Fundraising and the New Economic Reality

Winter Institute for Chief Development Officers

Fundraising and the New Economic Reality: Social Media Rises to the Challenge

Anthony D. Owensaowens@virilion.com

February 24, 2010

What is social media?

Participation in honest conversation

NOTprepared

statements

The Power of OneTraditional marketing

Input

Outcome

Social media

Input

Outcome

5

Obama Campaign Stats

University Brown Univ.

CaltechGeorge Wash. Univ.

Harvard Univ.

Univ. of CA

Irvine

Univ. of Illinois

Univ. of Iowa

Univ. of Texas Dallas

Univ. of Wash

Location RI CA DC MA CA IL IA TX WA

Campaign / Development / Foundation / Alumni

Camp Alum

Devel Alum

Devel Alum

Alum/ Devel

Camp Alum

Camp Alum

Found Alum

Alum Found Alum

Email / Newsletter A A X A A

Multimedia / Podcast X X X X X A

News Feed / RSS X A A X X X A A

Photos X A

Widget X

Blog A

Facebook X A S A A A X A X X A A A

Flickr A A A X A

LinkedIn Profile A A A A A A A A

Links to Social Media (easily located)

X A A X X X A

Social Bookmarking / Sharing X A X X A X A

Twitter A A A A X A X X A

YouTube Channel A X

Meta Keywords / Description A X A X

Social Media Best Practices

WEB SITE FEATURES

SOCIAL MEDIA ACTIVITY

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION

X = Foundation/Development/Giving; A = Alumni; S = Sports Foundation

Shaping the Future fundraising campaign Web page

This campaign Web page shares a YouTube video

Alumni relations Web page

This alumni relations Web page

provides links to LinkedIn,

Facebook and the e-newsletter.

Foundation social media Web page

Links to social media

sites are clearly

displayed on this Web page.

Fundraising and social media links

Harvard has made it easy to give to the preferred school and also contact alumni and social media.

Facebook has many useful tools to use

Share photos, stories and link often. Work to

increase fans and keep content fresh.

Facebook allows information and links

The Facebook Info section can be filled with lots of useful information and links…. use it to tell your story.

Keep it fresh and be active on Twitter

Follow people, tweet often and share useful information in the Bio section.

Twitter encourages engagement

Tweet often and share links.

Share videos on YouTube.You can post an unlimited amount of videos viewable to not only subscribers, but also anyone who searches for them in YouTube.

Videos on YouTube

Create a YouTube channel to share videos.

UC Irvine Foundation YouTube channel

Participate… and grow – using LinkedIn

An official LinkedIn page provides basic information to the public and creates an entire network of employees and supporters to connect with.

Brown Alumni promotes LinkedIn on their Web site.

University of Washington alumni has almost 10,800 members and is promoted on the university alumni Web site.

University alumni provide an important resource

Flickr provides access to photos

Flickr provides a place for photo sharing and is another way to engage.

Photos can also be shared on the Web site

Planned giving podcasts are useful tools

Podcasts can be downloaded to iTunes

Blogs can be very useful. Only the University of Iowa Alumni is using one and not for fundraising.

Alumni blog on the Web site

These tools are easy to use and easy to share.

Newsfeeds, social sharing and e-newsletters

Widgets can be used to share news

Widgets can be placed on iGoogle, blogs and social media sites such as Facebook.

Keys to success

• Get the message out• Keep the message fresh• Stick to the story• Track and stay in touch with the interested

visitor• Develop a worthwhile engaging relationship

with those who can support you.

Have clear objectives for your campaign

• Mission • Key Objective - To raise funds for …• Key Objective - To engage the wider community to raise

money and get other people to …

Allow people to engage at all levels

• Different levels of engagement

• Opportunities for most casual supports to stay involved

• Drive up commitment by offering more value

Identify and empower super users - manage the community

• Identify connectors early• Empower committed advocates• Give super users tools to activate

others - Social and fundraising groups, local event organizing

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Fish where the fish are

• Go where the people are• Objective to make sure that each

supporter online regardless of where they are, has a connection with your University.

• Use other social spaces to drive conversation back to your community site.

People like doing business with people they know …

… and love doing business with people they trust.

Edelman Trust Barometer

University Fundraising Web Sites

Brown Universityhttp://annualfund.brown.edu/http://alumni.brown.edu/

California Institute of Technology http://giving.caltech.edu/http://alumni.caltech.edu/

George Washington Universityhttp://www.gwu.edu/givehttp://alumni.gwu.edu/

Harvard Universityhttp://www.alumni.harvard.edu/

University of California Irvine http://www.ucifuture.com/http://www.uadv.uci.edu/

University of Iowa http://www.uifoundation.org/http://www.iowalum.com/

University of Illinois http://www.uif.uillinois.edu/http://www.uiaa.org/

University of Texas at Dallashttp://www.utdallas.edu/development/http://alumni.utdallas.edu/

University of Washingtonhttp://www.uwfoundation.org/http://www.washington.edu/alumni/

Thank You!How to get in touch:Anthony D Owens, Senior Strategic Consultantaowens@virilion.comwww.virilion.com