Social Media & Fundraising - Are We There Yet?

Key Take-Aways from the AFP TechKnow Conference
June 4-5, 2012 – Orlando, FL

At the recent Association of Fundraising Professionals inaugural technology conference entitled "AFP TechKnow" that took place in Orlando, the organization produced an outstanding series of top-notch speakers who helped to educate those of us who want to know what role technology and social media is playing in the nonprofit and fundraising sectors. The following is, essentially, my collection of notes and key take aways from the conference. 

I. Social Media is simply another form of communication – plain and simple. It’s like if the telephone and television were invited and delivered all in one day. It’s a brand new set of tools.

II. One of the strongest modes of communication has always been storytelling. New technologies bring stories to life and can be seen and heard in the palm of your hand.

a.    Video


b.    Mobile Video

           i.     Exercise 1: Using your Smart Phone, send a text message that reads “IGF” to 27138 watch a video.

            ii.     Exercise 2: Using your Smart Phone, send a text message that reads “VID” to 27138 to receive a white paper on Mobile + Video.

             iii.     Text-to-Pledge

III. Your communications strategy needs to leverage the power of technology in order for your story to be heard. In addition, with more organizations using technology (traffic), your message must be different and memorable.

IV. Text-to-Pledge  (Douglas Plank, Founder/CEO, MobileCause Inc.)[1]

Short Message Service (SMS) is a text messaging service component of phone, web, or mobile communication systems that allow the exchange of short text messages (140 characters) between fixed line or mobile phone devices.

Big examples:

Haiti Earthquake= $32 Million donated by 5 million people at $10  .

Japan’s Tsunami = $4 Million donated by 5 million people at $10 a pop.

Open Rates?

Email = 30%

Mobile = 95%

Who is giving?

19% of Millennial ages 19-27

How are they being asked?

-       Printing the text number and key word on back of t-shirts

-       At the end of a gala and the testimonial, leaving the text number and key word on big screen   (average gift at a high profile event = $1,050 - $5,000)

It’s not always an ask, but simply a message

-       Text your thank-a-thon

-       Send a photo of a key program your donors support

-       Send them a special video message…from the new chancellor? Etc.

! IMPORTANT = GET YOUR DONOR’S CELL PHONE NUMBERS !
                 

"Social media is not a top-down marketing tool. It is a peer-to-peer relationship" - Youngme Moon [2] 

Social media is NOT a replacement for face-to-face meetings with your constituents. However, by utilizing these marketing/communications/research tools, you can:


    Locate them more quickly and keep up with them through their social media outlets


    Increase the frequency of your communications with them


    Learn more about their interests and their network




V. LinkedIn is a GREAT donor/alumni research tool – and it’s FREE.

a.    A Research Tool:

                                              i.     Job/title change and career history

                                             ii.     Contact information

                                           iii.     The people, companies, affinity groups with whom they are connected

b.    A Search Machine – you can search by:

                                              i.     Job title, university, fraternity/sorority, industry


VI. Social Media Strategy (Ted Hart, ACFRE) [3]

     Integration + Balance = Success

     - 10-15% of budget

      -  10-15% of time

6 Pillars for Online Success

1.    Well Designed Website

2.    Guidestar Strategy

WHY? Because Guidestar Powers:

• Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund

• Philotic, Inc. (Facebook)

• Schwab Charitable Gift Fund

• T. Rowe Price Fund for Giving

• NetworkforGood

• JustGive

3.    LinkedIn Strategy

WHY? Peer2Peer Networks

15-16% of online nonprofit social media contacts are “mass influencers”, they leverage 80% of nonprofit contacts in social media -cygnus donor research  

4.    Twitter Strategy

WHY? Listen to the trends and see what your alumni/donors are tweeting about.
Not sure how to Tweet? Go to http://Listorious.com to learn proper hash tag use for the most effective searches.

5.    Facebook Strategy

WHY? Forgot that donor’s middle child’s name? Go to their FB page and find out.

Also just to keep in the loop on major life events that they may post

6.    YouTube

WHY? The POWER of VIDEO is hard to beat.

7.    Google Strategy

WHY? The jury is still out, because they are enhancing their products rapidly and are in fierce competition with Apple, Microsoft, amazon.com, FaceBook, Twitter, Yahoo and IBM.

! MOST IMPORTANT ! - Integrate social media into your
overall marketing strategy

-       Remember that content is king.

-       Create a monthly content/outlet calendar – photo below.
(Liam Copeland) [4]

Ted Hart’s 4-Year Social Media Strategy

Year 1:


A.    Build Well Designed Website


B.    Collect Emails


C.     Build personal/organizational social network profile


D.    Complete Guidestar Strategy.

Year 2:


A.    Add Online Events


B.    eNewsletter


C.     Start Social Network


D.    Email Campaigning


E.     Executive Twitter


F.     Organization LinkedIn Strategy


G.    Adwords + Google Grant

Year 3:


A.    Ramp Up Social Networking


B.    Leverage Online Community


C.     Facebook/Twitter Strategy


D.    Revise Website


E.     Mobile Apps, Google and Youtube.com.

Year 4:


A.    People to People Fundraising is the centerpiece to strategy


B.    Website + SocialNetwork = Donors.

Foot Notes

---

1.     Youngme Moon is the Donald K. David Professor of Business Administration and Senior Associate Dean, Chair of the MBA Program, at Harvard Business School.

At HBS, Professor Moon teaches in both the MBA program and a number of Executive Education programs. She has received the HBS Student Association Faculty Award for teaching excellence on multiple occasions; she is also the inaugural recipient of the Hellman Faculty Fellowship, awarded for distinction in research.

Professor Moon's research and course development focuses on the intersection of business, branding, and culture. Her bestselling first book, Different, was published by Crown Business/Random House in 2010. Her ideas have been published in a variety of journals, including the Harvard Business Review, and she has published case studies on companies ranging from Microsoft to IKEA to Intel. 

Professor Moon serves on the Board of Directors of Avid Technology, and the Board of Governors for the American Red Cross. She received her Ph.D. from Stanford University, her M.A. from Stanford University, and her B.A. from Yale University. Prior to joining HBS, she was on the faculty at MIT. She lives in Brookline with her husband and two sons.

2.     Ted Hart, ACFRE - CEO at Charities Aid Foundation of America, P2PFundraising.org & tedhart.com, Founder and CEO at GreenNonProfits.org, Radio Host- Nonprofit Coach, Author of numerous books.

3.     Douglas Plank - As Chairman/CEO and Founder of Mobilecause, Doug focuses on strategies impacting MobileCause and its leadership position in the marketplace including NPO segment strategy, customer service, retention, legal, investor and board relations alongside President and co-founder Daniel Scalisi.

A consummate fundraising leader, with expertise in capital campaigns, board development, annual funds, alumni services, events, major gifts, planned giving, staff training, campaign design and implementation, Doug has facilitated capital totaling more than $500 million. He boasts 31 years of professional leadership in cause-related and non-profit institutions including higher education, social services, medical and faith, and has worked with established nonprofits and start-ups alike.  He is a frequent speaker at nonprofit and technology conferences and frequently represents MobileCause on radio and television.

4.     Liam Copeland, Digital Marketing Specialist, Grizzard Communications Group). Liam Copeland focuses in social media, content optimization and pay-per-click advertising. After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, Liam created and implemented digital and traditional campaigns for commercial and non-profit organizations in the South East.

[1] Douglas Plank

[2] Youngme Moon

[3] Ted Hart, ACFRE

[4] Liam Copeland

Innovation Doesn't Happen Overnight: A Case Study

The nonprofits that are weathering through the current economic climate are doing so based on luck or, better yet, on high impact management. According to Heather Grant and Leslie Crutchfield, in their 2009 article for the Stanford Graduate School of Business, “…becoming a high-impact nonprofit is not just about building a great organization and then expanding it to reach more people. Rather, high-impact nonprofits work with and through organizations and individuals outside themselves to create more impact than they ever could have achieved alone.” 1 Key building blocks for high impact include flexibility, transparency, pragmatism, and adaptability.

Please join me on May 15th at Nashville's Belmont University for the 2012 Bridge to Excellence Conference, produced by the Center for Nonprofit Management. I'll be leading a breakout session in the afternoon that is a case study of the Association for Visual Arts (AVA) in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Together with my successor and AVA's current executive director, Anne Willson, we will walk through the steps taken over the past five years to create a social enterprise that offers value to community members ranging from art students to entrepreneurs. 

AVA, a 501c3, has been promoting and supporting the visual arts and artists for 25 years. In the spring of 2007, AVA’s leadership paused to consider why arts audiences were declining rapidly nationwide. We learned that people were less interested in the traditional method of delivery. “As a result of the recent proliferation of communication technologies (iPods, video cameras, Internet, etc.) arts consumers have greater access to information and are no longer relying as heavily on the role of non-profit institutions and are spending their cultural dollars elsewhere.” 2

Based on this challenge, AVA questioned all aspects of its operations and reached beyond its walls to gain a fresh perspective. This research suggested that in order for AVA to deliver maximum impact, it should incorporate technology into its programming and deliver services to consumers on their terms. After minor construction to the Frazier Avenue space, AVA’s Media Lab opened for working artists, and the community-at-large, to access current technology, including: ten iMac computers complete with specialized software such as Photoshop, In Design, and Final Cut Studio, plus digital and video cameras.

The promise of AVA’s Media Lab was to serve as a hub for professionally-instructed classes, workshops, after-school programs, and summer institutes for the city’s artists and students. The unique offerings would focus on Website design, graphic design, digital photography, and video production and editing. In this session, you will learn which objectives are being realized and which ones are being reconsidered. 

The AVA Media is just one example demonstrating how high impact innovation can occur. The process of this retooling effort was just as important as the product and it didn't happen overnight. It also involved many individuals outside of the organization with the common goal of ensuring the support and growth of the visual arts and artists in Chattanooga.

Learn more about how the process unfolded along with the unexpected benefits that the process provided to the staff members who were charged with the project, as well as the partners who helped to make it happen. For registration information, go to http://www.cnm.org/Bridge-to-Excellence/2012-Nonprofit-Conference.aspx.

1 By Heather McLeod Grant & Leslie R. Crutchfield, “Creating High-Impact Nonprofits”, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Fall 2007 Stanford Graduate School of Business.

2 Critical Issues Facing the Arts in California, the James Irvine Foundation, September 2006.

Workshop Offerings

Check out these two CFRE - certified development classes that will be offered in Spring 2012:


1. Blackbelt Fundraising: Seven Drills to Improve Your Nonprofit's Fundraising Function

2. Special Events as Fundraisers: Art or Science?

1. Blackbelt Fundraising:

Seven Drills to Improve

Your Nonprofit’s Fundraising Function

Crown Point Nonprofit Advisors

Workshop Offerings - Christa J. Mannarino, CFRE

Running time: 6 hrs (9 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.)

Issue:

Nonprofits are facing unique challenges in today’s fundraising landscape. CEOs and Development Directors are focused more on securing organizational income that ever before, but working harder doesn’t necessarily equal more funds. It’s time to work smarter and more efficiently in order to succeed.

The impact of a comprehensive development function can be the difference between the success or failure of an organization. This highly interactive workshop will feature a step-by-step, hands-on process that will result in a basic, but strategic fundraising function outline.

Benefits to Participants:

Direct benefits include:

- Current fundraising function assessment;

- Focused fundraising strategy;

- Improved donor relationships;

- Stronger team board, staff and key volunteers;

- Improved donor stewardship efforts.

Indirect benefits include:

- Professional development tools for staff;

- Improved record keeping systems;

- Strong rational and narrative material for future grant writing;

- Increased teamwork between board and staff.

Topics of Discussion and Handouts include:

- Organizational fundraising assessment;

- Basic fundraising plan outline;

- Staff and board roles in fundraising;

- Stages of fundraising (donor research, qualification, solicitation, stewardship);

- Ethics of fundraising (review of AFP’s Donor Bill of Rights);

- Reading and resources list;

- Metrics and reporting tools.

2. Special Events as Fundraisers: Art or Science?

Crown Point Nonprofit Advisors

Workshop Offerings - Christa J. Mannarino, CFRE

Running time: 4 hrs

Issue:

Are special events the best way to raise funds? It depends. So before planning that next one, learn the important questions that the board and staff should answer before choosing the caterer or ordering the centerpieces.

Participants will learn some essential planning techniques that include best practices research and conducting an environmental scan of your local landscape. We will also create a detailed planning guide including adequate resource allocations to ensure a professionally run event.

By planning carefully and adding enough creativity and attitude, your organization could very well be on the way to a successful and profitable fundraiser.

Benefits to Participants:

Direct benefits include:

- Understand the value of focus groups and constituent input;

- Get a realistic environmental scan of fundraising strategies in your community;

- Utilize your limited resources (staff and volunteer time) in the most efficient way;

- Put your team: board, staff and key volunteers on the same page regarding special events;

- Cultivate donor relationships.

Indirect benefits include:

- Professional development tools for staff;

- Improved best practices research;

- Increased teamwork between board and staff.

Topics of Discussion and Handouts include:

- Organizational fundraising assessment;

- Staff and board roles;

- Community focus groups;

- Creating realistic timelines and resources allocations;

- Monitoring and evaluation.