Learn how to improve the return on investment from your social media campaign after incorporating a complete communications plan. Takeaways: - Understand the background of social media in fundraising. - Discover whether a strategic social media campaign is right for your organization. - Answer the seven most important questions before starting your plan. - Learn which initiatives to focus resources on as well as which to avoid. - Find out whether email is still a viable communication and how to use it. - Identify when is the time to upgrade to a new online platform.

1. Strategic Social Networking
for Fundraising
Eric Horner
October 18, 2011
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5. 5
Strategic Social Media for
Fundraising
How to improve the return on investment
from a social media campaign by incorporating a
complete communications plan
Eric Horner
Eric_Horner@yahoo.com
EchoFundraising.com

6. Eric Horner’s Background
6
 10+ years as a Frontline Fundraiser
– Alumni Reunions, Non-Profit Boards, & Peer-to-peer Donors
– Built strategic partnerships with best firms in social media
– University of Chicago
• 2008 Alumni & Friends Web Community- the largest project in higher ed
– Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago
• 2010 SkyRise Chicago fundraiser >$1MM online
 What I do as Fundraising Consultant
– Helping clients create a strategy for their Online Giving and Social Media
– Improving Social Media outreach when it is not achieving desired results
– Explaining the importance of Social Media to stakeholders

7. Critical Components
7
A Social Networking Strategy is enhances Online Giving and begins
with Annual Fund/Direct Response & these pre-requisite items:
 Organizational Website
 Online Credit Card processor
 Donor Database
 Broadcast Email
 Policy open to the use of Social Media tools

8. Why Online Giving is important to NPOs?
8
 Since 2005, every successful public donor outreach campaign raising over $100
million has utilized an online giving platform. Early adoption of online tools is the
key component to acquiring new donors and successfully closing a campaign on
schedule.
 Your website is the first point of entry for acquiring the majority of new donors and
is indispensable to expand beyond a regional-specific market to a larger national and
international appeal.
 Adding an Online Giving approach maximizes potential new philanthropic support,
builds higher donor loyalty from our current audience, and adds virtual
infrastructure that assists the front-line fundraising staff‟s engagement.
 Starting soon is critical to the success in reaching short term annual goals as well as
long term capital campaign targets because it takes several months to build and
grow into an online campaign successfully.

9. World events changed Online Giving attitudes
9
 2005 Tsunami response by Red Cross raised $9.6M in 12 months;
average gift = $121 and $100k an hour reported online at a high point
 2006 Katrina response grew online fundraising 40% from „05; total giving to
humanitarian and religious NGO‟s totaled $4.25B with almost half raised online
 2008 Presidential Campaigns
– Over $1.3B raised from over one million people; average gift around $100
– More than 50% of funds raised online for first time ever
– Demonstrated how to utilize social network fundraising for multiple gifts
– Strategy of consolidating traditional “fundraising bundlers” defeated 2:1 by
open online platforms that accept all networking groups
– Volunteers participate in the campaign structure remotely from any location
 US Postal Service reports 29% less mail volume 2007 compared to 1998 due to
increase in email and electronic traffic. In 2010, USPS posts loss of $7B and
estimates volume will continue to decline citing increased use of web/email
*Tsunami and Katrina reports from Charity Navigator – “Where did my money go?” 2006
*2008 Presidential figures from www.campaignfinanceinstitute.org
*USPS figures from Area Mail Process Report 2010 http://www.usps.com/all/amp.htm

10. Online Giving is a major part of Overall Philanthropy
10
 For many donors, the website and emails will be how they know &
trust you. They may use your website to research you. Some donors
never set foot in an organization.
– Make it easy to donate, find out about more about you, and get involved
– The quality of your information needs to convey the best about you quickly
and pleasantly.
– An opportunity to show them how sophisticated, professional, and
compassionate your organization is.
 Strategic Communication includes the acquisition, development,
involvement, and stewardship of donor relationships in support of
your campaign – must also include Online Giving
– Email & Website content is 100% linked and need to be considered together

11. Online Giving is a Process; not just a Web Product
11
 Cost-effective means of maximizing the reach of development
– Quickest way to expand donor pool and attract new donors
– Web enabled tools are available 24/7 for professionals and volunteers alike
– Improves message delivery avoiding SPAM violation and rejection
– Automated follow up can improve stewardship and inform new donor interests
– Opens outreach to audiences that are not currently serviced by development
officer visits including International donors; in fact it creates new leads
– Customized micro-sites can promote specific appeals within networks
 Increased investment enhances credibility with potential donors
– Makes it easy for interested parties to learn about you and donate
– Grabs their attention and states “value proposition” clearly & succinctly
– Improves customer service responsiveness to frequently asked questions
– Provides efficiency, security, and higher satisfaction for donor experience

12. Online Giving is a Process; not just a Web Product
12
Online giving contains the main elements of direct response (target, ask,
follow up) with distinct advantages over mail or phone solicitation
– 100% measurable– tracks all response actions both pro & con
– Personalization tools remove impersonal messages;
– Records all history and tracks actions for follow up
– Segmentation tools customize emails and web information to the particular
interests and cultivation plan of each donor
– Information readily available; allows donors to self-identify interests
– Viral marketing – donors passing information to new contacts
– Provides a conduit for listening to comments and testing messages
– Communication can be adapted quickly in response to latest news
– By analyzing campaign performance, we learn from successes and each wave
of communication improves on the efficiency from the last

13. Nonprofits increased ROI with Online Giving
13
Source: Blackbaud

14. Capacity of Online Gifts increasing each year
14

15. Facts about Capacity & Online Donors
15
 Survey of 3,443 donors from a national sampling who contributed more than
$1000 per year (online & off line) to 23 major US nonprofit organizations as of
March 2008 reveals many similarities among donors who gave online.
(Convio’s report- The Wired Wealthy, March 24, 2008)
 Demographic breakdowns:
 High household incomes. 57% report >$100,000; 27% report >$200,000
 Younger baby boomers represented the demographic center of gravity.
Mean = 51 yrs old; Median = 50 yrs old; 63% under 55 yrs old.
 Highly educated: 51% have grad. degrees; 87% have 4-year degrees
 Internet proficiency self-reported:
 On average have been active online for 12 years
 Majority use email both at work as well as at home
 Spend between 14-18 hours a week online
 Are increasingly utilizing in mobile web devices- Blackberry, iPhone, etc.

16. Facts about Online Donors (cont.)
16
 Online Donors also have these activities in common:
 90% make purchases online (58% regularly)
 78% bank and pay bills online
 65% read the news online (36% regularly)
 51% have taken political action online
 43% download or listen to music online (18% regularly)
 39% view videos online (11% regularly)
 25% read blogs (9% regularly)
 20% use SMS (text messaging) (10% regularly)
 8% post comments on a blog (2% regularly)
*from The Wired Wealthy 3/24/08

17. Most donors who give more than $10k/year…give online
17
*from The Wired Wealthy 3/24/08

18. Reasons wealthy donors cite for preferring online giving
involve speed, efficiency, and instant gratification.
18
 72% believe Online Giving is more efficient and helps
charities reduce their administrative costs.
 70% say Online Giving lets them donate immediately while
they are thinking about it, otherwise they might forget.
 68% agree that Online Giving lets charities respond more
quickly to crisis or emergency situations.
 53% prefer to Give Online because they like the benefit of
credit card rewards, frequent flyer miles, and points.
 48% consider Online Gifts easier to track overtime.
 28% get a feeling of immediate satisfaction with Online
Giving as opposed to direct mail.
*from The Wired Wealthy 3/24/08

19. Online Giving > Social Media
19
Technology is always changing and the lines are blurring between
Website and Email, Bulletin Board and Profile, Personal and
Professional, Office and Mobile…
 Community
 Connections
 Content
 Calculating metrics
Social Media is a broad term encompassing the various activities
that integrate technology, social interaction, and the construction
of words, pictures, videos and audio.
Do you know your audience’s tendencies toward Social Media?

20. 73% of US Population Active on the Internet in 2009
20

21. Social Media Facts
21
Nielson, Global Faces and Networked Places, 2009
 2/3 of the global internet population visit social networks
 Visiting social sites is now the fourth most popular online activity,
ahead of personal email
 Time spent on social networks is growing at 3x the overall internet
rate, accounting for ~10% of all internet time
 “Technology is shifting the power away from the editors, the
publishers, the establishment, the media elite. Now it‟s the
people that are in control.”
- Rupert Murdoch, Global Media Entrepreneur

22. Social Media Facts (cont.)
22
 Twitter users increased 1,382% from 2009 to 2010
 There is an average of 3,000,000 tweets per day on Twitter
 People spend 5 Billion minutes on Facebook each day
 People share 1 Billion pieces of content each week on Facebook
 If Facebook were a country, it would be the 8th most populated in
the world, ahead of Japan
 YouTube is now the 2nd most popular online search engine,
behind Google
 100 Million YouTube video‟s viewed per day
 In 2009, 3.6 Billion photos were archived on Flickr.com

23. Basics of Social Media Strategy
23
Ultimately, the goal of social media is to build awareness, increase
exposure, encourage participation and interaction, and become a
resource to your community. It is most effective for philanthropy
as an enhancement to your overall Online Giving plan.
 Create a Plan
 Monitor & Listen
 Measure
 Engage
 Adapt quickly

24. Social Media Strategy: Create a Plan
24
Every organization is unique, but still needs to ask some common questions:
 What are we trying to accomplish?
 Why are we using social media to do this?
 How will we encourage participation?
– More than just setting profiles – you need to encourage participation by promoting
social media sites through offline activities and reminders such as displaying links
in headers, email signatures, business cards and print advertising.
 Who will maintain our social media presence?
 Do we have the resources to keep this up?
– Social media is only effective as long as it is engaging the audience
 How does social media integrate into our overall
marketing/communications strategy?
 What will we do less of if we are spending resources on social media?

25. Social Media Strategy: Monitor & Listen
25
 Where does your donor audience currently communicate?
– Facebook is the largest network statistically, but you may find your audience is more active on
LinkedIN or Twitter, or YouTube.
– Conduct a basic census of your people in each network
 What is my audience discussing?
– You need to join the groups and find out what the topics are.
– If you find that there is a lively discussion going around one subject, encourage it instead of
trying to control it. Participation of any kind is building bonds with your organization.
– Create some Google Alerts about your key words so that you can find out where they are
talking about you.
 When do you moderate?
– You need to establish some basic rules of use which can be different depending on the size
and age of the audience. Start with very basic rules – most communities do a good job of self
policing. Profanity is not acceptable, for example, nor is it okay to utilize the group for
solicitations.
– Often times, organizations want to steer the communication, however in social media that
tends to push your audience away. Try not to dictate the discussion. The content you provide
is sufficient to create topics.

26. Social Media Strategy: Measuring
26
 All social networking activity can be tracked. Basic metrics for
social media include referrals, page views, unique visitors, visitor
loyalty, comment count, members, etc. Custom key performance
indicators include buzz index and engagement scores.
– Google Alerts
– Google Analytics
– Open rates & click thru's
– Engagement scores
 You need to start getting in the practice of regularly tracking your
metrics – even it if your metrics are basic at first.

27. Basic Tracking Example
27

28. Social Media Strategy: Engaging
28
 Establish your profiles –  Feed new content regularly
“build embassies” – Use syndication tools
– Facebook
– Twitter
 Track the progress
– LinkedIN
– LMAIS baseline averages:
– YouTube • Facebook 88% use it
– Others - depends on audience – (496 followers);
 Find volunteers who love it • Twitter 59% use it
– (99 followers);
– Empower them as your
• LinkedIN 65% use it
agents to work on your behalf
– (97 followers)
– Listen to their suggestions
– Be prepared to run with new
ideas as they are developed

29. Syndication of Content
29
 RSS
 Links to the bigger story
 Gathering and responding to
comments
 Hootsuite, Tweetdec,
Seesmic, and What?
<- Graphic by B. Liedke

30. What results to expect from your social network
30
In any online community, you are always going to have the majority
of people acting as dead-weight most of the time. Reasonable
success is getting people to graduate up one rung of the ladder.
– .5% = Superstars – you wish you had 100‟s of these because they do
things that impress you
– 5-10% = Evangelists – these people spread your message and connect
with the community for you
– 10-15% = Donors/Online Participants/Volunteers – you count on them
to come through for you when you need them
– 10-20% = Responders – sometimes they can be involved, sometimes not
– 40-50% = Affiliates – they like what you do, and more importantly like
being connected with you
– 20% = Free Loaders – they are always there, but you get nothing

31. Best Practices
31
 Tell a story using short blurbs that point to something bigger
 Organize your data into segmentation groups
 Use the “Spaghetti Factor” (throw everything and see what
sticks), but you must test quickly and adapt
 Let the data set your course – it‟s not always what you thought
would happen when you planned (donor-centric model)
 Take “little people” seriously; listen to all ideas
 Be ready to deal with both good and bad luck –you will get both
 Communication must be positioned appropriately in your
leadership in order to succeed- less than 3 people‟s approval

32. An Email – Explained
32
“Email has rules as a genre that need to be respected.” -T. Gensemer, Blue State Digital
 Email is an action-oriented writing style; it‟s not a flyer
 Emails should be less than 250 words. Can link to larger articles on web
 Email is never ANONYMOUS
– must always have a person sign it
– what personality, tone, and style is conveyed?
 Schedule your delivery of emails when the timing is right for the recipients
(usually Tuesday-Thursday between 9 AM – 5 PM)
 Donors are also Activists – give them something to talk about and they will
 Your audience will ask three questions every time they read your email:
– Why am I on this recipient list?
– What does this email want from me?
– What do I do next?
 Know the rules – regulations like CAN-SPAM, HIPAA, FERPA as well as etiquette

33. Know what to look for on a website for donors
33
Basic Marketing Website is:
•Marketed to general public
•Not oriented to donors interests
•Passive interaction – no email or
donor acquisition tools
•One-way communication device
•Giving tool sits on a deeper level
page that is not obvious on top level
•Giving page not designed to handle
high volume of transactions securely

34. Better Online Giving Website Example
34
Pro- Online Giving Website has:
•Multiple giving opportunities
•Donor needs to be able to find the
GIVE button and make a gift in less
than 30 seconds
•Shows where funds are going
•Designed to handle high volume of
transactions securely
•Fully usable on multiple browsers
and accessible to mobile devices;
Check your site out with IE, Firefox,
Chrome, Safari, and mobile – from
home as well as the office

35. Donor-Centric Website Example
35
Donor-Centric Website has:
•A separate donor-centric web
community from hospital business
•Asks you for info, involvement
•Two-way communication portal
with content from other donors
•Multiple paths to get involved
•Use of video and social
networking links.
•Allows users to make suggestions
for new ideas.

36. Email Examples
36
Email Standards
•Email is incorporated into website
•Donors email/web actions tracked
•Learns your interests and
encourages related topics
•Responsive to user preferences for
email volume and type
•Conforms to CAN-SPAM
•What about the rules…
•To/From someone?
•<250 words?
•Action oriented?

37. Discussing Advanced Strategy
37
Is it time to launch a new online platform?
 Categorize the current online situation – content & community
 Conduct a needs analysis; be reasonable about your scale
 Define your audience
 Rally your stakeholders
 Prepare a multi-year budget
 Introduce RFP’s or design specs
 Meet the Consultants & Vendors
 Rate the Products and their users
 Integration with the rest of your community

38. 5 Phases of Online Platform Introduction
38
 Planning & Assessment- outlining the building blocks for the
conception, ideation and planning of your online donor community.
 Design & Build - includes detailed design and implementation
planning.
 Launch & Rollout - outlines the marketing activities our platform &
team can employ to attract, encourage, sign up and retain donors.
 Manage & Sustain - involves the ongoing execution of the plan to
achieve our goals and objectives for revenue.
 Grow - includes the process by which you create, implement,
manage and monitor sustainability over the short & long term.

39. Eric Horner, Echo Fundraising
39
EchoFundraising.com
 Eric_Horner@yahoo.com
 773-329-3609
Eric Horner is a front-line fundraiser with ten years of experience in traditional development
operations who also believes in the importance of leveraging web technology and social
media to reach an emerging audience. He understands how to enhance an
organization‟s annual fund by adding to the overall online giving plan and email
solicitation practice while staying consistent with a donor relationship model. Through
his career in strategic communications and fundraising, Eric has helped higher
education, health care, and community non-profit organizations build stronger
solicitation programs that both acquire new donors as well as enhance relationships
with existing supporters.

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