Myths of Social Media Fundraising

In one of my recent Google alerts, I was directed to an article from Greenleaf Project Management titled Using Social Media For Fundraising. As a social media learn-aholic and fundraising professional, I was drawn to the posting. That was the end of the positive experience... Unfortunately, the post illustrated what many social media fundraising 'newbies' and more than a few nonprofit executives think about the channel. Consider this post a bit of a rebuttal.

Per the post:

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"Most businesses and organizations aren’t ready to commit to quite (the extent Ben & Jerry's did by only advertising via social media), but make no mistake, you should not be without a presence on these powerful (social media) sites. Why?

#1: It’s free. Free advertising and promotion! Never, ever turn down free advertising.

#2: The reach is huge: Facebook alone has more than 500 million users, 50% of whom are “active users” who log on every day. Twitter signs up about 300,000 new users every day, according to an article in the Huffington Post.

#3: The number of people who may see your marketing is limitless (“viral marketing”).

#4: Allows your organization to benefit from person-to-person fundraising.

#5: It’s fast and requires little monitoring."

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Let's break these down, one-by-one.

#1: It's free.

No. It's not. If you are going to do social media management and fundraising properly and have any success, it's going to take time & money. This commitment of resources also represents the opportunity cost of not dedicating the resources to other priorities, like face-to-case fundraising, events, etc.

Bonus #1a: "Never turn down free advertising." - Basic marketing should tell you that this is not always the case. Free advertising may not be in a location/channel that aligns with your organization's values. Free advertising must align with the audience you are targeting, your messaging strategy, etc.

#2: The reach is huge.

I find this quite misleading. The potential reach is huge... the reach is only as good as your messaging and your network.

#3: The number of people who may see your marketing is limitless (“viral marketing”).

Ugh. Anyone who tells you that you can plan viral marketing has never tried to do so. A microscopic percentage of postings go viral and those that do generally aren't things you would want to associate with your nonprofit. Here are two of the most popular viral videos of all time... not exactly nonprofit material:

Numa Numa:

Leave Britney Alone!

#4: Allows your organization to benefit from person-to-person fundraising.

Sure... to an extent. But there's a lot of legwork required to make this happen - a support network in your organization, a successful communication strategy that makes the case for support, people willing to champion your cause and ask for gifts, software/data integration to manage the volunteer gift program, etc.


#5: It’s fast and requires little monitoring.



Social media fundraising is far from "set it and forget it," like the good ol' Showtime Compact Rotisserie & BBQ Oven.

If you want to raise money with social media, it is going to require a time commitment and monitoring, so as to develop the conversation and listen to your constituents.

I certainly do not like punching holes in another's blog post, but this one demanded it - there are simply too many myths being perpetuated.

USPS Rate Increase News

FYI to fundraisers that use direct mail... quick info on postage rate increase from USPS, courtesy of friends at Diamond Marketing Solutions:

The USPS announced (January 13) that they plan to increase rates on April 17, not in May as previously expected.

The increase will average 1.7%, but we expect significant variations by rate category. You will need to check the changes for the specific categories you use to determine the impact on your budget. We hope to have comparisons by rate category shortly and will publish them as soon as they are available.

Postmaster General Pat Donahoe told a group of mailing industry executives this morning that the Postal Service is filing their rate increase request with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) this afternoon. The PRC must approve the rates, but their approval is limited to determining that the proposed rates do not exceed the CPI rate cap (currently 1.7%) mandated by law.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user katmere.

Planning Ahead - February Holidays Your Nonprofit Can Use

As many of you know, there is a page on this blog dedicated to holidays nonprofit organizations may be able to use for creative awareness or fundraising campaigns or internal management - such as getting your volunteers and team behind Random Acts of Kindness Week (February 14-18) - By the way, if you're a manager, take advantage of this excuse to surprise your employees with some kindness.

So, about three weeks in advance, to give you a little time to plan ahead, I give you some February holidays you can use. If you're interested in planning further ahead or reviewing some of the guidelines on making these holiday campaigns successful for your organization, make sure to visit the original page.

Here's a quick snapshot of some of February's holidays you may be able to use:

Adopt A Rescued Rabbit Month
Alzheimers and Dementia Awareness Week
American Heart Month
Celebration of Love Week
Children's Authors & Illustrators Week
Give Kids A Smile Day
International Friendship Week
Just Say No to Powerpoints Week
Library Lovers Month
Love Your Pet Day
National African American History Month
National Bird Feeding Month
National Black History Month
National Donor Day - IMPORTANT - this is meant as organ donors.
National Entrepreneurship Week
National Have A Heart Day
National Women's Heart Day
Plant the Seeds of Greatness Month
Random Acts of Kindness Week
Rare Disease Day
Valentines Day
Women's Heart Week
World Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Day
World Day for Social Justice
World Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Awareness Week
Youth Leadership Month

Campaign highlight: UNICEF Haiti365

I received a nice email from the MLS Works campaign promoting the UNICEF Haiti365 campaign. Well conceived, basic campaign - good art, good message. Worth sharing. Check out the video aspect of their homepage.

The email:

On the web:

Share your own video and be the voice:

On Facebook:

Twitter, @unicefusa:

Be Our Guest: Epic Change's Stacey Monk

Please welcome our latest Be Our Guest participant - Stacey Monk (LinkedIn). Stacey is the CEO & Founder of Epic Change, which began in 2008. Her previous work includes owning a boutique consulting firm in San Francisco, working in IT strategy at Genentech, working in welfare reform for Santa Clara County, California, consulting for Deloitte and as an arts administrator at a university theatre in Texas. Stacey has her B.A. in philosophy from Catholic University in D.C. and her M.A. in performing arts management from Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz School of Public Policy & Management. Stacey's work with Epic Change has been recognized as one of the best social media fundraising efforts. Their projects have included Tweetsgiving, To Mama With Love & Epic Thanks. I am honored to have her take part in the blog - Many thanks Stacey!

What is the biggest challenge your fundraising efforts currently face?

Creating a sustainable, predictable, stable income source. We also have not had any focus at all on grant writing, so we could probably stand to develop a strategy in that regard.

What are you doing to overcome these challenges?

It's one of our top priorities for 2011. We plan to involve our community and design engaging opportunities to transform one-time donors into regular supporters.

What is the most successful change/program implementation you have made in your current role?

Our investments in Tanzania have been very successful, having built one of the top-performing primary schools in Arusha (the picture above is Stacey with students in Arusha). From a fundraising standpoint, I think our To Mama With Love project was particularly successful. (See blog post on To Mama here)

Where do you see social media's best application for fundraising?

It's constantly evolving. I don't think there are great applications for fundraising, per se. Many tools are great for building communities that eventually generate funds for your cause. Tools and platforms that ask people to invest more than money - to invest their hearts (in the form of personal content, stories & emotion) - will, in my opinion, ultimately have the greatest impact.

What book/blog/twitter feed would you suggest fundraisers pay attention to in order to further develop their skills?

@kanter, @amyrsward, @womenwhotech, @askdebra, @tactphil

What question would you find most useful for the readers to answer?

We've primarily been successfully funded through grassroots contributions. What ideas do you have to transform one-time contributors into regular supports? If I get two questions (you do, Stacey!), I'd also ask what the best tools are out there for grant research - where's the best place to start? (Stacey - check out @PamelaGrow)

Are All Charity Websites Bad?

A recent post at the Chronicle of Philanthropy's page by Saundra Schimmelpfennig has an interesting title - Does Your Charity’s Web Site Keep Donors in the Dark?

I think the general premise of the title is a good one for nonprofits to be asking, but the content of the article is too general - it assumes that nonprofits are all in need of the same type of site. While I do think there are key components of a good nonprofit website - see the 10 Pages Every Charity Website post - it doesn't mean that these will take the same form for each nonprofit.

Schimmelpfennig notes that most nonprofit sites "feature success stories with photos of happy people, information on how little money is spent on administration costs, and a 'click here to donate' button. If charities do include any information on standards, lessons learned, or evaluation results, they are generally so well hidden that few potential donors ever stumble across them."

I'm torn by Schimmelpfennig's comments. On one hand, I understand what I think she is trying to get at - having information that is a notch above the average nonprofit is good for any charity website and that administrative costs are not the end-all-be-all of nonprofit management metrics. I just don't know that the point is illustrated as well as it could be. For instance, one of the most important things I want to see when visiting a nonprofit website is impact. What is this nonprofit doing to meet its goals and improve the world. In many cases, that means photos of happy people. I mean... look how happy I am you're reading this blog:


Schimmelpfennig also notes that the primary source of information for prospective donors is a nonprofit's website. This is important and accurate information. While I appreciate the author's desire to have more about professional standards and organizational structure on a website, I am confident market research would indicate that these are some of the least important factors in a prospect's giving decision.

With regards to administrative costs - there is a problem with this metric in the nonprofit arena and Schimmelpfennig is right to point it out. While sites like Charity Navigator often rave about low administrative and fundraising costs, a strategic nonprofit will not strive for costs to be too low. In order to have long-term success, a nonprofit must invest in things like donor acquisition campaigns - which often cost more than $1 to raise a $1 - and database improvements, etc. If your nonprofit's costs are too low, you will have short-term success, but lack long-term sustainability.

Therefore, guidelines like these from Charity Navigator's Approach To Rating Charities page very misleading to nonprofit management:

We assess four key indicators to determine how efficiently and responsibly a charity functions day to day.

1) Program Expenses: Percent of total functional expenses spent on programs and services. (higher is better)
2) Administrative Expenses: Percent of total functional expenses spent on management and general. (lower is better)
3) Fundraising expenses: Percent of total functional expenses spent on fundraising. (lower is better)
4) Fundraising efficiency: Amount a charity spends to raise $1. (lower is better)

Frankly, all of the statements in bold are inaccurate for the reasons I mention above. Schimmelpfennig notes, "Inadequate information on charity Web sites creates the impression that all that is needed to run a nonprofit program are good intentions, lots of donations, low administrative costs, and a few happy stories." Again, I think illustrating impact and your case for support will help overcome these issues and misconceptions, not pushing nonprofits to have detailed reports online in lieu of... well, pictures of happy people.

Sam Adams, Whole Foods & Your Donors

I was really struck by a recent post by the awesome Jeff Espositto (web / Twitter / YouTube). In the post, Jeff describes an experience he had searching for a rare Sam Adams brew and how his network, Twitter and Whole Foods came together to save him from going without the new brew. Aside from my love for quality craft brews, I found Jeff's takeaways from the experience worth sharing Through Nonprofit Eyes:

From Jeff's post:

A few weeks ago, I attended the Sam Adams unveiling of their new beer Infinium and ever since have been looking to get my hands on a bottle or two. After striking out a few times at my favorite stores, I shot out a tweet asking if anyone had any insight into stores with the elusive beer in stock. Soon after I received this Tweet from someone who I have never met, but am grateful for:

Shortly after, Jeff received the following from @WholeFoodsRVR:

Talk about listening and taking care of your customers! As Jeff went on to say, he normally wouldn't have shopped at Whole Foods, but did so because of their quick response. They literally gained a customer through being responsive on Twitter. Here are Jeff's takeaways, with my input for a nonprofit perspective:

• Grow big ears - I can't count the number of times a potential or former donor has been confused or misinformed about something at a nonprofit and, therefore, has decided not to make a contribution in the future. Every time you see the opportunity to correct misconceptions about your nonprofit, you have the chance to sway someone to "your side" and remove one barrier to giving.
• Treat every referral as a potential sale, even if it doesn't look like a large win - This one goes out to all the major gift officers. Some of you are great at this, some of you are terrible at it. In many organizations if the annual giving moves a donor through various gift levels, the donor "qualifies" as a major gift prospect and is shuffled on to a gift officer's portfolio. So on one day the prospect is at the top of the annual giving prospect list. The next day, the prospect is at the bottom of a major gift prospect list. If you're the gift officer and cannot take this relationship to the next level - say so!!! It's okay if you have too many bigger donors/prospects to work with, but it's not okay to ignore this group and let them slip into "midrange donor purgatory."
• Go above and beyond - This always goes a long way with donors, particularly if they feel like they are "only" a small contributor. Think of a time a restaurant treated you better than you ever would have anticipated... Have you gone back? I'm guessing you have. Donors can act the same way.
• Have fun with the customer - If the situation permits fun and it won't hurt your organization, don't hesitate to illustrate to donors & prospects that you are human! Novel concept, I know, but for large nonprofits in particular, prospects can feel like there's no such thing as a real human. Humor can help when it fits.
• Small niceties can turn a happy customer into an advocate - Without a doubt, this is true. When people complain to your nonprofit, it is likely because they actually care about the work you're doing. Otherwise, they probably would not take the time to complain. Therefore, being kind & owning any problems or mistakes can turn that negative passion into a positive, advocating voice for your organization.
• Keep hustling - Always. It helps to be passionate about what you do. If you find you're losing steam or not hustling, take time to reflect and figure out what's keeping you from doing so.

Thanks to Jeff for giving me the okay to piggy-back on his original post. The tweet images are from his post and the Infinium picture is from DigBoston.

How Will Your Nonprofit Realistically Use Social Media in 2011?

Chalk this up as my cynical post. Or an attempted reality check for my readers. Really, I just offer it as a warning for you and your nonprofit's perspective on what social media can do for you in 2011. So I pose this question: How will your nonprofit realistically use social media in 2011? If you could do the time warp to 01/01/12, what are you most certain to have successfully completed?

Can you do a lot with social media? Definitely. Can you raise a bunch of money with social networking tools? Yep.

Take those two questions & answers, sprinkle them with a couple descriptions of current social media trends and you have 90% of the nonprofit social media predictions for 2011.

Here's what isn't always mentioned:

1) Social media can't do it on its own.

Social media is a communications channel and can be an important, productive one. However, for the majority of nonprofit organizations it cannot be the only channel used. Phone, mail, events, face-to-face interactions, etc. all play a role in developing the relationships that lead to gifts of time and financial resources. How these channels work together will be one of the most accurate predictors of your success with social media.

2) A lousy case for support doesn't become great once tweeted. Even if you have someone with "Klout" tweet it.

There are certain building blocks that need to be present for a prospective donor to make a gift, including a solid case for support. Just because you send a tweet saying...

"We REALLY need your $ this week - PLS, PLS RT!!!!"

...doesn't mean gifts will roll in. Your case for support has to be solid and you have to be able to communicate it well.

Take a moment to evaluate your case for support and how well you are communicating this case. Bob Groves (@bgroves3), vice president for university advancement at Michigan State University, often refers to basic tasks like this as "blocking & tackling" - the less fancy aspects of football without which a team will fail. Focus on your blocking & tackling and you'll have more success with your fundraising, communications and social media efforts.

3) Speaking of Klout - it's a lousy metric... don't waste your time on it.

That's my two cents. I truly cannot think of a way nonprofit organizations could use this where the investment of time in moving the metric would be worth the NPO's time. Don't get caught up in this one. Have a great example of how an NPO could or should use Klout? Please let me know and prove me wrong.

With all of that said - HAPPY NEW YEAR! There are plenty of great things that can be done in fundraising and while using social media - just remember that it isn't always easy and it certainly isn't always cheap.

Free webinar w/ @katyan4g & @jocelynharmon

I don't generally post 'advertisements' (so-to-speak) for webinars, etc., but I know this is a good one, it's cost-friendly (free), and I like the folks putting it on. If you're interested:

Topic: How Strong Relationships Can Increase Fundraising Results in 2011

Join Katya Andresen (@katyan4g) from Network for Good and Jocelyn Harmon (@jocelynharmon) from Care2 as they discuss nonprofit online outreach and fundraising in 2011.

Agenda items:

• Network For Good study on giving - the findings
• How to strengthen relationships with your current donors
• Ways to identify and cultivate new supporters
• Where (and when) to focus your online activities

When: Tuesday, January 11th at 1 PM ET

About The Speakers:

Katya Andresen is Chief Operating Officer of Network for Good, as well as a speaker, author (Robin Hood Marketing) and blogger about nonprofit marketing, online outreach and the basics of social media. Katya has trained thousands of causes in effective marketing and media relations, and her marketing materials for non-profits have won national and international awards.

Jocelyn Harmon is Director of Nonprofit Services for Care2.com, where she is responsible for connecting nonprofits to Care2’s 14 million + members so that they can acquire new donors, members and advocacy supporters, online. She is also a recognized blogger and speaker on online marketing for social change. In 2009, Jocelyn was recognized as one of the “Women in Nonprofit Technology Who Rock” by Fast Company. Her personal blog, MarketingforNonprofits.org, is top-ranked on Alltop. She writes a bi-monthly column for Fundraising Success magazine.

>To register, visit this page.