers to entry
Moments
Testing


The Method
The Relationship Ecosystem

s
£


The Method
Why Relationships Matter


The Method
Relationship–Building 101

Say what you mean

Plan a narrative in advance

Segment by interest/behavior

Listen, donʼt just talk

Constantly invite people to take action


The Method
Find a Place for Everyone


The Method
“Everyone” means Everyone!


The Method
Mighty Oaks Grow from Little Acorns

Have as much energy and drive and enthusiasm
as big people (or more!)

Are as hungry to have an impact as big people

Have as many friends as big people

Grow up into big people

Might not even realize theyʼre little people


The Method
Show Whatʼs Behind the Door


The Method
Be Authentic


The Method
Remember who youʼre accountable to


The Method
Make things simpler


The Method
Donʼt Drive People Crazy


The Method
Seize Moments as they Occur


The Method
And Donʼt Forget About Testing!


The Method
Test Everything


The Method
Testing

Jewish Community Heroes: The new form improved overall site conversion rate by 29%


The Method
The Ladder of Participation


The Method
The Ladder of Participation

If I canʼt ﬁgure out in ﬁve
seconds what this has to do
with me, you failed.


The Method
Email–3 Key Questions Users Ask

Why am I on this list?

What do you want from me
right now?

What comes next?


The Method
What Makes a Good Message

Urgency

Timeliness

Relevance

Continuity

Clarity


The Method
And When All Else Fails...

“Iʼve built my entire career on
free parking.”
Development professional, Los Angeles


How To


How To

E-mail campaigns

Online

Social Media


How To
Email Campaigns

Copywriting

Frequency

Campaign thinking

Integration


How To
Quick review: The Basics of Online Fundraising

Build a list

Tell your story – start a conversation

Itʼs not just about money – itʼs about empowering people

Be transparent about why you need their help

Donʼt treat all donors the same


How To
Talking to New Signups

Things you want to do:

Give them a solid introduction to
your organisation.

Give them an idea of what to expect.

Give them ways to get involved.

Ask them for money (soon).


How To
Talking to Existing Constituents

To be authentic, transparent, and drive participation,
messaging must be:

Topical, urgent, and moment-driven

Unafraid to ask, and to articulate the need for and
beneﬁts of action

Group-oriented

Concrete


Email Example:
Fundraising Campaign


Email Example: Fundraising Campaign
WNET Emergency Campaign


WNET Emergency Campaign: Goals

Display need, make a passionate ask (a message that avoided the
subject of ﬁnancial need would come across as inauthentic).

Express this need speciﬁcally to low-dollar donors (this hadnʼt
been done before, the message was always programme-driven).


$100K + Raised: 5x Previous Fundraising Record

Campaign anchored by video appeal from Barbara Bantivoglio
(WNET VP for Institutional Advancement) shown online and on-air.

Short and aggressive campaign: 5 email messages over the
course of 3 weeks.

Low dollar gifts made up the 2nd largest segment of gift amounts.

Recent donors to earlier campaigns responded at a high rate.


Email Example:
Cultivation


Email Example: Cultivation
Vogue Magazine Email Campaign


Vogue Magazine Email Campaign: Goals

Open up what has typically been viewed as a very protected and
elitist brand.

Create a two-way conversation with Vogue readers (both
subscribers and non-subscribers).

Sell more subscriptions, but not necessarily right away.


Grace Shared her Story, and Asked for Readersʼ


Just One of the Thousands Collected:

“I grew up in a small coal mining community in West Virginia.
No big shopping areas, ordered most of our clothes from JC
Penny or Sears. I remember how excited I was with my ﬁrst
pair of Lee jeans and Nike tennis shoes in Junior High
school. Vogue was a way to look at beautiful photos, and
introduced me to brands that I still remember and now buy as
an adult. Vogue still wows me, to get a peek at the lives of
The Beautiful People! Thank you Vogue for never wavering.”


How To
Web

Usability is critical

If your site currently generates £10,000 p.a. in donations,
usability improvements will on average add £8,300 p.a.
to your bottom line

In roughly 12% of cases, returns will be
greater than 1000%

Source: Jakob Nielsen at useit.com


How To
Web

Explain the need

Make it easy to get engaged
especially via e-mail

Make it easy to give


How To
Web
Worked Example

Peabody Essex Museum
www.pem.org


How To
Web

Techniques for improving website performance

User testing


How To
Web

Techniques for improving website performance

Critical review
Analytics review
A-B testing


Social Media


Social Media
Making a Facebook page is not “engagement”


Social Media
Who cares how many followers you have if they
wonʼt buy a ticket or write a cheque?


Social Media
Appealing content drives social sharing

User– Interviews
Link Calls to
Aggregation
Generated Statistics & Feaures
Action Content

Pictures Event Organizational
Promotion Press
& Updates
& Recaps Stories
Video


Social Media
Encouraging comments and conversation

Ask for them

Respond to them

Donʼt require approval

Offer premiums and other drivers of online energy

Repost comments as blog posts


Social Media
Case Study: LSM Poster Contest

The Ask:
Create a poster to depict things that
would best lead to rebirth of Michigan

The Prize:
First prize $1,000 – Second Prize $250.

The Goal:
Raise awareness for Letʼs Save
Michigan and grow the email list.

The Response:
Over 300 entries, 60 ﬁnalists and
20,000 votes for an email list.


Social Media
Case Study: LSM Poster Contest

The Ask:
Create a poster to depict things that
would best lead to rebirth of Michigan

Facebook was a major driver of trafﬁc/
action.

Since pictures are so highly consumed
on Facebook, posting the posterʼs
worked extraordinarily well to drive
trafﬁc back to the contest voting form.


Discussion


Online Fundraising for Museums and Cultural Organisations

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