Vanessa Swesnik from HelpAttack presented on Social Media Fundraising 101 at a recent NPower brown bag. She covered lots of tips, especially for smaller orgs and also helped explain how HelpAttack can help your org raise money online.
3. You can fundraise on social
media
• Without a million followers
• Without a post from Justin Bieber
• Without adding another job to your day
http://info.helpattack.com | @helpattack | support@helpattack.com
4. Getting there
• Social media vs. email fundraising
• Goals and groundwork
• Tactics & strategy: How can smaller organizations find
success?
http://info.helpattack.com | @helpattack | support@helpattack.com
5. Social Media vs. Email
Similarities
• Why people give
• Conversion rates
• Who > How Many Differences
• Storytelling • How people share?
• How friends ask
friends?
• Conversation
http://info.helpattack.com | @helpattack | support@helpattack.com
6. Social Media vs. Email
Slide from Sarah Durham / Big Duck http://slidesha.re/GKtWDH
http://info.helpattack.com | @helpattack | support@helpattack.com
7. Social Media vs. Email
• Shareable and Instant:
o Kony 2012, Rush Limbaugh, Chris Brown...
• Dialogue:
o Komen and Planned Parenthood
• Social AND searchable:
o easily find, hear, and interact with actual people
"Social media is a space
where the individual
reigns, relationships are
required, and
conversations are public."
8. More similar than different
• Audience is crucial: Who > How Many
• Experiment, test, and improve
• Move donors up engagement ladder: Stewardship
• "House File" is crucial: Supporter Database
• People give because:
o People they know give People give to
o There's an immediate need faces and
o They are asked heartbeats, not
statistics!
9. Social Media vs. Large Gifts
• Know your potential donors
o Made easier by apps, passive data collection
• Make them feel special
o Easy, and free, to do on social media
• It's $10, not $10K, but the same model can work
• Your new “slacktivist” will be your major donor in 25
years
The big donors at your
gala probably have a
Facebook account to
stalk their grandkids.
10. What are best practices for
social media campaigns?
• Set realistic goals
• Grow your presence
• Reward participation
• Use em' if you got em'
o Leverage a special event, celebrity
ambassadors, corporate sponsors
• Thank donors!
http://info.helpattack.com | @helpattack | support@helpattack.com
11. What are realistic goals?
1. Get 10 new donors
2. Learn who they are
3. Thank them individually
o Not with direct mail
4. Follow up
Ten donors giving $25 per month all year is an extra
$3,000. Not bad!
http://info.helpattack.com | @helpattack | support@helpattack.com
12. What time and effort are
needed?
About 6 hours of work over 6 weeks.
• 1 hour to brainstorm the right kind of campaign for your cause, and the
supporters you want to reach
• 1 hour to invite other stakeholders & discuss
• 1 hour to ask partners or super-supporters to help spread the word
• 30 minutes to write a blog post
• 30 minutes to include in an email to your list
• 2 hours of monitoring social media
• 1 hour to download reports and upload into your supporter database
http://info.helpattack.com | @helpattack | support@helpattack.com
13. Messaging
Good. Better
• "Did you know you can • Matching deadline today -
donate by..." Donate now!
• Please give to support the • Save this homeless dog
Animal Rescue today. All it takes is your
Organization $5 donation
• Please share! • Donate, THEN share!
• We're trying to raise $25k • We're trying to raise $250
this year. from our Facebook fans
*today* We're only 3
donations away!
http://www.nonprofitmarketingblog.com/
http://johnhaydon.com
14. Use it: Leverage a Special Event
• Earth Day, Valentines Day, event
• …or create one! #oceangiving
http://oceana.org/en/blog/2011/11/this-november-celebrate-oceansgiving
http://info.helpattack.com | @helpattack | support@helpattack.com
15. Use em': Partners, Advocates
• Celebrity ambassadors
o Local & personal are best!
• Corporate sponsors
• Local media, previous supporters
http://scr.bi/JUUCFo
16. Reward Participation
• Reward participation
o “Like” for a chance to win…
o Submit a picture for a chance to win…
• Nonmonetary gifts
o Facebooker of the week
o #FF (follow friday)
o Pizza box autographed by all staff
http://info.helpattack.com | @helpattack | support@helpattack.com
17. What's a free and easy way
to keep supporters happy?
Thank supporters/donors right away on social
media. It's free and powerful.
http://info.helpattack.com | @helpattack | support@helpattack.com
18. Real World "Thank
Yous"
http://info.helpattack.com | @helpattack | support@helpattack.com
19. Real World "Thank Yous"
http://info.helpattack.com | @helpattack | support@helpattack.com
20. Best Practices for
Thanking Donors
• Provide inspiring stories about what donors are
accomplishing with their giving
o "Susan just donated enough for 20 thanksgiving
meals! Thank you!"
• Be personal
• Be specific: "Thanks for volunteering today Brian!"
more:
http://www.futurefundraisingnow.com/future-fundraising/2012/02/how-skimping-on-your-
donors-can-make-you-lose-your-shirt.html
http://www.bethkanter.org/say-thanks/
http://info.helpattack.com | @helpattack | support@helpattack.com
22. Special nonprofit benefits
• Google Grants: Ads
• YouTube: Special features
• Hope140: Ads, features
• LinkedIn: Volunteerism
http://www.google.com/grants/
http://www.youtube.com/nonprofits
https://www.facebook.com/nonprofits
http://hope140.org/contact
http://learn.linkedin.com/nonprofits/
http://info.helpattack.com | @helpattack | support@helpattack.com
23. Facebook Ads
Who: AXIS Dance Company
Goal: Get local likes
Method: 2 ads
one general (website)
one specific to Likes
Cost: ~$15/day
Results:
~30 unique visitors / day
~10 new Likes / day
http://www.bethkanter.org/facebook-ads/
https://www.facebook.com/axisdancecomp
24. Facebook Ads
Use them when you...
• need to jump start a new community
• need to quickly reach a specific audience
• have the budget
Be sure to...
• Target by location, demographics, and interest
• Test your ads (try different versions)
• Invest in your landing pages
Or try sponsored stories...
http://info.helpattack.com | @helpattack | support@helpattack.com
25. Facebook Pages
• Make it pretty
o Timeline cover: 850x315px
o Add photos
o Faces and heartbeats: Your story, not your logo
• Pick the right name
o Hard to change after 100 Likes
o Admin Panel -> Help -> Request a name change
http://info.helpattack.com | @helpattack | support@helpattack.com
26. Facebook Pages
• Post the right stuff
o Like other pages and tag them
"....@[page name], FB will auto-complete
Build informal partnerships
o Paste URLs for automatic photo, synopsis
• Encourage discussion
o Ask questions
o Polls
o Private messages
http://info.helpattack.com | @helpattack | support@helpattack.com
28. Small to Medium Nonprofits
Use Free / Low Cost Tools
• Listen: Hootsuite, TweetDeck, SproutSocial,
Google Reader
• Measure: Google Analytics, Facebook,
SocialBro, Insights, Feedburner, TweetReach
• Manage: Reminders, Bookmarks, Shortcuts,
Buffer, Tweriod
Spend an hour creating social media / online
response guidelines for your organization. Share
the logins. It's OK!
http://info.helpattack.com | @helpattack | support@helpattack.com
29. Smallness as an Advantage
• You can really know your
supporters
• Grow the right audience
• Easier to ask them for things
Try this:
Choose a random hundred and look at their
profiles. How did they find you? Who are
they? Why are they following you? What value
can you provide?
http://info.helpattack.com | @helpattack | support@helpattack.com
30. Small Org Fundraising
• Set appropriate goals
• Individual attention
o Tie individual donors to specific results
o Personal thank yous
• Get a leg up
o Borrow an audience
o Partnerships
o Spend when appropriate
• Long term investment
http://info.helpattack.com | @helpattack | support@helpattack.com
31. Metrics
• $ per unique visitor
o Divide total raised by "Unique Visitors" in google
analytics.
• $ per staff hour
o Divide total raised by number of hours
• Click to share ratio
o How many people shared? (+1, Like, RT, share)
o How many people actually clicked on it?
• Donation page conversion rate
o Divide number of donations by unique visitors,
multiply by 100.
http://info.helpattack.com | @helpattack | support@helpattack.com
32. ROI
Return on Investment (ROI)
The ROI of social media should be measured as a long
term investment with compounding growth, rather than a
short term balance sheet.
Where would you be without your email list today?
http://info.helpattack.com | @helpattack | support@helpattack.com
33. The Takeaway Slide (Wake
up! almost over!)
• Social media fundraising is far more similar than
different from other fundraising
• Sharing is critical
o Make it visual
o Make it specific
• Focus on your foundation
o General online donations
o Supporter database
o Create culture of listening & openness
• Then pick appropriate tools & campaigns
• Try it, measure it, fix it, repeat
http://info.helpattack.com | @helpattack | support@helpattack.com
34. Social Media Fundraising
Tools
• FirstGiving
• Chirpify
• Causes
• HelpAttack!
http://info.helpattack.com | @helpattack | support@helpattack.com