Nonprofit internet strategies phần 6

166 EXHIBIT 13.2 INTRODUCTION TO BUILDING AN INTEGRATED FUNDRAISING STRATEGY Growth Rate in Users over 65 Age Group 65+ October 2002 7,642,000 October 2003 Growth 9,554,000 25% Source: Nielson//NetRatings The purpose of examining this 65+ audience is again to reinforce that the Inter-net is not going away. Users of all types are online and the numbers are growing. From the youngest child to the seniors, the use of the Internet is more and more per-vasive every month. The growth in this audience is good news. Although this doesn’t ensure that your aging donor file is rushing online, it signals an evolution that will continue to play a role in what effect online initiatives can have for your whole file. Exhibit 13.2 shows the increase in usage, just in the years 2002 to 2003. THE ONLINE EXPERIENCE For many organizations, there are a variety of ways individuals interact or are in-volved. Volunteers, activists, and donors all play a vital role in helping organizations achieve their mission. They are not all the same in age, mindset, financial status, and other key areas, so it would be a mistake to try and treat them in a one-size-fits-all approach. Too often, nonprofits fall into the trap that any organization could—that is, the inability to understand your audience’s needs or leveraging what you already know about them. By projecting the internal bias of the internally focused perspective, it becomes difficult to provide communications and infrastructure based on the needs of the site visitor, donor, or prospect. Exhibit 13.3 illustrates how this reality can manifest itself and therefore cause missed opportunities for connecting your donors and visitors to the site. This should not be viewed in only the terms of the Internet, but all communications. Although all organizations are different, the mindset of why people give to particular organizations is becoming increasingly competitive. Therefore, nothing should be taken for granted. The most significant disconnect in this chart falls in the area of fundraising. Essentially, how can I become a member, and if I do, what will you do with my funds? Both NPO and user data was obtained through a series of surveys. NPO survey was sent to a sample of 1,100 from their newsletter file. The User data were collected through two surveys of samples consisting of 4,300 and 8,900 individuals. PREVENTING THE INTERNET FROM BEING A LOOSE THREAD Top-Level Organizational Issues The biggest hindrance to successful fundraising, especially when it comes to the In-ternet, revolves around the inability to break down departmental barriers. Although it is true in all initiatives, the need for interdepartmental collaboration is even more ap-parent online. Preventing the Internet from Being a Loose Thread 167 EXHIBIT 13.3 Ranking of Various Web Site Characteristics by Nonprofits and Online Visitors Shows Different Priorities for Each Group Characteristics Easy to use Significant content about cause Visually pleasing Memorable URL Info about how to get futher involved Donate online Info about how donations are spent Volunteer opportunities Become member Advocate for cause Forum for discussion NPO User 1 3 2 1 3 8 4 10 5 4 6 9 7 2 8 7 9 5 10 6 11 11 Source: Network for Good, The BridgeSpan Group, GuideStar Having worked with a variety of organizations, we have seen many ways that this factor creates inefficiencies and redundancies, and impacts the bottom line directly. In some cases, organizations have invested in toolsets that would not be needed if mem-bership could work with communications. In others, advocacy initiatives are not as ef-fective due to the inability to leverage other department’s e-mail addresses. There are two primary realities that must be understood and addressed: 1. Users do not care about how your organization is structured, so your site’s struc-ture should not directly mirror your organizational structure. Architect the online experience to the user, not to your organizational issues. 2. Your donors, activists, and other individuals have a relationship with the organi-zation, not your department. Provide a clear communication plan for all of your segments that intelligently reinforces the organizational mission; don’t “protect” them for just the use for individual departmental needs. Setting Combined Goals As you look at yearly goals or even special campaign initiatives, it is important that there is an understanding and support of these across departments. Whether you are fundraising, developing advocacy programs, creating general awareness, or all of the above, it is vital to have the whole organization understand how these goals interact. Removing the barriers inherent to the organization will allow you to better communi-cate with your audience and get the most out of them. If you cannot commit to clearly defined goals, it will be readily apparent to the user and make it unclear for them, caus-ing fewer conversions. There are many challenges from a technology and organizational perspective to this, but they can be overcome. Many organizations that we have worked with run into issues when trying to organize a campaign that cuts across advocacy and member-ship. The issues stem from the lack of data integration, multiple records, and even the lack of sharing of data—meaning, it’s “my” activist, and I don’t want you soliciting them for a fundraising campaign or vice versa. Specific to fundraising, organizations 168 INTRODUCTION TO BUILDING AN INTEGRATED FUNDRAISING STRATEGY struggle with the notion of online numbers versus traditional fundraising goals. In our experience it is best to have a single goal since much of what we are doing cuts across media. When we discuss tactics on pre-e-mail appeals and other similar methods, it becomes clearer that without a single goal, there is difficulty in really defining what is a Web gift or a response to a traditional solicitation. After all, when push comes to shove, once the credit card clears, it is all the same kind of money. THE TRUTH ABOUT DONORS Simply put, donors are donors. As we continue to test different methods of solicitation, we find interesting trends. One of the most important successes that we have seen is the conversion of Web-acquired names performing in the mail. Conventional wisdom would say that if an individual came into the organization via a Web-based initiative, they would prefer Web-based communications and solicitations. The numbers show otherwise and continue to reinforce the idea that it is the message, not the medium. Although this is an ongoing examination and test that we are doing, it demon-strates that integration is key. It is about communicating to the prospect and donor through a variety of channels that can best get the message across, not retrofitting mes-saging to certain channels—essentially force-fitting something to work online or in the mail, because that is what you have done in the past. As you plan your prospecting and appeal strategies with your house lists, it is im-portant to utilize regular communications so that the only thing an individual sees is a blatant solicitation. By creating an ongoing dialogue with your audience, you create a natural flow of communications that can be turned up or down in volume and tone. The donors of today are more demanding, want to learn more about what their money is doing, and want to be regularly informed of the issues. In this Information Age, the sophistication of the audience necessitates an equally intelligent and informed ap-proach from the organization. The rest of the chapter will explore ways to increase integration through a variety of approaches and technologies. ONLINE DONATION TOOLS As technology advances and more people than ever before use the Internet as a source of information, it is vital that every nonprofit, no matter how big or small, has a Web site to advertise their organization. Allowing people to donate online is a necessary step for any nonprofit to integrate into their fundraising strategies. Five Things to Look for in Online Donation Tools 1. Is the online transaction processing occurring on a secure server? No one will give his or her credit card information online if it’s not on an identifiable secure server. 2. Is it easy for the potential donor to use? A donor is more likely to not give on-line if the process is confusing and takes too long. 3. Compare the upfront costs and the transaction fees. Often, a tool that has a low implementation cost can have excessively high per-transaction fees. Expect to pay to develop and implement an online donation processing system, but monthly costs and transaction fees do vary by service provider. Compare the ways each Online Donation Tools 169 service provider breaks down costs on a monthly and per-transaction basis. There are often thresholds established that are broken down either by the num-ber of e-mails sent each month or the number of active records that are stored in the online database system that determine the level of monthly fees. It is impor-tant to compare these thresholds to make sure you find the best option for your organization. 4. How quickly does your organization receive the online donations? The most time-effective service providers have online donation tools that will automatically de-posit donations into your organization’s merchant account. 5. If the donation tool is from a different vendor than your Web site tools, how seam-lessly can they integrate? You do not want two different looking sites—one for information and one for donating. Ideally, you want both sections of your site to look and feel the same to the donor. Impact of Successful Data Integration on Messaging The key to success of any integrated fundraising program is successful data integration between all sources of data. Just as a traditional direct-mail program has sophisti-cated database requirements in order to successfully track and monitor revenue, online donation systems are based on complex database systems. The task of integrat-ing the data from these two systems can seem like a daunting task to anyone. Fortu-nately the leading service providers for online donation tools have experience dealing with the major nonprofit fundraising database systems, such as Team Approach®, Raisers Edge®, and others. All database systems in your organization should have fields to accommodate the vital information that will be used to match data back and forth between them. This is extremely important for analytical purposes when determining the donation rate for integrated appeals and stand-alone fundraising e-mails. The ability to effectively integrate data between a traditional fundraising data-base and an online fundraising system is essential in order to integrate a new medium into the complete life cycle of a donor. Web-acquired donors, or online donors, are stored in both database systems, and not only do they need to be tracked as part of the overall donor system, but their online activity needs to tracked in both systems. Developing a seamless transfer of data on a regular basis will allow for sophisticated cultivation and retention planning for all donors that can reach beyond traditional direct-mail and telemarketing methods. A large environmental nonprofit organization is currently implementing proto-cols for a sophisticated system of data integration in order to launch an integrated (direct mail, telemarketing, and online) fundraising campaign that will run for eight weeks. This is a team effort of internal membership, activism and development staff, along with several consultants, to coordinate multiple data transfers, develop cross-platform content for segmented audiences, manage multiple delivery mediums, and ultimately track the entire campaign revenue and expenses to determine the return on investment (ROI) of an integrated campaign. The expectation is that by utilizing tra-ditional mediums for fundraising with the less expensive online options, the ROI will be higher overall. Several methods for sophisticated targeting and effective use of online database and e-mail tools for fundraising are described in the following section. 170 INTRODUCTION TO BUILDING AN INTEGRATED FUNDRAISING STRATEGY WEAVING THE FABRIC TO RECRUIT, CULTIVATE, AND RETAIN DONORS A successfully integrated fundraising plan must look at all phases of acquiring donors—recruiting, cultivating, and retaining—through all mediums. Prospecting: Search Engines and Paid Placement The basic requirement for all online initiatives is to ensure that the site can be found. Since people become aware of you through a variety of means, they often need to use Google or Yahoo!. If you are working with an outside firm for your Web initiatives, it should be able to provide detailed information. There is also a good guide on Mi-crosoft’s site (http://www.submit-it.com/subopt.htm). When it comes to paid placement, there are a variety of different flavors, and the costs vary. One cost-effective method is through keyword buys on Google and the Overture network. The fees are priced per click, and for many of our clients, the costs are around $0.25 to $0.50 per click. The key when using this method of acquiring prospects is to have the ad link directly to a focused campaign page, either immedi-ately soliciting them for a donation or tied to another acquisition device such as a pe-tition or newsletter sign-up. Many ads that I have reviewed drop users to the main homepage. However, this often does not provide the visitor any value because there is not a clear actionable item. (See https://adwords.google.com/select/ and http://www. overture.com.) Another more costly method is paid banner placement. Even more than keywords, this should be explored for larger initiatives that have a clear goal. Issue-based cam-paigns that are timely and need a large splash often get a good bump from these. In par-ticular, we have had large success on political campaigns quickly building e-mail lists for future solicitation. Again, this may be a costly route to go, but should be explored when planning campaign strategies. Prospecting: E-Mail E-mail communication is an inexpensive way to raise awareness and money for your organization. Building an e-mail list of your friends, donors, and volunteers builds on your house direct-mail list as an invaluable prospecting tool. There are several ways nonprofit organizations can capitalize on using e-mail to build your list to recruit and cultivate donors. A few of the most effective follow: A monthly e-newsletter. Aggregate important battles, accomplishments, and other key stories while also including calls to action. Action alerts. Use special appeals that focus on a current battle. Alerts are a call to arms. Tell-A-Friend campaigns. Campaigns that ask current supporters to forward in-formation to family, friends and colleagues they feel might also be interested in the cause. Viral Campaigns, often utilizing Flash animations. Campaigns that ask anyone who might receive the information to send to as many people as possible. Also known as “pass along” campaigns. ... - tailieumienphi.vn