NTEN: Change | June 2014

CHANGEA Quarterly Journal for Nonprofit Leaders · June 2014

PLUS:The Missing Middle: Neglecting Middle Donorsis Costing Nonprofits Millions by Alia McKee

Crowdfunding: Tomorrow’s Fundraising ModelsToday by Miriam Kagan and David J. Neff

Changing the Conversation About Overheadby Rick Cohen

Bitcoin: A Fundraising Digital Disruptorby Jason Shim

INTERVIEWS:· SURFRIDER FOUNDATION

· URBAN MINISTRIES OF DURHAM· KIVA

· GLOBALGIVING· FUNDSFORNGOS

· FOOD & WATER WATCH

REINVENTING THE ASK:FUNDRAISING IN THEDIGITAL AGEHOW NONPROFITS ARE GETTINGDONORS TO CHOOSE THEM

2 NTEN CHANGE | JUNE 2014

In Faridabad, India, I once led apresentation about nonprofitfundraising best practices with socialmedia. Attendees includedrepresentatives from new initiativesthat were run by one or twoindividuals. Surprisingly, the groupincluded Tibetan monks who wantedto learn more about fundraising butwere not using social media or theInternet.

At first, I thought my presentationwas moot. However, the truth wasthat regardless of the channel beingdiscussed—in this case social media—fundraising best practices remainthe same: organizations need tocontinually cultivate and maintainrelationships, demonstrateeffectiveness and impact, andacknowledge donors for theirsupport.

In this issue of NTEN: Change, we take a closer look at someof the latest trends and topics at the intersection of technology and fundraising: the billion dollar crowdfunding industry, Bitcoin opportunities for nonprofits, and how to reframe the conversation about overhead so nonprofits can get the funding they need for technology. We also go behind the scenes with successful nonprofits: Kiva, Surfrider Foundation, GlobalGiving, FundsforNGOs, and Urban Ministries of Durham’s imaginative

Names for Change initiative.We also take a peek into two recentpublications: The Missing Middleand Mobile for Good.

The key takeaway from these articles: People and relationships still raise money; tools and channels help you do that. Think about the value your organization brings to the broader sector you work in and make sure you consistently communicate that.

At the end of the presentation inFaridabad, one of the Tibetan monksimparted his key takeaway: “missiondriven means no ego.” It’s true. It’snot about you or your organization,but about how your organizationmeets its intended mission andcontributes to the greater good...and donors are the some of the bestones to judge.

Letter fromthe EditorJOLEEN ONGMarketing &Publications Director,NTEN

“The key takeawayfrom these articles: Think about the value your organization brings to the broader sector you workin and make sure youconsistentlycommunicate that.”

ISSUE FOURTEEN JUNE 2014

EditorJoleen OngMarketing & Publications Director, NTEN

DesignPhilip KraynaNKD - Neuwirth/Krayna Designwww.nkdesigngroup.com

Editorial Committee MembersJeanne AllenManager/Instructor, Duke University NonprofitManagement Program

Chris BernardEditorial and Communications Director,Idealware

Melanie BowerClient Services Manager,Social Accountability Accreditation Services

Tobias EigenExecutive Director, Kabissa—Space forChange in Africa

Sophia GuevaraSocial Media Fellow, Emerging Practitionersin Philanthropy (EPIP)

WiebkeHerdingManaging Director, On:Subject Communications

JoshHirschDirector of Development andMarketing,The Weiss School

Nicole LampeDigital Strategy Director, Resource Media

Cindy LeonardConsulting Team Leader, BayerCenter for Nonprofit Management

BonnieMcEwanAssistant Professor and Consultant,Milano-The New School & BonnieMcEwan.com

Rebecca ReyesCommunications Manager,Everyday Democracy

Cover Art: Ashley Paulisick—www.ashleycecil.com

Advertising: Learn more aboutsponsoring NTEN:Change at nten.org/advertising/reserve

Permissions &Inquiries: Please givecredit to all referenced or re-publishedcontent according to theCreative Common license: Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported. ExampleAttribution text: “First published inNTEN:Change (nten.org/NTENChange),June 2014, CC BY-SA 3.0(creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).” More informationabout the journal can be found atnten.org/NTENChange/Press

CHANGEA Quarterly Journal for Nonprofit Leaders

NTEN CHANGE | JUNE 2014 3

INSIDEFEATURES:PAGE 6 Reinventing the Ask:Fundraising in the Digital Ageby Josh Hirsch, TheWeiss School andDave Tinker, CFRE, ACHIEVAIt is more important than ever for anonprofit’s communication strategy tobe clear and concise with their donorsand stakeholders.

PAGE 18 Bitcoin: A FundraisingDigital Disruptorby Jason Shim, Pathways to EducationBitcoin presents numerousopportunities for nonprofits. Is it rightfor yours?

PAGE 16 Changing theConversation About Overheadby Rick Cohen, National Council ofNonprofitsThe conversation about overhead ischanging, thanks to campaigns such as

the “OverheadMyth” and “Real TalkAbout Real Costs.” Learn how yournonprofit can take action.

PAGE 12 Crowdfunding:Tomorrow’s FundraisingModelsTodaybyMiriam Kagan, Kimbia andDavid J. Neff, PwC Digital & Lights.Camera. Help.Explore the first ever crowdsourced“Crowdfunding Bill of Rights” andlearn how nonprofits are investing incrowdfunding.

INTERVIEWS:PAGE 26 FUNDSforNGOsPAGE 30 Kiva

PLUS:PAGE 8 Infographic: The 2014Nonprofit Benchmarks ReportThis year’s industry standards foronline fundraising, advocacy, and listbuilding.

PAGE 15 Infographic: Crackingthe Crowdfunding CodeCrowdfunding raised over $5.1 billionworldwide in 2013.

EDITORIALCOMMITTEEPROFILES:PAGE 36 WiebkeHerding& Sophia GuevaraQ&A: The seven questions we alwaysask about nonprofit technology.

NTENVOICES:PAGE 43 SustainabilityInterviewwith Food &WaterWatchby Eileigh Doineau, NTEN

PAGE 41 Donor StewardshipThink beyond dollars to donorcultivation, byMegan Keane, NTEN

PAGE 45 Community BuzzWe asked the NTEN Community:What’s an example of a great onlinefundraising campaign?

22

32

20

12

CHANGE INACTION:SURFRIDERFOUNDATION

CROWDFUNDINGFORNONPROFITS

INTERVIEWWITHGLOBALGIVING 34


AT AGLANCENTEN:CHANGE JOURNALJUNE 2014�Reinventing the Ask: Fundraising in the

Digital Ageby Josh Hirsch, The Weiss School and Dave Tinker,CFRE, ACHIEVA (page 6)It is more important than ever for a nonprofitorganization’s communication strategy to be clear andconcise with their donors and stakeholders. An integralpart of any nonprofit organization’s communicationstrategy has to be diversification in online presence. Overthe past five years, there has been exponential growth inthe ever-evolving existence of social media and how it canbenefit fundraising in the nonprofit sector. With well-written copy and appealing visuals, you can capture theattention of your donors and stakeholders.

�Infographic: 2014 Nonprofit Benchmarks Report(page 8)Now in its eighth year, M+R and NTEN’s 2014 BenchmarksStudy crunches the numbers from 53 nonprofits to definethis year’s industry standards for online fundraising,advocacy, and list building. Check out what we found thisyear, and where your nonprofit stacks up.

�The Missing Middle: Neglecting Middle Donorsis Costing Nonprofits Millionsby Alia McKee, Sea Change Strategies (page 9)Ignoring middle donors – the most committed part of anonprofit donor pool – is costing nonprofits millions ofdollars. Based on findings from a recent report, this articleoffers three tips for how organizations are bridging thefunctional and philosophical gap that exists betweendirect marketing and major gifts fundraising.

�Crowdfunding: Tomorrow’s FundraisingModels Todayby Miriam Kagan, Kimbia and David J. Neff, PwCDigital & Lights. Camera. Help. (page 12)Crowdfunding is the newest tech wave in the fundraisingocean, a conversation that’s becoming impossible not tohave. To have the right conversations, and bring the rightteams to the table, you need to fully understand thisgrowing fundraising trend. Explore the first evercrowdsourced “Crowdfunding Bill or Rights” and learn

how organizations just like yours are investing incrowdfunding.

�Infographic: Cracking the Crowdfunding Code(page 15)In 2013, crowdfunding raised an estimated $5.1 billionworldwide. But how much money is raised per nonprofit,and what are some of the best practices out there? In thisinfographic, craigsconnects compiles giving data fromsome of the biggest charity-focused crowdfundingplatforms.

�Changing the Conversation About Overheadby Rick Cohen, National Council of Nonprofits(page 16)Funding for technology projects has always been difficultto come by. Part of the reason for that has been a long-held bias against the appearance of overhead expensesbeing too high. Find out how the conversation ischanging, thanks to campaigns such as the “OverheadMyth” and “Real Talk About Real Costs.” Then learn howyour nonprofit can start educating your donors andfunders, and advocate for the funding to advance yournonprofit’s mission through technology.

�Bitcoin: A Fundraising Digital Disruptorby Jason Shim, Pathways to Education (page 18)Bitcoin presents an opportunity for nonprofits to adapt

CHANGEA Quarterly Journal for Nonprofit Leaders · June 2014

PLUS:The Missing Middle: Neglecting Middle Donorsis Costing Nonprofits Millions by Alia McKee

Crowdfunding: Tomorrow’s Fundraising ModelsToday by Miriam Kagan and David J. Neff

Changing the Conversation About Overheadby Rick Cohen

Bitcoin: A Fundraising Digital Disruptorby Jason Shim

INTERVIEWS:· SURFRIDER FOUNDATION

· URBAN MINISTRIES OF DURHAM· KIVA

· GLOBALGIVING· FUNDSFORNGOS

· FOOD & WATER WATCH

REINVENTING THE ASK:FUNDRAISING IN THEDIGITAL AGEHOW NONPROFITS ARE GETTINGDONORS TO CHOOSE THEM


to an emerging global payment system, develop newrevenue streams, and tap into new demographics.Learn if Bitcoin may be right for your organization.

�Visualizing Transparency: The “Names forChange” Campaign, Interview with Bryan Gilmer,Urban Ministries of Durham (page 20)Urban Ministries of Durham’s (UMD) imaginative “Namesfor Change” campaign teaches about poverty andhomelessness by offering the naming rights to scores ofdifferent items—from tampons to cans of vegetables—that UMD uses to rebuild lives. In this interview with theirDirector of Marketing & Development, learn how UMD’scommitment to transparency inspired this campaign.

�Riding a Wave of Change: Interview withChad Nelson and Nancy Eiring, Surfrider Foundation(page 22)As one of the first nonprofits with a website, the SurfriderFoundation has come a long way since its founding in1984. In the past eight years they have had over 260coastal victories, benefitting greatly from being earlyadopters in the e-activist space. In this interview, weexplore how they strategically leverage both online andoffline engagement to win campaigns and meet theirmission.

�Bridging the Knowledge Gap: Interview withSameer Zuhad, FundsforNGOs (page 26)Sameer Zuhad started FundsforNGOs.org as an informalblog in Kathmandu after not being able to find a singleonline fundraising resource for NGOs in developingcountries. Six years later, Sameer works with a team of 30staff members and a community of over 100,000 peopleacross 150+ countries. Learn more about Sameer’sjourney, and the unique way that he has funded thisentire operation.

�First Mover Advantage, Interview with KateKleinschmidt, Kiva (page 30)Can you believe Kiva has been around for almost adecade? In this interview, Kate Kleinschmidt, SeniorManager of Online Marketing at Kiva, shares reflectionson Kiva’s past, present, and future as the first onlinelending platform—from the tools they use internally tothe ways they keep donors and lenders engaged.

�Catalyzing a Marketplace of Ideas,Interview with Kevin Conroy, GlobalGiving (page 32)With $107m+ raised since 2002, GlobalGiving isexpanding the amount of fundraising dollars worldwidethrough their global crowdfunding platform. In thisinterview, their Chief Product Officer shares the elementsof a successful crowdfunding project, how they measure

long-term impact, and the key role of tech inGlobalGiving’s work.

�Book Spotlight: “Mobile for Good” by HeatherMansfield, Nonprofit Tech for Good (page 34An excerpt from the newly released book, Mobile for Good:A How-To Fundraising Guide for Nonpro�ts by HeatherMansfield, which is based on the premise that allcommunications and fundraising are now mobile andsocial. Written as a step-by-step how-to guide, Mobile forGood details how to write, implement, and maintain asuccessful mobile and social fundraising strategy for yournonprofit.

�Editorial Committee Profiles: Wiebke Herding& Sophia Guevara (page 36)Wiebke Herding from On:Subject Communications &Sophia Guevara from the Emerging Practitioners inPhilanthropy answer the seven questions we always askabout nonprofit technology.

�Tech Support: Holiday Fundraising is Not Justfor Year-End (page 39)by Sue Anne Reed, The Engage GroupHoliday fundraising at the end of the year is a critical timefor nonprofits. For some, it can bring in as much as 40%of their online revenue. But during this holiday rush,nonprofits’ appeals can get lost in the crowd. Yournonprofit can stand out by engaging throughout the yearwith donors and using holidays as an opportunity toconnect and raise awareness...and hopefully givecompelling reasons to donate!

�NTEN Voices: Donor Stewardship (page 41)Looking to cook up some fundraising success? NTEN’sMegan Keane explains how and why to think beyonddollars to donor cultivation, and shares examples fromdifferent nonprofits.

�NTEN Voices: Sustainability, Interview withSarah Alexander, Food & Water Watch (page 43)Do you practice what you preach? Food & Water Watch(FWW) talks to NTEN’s Eileigh Doineau about how theystrive to embody their own values of environmentalsustainability at their office. From using technology tohelp far-flung teammates collaborate, to working with aunion print house, FWW reminds us that even smallchanges can have a big impact.

�NTEN Voices: Community Buzz (page 45)We asked the NTEN Community on social media: What’san example of a great online fundraising campaign?See which nonprofits left an impression, and get someinspiration for your upcoming campaign.


We live in a hyper-paced world.Our attention spans havebecome non-existent. There is

an overwhelming need to beconnected through our smartphones,tablets, and computers. It is moreimportant than ever for a nonprofitorganization’s communicationstrategy to be clear and concise withtheir donors and stakeholders, and tostart integrating channels such as

social media into their comprehensivecommunications strategy.

A recent Pew Report found thattoday’s Internet consumers live in aworld of “instant gratification” and“quick fixes.” This means thatnonprofit organizations do not havetime to waste in delivering theirmessage. Whether the intention is toeducate donors and stakeholdersabout the latest conditions in

pediatric cancer research, to informthem of the ongoing genocide inDarfur, or to issue a call to actionto donate in order to unleash thefull potential of gifted students;a nonprofit organization’scommunication has to be timely andto the point. Know the story you aretrying to tell, and how it impacts yourdonors and stakeholders. This iscritical to your communicationsstrategy. This is the 140-characterworld that is our reality. It is ourconstant.

Forget the old thought of having atwo-minute rehearsed elevatorspeech with the hopes of sharing thiswith a potential donor. How do youmeasure performance andcommunicate your successes inaccomplishing goals? How do youinspire the community to engage in

REINVENTING THEASK: FUNDRAISING INTHE DIGITAL AGEBY JOSH HIRSCH, THE WEISS SCHOOL AND DAVE TINKER, CFRE, ACHIEVA


supporting your nonprofitorganization’s mission throughdonations, volunteerism, andcollaboration on projects? Donorsand stakeholders want to know thedifferences you are making and whatpositive change you are able toaccomplish over time. With well-written copy and appealing visuals,you can capture the attention of yourdonors and stakeholders, even if it isfor a moment in time. Sometimes thisbrief interaction is all that it takes fora donor to act upon your desiredintent.

An integral part of any nonprofitorganization’s communicationstrategy has to be diversification inonline presence. Over the past fiveyears, there has been exponentialgrowth in the ever-evolving existenceof social media and how it can benefitfundraising in the nonprofit sector.This cannot be ignored.

If a nonprofit organization has yetto establish a foothold in the socialmedia world already, they need to doso immediately. If your organization isnot on social media, no one isspeaking in that space on your behalf.You may not have a social mediapresence, but people may be talkingabout you on social media behindyour virtual back, or evenmisrepresenting your organization.

You need to make sure there issomeone official speaking online on

behalf of your organization to ensureyour overall brand integrity.

Today’s donor, with an alreadydiminished attention span, needs tobe able to reach out and touch yournonprofit organization whenever is

convenient for them and they sodesire. Your online presence is yourbrand. It is your voice. It is a 24-hourbillboard showcasing who you are andwhat you do. Your online presencegoes beyond just having anaesthetically pleasing and functioningwebsite, but having an existence onmultiple social media platforms. Forany nonprofit organization that istrying to capture the attention ofdonors, investing time and resourcesinto having your nonprofitorganization represented on socialmedia is imperative. One suchexample is a Facebook page. This iswhere your nonprofit organization’sbrand is alive and interactive.Whenever I meet with a potentialdonor or new family to The WeissSchool, I always refer them to notonly visit our website but ourFacebook Page, as well. It allows themto get a sense of the school’sheartbeat and personality.

Setting up an account on Facebookor Twitter only requires an emailaddress and a few minutes of your

time. Make sure you have your logoand a compelling image ready toupload. Facebook and Twitter evenhave easy to follow instructions andpointers for new users. Once youhave your accounts set up, make sureto find your constituents on theplatforms, friend or follow them, andengage with them. Announce thatyou have set up your profiles soothers can start following andinteracting with you. And mostimportantly, make sure that you havea strategy in place for posting onthese channels. The last thing youwant is to set up channels without acontent plan to make sure that theyare up to date.

With a multitude of tools readilyavailable at a moments notice, aneducated and well-informed donorexpects constant access toinformation about your nonprofitorganization. They need this in orderto make informed decisions aboutwhat nonprofit organization(s) tosupport. In order to accomplish this,make sure your nonprofitorganization’s communicationsstrategy is defined and well thoughtout; so you are able to stand on yoursoap box, scream from the highestmountains, and share with the worldthe great impact and inspiration youhave on your community everyday.

JOSH HIRSCH, MS (@JoshHirsch1)is Director of Development atThe Weiss School in Palm BeachGardens, FL. He serves as Marketingand Communications Chair forthe Association of Fundraising

Professionals Palm Beach County Chapter and isa proud member of the #AFPeeps.

DAVE TINKER, CFRE(@davethecfre) is Vice President ofAdvancement at ACHIEVA inPittsburgh, PA and adjunct professorof informatics in the Master ofInformation Strategy, Systems and

Technology program at Muskingum University. Hehas written extensively and spoken internationally onsocial media, fundraising, and nonprofitmanagement.

“KNOW THE STORY YOUARE TRYING TO TELL,AND HOW IT IMPACTSYOUR DONORS ANDSTAKEHOLDERS.THIS IS CRITICAL TOYOUR COMMUNICATIONSSTRATEGY.”

“TODAY’S DONOR,WITH AN ALREADYDIMINISHEDATTENTION SPAN,NEEDS TO BE ABLE TOREACH OUT AND TOUCHYOUR NONPROFITORGANIZATIONWHENEVER ISCONVENIENT.”


Number of online giftsNumber of

advocacy actions2,146,986,311

7,525,945

5,635,39741,755,332 subscribers

$324,890,672.61RAISED

For every

1,000email subscribers,nonprofits have...

199 Facebook fans 110Twitter followers 13 Mobile subscribers

37% 46%Average number of posts per day

5.31.2TwitterAnnualGrowth

FacebookAnnualGrowth

Click-through Rate Response Rate Drop in Email FundraisingResponse Rates

Response RateDrop in Email Advocacy

Response RatesOpen Rate

0.45% 11%

2.9% 25%

Open Rate

12%

Response Rate

0.07%

2.0%

Email Fundraising

Email Advocacy

13%

Click-through Rate

Email messages

INFOGRAPHIC: THE 2014 NONPROFIT BENCHMARKS STUDY

Now in it’s eighth year, the data compares findings from the previous year. View the full infographic and report: mrbenchmarks.com

M SSINGM DDLE

THE

Neglecting Middle Donorsis Costing Nonprofits Millionsby Alia McKeePrincipal, Sea Change Strategies



Who Are Middle Donors andWhy Should You Care?Middle donors—donors who givemore than direct marketing donors,but who don’t qualify for a major giftportfolio—are an extraordinarilyvaluable, yet typically ignored part ofthe nonprofit donor pool. In a typicalorganization these donors givebetween $1,000 and $10,000 eachyear.

Middle donors—despite the“middle” terminology—are actuallybetter described as committeddonors. They will be retained andupgraded far more than smallerdonors and far more than majordonors. They represent a significantblock of money and loyalty.

A surprising discovery almost sixyears ago prompted us to look atmiddle donor fundraising in moredepth. In the process of studying theonline habits of donors, we foundthat—among more than a dozenparticipating organizations—donorsat the $1,000 to $10,000 level (annualgiving via all channels) representedroughly one percent of the donorpopulation, but were giving morethan a third of the dollars.

Yet middle donors are often lost ina shuffle of organizational charts,attribution wars, and efficiencymetrics, which measure immediatereturn instead of long-term value anddonor satisfaction.

With donor acquisition rates falling

every year since 2005, and donorretention rates hovering around 25%,nonprofits must focus on bridging themiddle donor gap, which will lead tolonger-term and committed donorrelationships.

Over the last year, Sea Change hasprobed the state of mid-level giving inan effort to create a “best practices”rule book. Here are three lessons welearned.

1 Leadership isEverything

Mid-level giving is one of the mostoverlooked fundraising areas byexecutive leadership. It’s not asintuitive as new donor acquisition. It’snot as exciting as a million dollarmajor gift prospect. And it’s not amedia-friendly hook about how theInternet is disrupting fundraising aswe know it.

When senior executives don’t fullygrasp the interdependent workings offundraising programs, it’s impossiblefor them to set their sights on thetypes of investments that are the realgame changers.

Further, they can’t foster theneeded cooperation and collaborationamong siloed fundraising teams(direct marketers vs. major giftsofficers) needed to get results.

Executives need coaching on whythey should adjust strategies andinvestment priorities to bridge thegap. Further, they must enforce

collaboration as a performancemeasure.

Without executive commitment tothis approach, organizations won’t beable to tap the enormous financialpotential of middle donors.

2Bust ThoseSilos

Middle donors need hybrid treatmentbetween direct response masscommunication and high-touch majorgift cultivation. Remember the halflion/half tiger creature in NapoleonDynamite? “It’s a liger.”

Most organizations are structuredat odds with this hybrid model, withthe major gifts and direct marketingteams siloed away from each otherand accountable to different bosses.

Further, it’s hard for anyoneoutside the fundraising field tounderstand how profoundly differentthe cultures and skill sets of majorgifts work and direct marketing reallyare. Major gifts fundraising is a gameof quantum leaps. More and more,major gifts officers focus on donorswho can make mammoth gifts, oftenin the millions or even tens of millionsof dollars. Direct marketing is aground game. Progress is incremental,costs are high, and returns oninvestment measured in short-termperiods. A successful mid-level givingprogram borrows the best of both ofthese disciplines and adds a littleextra.

It draws on major gifts by keepingthe focus on the donor. It provides asense of exclusivity, access, andspecial status. And it draws on thericher and more sophisticated contentthat major gifts departments produce.

From direct marketing comes apassion for analytics so the programcan scale. Moreover, a substantialpercentage of middle donors come toan organization through the lowdollar program, which means middle

A HUGE GAP—one you might not even knowexists—could be costing your nonprofit millions of dollars.It’s a functional and philosophical gap between directmarketing and major gifts fundraising. My colleague MarkRovner and I call it the “missing middle.”


givers need to be acquired andwelcomed appropriately regardless ofthe size of their first gift.

3All We Need is aLittle More Patience

The baker who bakes a cake fastestand cheapest usually doesn’t have thebest tasting cake. And the fundraiserwho yields the most immediate returnfor the least amount of dollars usuallydoesn’t have the happiest, mostgenerous donors.

Efficiency is a Flawed MetricFundraising guru Roger Craver says,“Transactional analysis of fundraisingby most direct mail people is that allthe analytics are geared towardefficiency. Which part of the file doI use to get the most return for this

particular of campaign? None of thesemetrics has anything to do with theeffectiveness in terms of how theyare helping me keep this donor.”

Fundraisers often focus onproving investment in 0-12 monthsor 13-24 months. But finding the bitof the file that gets the mostimmediate money for the leastexpense is a recipe for ignoringmiddle donors. In order to solve thisproblem, we have to rethinkorganizational priorities and metrics.

Instead of efficiency, we should belooking at cradle-to-grave long-termvalue metrics first and foremost.

ConclusionOur research—interviews andsurveys—with middle donors revealthem to be steadfast in theircommitment to their causes,conversant in the many finer pointsof the issues, and tuned into theparticulars of recipient organizations’strategies. That—and their deeppockets—makes them ideal

investments for nonprofits. Let’s stopgiving them such short shrift.

Download the entire Missing Middlestudy for free online atseachangestrategies.com/missing-middle/. You’ll get additional lessonslearned as well as two profiles ofnonprofits who have thriving middlegiving programs.

ALIA MCKEE (@aliamc) is principalat Sea Change Strategies, aboutique research and fundraisingstrategy firm that helps nonprofitsraise money by building strong donorrelationships. She is a veteran online

communications and fundraising strategist who hasworked with clients including Amnesty International,Wikipedia, and many more.

The chart below offers a representativesnapshot of selected mid-level programs.In each case it shows mid-level donors torepresent a significant percentage of eachorganization’s income. Our thanks to theparticipating organizations for providingdata for this table.

THE M SSING M DDLE

$250-$9,999

$100-$999

$500-$4,999

$100-$999

$500-$5,000

$1,200-$4,999

$1,000-$9,999

$500-$10,000

$1,000-$5,000

$1,000-$9,999

27,500

24,949

10,012

16,128

4,685

4,753

7,483

2,551

130

481

$73.5 million

$55.2 million

$33.7 million

$28.4 million

$53.3 million

$33,355,812million

$29.5 million

$20.2 million

$5.8 million

$19.0 million

$10.3 million

$4.9 million

$4.1 million

$4.5 million

$3.6 million

$5.7 million

$4.6 million

$4.0 million

$0.3 million

$19.0 million

14.0%

8.9%

12.0%

15.9%

6.8%

17%

15.6%

19.8%

4.7%

5.9%

OORRGGAANNIIZZAATTIIOONN NNAAMMEE OOFF MMIIDD--LLEEVVEELL MMIIDD--LLEEVVEELL ## OOFF DDOONNOORRSS TTOOTTAALL DDOONNAATTEEDD TTOOTTAALL IINNCCOOMMEE %% OOFF TTOOTTAALLGGIIVVIINNGG PPRROOGGRRAAMM FFLLOOOORR AANNDD IINN MMIIDD--LLEEVVEELL BBYY IINNDDIIVVIIDDUUAALLSS FFRROOMM MMIIDD--LLEEVVEELL IINNDDIIVVIIDDUUAALL

CCEEIILLIINNGG GGIIVVIINNGG FFOORR TTHHEE LLAASSTT DDOONNOORRSS LLAASSTT GGIIVVIINNGGPPRROOGGRRAAMM FFIISSCCAALL YYEEAARR** FFIISSCCAALL YYEEAARR

American CivilLiberties Union

National Audubon Society

Amnesty USA

Defenders of Wildlife

Env. Defense Fund

Human Rights Campaign

International Rescue Committee

Monterey BayAquarium

Rainforest Alliance

The Wilderness Society

Specialty Gifts/CrystalEastman Leadership Society($1,000+)

Leadership Circle

Amnesty LeadershipGroup

Wildlife Circle

Leadership Team

Federal Club

No Name

Ocean Advocate DonorCircle; Packards’ Circle;Leadership Council of the Packards’ Circle

Canopy Associates

Advocates for Wilderness


CROWDFUNDING:TOMORROW’S FUNDRAISING

MODELS TODAYHOW CAN NONPROFITS ADDRESS THE CHALLENGES

THAT COME WITH THIS $5.1 BILLION INDUSTRY? BY MIRIAM KAGAN, KIMBIA AND DAVID J. NEFF,

PWC DIGITAL & LIGHTS. CAMERA. HELP.

Online fundraising has changedtremendously over the past decade.The rising tide of mobile and socialmedia fundraising andcrowdfunding is impossible toignore. You are also seeing thatyour donors need to be educated ina way they have not been before.That’s why, with the help of thenonprofit community, we havecreated a “Crowdfunding Bill ofRights”—to help charities anddonors navigate the newcrowdfunding waters.

Before we get to that, has thissituation happened to you in thelast year? You mention to a boardmember about a need you have, ora future campaign you are thinkingabout, and they shoot backimmediately with a “Have you triedcrowdfunding?”

Here is some data to considerbefore you venture into this.Crowdfunding sites began as a wayfor musicians, artists, andfilmmakers to bring in smallinvestments to help “kick-off” aproject. The idea of crowdfundinghas been around for quite a longtime. In fact, according to the BBCit’s been around since 1885, whenJoseph Pulitzer encouraged hisnewspaper’s readers to contributeto a campaign to buy a pedestal forthe Statue of Liberty in New York.He even offered incentive prizesand printed letters from donors onthe front page to sustain thecampaign. The results? 160,000donors raised over $100,000(which is $2.4M in 2013). A prettygood market for 1885.

Crowdfunding has come a longway since 1885, or even since 2008when Indiegogo (a nonprofitfriendly site) was launched by agroup of U.C. Berkeley students. Infact, the numbers are staggering.According to research from theWorld Bank and Craig Newmark’s

craigconnects (see infographic onp. 15), in 2013 the market overall isaround $5.1 billion (includingnonprofits and for-profits), withapproximately a third of that ($1.5billion) going to causes. Themarket is projected to grow to anestimated $93 billion by 2025. Theresearch also indicates that thereare now over 1,000 crowdfundingsites on the Web. With an averageof $582 raised per cause, an averagegift of over $88, and almost 30%returning donor rate, the market isclearly there.

However, as many are starting tolearn, crowdfunding campaignscome with a whole new set ofchallenges that the industry is onlybeginning to understand andaddress. Charities are now facedwith sharing the “fundraising”duties, often with supporters theyare not familiar with, on platformsthey haven’t heard of. This poses achallenge to both the nonprofit andthe potential donor. How does thenonprofit ensure the messageregarding funds needed that isbeing communicated on its behalfis consistent with the actualmission? How can donors haveconfidence in whether their funds

are going to legitimate fundraisersfor worthy causes?

One way to start is to create abill of rights that nonprofits, andthe platforms they work with,agree to adhere to in order toprovide donors and supporterswith a level of confidence,transparency, and clarity on theimpact of funds and the role of theplatform.

Based on this approach,nonprofits are developing modelsfor crowdfunding both from thetop-down and the bottom-up thatallow supporters creativity in howfunds are raised, but also lets thoseof us in charge of answering toboards sleep at night.

One approach that is workingwell for top-down crowdfundingcampaigns is single-day onlinecrowdfunding campaigns. For somecharities, this may meandeveloping their own platform, butfor most, this means working witha leading crowdfunding platformprovider to create a unique,branded, and targetedcrowdfunding campaign with thecharity itself at the reigns.

These single-day onlinecrowdfunding events combine asense of urgency, prize structures,incentives, and social mediaengagement to raise millions ofdollars in one or two days.Examples of successful campaignsare starting to pop up throughoutthe industry and across verticals.Last year, for example, ColumbiaUniversity raised nearly $7 millionin one day with a single-daycrowdfunding campaign usingKimbia’s single-day crowdfundingplatform. That same month, theCommunities Foundation of Texasraised over $25 million with asimilar one-day event, also usingKimbia.

Organizations are also taking


“Crowdfundingcampaignscome with a

whole new set ofchallenges that the industry is only

beginning tounderstand andaddress.”

advantage of the other side of thecrowdfunding spectrum—bottom-up grassroots crowdfunding—thatmore frequently zeroes in on aspecific project or need, ratherthan organization-wide giving.

Two great examples of this areincubators/accelerators and pitchcontests. In the for-profit/start-upworld incubators/accelerators areaimed at new companies that needa quick push out of the gate whenthey start. They need a resource for funds, brains, legal help, officespace, and more. And that’s whatthe incubator/accelerator does.nonprofits with high potential orimpact are identified and vetted,and if accepted into the program,the nonprofits are able to subscribeto the financial and human capitalneeded to execute their growthplans. For great examples of hownonprofits can benefit, see theGreenlights and Innovation+Accelerator in Austin, Texas orthe Points of Light CivicAccelerator.

The second crowdfundingmethod that’s growing in popularityare pitch contests. This is a greatidea taken from the start-up worldwhere some organizations need apurely financial push to fund theirnext big idea or pivot from theirexisting programs. That’s what afast pitch can do: help fund projectsthat normal funders might notwant to fund. They seek out a pitchcontest and apply. After a vettingprocess, they have 3-5 minutes topitch a panel of judges and a largeraudience in attendance to helpfund their project. At the event, avariety of cash awards are dividedamong the contestants. In somecases, judges bring their ownfunding to the table. Audiencemembers can often use theirmobile phones to donate as well.Although there have only been afew market studies, the average

amount of funding varies between$5k and $100k. For great examplesof how nonprofits can benefit, be sure to see Build-A-Sign’sPhilanthropitch 2014 in Austin,Texas.

So the next time someonementions crowdfunding as a way toraise revenue for your organization,perhaps give it some consideration—there are many success models.But as all good fundraisers know:success is in the details and inensuring your donors have a goodexperience, so pick a project andfundraising partner that is in linewith the “Crowdfunding Bill ofRights” and your organization’smission.

DAVID J. NEFF (@daveiam) is anAuthor, Consultant, Speaker andwhat Beth Kanter calls a “NetworkWeaver”. He currently works withPwC Digital on Digital Strategy workconcentrating on large nonprofits.

He’s also the founder and VP of the Board ofDirectors for the nonprofit Lights. Camera. Help. aswell as serving on the Board for the University ofTexas Co-op. He was named the top Austin PersonUnder 40 for the Nonprofit category by AU40 in2014.

As senior principal at Kimbia,MIRIAM KAGAN (@MiriamKagan)works with clients to drive superiorprogram and fundraising results andembed best practices into allprogram aspects. Her passion is

helping clients use data-driven insight to informdecision-making. With over a decade in strategy rolesat companies including Merkle, Convio andBlackbaud, Miriam’s experience spans a broad varietyof nonprofit clients, including the health, social andhuman services and animal welfare verticals.


Crowdfunding Bill of RightsWe the people, who are asked for money, hereby resolve thatcrowdfunding sites will:

� SHOW A CLEAR CONNECTION: What’s the relationship of the peopleraising money to the project? This should be clearly evident andendorsed by the group.

� EXPLAIN ABOUT THE BENEFITTING ORGANIZATION(S):Information about the organization benefitting should be easilyavailable, with info or links to site, leadership, key projects, andverification of legitimacy of nonprofit status.

� PROVIDE FEE TRANSPARENCY: Be upfront about the fees that maybe associated with the platform and the project.

� REPORT BACK: Show impact of the charitable giving. Report back on aregular basis. At the minimum the project leader should providemonthly updates.

� PROVIDE CLEAR TIMELINES: Post regular updates on how theproject being funded is progressing (toward the goal or otherwise) orwhen work will take place.

�HAVE A LEMON POLICY: Spell out what happens if project doesn’tmeet its goal.

� LIST YOUR DISCLAIMER CLAUSE: Explain and disclose any kind ofmoral imperative considerations that might go into funding the project.Define what is tax-deductible and what’s not. Make sure you are clearabout fair market value of any incentives or offers.

� LIST RISKS AND BENEFITS: Make sure there are clear disclaimersabout the possible risk of the project, from a financial and outcomeperspective. Be clear about benefits to backer, society, and beyond.

� GO BEYOND THE ASK: Explain how donors can get involved with theorganization beyond just writing a check. Coding, Volunteering, Boardof Advisors?

� OFFER PERKS OR PRIZES: Clearly define what donors orparticipating funds might get by giving at different giving levels orreaching funding milestones, and make sure it’s followed through on.Make it fun!

For more information, contact via Twitter: Miriam Kagan @miriamkaganDavid J. Neff @daveiam


Crowdfundinghas raised anestimated $5.1Bworldwide andpeer-to-peernonprofitfundraising isexploding.

$88.22

50 %

5.1BILLION

AVERAGE CROWDFUNDING DONATION

AVERAGE MONEY RAISED BY INDIVIDUALS & CAMPAIGNS

Average funds raised for charity on individual crowdfunding pages (fundraising by peoplewho set up their own pages.)

$534.49 $9,237.55

$100 $1K $10K

$100K $1M $10M

ICON KEY

The growth in the number of acquired donations by peer-to-peer fundraisers in 2013.

60 %The growth in funds raised through peer-to- peer giving between 2012 and 2013.

But how much money do crowdfunding campaigns raise on average for nonprofit organizations? What are the best practices for doing crowdfunding right? craigconnects spoke with some of the biggest charity focused crowdfunding platforms like Causes, CauseVox, FirstGiving, Razoo, StayClassy, and others, to collect giving data to crack the crowdfunding code. Here’s what we learned!

Average funds raised on campaigncrowdfunding pages (fundraisingby teams of people all workingto raise money for the same issue.)

INFOGRAPHIC: CRACKING THE CROWDFUNDING CODE

Developed by Craig Newmark of craigconnects and Rad Campaign. View the full infographic: craigconnects.org/crowdfundinginfographic


Overhead. Administrative costs.Indirect costs. Whatever termyou use, public and funder

perception of these costs are amongthe greatest sources of frustration fornonprofit IT professionals. But there ishope on the horizon.

For years, articles in the media andrankings from charity ratings siteshave made overhead costs seem likesomething to be avoided, rather thanwhat they truly are: necessary

investments that make servicedelivery possible, and more efficient.As a result, these critical expenses areput off, again and again. Thinkingabout a new CRM to better targetyour nonprofit’s services? Replacingthat ten-year-old PC that’s stillrunning Windows XP? Sorry, that’llmake our overhead ratio look toohigh. Maybe next year…

Nonprofits have always beenknown for their ability to do more

with less. Over time, it’s become anexpectation, leading to a “nonprofitstarvation cycle,” where nonprofitsare pressured, even incentivized, tocontinue to short-change necessaryinfrastructure investments. At a timewhen resources are still scarce, withconditions so stretched that 56% ofnonprofits reported to theNonprofit Finance Fund (NFF) thatthey were unable to meet demand fortheir services in 2013, underfundingtechnology expenses turns into notfunding them at all. The only way tobreak the cycle is to make theconversation broader thantechnology, and make it aboutmission.

A Turning PointResearch demonstrating that thepressure to keep costs low damagesnonprofits has existed for more than

CHANGING THECONVERSATION ABOUTOVERHEAD BY RICK COHEN, NATIONAL COUNCIL OF NONPROFITS


a decade. Yet, real momentum to endthe starvation cycle has only picked uprecently. Last year, Guidestar, BetterBusiness Bureau’s Wise GivingAlliance, and Charity Navigator cametogether to launch the OverheadMyth campaign, calling for an end tothe use of overhead ratios as ameasure of nonprofit performance. InIllinois, Donors Forum and theBridgespan Group created the RealTalk about Real Costs campaign,bringing together nonprofits andfunders to encourage dialogue aboutthe true costs of nonprofit results (andcreating the great video seen here).

On the government side, the Officeof Management and Budget (OMB)recently issued final UniformGuidance directing any governmentsusing federal funds to pay a nonprofitits indirect costs, with a minimumrate of no less than 10% of itsmodified total direct costs. This newGuidance was momentous in that itwas the first official recognition bythe federal government that thesecore infrastructure costs, essentialfor delivering the services that thegovernment contracted for, arelegitimate.

New resources are nowavailable to help nonprofitsdemonstrate to potential donors,funders, and partners that overheadratios (and technology expenses aspart of that equation) are not the bestmetric to determine if a nonprofit isworthy of their investment. Thesetools can also be useful internally todemonstrate the value of investing intechnology, and how finding fundingis indeed possible.

Everyday Advocacy for Your MissionEquipped with these new tools andprominent endorsements of overheadcosts, your nonprofit can advocate forthat infrastructure funding and makethe necessary investments intechnology to serve your communityand achieve your mission.

Advocate with FundersAre your funders still asking aboutoverhead on grant request forms?Help redirect their focus to the impactof your programs. Demonstrate howtheir investment in core technologysystems will help their philanthropicdollars go even further.

According to NFF, 70% ofnonprofits report that more than halfof their funders are asking for “impactmetrics” in grant reports. Take thatfocus on impact and apply it to grantapplications, too. Don’t just say howmany more people you plan to serve,say how. The process and the tools formaking service delivery more efficientcan be just as important as theresults. Using technology to track andanalyze outcomes increases theability to provide better measures, cutcosts, and improve program andservice quality.

Advocate with MediaGiving days are more popular thanever. Giving Tuesday is growing eachyear, and local giving days arepopping up across the country. Beforethe local giving day, or before theholiday giving season, submit an op-ed to the local paper with tips forpeople who want to donate—whatthey should and should not be lookingfor. We could use more articles likethe ones that appeared recently in theDenver Business Journal and

Crain’s Detroit Business, or this listfrom NationSwell of five things thatshouldn’t discourage a donor fromdonating to a nonprofit (fulldisclosure, my colleague JenniferChandler is quoted extensively in thelatter article).

Advocate with Donor Research Sites Many articles lead potential donors tosites, such as Guidestar, to evaluatewhether to donate to a nonprofit.Ensure your nonprofit’s profile on thissite is fully complete, including the“Charting Impact” questions. Theimportance of these questions isn’tthe gold seal that Guidestar providesthat you can post on your website,but an opportunity to really talk abouthow technology is helping achieveyour missions—or how lack oftechnology capacity is holding youback. You can do the same in yourannual report, demonstrating todonors how their investments allowedyour nonprofit to upgrade itstechnology, resulting in their donateddollars going further.

The conversation is changing. Besure your nonprofit, your donors, andyour funders are part of the dialogue.It’s a win-win-win for your nonprofit’sfunders and donors to see theirinvestments create greater impact,for your nonprofit to have the tools itneeds to succeed, and mostimportantly for your community toreceive the greatest possible benefit.

RICK COHEN (@NatlCouncilNPs) is Director of Communications andOperations for the National Councilof Nonprofits, a trusted resourceand advocate for America’s charitablenonprofits. As the hub of a powerful

network of State Associations and 25,000-plusmembers—the nation’s largest network ofnonprofits—the Council of Nonprofits serves as acentral coordinator and mobilizer to help nonprofitsachieve greater collective impact in localcommunities across the country. It identifiesemerging trends, shares proven practices, andpromotes solutions that benefit charitable nonprofitsand the communities they serve.

“NONPROFITS HAVEALWAYS BEENKNOWN FOR THEIRABILITY TO DO MOREWITH LESS. OVER TIME,IT’S BECOME ANEXPECTATION, LEADINGTO A ‘NONPROFITSTARVATION CYCLE.’”


Bitcoin is a digital peer-to-peercurrency that has been gainingglobal momentum over the last

couple of years. According toPricewaterhouseCoopers, Bitcoin had3.4 million online mentions in 2013and many companies, as well asnonprofits, have begunexperimenting with this emergingdigital currency.

What is Bitcoin?Introduced in 2009, Bitcoin is analgorithm, or set of rules, writtendown as a computer program and it isdesigned to create and manage asupply of digital currency units, aswell as processing payments betweenusers. Think of it as a special kind of

currency in which you can whisperwhere you would like it to go, touch itto a computer screen, and it will betransferred to any person ororganization connected to thenetwork.

Bitcoin is created, or “mined,”by computers that solve complexmathematical problems with high-speed computers. The reward formining is Bitcoin, which is provided to the person who is running thatcomputer. There are approximately 12 million Bitcoins currently incirculation and there are 21 millionBitcoins that are built into thealgorithm—reaching that limit willtake decades.

Bitcoin addresses a fundamentalproblem that has existed since thebeginning of the Internet — whendealing with digital currency, how doyou avoid counterfeiting, or double-spending, by users? If a centralauthority is issuing the currency, whatis to keep them from creating more?

This problem is solved by theBlockchain. The Blockchain is centralto Bitcoin’s existence and it is auniversal public ledger. Every Bitcointransaction is logged on the publicBlockchain, which is then verified bythe computers that are connected tothe network and enables users toagree on who owns how manyBitcoins.

In essence, Bitcoin represents away in which individuals andorganizations can transact with oneanother without the need or approvalof a central authority. Bitcoin has thepotential to democratize finance thesame way the Internet democratizedinformation.

We are still witnessing the earlystages of Bitcoin and its evolution,but nonprofits should be payingattention.

Why Should Nonprofits PayAttention?Bitcoin is a revolutionary new way oftransacting value online. While theInternet has heralded thedecentralization and democratizationof information and knowledge, thefinance sector has not been presentedwith a serious challenge to itsfundamental underpinnings until theemergence of Bitcoin.

Up until now, small transactions onthe Internet have not been practicaldue to processing fees of variouspayment providers. In practical terms,transaction fees for traditional onlinepayment processors typically rangeanywhere from 2% to 6%. Incomparison, fees of Bitcoinexchanges tend to be closer to 1% orless when transacting directlybetween individuals.

BITCOIN: A FUNDRAISINGDIGITAL DISRUPTORBY JASON SHIM, PATHWAYS TO EDUCATION


In addition to generally havinglower overall processing fees, Bitcoinalso makes it feasible for nonprofitsto run micropayment campaigns. The Chicago Sun-Times experimentedwith micropayments in February2014, which allowed visitors todonate Bitcoin in order to accessarticles, with all proceeds going to theTaproot Foundation. The experimentresulted in 700 donations.

The OpportunityHowever, Bitcoin’s potential fornonprofits extends far beyondmicropayments. Organizations likeSean’s Outpost, which serves homelessindividuals in Pensacola Florida, hasreceived over 400 Bitcoins indonations to date. By today’s exchange,400 Bitcoins is worth over $250,000USD. In addition, the University ofPuget Sound recently received a$10,000 Bitcoin donation from one oftheir alumnus. For organizations thatare interested in exploring Bitcoin,Bitcoin100.org donates $1,000 USDto any registered charity in the worldthat adopts Bitcoin.

Bitcoin presents an opportunity fornonprofits to engage with theirsupporters who are early technologyadopters as well as positionthemselves as tech-savvyorganizations. As well, this alsopermits those who prefer to donateanonymously to do so easily. Thoughsome have dismissed Bitcoin as atrend, it is worth noting that there hasbeen a significant amount ofinvestment in Bitcoin startups,namely Bitpay and Coinbase, whichhave received over $25 million inventure capital in 2013.

In my own conversations withQuickBT.com, which is a Canadianservice that allows individuals toquickly convert debit transactions intoBitcoin, they estimate that at least25% of their users are under the ageof 18. It is worth noting that for youngpeople who wish to purchase goodsand services online, while many of

them may have bank accounts, not allyouth have access to credit cards.Bitcoin offers a way for youth toengage with financial systems thathave previously been outside theirreach. As additional organizationsstart accepting Bitcoin, this hasbecome a way to allow young peopleto engage with them. For instance,online games such asBombermine.com have startedallowing Bitcoin to be used topurchase premium items.

While larger merchants likeOverstock.com and Expedia.com

are accepting Bitcoin, there stillremains a few key challenges fornonprofits. When assessing whetheryour organization may be a good fitfor Bitcoin adoption, it is worthconsidering whether you have thetechnological capacity to support it,and on a pragmatic level, if yourdonation systems can properly recordthese transactions. However, toolssuch as Bitpay and Coinbase continueto emerge, which make Bitcoinaccessible to those who are notsoftware developers.

Governments are still in theprocess of determining how to dealwith Bitcoin. In the US and Canada, it has been classified as a commoditythat is subject to capital gains and

taxation, but this may change overtime. When it comes to charitabledonations, as long as fair marketvalue can be established, this satisfiesmost requirements for tax authorities.

Why is This Useful?Beyond all this however, it is worthexploring Bitcoin because digitalcurrency is not an if, but a when. It isthe next natural evolution of existingfinancial systems and we have alreadyseen this progression with the adventof the Internet, with the usage ofcredit cards for online shopping, andonline banking. This is also beingreflected in government initiativesthat are exploring this area. The Royal Canadian Mint explored digitalcurrencies with a project calledMintChip, and most recently atApple’s worldwide developerconference, it was announced thatthe developers may be able tointegrate “approved” digitalcurrencies into their apps.

If you are looking to learn moreabout Bitcoin, NonprofitBitcoin.orgis a site that is dedicated to educatingand supporting nonprofits who arelooking to adopt digital currencies. Itis a site that has been developed byindividuals at nonprofits who haveadopted Bitcoin and are keen to sharetheir knowledge and experiences.

Whether it be Bitcoin or anotherdigital currency, it will only be amatter of time before a paymentsystem emerges that reflects andembraces the decentralized model ofthe Internet and nonprofits who areprepared for this may stand to benefitas early adopters.

JASON SHIM (@JasonShim) serves as Digital Media Manager atPathways to Education Canada, an organization dedicated to helpingyouth in low-income communitiesgraduate from high school and

successfully transition into post-secondary education.Jason successfully implemented Bitcoin donations atPathways to Education in 2013, and has advisednumerous other nonprofits on how to do the same.Jason gratefully acknowledges the contributions andthought leadership of David J. Neff of PwC Digital forthis article.

“BITCOIN PRESENTS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR NONPROFITS TOENGAGE WITH THEIRSUPPORTERS WHO AREEARLY TECHNOLOGYADOPTERS, AS WELL ASPOSITION THEMSELVESAS TECH-SAVVYORGANIZATIONS.”

Q:What’s the story behindthis campaign? We’ve been fortunate to have thepartnership of McKinney, aninternational advertising agencybased here in Durham, NC, for thepast several years. McKinneypreviously worked with us on atraditional TV and print campaign“Invisible,” and on an awareness-raising Web project, Play Spent, agame about being a working poorperson. As we brainstormedtogether early last year, we agreedit was time to try a Web campaigndesigned from the ground up toraise money directly.

Q:After initially setting agoal of $50,000 andachieving it, it’s been raised to$100,000. Can you tell us why? With the site’s early success, wedecided to raise the goal. Wewould love to surpass $100,000and raise the goal again.

Q:One of the best featuresof the site is the real-timedonation tracker that links tothe overall impact of thecampaign. When UMD was firstworking with McKinney todevelop this microsite, whatwere some of the core featuresthat you considered? Thanks—I like the tracker, too. A central idea of the whole site isthat UMD is an agency that’scompletely transparent about howwe use the resources entrusted tous to do our work. Therefore, yourcontribution isn’t going into ablack box, but into trustworthyhands. We’re showing you all ofthe tiny items we use to endhomelessness and exactly how weuse each one. You’re hearingstories about the difference itmakes. And we’re showing thewhole world to the dollar howmuch we’ve raised on the site, andgiving each viewer partial

responsibility for the distancebetween that amount and the goal.McKinney had the great idea ofasking us how much it costs to endone person’s homelessnessthrough UMD, and it’s actuallyreally cheap: $4,956. I love that themeter shows what can beaccomplished if a communitycooperates and each person does a little bit.

Q:Aside from raisingmoney, how has thiscampaign helped yourorganization? Have you seen anincrease in new donors? I think its innovativeness gives usmuch greater credibility withyounger professionals with thefinancial ability to take part in ourwork. The campaign is designed tobe shared via social media, and it isalso great for gift-giving occasions:Name one of our items after yourmom, husband, or work colleague.We are finding that many peoplehonored with the naming rights toan item buy additional items fortheir loved ones. This has indeedgenerated hundreds of new friendsfor UMD to engage with, and manygo on to support our work in otherways.

Q:How do you promote thiscampaign?We have used Facebook PromotedPosts with success, and the site isbuilt to propagate organically onsocial media, letting each personshare the naming rights posterthey just created. We’ve pitched


PROJECT SPOTLIGHT: NAMES FOR CHANGE CAMPAIGN

VisualizingTransparency: Namesfor Change CampaignInterview with Bryan Gilmer, from Urban Ministries of Durham, which is using the imaginative “Names for Change” campaign to teach about poverty andhomelessness through a tongue-in-cheek approach tonaming rights. Learn how a commitment to transparencyinspired this campaign.

A PADLOCK, ONE OF THEMANY EVERYDAY ITEMS THAT

DONORS CAN “NAME”

area and national media for newscoverage, getting metro TVcoverage and stories in both theNew York Times and FastCompany, among others. We’reworking on a keyword searchcampaign using a free GoogleGrants budget we’ve beenawarded. We’ve encouraged oursupporters to visit the site viaeblasts, and we tried a Valentine’sDay promotion with donated printads in the local alternative weeklynewspaper: “Nothing Says ‘I LoveYou’ Like ‘I Named These ViennaSausages After You.’”

Q:Can you describe thereaction of your audienceand constituents that yourserve? People have been really touched.They like the idea of associating

themselves with an item they canrelate to that we use at UMD. Ithought we might have somecriticism, but we really haven’t.One reason is that the head writeron the project, Associate CreativeDirector Jenny Nicholson ofMcKinney, made sure each item—and the way we use it to meet auniversal human need—wastreated with compassion andrespect. It starts off being a lark toname a tampon after your sister,but when you read the copy aboutthe tampon, about how much itmeans for a homeless woman whoneeds one to get one, it gets seriousagain pretty quickly.

Q:For nonprofits that arestarting to plan theirannual fundraising campaigns,what are some key lessons

learned that you would pass onto them? Don’t budget the revenue from avery experimental campaign likethis in year one, but treat it asgravy. By the same logic, this didn’treplace anything else we weredoing (mail appeals, major donorfundraising, etc.), but it was extrawork that was designed to work inconcert with those strategies tobuild our list, raise additionalfunds, and spread awareness of ourbrand.

Bryan Gilmer (@BryanGilmer)joined Urban Ministries ofDurham in 2012 after 10 years asa communication consultant withcolleges, universities, andcorporate clients. After

volunteering and leading fundraising campaignson the boards of family homeless shelter GenesisHome and St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, Bryandecided to combine his interests professionally. A former newspaper reporter, Bryan has abachelor’s degree in journalism fromNorthwestern University and is the author ofthree crime thriller novels, including Record ofWrongs, set in Raleigh.


Fast Facts • Year Established: 2013

• Project Duration: Indefinitemulti-year lifespan

• Number of Staff Members:No dedicated staff; Director ofMarketing and Developmentand Marketing andDevelopment Associateoversee it

• Project Budget: Tiny– $2,000 for web hosting,survey research, andincidental expenses. Site development, including creative and coding,was a pro bono gift of the McKinney advertisingagency.

IMAGE CREDIT: URBAN MINISTRIES OF DURHAM

CHANGE IN ACTION: PROFILES OF SUCCESSFUL ADVOCACY CAMPAIGNS

Riding a Wave of

Change


An Interview with the Surfrider Foundation’sMembership Director Nancy Eiring

and Environmental Director Chad Nelsen



Q:260+ campaign victoriesin 8 years is a lot! Do yousee common threads across allwinning campaigns? Surfrider Chapter leaders and staffprovide volunteers with the toolsand resources necessary to becomeactivists. We teach them how torun an effective campaign throughexpert training, continued science,policy, legal, and campaign supporton issues. This model has beensuccessful—and we like to thinkthat our track record speaks foritself. During the last 30, Surfriderhas had countless victories. Since2006, we’ve counted more than 260coastal victories. Simply stated, thebiggest victories are the unseenvictories.

Q:What tools and channelsdo you use for onlineorganizing? Surfrider Foundation maintains anetwork of more than 250,000supporters, activists and membersworldwide. Our activists, expertsand staff are organized aroundlocal communities and issues,which has been greatly enhancedand connected online. It’sgrassroots organizing at its best,where we work with our regionalstaff and chapters to engagecitizens where they are at—eitheronline, through email, e-petitions,social media or on the ground atChapter and city council meetings.Key tools include Facebook,Twitter, and an intranet whereactivists can share stories,experiences and best practices.

Q:What are the mostpopular channels? sf: Our social media following isone of the most engaged in theenvironmental advocacy space.Currently we have over 242,000Facebook fans, 99,000 Twitter, and33,000 Instagram followers.

Q:What is the internalprocess behindidentifying the next campaign?Surfrider is a truly grassroots-driven organization, so mostcampaigns are identified at thelocal chapter level. At headquarterswe try to aggregate, support, andenhance those local campaigns sothe sum will equal more than theparts. For example, we are trying toscale our 39 bag bans in Californiato a statewide ban. We have a totalof 70 bag ban victories to date.

Q: Since you started in 1984,how has the SurfriderFoundation leveragedtechnology to meet its mission? Surfrider Foundation was one ofthe first NGOs to have a website.Thanks to volunteers from U.C. San Diego’s super computer lab, we also were very early to use

listservers to share information.Next, we embraced e-activists bygreat action alerts in 2004 thatenabled our activists to easilycommunicate with their electedofficials. We were also earlyadopters of social media,employing MySpace and thenFacebook, Twitter, Instagram,YouTube, etc. Since we already hada well-established human network,making the transition to socialmedia was a natural evolution. As Beth Kanter, a nonprofit socialmedia maven said, “Surfrider is the

“At the end of the day, all thedigital tools inthe world areonly effectiveas the number of people whophysically pitch in.”


poster child for the networkednonprofit.”

Q:The website’s userinterface, especially thecampaigns page, is a greatexample of how to convey theimpact of your work, and alsomake it easy for people to getengaged in their localcommunities. When was thisdesigned and what was thestory and strategy behind it? The campaigns page wasoriginally designed to illustratethe strength and impact of ourchapter network and show howour coastlines are constantlyunder siege. Today we are in theprocess of refreshing the designand functionality of the Surfriderwebsite, we are in the process ofmigrating from Salsa to CQEngage’s interface to be fullyintegrated with our new CRM.This new technology will allowour supporters and activists toeasily participate in currentcampaigns, promote to theirsocial networks, and keep up-to-date on news about our oceans,waves, and beaches at the localand national level. And, becauseall of our constituent data will be fully integrated, Surfrider willbe able to engage with oursupporters on the issues that theycare most about.

Q:With members, chapters, and clubs allaround the world—what is the Surfrider Foundation’sapproach to communicationsand engagement? Using our network, social media,and e-activism tools, we canquickly generate support forissues around the world. Forexample, when the small town ofRye, New Hampshire consideredbanning surfing at their localbeach, we were able to quickly

notify activists from around thecountry and world to weigh inand oppose the closure. Itshocked the town’s “selectmen”(city councilors) that theirdecision could garner so muchattention, and they decided toleave the beach open to surfing.

Q:Anything else that wedidn’t ask? Yes—while digital tools havegreatly enhanced our ability tonetwork, communicate, andshare information, the world isstill run by those who show up,whether that’s to run a chaptermeeting, organize a beach cleanup, or testify on an importantcoastal issue. So at the end of theday, all the digital tools in theworld are only effective as thenumber of people who physicallypitch in.

Chad Nelsen (@chadnelsen) is the Environmental Directorfor the Surfrider Foundation.Encompassing a wide variety ofefforts, Chad specializes incoastal policy and leads efforts

to ensure a healthy ocean, waves, and beaches.Prior to Surfrider, Chad was a National OceanicAtmospheric Administration (NOAA) CoastalFellow where he led efforts to improve estuarymanagement in Coos Bay, Oregon. He received aDoctorate from the University of California, LosAngeles (UCLA), a Master’s of EnvironmentalManagement from Duke University’s NicholasSchool for the Environment, and Bachelor’s ofScience from Brown University.

With nearly twenty years ofnonprofit and politicalfundraising experience, NancyEiring (@NEiring) joined theSurfrider Foundation as theMembership Director in

December 2013 to oversee the fundraising effortsof the organization, growing membership,increasing member retention, and developing thepipeline for increased giving. Prior to Surfrider,Nancy was the Director of Acquisition at TheNature Conservancy. Previously, she also workedHillary Clinton’s senate re-election campaignand her presidential campaign as the NationalDirector of Grassroots Fundraising. Nancyearned a Bachelor’s of English and Bachelor’s of Spanish from Catholic University,Washington, D.C.

All photos provided by the Surfrider Foundation

SurfriderFoundation:CampaignMilestones CAMPAIGN: Saves Trestles LOCATION: San Onofre State Beach, CaliforniaVICTORY: Stopped a six lane private road that wouldhave destroyed a popular coastal state park andone of the best surfing waves in the world.

CAMPAIGN: Reserva Marina Tres Palmas LOCATION:: Rincón, Puerto RicoVICTORY: Established the first marine reserve onthe mainland of Puerto Rico that is designed toprotect threatened Elkhorn coral reefs and one ofthe east coast’s premiere big wave surfing areas.

CAMPAIGN: Rise Above Plastics (RAP) LOCATION: 68 cities across the U.S. VICTORY: Banned single-use plastic bags andformat at retail and grocery stores across theU.S. in 68 different cities.

Facts+Figures • Annual Budget: $5.7Million (2014)• Number of Supporters, Activists and

Members Worldwide: 250,000• Number of Countries Represented:

25 countries• Campaigns in Action: 99 campaigns on

May 1, 2014• Full-time Staff Members: 47• Surfrider Chapters: 85

Q:Why did you startFundsforNGOs?FundsforNGOs was started as aninformal blog back in 2008 when Iwas posted in Kathmandu, Nepalby an international NGO. I wastasked with building thefundraising capacity of five localNGOs, yet during my extensiveresearch on funding sources, Irealized that unlike in somedeveloped countries, there was anot a single reference website thatoffered fundraising information

for NGOs in developing countries. I took it upon myself to create a

site dedicated to supporting NGOsin developing countries to accessfunds and build their capacity,with an aim of creating a betterworld. The site providedfundraising resources, fundingalerts, foundation profiles, fundingguides, and other materials, alldeveloped in an easy to digestformat that would enable peoplefrom every country in the world tobenefit.

The impact was almost instant,with thousands of organicsearches landing on the blog in justa few weeks. I quickly realized thatthe knowledge gap and demand forfunding information was evenbigger than I had imagined. In justa few years the site became sopopular that it evolved from ahobby to a full time job and theorganization it is today.

Q:One of the goals of FundsforNGOs is to“digitally empower” NGOs byincreasing their access todonors, resources, and skills.Can you tell us how that’s going? FundsforNGOs initially targetedsmall and medium-sized NGOs indeveloping countries for whomaccess to information was still achallenge. Common problems inthese environments are limitedknowledge about grantinformation, poor bandwidth


Bridging the KnowledgeGap: FundsforNGOsFrom a modest informal blog to a social enterprise with a community of over 100,000 members, learn howsameer zuhad founded FundsforNGOs to help build thefundraising capacity of NGOs in developing countries.

BEHIND THE SCENES: FUNDSFORNGOS

PHOTO CREDIT: FUNDSFORNGOS

issues, undeveloped proposalwriting skills, unfamiliarity withdonor research, and a lack ofawareness of online tools.

FundsforNGOs addresses theseissues by organizing informationon fundraising so that it isaccessible to audiences in thedeveloping world. We take greatcare to simplify often complicatedfunding information to enablepeople and NGOs from all over theworld to benefit, regardless ofeducational background andresources.

Since 2008 we have produced awealth of resource guides thatoffer practical tips, advice, andstrategies to access funds and buildthe capacity of developmentorganizations. These materialshave enabled tens of thousands ofpeople and NGOs to develop theirskills and create new opportunitiesfor their cause. Whether it isproviding information on how todevelop a complex proposal, oroperate a local fundraising event,FundsforNGOs aims to empowerpeople at the grassroots level tomake a positive impact on theircommunities.

Over the years, we haveobserved how FundsforNGOs isvalued by grassroots NGOs as wellas by some of the biggest

development organizations in theworld. We have worked with UNWomen, GlobalGiving, andMasterPeace among others todevelop greater understandingbetween donors and recipients,showcase their work, and driveapplications to their latest fundingopportunities.

Our passionatecommunity ofNGOs anddevelopmentprofessionals fromover 150 countriesaround the world,combined withdonors both bigand small, has ledFundsforNGOs tobecome a trueinformationmarketplace forthe entiredevelopment community. We’vebeen able to grow by leveragingthe Internet and digital tools toreach people wherever they areand whatever their circumstances,to create a better world.

Q:How is your organizationprimarily funded? FundsforNGOs is a socially drivenenterprise that has never receivedgrants or funding from any donors.Instead, we rely on our users togenerate advertising income that isused to support the growth anddevelopment of the organization.For example, we leverage onlineadvertising, such as GoogleAdSense, to cover some of ouroperational costs. We also bring inrevenue through hosting webinars,which have trained thousands ofpeople around the world on issuessuch as EU Commission Fundingand raising money for humanrights projects.

As demand for our services hasgrown, so have costs for hosting,

server management, web design,content development, softwareprofessionals, optimization, andeverything else that is needed tomaintain the site. These costsoften need to be paid upfrontwhich has created a demand toestablish reliable revenue streams.

In the past 18months, we havelaunched awebinar series anda Premium websiteto meet thedemand for ourservices, for a fee.The Premium siteoffers all thebenefits ofFundsforNGOs.orgbut with theaddition of arobust donordatabase that

captures nearly 5,000 of the mostactive donors in Africa, Asia, andbeyond. NGOs and developmentprofessionals from over onehundred countries are usingFundsforNGOs Premium todiscover great internationaldonors for their cause.

We also developed a jobs board in a similar spirit toFundsforNGOs—JobsinNGOs. This free service collects the latestcareer opportunities in theinternational development fieldand hosts them all in oneconvenient place. For example, you can quickly and convenientlydiscover jobs that are right for you, as well as read expert guideson how to secure a job within thedevelopment sector.

Q:To date, how manypeople are in your onlinecommunity, and how manycountries are represented?FundsforNGOs has blossomed intoan organization with regular users


Fast Facts • Year Established: 2008

• Number of StaffMembers: 30

• Number of People inYour Online Community:100,000+ subscribers

• Countries Representedin Your OnlineCommunity: 150+

“We’ve been able togrow by leveragingthe Internet anddigital tools toreach peoplewherever they are and whatevertheir circumstances,to create a better

world.”

in 100+ countries. We have over100,000+ individuals and NGOswho subscribe to our newsletter,funding alerts, and social mediachannels, with hundreds moresigning up every day.

India and the United Statesrepresent the largest number ofsubscribers, with countries inAfrica and Asia not far behind. Thesite also welcomes thousands ofregular visitors from Europe, LatinAmerica, and the Middle East.

Q:To have so many activeusers from countries allaround the world. How do youmanage to continually growyour user base?

Our years of experience havetaught us what information isneeded by the developmentcommunity. Our close links withdevelopment professionals andNGOs has allowed us to develop awell defined content strategy thatis designed to build capacity inorganizations around the world,especially amongst those that needit most.

We actively listen to our userbase to ensure we stay relevantwhile ensuring that materials onFundsforNGOs are accessible andsolve genuine needs. We activelywork to boil complex ideas downto an easy to understand formatand language with links to relevantcontent for all learning levels.

Q:How has technologyplayed a role in thegrowth of your organization tohelp meet your mission?Technology has played a criticalrole in the growth ofFundsforNGOs, from a simple blogto becoming a well-respectedorganization working ininternationaldevelopment. Despiteconsiderable advances inInternet speeds, we

continue to provide content thatcan be quickly and cheaplyaccessed in environments withextremely limited resources.Without Internet technologies,FundsforNGOs and our diversecommunity of users wouldn’t existtoday.

Q:What are some tools thatyou use to stayconnected? In our efforts to reach out to NGOsall across the world, we haveutilized both paid and free toolsthat have enabled us to reach morepeople than ever before. We arebig fans of WordPress because it isnot only easy to use, but alsosupported by a robust onlinecommunity. In most cases, webuild all our small-scale projectson WordPress and typicallyrecommend that small NGOs dothe same.

Other tools that we use includehosting from Synthesis and WPE;MailChimp is great for our emailnewsletter, targeted dissemination,and analytics; Google Docs, GoogleCalendar, and other tools fromGoogle Apps have also helped toreduce our operational costs.

Q:Afterstartingthis as a one-manproject, to havingmultiple officesand staff members,what piece ofadvice would youoffer to nonprofitsthat are trying toachieve scale? We are a social

enterprise and our model isslightly different from the typicalnonprofit, but there are still manylessons to be learned. NGOsaround the world need to focus onlong term sustainability ratherthan be driven by short-termdonor funding.

FundsforNGOs has evolvedfrom my experience as aconsultant providing services toNGOs as customers. If NGOs treatbeneficiaries, donors, and partnersas customers for whom they arefilling a unique need, they will bebetter able to sustain and growtheir operations. Our mission is tohelp all development organizationsto make a sustainable impact intheir communities, and to do so inthe most effective way possible.

Sameer Zuhad (@fundsforngos)is the Founder and CEO offundsforngos.org, and leads theoperations in India. Sameer is anaccomplished writer and socialresearcher with extensive

experience in the field of sustainabledevelopment. Having worked in India and Nepalwith various grassroots-oriented communityorganizations, he is passionate about civil societydevelopment. In starting fundsforngos.org,Sameer has digitally empowered thousands ofNGOs at all levels in over 150 countries.



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Join NTEN this September as we launch the Leading Change Summit in San Francisco. Exclusively for nonprofit leaders, this Summit offers three tracks to help you accelerate your career development:

• Impact Leadership: Dynamic executive directors and leadership teams – Learn how to plan and implement effective programs through a data-informed approach

• Digital Strategy: Savvy online marketers, communicators, and fundraisers – Use the Web to drive innovation and engagement

• The Future of Technology: Cutting-edge technologists – Strategize how to adapt to the evolving role of technology in your work

CREATED BY

REGISTER TODAY! GO TO MYLCS.NTEN.ORG

Join NTEN this September as we launch the Leading Change Summit in San Francisco. Exclusively for nonprofit leaders, this Summit offers three tracks to help you accelerate your career development:

• Impact Leadership: Dynamic executive directors and leadership teams – Learn how to plan and implement effective programs through a data-informed approach

• Digital Strategy: Savvy online marketers, communicators, and fundraisers – Use the Web to drive innovation and engagement

• The Future of Technology: Cutting-edge technologists – Strategize how to adapt to the evolving role of technology in your work

ENGAGE with e voices to ignite

new ideas. ACTIVATE

your strategies with expert advice and planning tools.

CHANGE the way you make an impact.

CREATED BY

Beth Kanter & John KenyonImpactLeadership

Bridget MarieTodd & DeepaKunapuliDigital Strategy

Tracy Kronzak & Tanya TarrFuture ofTechnology

Q:After nearly a decade ofwork, there is a lot toreflect on! Can you share somemilestones?In early 2013, we hit the milestoneof reaching more than 1 millionborrowers with Kiva loans. Whenyou imagine that each of thosepeople has improved the lives oftheir families and theircommunities, the impact Kivalenders are having is huge.

Later in 2013, around our 8thbirthday in October, we alsoreached 1 million Kiva lenders.That means that more than 1million people worldwide havecontributed to loans and changedlives around the world. We’reexcited to see when we can reach 2 million!

Q:How has the landscapechanged for microfinanceand crowdfunding overall?

When Kiva first launched in2005, crowdfunding wasn’t yet apart of our daily lives the way it is

now. Kiva was really one of thepioneers of the concept, so we gota lot of attention early on. We werefeatured on Frontline and Oprah,which really helped to spread theword quickly. Now, crowdfundingand microfinance (happily!) are alot more popular and mainstream.But, the growing popularity ofthese worlds makes it a bit of achallenge for Kiva to remain partof the crowdfunding dialogue,even though our work is moreexciting than ever.

We’re really reaching a point inour history where we have to bemore proactive to get noticed,instead of just being discovered forbeing an awesome model for anonprofit. That includes our workto find new and more impactfulways to use microfinance tochange lives.

Q:What is the ratio oflenders versus donors tothe organization? Does theoption to donate in the shopping

cart help to remind people thatKiva needs funding to “keep thelights on”? We never charge a fee for ourloans, but obviously it costs a lot ofmoney to make sure our fieldpartners are reviewed andsupported, to make sure all themoney gets where it needs to be,and to make sure our website isalways up and running. Wheneversomeone makes a loan on Kiva, wealso ask for a small donation tosupport our operating costs. Fromthis we get about 50-60% of whatwe need to keep the organizationrunning and growing.

Other than in the checkoutflow, we only do proactiveoutreach to get our lenders tobecome donors once or twice ayear (December 31 being one ofthose key times). Whenever we try,it’s challenging. Our lenders feellike they’re already donating toKiva, even though their funds aregoing right to the field and theyaren’t supporting theorganization’s growth. We relyheavily on some of our majordonors and corporate partners tohelp support our operationalexpenses and plans for growth.

Q:Can you let us knowmore about thedemographics of your donors? We’ve never done a full append ofour database, but based on oursurvey results we know that manyof our highest value donors arewomen aged 55+ and men 45-55.Interestingly, since we don’trequire our lenders to give us theiraddress, we don’t know thegeographic location of all of our


BEHIND THE SCENES: KIVA

First Mover Advantage: Kiva, NearlyA Decade LaterINTERVIEW WITH KATE KLEINSCHMIDT, SENIORMANAGER OF ONLINE MARKETING AT KIVA

When Kiva was founded nearly a decade ago, it was one of the first pioneers in the microfinance andcrowdfunding space. Today, microfinance andcrowdfunding have become more mainstream, recognizeddevelopment approaches, and there are now over 1,000crowdfunding exchanges worldwide.

lenders either. We only have self-reported data for about 60% of ouraudience. In terms of where thoseKiva lenders live, our top fivecountries are the U.S., Canada,Australia, U.K., and Germany. Weonly do proactive outreach rightnow in the U.S., but word hasspread and we have passionatesupporters around the globe.

Q:What are some of the keychannels that you’reusing to disseminate yourmessages to reach youraudiences and donors?Our primary channel forcommunicating with existinglenders is via email. Twice a monthwe do a query of anyone in ourdatabase who has $25 in their Kivaaccount (as Kiva loans are repaidby borrowers, the money isreturned to our lenders!), andremind them to usethose funds to lendto anotherentrepreneur. Wealso try to keep ourlenders postedwith stories fromthe field, updateson promotions, andmore, withtargeted emailprograms.

We also use ourblog and socialmedia to keeplenders updatedabout what we’redoing and howKiva loans are changing livesaround the world. We try to sharelots of inspiring stories throughthese channels because so many ofour lenders love Kiva and are sopassionate about lending.

Q:Tell us a bit more aboutKiva U? How does thishelp bring in new supporters?

Kiva U is our new educationinitiative, which focuses onsupporting students and educatorsas they develop global competency,critical thinking about poverty, anda better understanding ofmicrofinance and financial

inclusion. Itfacilitates the use ofKiva as a teachingand learning tool insubject areas asdiverse as math,language arts,geography, socialstudies, andeconomics. It is alsoan engaging way todevelop students’financial literacyunderstanding andcapabilities. Inaddition toeducationalresources, such as a

free K-12 and undergraduatecurriculum, Kiva U also providestools and information on what’shappening now, and how best totake action. The program isdedicated to building the nextgeneration of informed andmobilized global citizens withawareness of their agency toimpact lives through microfinance.

Q:How will you usetechnology to meet yourmission? Kiva is really part nonprofit, partfinancial institution, and part techstart-up. Our entire model is basedon technological innovations. Onebig thing we’ve done recently onthe marketing team is invested innew software for our emailcommunications. Our new toolsetwill allow us to better track howour lenders are interacting withour emails, and gives us options forautomating more communicationswith lenders. Like manynonprofits, our staff is limited andwe’re always working on dozens ofthings at once. With some of theemail automation we have plannedfor the next year, we’ll be able tospend more of our time onplanning and creativity, and less ofour time on setup and execution.

Kate Thomas Kleinschmidtis the Senior Manager of OnlineMarketing at Kiva. She managesKiva’s content team and leads thestrategy for lendercommunications. Her team works

to encourage new users to join Kiva whileengaging existing lenders with inspiring fieldcontent and campaigns. Prior to her work atKiva, Kate was building years of experience inonline fundraising and communications throughher work at Change.org, Share Our Strength, andas a consultant with many other cause-basedorganizations.


Fast Facts • Annual Budget: $15M

• Number of LendersWorldwide: 1,165,947

• Number of BorrowersWorldwide: 1,301,126

• Number of People inKiva’s Community:1,728,533

• Number of CountriesReceiving Loans: 76

• Full-Time Staff: 113

KIVA’S KATEKLEINSCHMIDT

(RIGHT) WITH FATU,A KIVA BORROWER

AND ENTREPRENEURIN MAKENI, SIERRA

LEONE. FATU ISSEEING HER PHOTO

ON THE KIVAWEBSITE FOR THE

FIRST TIME. PHOTOCREDIT: KATE

KLEINSCHMIDT.


Q:Can you tell us aboutGlobalGiving’sbackground? GlobalGiving was built around thebelief that the world’s most pressingproblems are too complex and tooimportant to be left to a select few.We believe that great ideas cancome from anyone, anywhere, atany time. To that end, we’ve builtthe first truly global crowdfundingplatform that helps people raisefunds in over 150 countries. We

provide 501(c)(3) equivalencyvetting and determination forinternational NGOs so that they canfundraise online and work withdonors and companies around theworld to provide support to theseorganizations.

Q:What are the mostpopular projects bytopic? By region? We have a wide range of projectson our site which donors love.That being said, we do see some

extra affinity for projects workingin the categories of Education,Children, and Disaster Relief.

Q:Are there commonthreads that you seeacross all successful projectsthat receive funding? The most successful projects havea clear, compelling title anddescription that tells potentialdonors what the problem is andhow the project solves it. Whencombined with a great photo andclear, realistic donation options, aproject is often able to attractmany new donors.

Q:How has technologyplayed a role in thegrowth of your organization tohelp meet your mission?I like to say that GlobalGiving isone part nonprofit, one part techstartup. Technology is the key to

Catalyzing aMarketplace of Ideas:GlobalGivingWhat are the elements behind a successful crowdfundingcampaign? We interview Kevin Conroy, Chief ProductOfficer at GlobalGiving to find out.

BEHIND THE SCENES: GLOBALGIVING

PHOTO CREDIT: GLOBALGIVING

our growth and ability to scale.With a staff of about 30, we usetechnology to manage fundraising,grants, and reporting for morethan 2,000 organizations annually.

Q:Do you track andmeasure impact of eachproject? We ask all projects to provide anupdate on their progress every 3months. This report is reviewed byGlobalGiving staff and is sent todonors to show the impact theirdonation has had. We’verepeatedly heard that donors lovethese updates and we’ve seen themgive again. We also send staff andvolunteers to visit projects aroundthe world to ensure that they areaccurately reporting the work thatthey are doing.

Q:Looking at the bigpicture, aside fromconnecting projects to peoplethat are willing to fund them,how is GlobalGiving helping tobuild the capacity of grassrootsorganizations, and organizationsin developing countries? Every nonprofit wants morefunding, but our mission is actuallyto catalyze a marketplace forinformation, ideas, and money. Webelieve it’d be irresponsible to justfocus on fundraising and not helporganizations develop othercapacities. That’s why we offerfree training to our partners tohelp them become more effectiveand connect with each other toshare best practices. We’re alsoworking on a new impact andeffectiveness framework to help usmeasure how organizationsimprove over time. We want tohelp organizations experiment andmeasure ways to improve theirprograms, show how they arebecoming more effective, and inturn help them raise more funds.

In short, we want to get moremoney to more effectiveorganizations!

Q:In your opinion, what isone project that standsout to you? One of my favoritestories is LotusOutreach, anorganization thatdoes work inCambodia. LotusOutreach hasraised $220,000 onGlobalGiving overfour years -almosthalf of theorganization’sannual projectbudget! We’vegiven them theability to expandand fund programsthey previouslythought would not be possible,such as the Blossom Bus and itssister project, Lotus Pedals, whichprovide bicycles to girls inCambodia who live too far awayfrom school. Lotus was even ableto fund an entire project thatprovides children’s scholarshipsand teacher training to ethnicminorities in the Mondulkiriprovince of Cambodia, in a singleday through GlobalGiving!

Q:For nonprofits that areinterested in posting aproject to GlobalGiving, whatare your top 5 pieces of advicethat you would offer? My advice is to focus on yourgoals, communication, network,strategy, and thank yous. First,figure out what your goal foronline fundraising is. Very feworganizations raise 100% of theirannual budget online, so figure outwhat program or project you wantto fundraise for, and clearly define

that in terms that a donor canunderstand. Then, think aboutyour network of supporters andhow you can engage them not onlyto give, but also to help youfundraise. The most successful

projects onGlobalGiving (interms of dollarsraised) don’t do italone—they ask keydonors or volunteersto be a “teamcaptain.” Each teamis responsible forreaching a small goal,such as 20 newdonors. If you have10 or 20 teams, thatadds up quickly! Usethat network to thinkthrough yourfundraising strategy.GlobalGiving can helpwith this, and

although GlobalGiving can getyour organization new donors, themost successful organizations lookat us as a fundraising partner, not aprovider. Finally, remember tothank your donors and follow upwith the impact that their gift hashad. Too many nonprofits viewcrowdfunding as a one-time eventrather than a chapter in theirrelationship with that donor.Bonus tip: experiment! Noteverything will work the first time.Keep iterating and you’ll find astrategy that works well for yourorganization.

Kevin Conroy (@KevinConroy)leads GlobalGiving’s Productteam—a talented group ofprogrammers, systemadministrators, and unmarketersthat work tirelessly to improve

GlobalGiving.org so that donors can supportmore projects and projects can get more donors.Previously, Kevin worked in the for-profittechnology sector until he realized his skills werebeing wasted on things that weren’t making theworld a better place. Kevin has a B.S. inComputer Science and a B.A. in Economics.


Fast Facts • Year Established:2002• Number of People inYour OnlineCommunity:380,000+• Total Amount Raisedfor Projects: $107M+and counting• Number of StaffMembers: 34• Operating Budget:$4M

The popular misconception thatmobile and social media do notresult in more donations hinders

many nonprofits from making thenecessary financial investments inupgrading their technology systems.

Unless your nonprofit specificallyasks your donors what messagingtool inspired them to make theirdonation, it’s very difficult to trackand allocate specific donations tomobile and social media. Untilrecently, mobile and social mediamanagers (for simplicity, from thispoint forward referred to as newmedia managers) had to rely solelyon a combination of gut instinct andtracking metrics, such as websiteand blog traffic, e-mail, and mobilesubscribers, and social networkcommunity growth, to prove toexecutive staff that their effortswere resulting in more funds raised.Without concrete proof, it’s beenchallenging for most nonprofits toget the buy-in to hire new staff, toinvest in cutting edgecommunications and fundraisingsystems, and to shift budgets andstaff job descriptions toward newmedia.

The early adopter nonprofits thatare now some of the most popular,well-funded nonprofits on themobile and social web were giventhe green light to experiment and toinvest financial resources longbefore there was any proof orindication that their mobile andsocial media campaigns would payoff in the end. Most often theseefforts were spearheaded by anambitious and enthusiasticmillennial or gen Xer who knewinstinctively that mobile and socialmedia were the new frontier and thefuture of online communicationsand fundraising. Some earlyadopters initially met resistancefrom executive staff who feared

open and social communications,but they were persistent and wouldnot give up until support was given.Others were empowered to investtime and financial resources early onby forward-thinking executive staffwho were not resistant. Sadly,however, most small to medium-sized nonprofits are still strugglingto get buy-in.

All over the world, it’s the onetheme that unites all nonprofits,NGOs, and charities—they may havethe green light to experiment withmobile and social media, but only ifits free and doesn’t require anyadditional investments in staff timeor training. But as the statisticsbelow demonstrate, this is anapproach doomed to failure and is


BOOK SPOTLIGHT: MOBILE FOR GOOD

“Even if you can invest only five staffhours and a mobile and social mediabudget of $1,000 annually, yournonprofit must invest in mobile andsocial media.”

MOBILE AND SOCIALMEDIA ARE POWERFULFUNDRAISING TOOLS EXCERPTED FROM “MOBILE FOR GOOD” BY HEATHER MANSFIELD

counterproductive to yournonprofit’s future fundraising efforts(see box on following page).

To successfully utilize mobile andsocial media, staff time and financialresources need to be allocated. Veryfew nonprofits can “wing it” on a $0budget. As mobile and social mediahave matured, the expectations of

donors and supporters are muchhigher than when winging it was an acceptable strategy. It’sunderstandable that duringchallenging economic timesnonprofits need to pull backfinancially, but as the economyrecovers and nonprofit staff take a breath and move forward, it’scrucial that they truly digest andunderstand how dramatically onlinecommunications and fundraising haschanged since the Great Recessionbegan in 2007. It’s the messagewoven throughout this book gentlyyet forcibly—even if you can investonly five staff hours and a mobileand social media budget of $1,000annually, your nonprofit must investin mobile and social media. Whenyou realize their power and effectupon fundraising results, you’ll seethat they are not a financial risk atall, but in fact, will pay off in thelong run.

The Importance of MobileFundraising CampaignsTo many nonprofits, text-to-givecampaigns have becomesynonymous with mobilefundraising. When you mentionmobile fundraising, the automaticdefault is to think of text giving, butmobile fundraising can no longer bethat narrowly defined. Because ofthe rapid adoption of mobiledevices, all online fundraisingcampaigns are now mobile. Mobile

fundraising apps and mobile wallets are on the verge of goingmainstream and will have aprofound impact on how nonprofitsraise funds. The truth is that mobilefundraising is in its infancy, and it’sunclear how it will evolve and effectour mobile and social fundraisingstrategies. The first step into mobilefundraising is to mobilize yourwebsite, e-mail communications,and online fundraising campaigns.Beyond that, the next few years willbe spent experimenting. Text-to-givetechnology and how it works willcontinue to evolve. It could becomeintegrated with mobile apps andmobile wallets—or not. And thereare future mobile fundraisingtechnologies that even today’sbrightest, most forward-thinkingnew media managers can’t yetconceptualize. Mobilecommunications and fundraising will be transformative, and thosenonprofits that are willing to takepart in the experiment will benefitthe most. Those nonprofits that wereslow to adopt social media nowstruggle with communications andfundraising success. The “wait andsee” approach didn’t work withsocial media, and it’s definitely not going to work in a mobileInternet age.

HEATHER MANSFIELD(@nonprofitorgs) is the principalblogger at Nonprofit Tech forGood and author of the best-sellingbooks Mobile for Good and SocialMedia for Social Good. She also

created and maintains the “Nonprofit Organizations”profiles on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn,Pinterest, and Instagram which cumulatively havemore than one million followers. Heather has twentyyears of experience utilizing the Internet forfundraising, community building, and advocacy. Shehas presented more than 100 nonprofit technologytrainings as well as over 500 webinars to audiencesworldwide.


“As mobile and social media havematured, the expectations of donorsand supporters are much higher thanwhen winging it was an acceptablestrategy.”

Mobile: Fast Facts• 37% of nonprofits

attribute their socialmedia success to havingexecutive managementmake social media apriority.

• 55% of individuals whoengage with nonprofits onsocial media are inspiredto take action. Of that55%, 59% donated money,53% volunteered, 52%donated food or clothing.

• 18% of all socialfundraising donations arereferred from Facebook.

• 28% of text donors give inresponse to hearing abouta text-to-give campaign onsocial networks.

• Online fundraising isgrowing on average by 14% annually across allsectors.

Number of years you’ve been amember of NTEN? Intermittently since 2008.

What is your connection with the“nptech” (nonprofit technology)community? When I was studying computerscience in the early noughts, mycampaigner friends tried to convinceme to change to political science toincrease my impact. I’m glad I stuckwith technology. This allowed me toharness tech skills for good, such aswhen I set up one of Germany’s firstonline petitions in 2001.

Why do you think it’s importantfor nonprofit leaders to thinkabout technology strategically?Because technology is a driver ofchange and a driver of strategicclarity. An understanding oftechnology helps tremendously infocusing your efforts where they areneeded: neither ignoring importantdevelopments nor overinvesting inshiny new toys.

Was there an “ah-ha” moment foryou when you learned somethingnew or realized something aboutthe role of technology in themission-driven work that you do?I’m currently co-hosting a MOOCcalled “Leadership for GlobalResponsibility”. We have about 150participants from all continents in ouronline meeting. It blows my mind towitness how people from completelydifferent contexts and places step upto help each other—just becausewe’ve built a bridge with technologyand an invitation. Borders becomeinvisible, and that is incrediblypowerful.

How has nonprofit leadershipchanged (if at all) as a result oftechnology, from yourperspective/experience?Technology has sped up nonprofitcommunications and has blurredboundaries. Today’s nonprofit leadersneed to understand effective systemsand networked, open approaches toengagement. In organizations withbroad or blurry missions, this can be ahuge challenge as complexityincreases. New organizations oftenexcel by focusing their contributionsand building in data-driven decision-making from the get-go.

Why are you serving on the NTEN:Change Editorial Committee—what makes you want tovolunteer?The Editorial Committee is a greatoccasion to reflect about patterns Isee in technology use and to reflectwith others. I love being able to learnby sharing and listening.

What’s the one technology toolthat you wouldn’t want to gowithout in your daily work?Skype.

Follow Wiebke on Twitter@wiebkehere


EDITORIAL COMMITTEE PROFILE

WiebkeHerdingManaging Director,ON:SUBJECT

“An understandingof technology helpstremendously infocusing your effortswhere they are needed:neither ignoringimportant developmentsnor investing in shinynew toys.”


Number of years you’ve been amember of NTEN? A little over a year.

What is your connection with the“nptech” (nonprofit technology)community? I developed my interest in technologywhile completing my Master’s degreein Library and Information Science.After graduating, I continued todevelop my interest in technologyand shared my knowledge with thosein the field by presenting andpublishing.

Why do you think it’s importantfor nonprofit leaders to thinkabout technology strategically?I think it is easy for nonprofit leadersto see all the new tools available andbe tempted to try each and every one.But with wisdom, the nonprofit leadershould make use of the right tools,not every tool, to meet their goals.This also requires having good techadvisors around you to help you makethe best decision.

Was there an “ah-ha” moment foryou when you learned somethingnew or realized something about

the role of technology in themission-driven work that you do?I think that the use of social media,especially sites like LinkedIn, providepeople in the nonprofit environmentwith an opportunity to make theconnections they need to move theirwork forward. In the past, work waslargely based on who you knew andcollaboration opportunities wererather limited. With sites likeLinkedIn, people can more easilyconnect with those that can helpmove their important work forward.

How has nonprofit leadershipchanged (if at all) as a result oftechnology, from yourperspective/experience?From an information professional’sperspective, I think that technologyhas provided an opportunity forleadership to gain access to up-to-date information to make quicker andmore informed decisions. With thisbeing said, leaders can faceinformation overload in an onlineenvironment where just aboutanybody can post material online.Leaders need to be wise in sourcingtheir information.

Why are you serving on the NTEN:Change Editorial Committee—what makes you want tovolunteer?I decided to serve on the NTEN:Change Editorial Committee because Ibelieve it is important forprofessionals to publish and share theknowledge and lessons they havelearned with other professionals. Iappreciate serving on the committeebecause the committee is made up ofinnovative professionals that arecommitted to helping their fellowprofessionals learn. Also, I value theexpertise of the committee as Iusually learn something new eachtime I participate in a meeting.

What’s the one technology toolthat you wouldn’t want to gowithout in your daily work?My smartphone.

Follow Sophia on Twitter@virtualibrarian

SophiaGuevaraSocial Media Fellow,Emerging Practitionersin Philanthropy

“I think thattechnology has providedan opportunity forleadership to gainaccess to up-to-dateinformation to makequicker and moreinformed decisions.”

EDITORIAL COMMITTEE PROFILE

Some nonprofits get as much as40% of their online revenue in themonth of December. However, asmore nonprofits devote additionaltime and resources to their onlinefundraising programs, it’s moredifficult to stand out from thecrowd. Earlier this year, at the2014 Nonprofit TechnologyConference, Kerri Karvetski fromCompany K Media, Matt Seneyfrom the Lukens Company, and Ipresented a panel titled “HolidayFundraising: It’s Not Just for YearEnd.”

Our goal for the presentationwas to highlight ways nonprofitscould use holidays throughout theyear to raise awareness for theircause – and to hopefully givedonors a compelling reason todonate. We presented more than

25 different examples of year-endholiday fundraising – andfundraising done at other holidaysthroughout the year. Here aresome of the examples we shared:

National Audubon Society’s – I �Birds Campaign for Valentine’s DayFor the past two years, theNational Audubon Society hascreated a multi-channel campaignat Valentine’s Day encouragingmembers and new constituents tomake a donation to show howmuch they love birds. In 2013,Audubon used a t-shirt as apremium to encourage donations.In 2014, they used a bumpersticker, which proved veryeffective and resulted in over 900donations. Audubon used socialmedia posts on Facebook andTwitter, and an email campaign tobring people to the donation page.

Habitat for Humanity – Father’s Day Tool DriveWhat’s more iconic as a father andson activity than buildingsomething in the garage? A localbranch of Habitat for Humanityused Father’s Day to encouragelocal residents to donate new andgently used tools for them to use inbuilding projects. Their campaigngave a list of the most-needed toolsand provided easy drop-offlocations.

OscarsSeveral nonprofits used theAcademy Awards, (commonlyknown as the Oscars) as a way torally their supporters.

The Accountability Lab andONE held an “AccountabilityOscars” where they solicitednominations and votes from thecommunity on the best videos,infographics and songs that werebeing used to fight globalcorruption. An extensive bloggeroutreach and social mediacampaign garnered over 100,000votes and 14 million impressionson Twitter.

Other campaigns includedNASA promoting Gravity’snomination; LGBT groups likeOurTime celebrating MatthewMcConaughey’s and Jared Leto’ssuccess in Dallas Buyer’s Club;Edutopia asking members to votefor their favorite Oscar-nominatedmovie with an educational theme;and even some fast thinkingnonprofits who were able to editthe infamous Ellen selfie pictureand post their own versions.

You can see these and otherOscar campaigns over on Kerri’sPinterest board.


TECH SUPPORT

Holiday Fundraising isNot Just for Year-EndHoliday fundraising, specifically the five weeks betweenThanksgiving and New Year’s, is a critical time forfundraising for most nonprofits.

THE HUMANE SOCIETY OF THE U.S. DID A PARODY OF ELLEN DEGENERES’FAMOUS OSCARS “SELFIE” TO THANK HERFOR THE $1.5 MILLION DONATION

Back to SchoolAugust and September have manyfamilies focused on back-to-schoolactivities, and nonprofits focusedon education and children’s causescan use that to tie together withtheir important missions. Thepanel highlighted one campaign byBeyond Borders titled, “Schoolsnot Slavery.” The campaign took amulti-channel approach usingdirect mail, email, videos onYouTube, and social to raisedonations. Over $30,000 wasraised with 41% coming from newdonors.

Art Institute of Chicago HolidayCampaign In addition to some non-traditional holidays, we alsoprovided a deep-dive into the ArtInstitute of Chicago’s membershipcampaign that covered Novemberand December – including the twomajor holidays of Thanksgivingand Christmas. The Art Instituteof Chicago used advertising, socialmedia posts, several emailcampaigns, and lightboxes on theirwebsite to promote themembership drive. Visitors couldpurchase either memberships forthemselves or gift membershipsfor others.

Final TakeawaysIn addition to the individualexamples, the panel also sharedsome key takeaways:• Take advantage of known dateson the calendar, like BlackFriday, Cyber Monday,Halloween, and others.

• Use the same messaging acrossall channels – direct mail, email,social media, and advertising.

• Plan multi-channel campaignsusing tools like Lightbox

Collaborative’s EditorialCalendar

• Review what’s been done beforeby other nonprofits andbusinesses. You can follow Kerriand Sue Anne on Pinterest tosee examples of what nonprofitsare doing on the differentholidays.

• Be creative. Don’t just rely on theexpected holidays. Use days like“World Toilet Day” to supportwater issues or “World PeanutButter Day” to support hungercauses.Even though it’s the middle of

the summer, there are severalthings you can do now to get readyfor that critical year-end holidaydonation season.

First, focus on list growth andengagement. Whether it’s aninexpensive premium that can beeasily shared on social media(bumper stickers and printedcalendars are great), a lightbox onyour homepage, or a paidacquisition campaign, the summerand early fall are the perfect timesto add names to your onlineprospect list. Engaging themthrough the fall with surveys oradvocacy actions are great ways tobuild up their awareness of yourcause before asking them for adonation during the holidays. Aprospect that takes an action foryour organization is seven timesmore likely to make a gift after thataction.

Second, find ways to make sure

you’re getting your message infront of your donors in multipleways. The data shows that donorswho see your message more thanonce are more likely to give, somake sure that you’re coordinatingyour message betweendepartments. The summer and fallis the perfect time to have thoseinternal planning meetings toensure that everyone in yourorganization is on the same page.Early coordination and calendarplanning now will reap hugerewards in November andDecember. If you have a largedirect mail file, look into using anemail append service to sign thosepeople up for your email list.

Finally, be creative andbrainstorm on how to get yourdonor’s attention. Experiment onFacebook and Twitter and seewhat types of messages youraudience responds to so that youcan be prepared to use those toolsduring the busy holiday season.Research examples of what’sworking on social media andemail. Creativity will help yourmessage stand out both on theFacebook news feed and in theemail inbox.

For more information, view thepresentation on the 14NTC site.

Sue Anne Reed is the AccountManager at the Engage Group(PMG), where she works directlywith nonprofit clients helpingthem with their digital strategyand production. Follow her onTwitter @sue_anne.


TECH SUPPORT

“A prospect that takes an action foryour organization is seven times morelikely to make a gift after that action.”


When we think aboutfundraising success, we oftenthink of a handful of viral

campaigns that led to impressivefundraising numbers. While these areexamples we can learn from, truefundraising success isn’t just theamount of dollars raised—it’s aboutmeaningful and continuous donorstewardship.

You can’t necessarily put a dollar

amount on the relationships youcultivate, but it’s these veryconnections that translate into lastingsupport for your organization. There’sno exact recipe for donor cultivation,but several key ingredients make for athriving community of supporters anda growing donor base.

Your supporters don’t just want towrite a check; they want to beactively involved in creating change

with you. Offer specific ways forpeople to actively take part in yourcause. That’s just what the city ofBaltimore did when they embarkedon their B More, Give Morecampaign as part of Giving Tuesday,an international day of nonprofitgiving.

In partnership with GivingCorps,the city brought together localorganizations and involved thecommunity in the giving process.They provided lots of opportunities tospread the word through social mediaand other communication channels.Through encouraging residents to“Together make Baltimore the mostgenerous city in America,” individuals

NTEN VOICES

NTEN’s Megan Keane explains how and why to think beyond dollars to donor cultivation, andshares examples from different nonprofits.

DONOR STEWARDSHIP


were also motivated by being a partof a larger collective movement.Drawing on civic pride and thepassion of people for local causesthey cared about, Baltimore raisedover $5.7 million dollars in just asingle day.

Finding ways to recognize partnerorganizations and nonprofitcolleagues can also be an invaluableway to grow you community base.The San Francisco chapter of OneBrick, a volunteer-run nonprofitproviding local volunteeropportunities, runs monthly happyhour fundraising events. Instead ofevent proceeds going only to theirorganization, each month they selectone organization they work with asthe beneficiary of the event. Not onlydo these mutually beneficial jointevents engender good feelings withpartners, but it also results in a cross-pollination of both organizations’communities. One Brick gainsawareness for their organization andbrings in new volunteers who arealready beginning their involvementwith a positive experience.

Never underestimate the power of a “thank you”! At NTEN we do thisthrough our annual MemberAppreciation Month, where wedesignate the month of November(already a month associated with

gratitude) to express our thanks to allof our Members. Throughout themonth we provide special free eventsfor nonprofits, procure prizes for dailygiveaways, and offer special NTENswag and other goodies for our local501 Tech Clubs.

During Member AppreciationMonth, we also offer NTENCommunity Impact Year in Reviewwebinar, where we invite severalactively involved NTEN Members toshare their experience with differentNTEN programs, and offer an openarena for other community membersto share and ask questions. Keysupporters receive recognition andwebinar attendees have theopportunity to learn more about thevalue the community has to offer—and possibly take that next steptowards engagement.

Of course, member acquisition andretention is always an objective for amembership-based organization likeNTEN. Member Appreciation Monthhappens to coincide with renewalseason and immediately precedesNTEN’s annual fundraising campaign,so it’s an effective way to foster aspirit of generosity and community tolend itself to continued Memberretention and financial support.

But don’t forget to include the fun.

Let’s face it, social change is hardwork. Finding a creative and engagingway to rally supporters can be just themomentum your community needs totake action. 826DC, a literacyorganization, put on a cleverfundraising campaign, a ping-pongbenefit tournament: PaddlestarGallatica. Participants had a month tofundraise and competed in thebracket-style tournament at the endof the month.

Along with the clever name,826DC offered fun pre-tournamentevents, such as weekly practicesessions where weekly topfundraisers were awarded prizes. Andthe more money participants raisedthe more “cheats” they could obtainat the tournament. By making thecampaign social, interactive, andhumorous, with a healthy does offriendly competition, 826DC turnedthe challenging task of fundraisinginto an enjoyable way to connectaround a cause.

For more great ideas and tips ondonor stewardship, check out thesehelpful resources:

Fired-Up Fundraisinghttp://www.gailperry.com/resource-center/blog/

CraigConnects CrowdfundingInfographichttp://craigconnects.org/crowdfundinginfographic

Peer Giving Ideashttp://ideas.peergiving.com/

The Fundraising Coach (Marc Pitman)www.fundraisingcoach.com

MEGAN KEANE is the MembershipDirector at NTEN, and is a long-timeSF bay area resident with anextensive nonprofit background incommunity management, socialmedia, and volunteer management.

She’s a problem solver and network builderpassionate about connecting with people both onand offline. Follow her on Twitter @penguinasana.

“FINDING A CREATIVEAND ENGAGING WAY TO RALLYSUPPORTERS CAN BE JUST THEMOMENTUM YOURCOMMUNITY NEEDS TO TAKE ACTION.”

NTEN VOICES: DONOR STEWARDSHIP

BALTIMORE’SMAYORSTEPHANIERAWLINGS-BLAKE TAKINGPART IN THE“B MORE GIVEMORE”FUNDRAISINGCAMPAIGN


QFood & Water Watch’s mission isto ensure that the food, water

and fish we consume is safe,accessible, and sustainablyproduced. How is this missionreflected internally with yourteam?

AFood & Water Watch really works towalk the walk when it comes to

how we run our office, and do ourwork. Our office in D.C. is based out ofa LEED certified green building thathas a rooftop garden, and a courtyardwith lots of green space for ouremployees to enjoy. We source local,

organic, and Fair Trade food, coffee,and teas whenever available, and tryto make sure that all of the eventsthat we host in our office includeorganic, local, and sustainablyproduced food. We also have waterfiltration stations throughout theoffice that provide hot and coldfiltered tap water to all of our staff.

We try to live the values in how wetreat our employees too. We havevery generous benefits and vacationpackages, and want people to findbalance in their lives. We are all verypassionate about the work that we’redoing, and want to make sure thatwe’re all taking care of ourselves sowe can do this work for the long term,

NTEN VOICES

Do you practice what you preach? NTEN’s Eileigh Doineau interviews Sarah Alexanderfrom Food & Water Watch about about how theystrive to embody their own values ofenvironmental sustainability in their office.

SUSTAINABILITY


NTEN VOICES: SUSTAINABILITY

which includes encouraging peopleto take vacations, take breaks duringthe day, and unplug from work afterwork hours.

QWith staff members all aroundthe world, how do you stay

connected?

AWe have staff in 17 officesthroughout the U.S., as well as

staff in Europe. Some amount oftravel is inevitable, but much of ourcollaborative work happens online orover the phone. For example, peopleon the organizing team are all overthe U.S. and we have our weeklyteam meetings on a webconferencing system, we doindividual check ins over video chat,and much of our collaborationhappens in email, chat, or individualphone calls. Everyone is able to stayconnected through the technologywe use, but we’ve found you have tocreate a culture around inclusivenessof remote staff to be able to reallyuse technology to stay connectedwith one another.

QFor the sake of adopting aparticular green practice, has

your organization had to makeany sacrifices?

AI think we’ve been pretty lucky inthis regard, since we’re a relatively

new organization, and many of thepractices we have in place have beenaround since day one. We haven’thad to sacrifice anything in particular,but we also believe that we need tomake systemic political changes todo our work, and that can have abigger impact than any individual canmake on their own.

QHow has technology helpedyour organization to become

more sustainable?

AI think we have been able to doless travel because of how we’re

using technology. We’ve also beenable to use less paper. Nearly all ofour files are electronic now, versuseven 9 years ago when we started,and were still keeping paper files forprojects.

QWhat are some examples ofsustainable practices you have

adopted within yourorganization? We compost in ourkitchens, and one of our staff uses itfor his garden. We use all recycledpaper products, and as I mentionedall of our water comes from the tap,and our food is local, organic andsustainable whenever possible. Thesigns we use for our campaigns arefrom a union printer on recycledpaper whenever possible. We reallytry to live our values when it comes

to the physical things we are puttingout into the world.

QBecoming and maintainingsustainable practices can be a

challenge, especially if it meansbreaking old habits to adopt newones that are sometimes lessconvenient. For organizationsthat don’t have anenvironmentally-focused missionor for those coming up againstpush-back from colleagues, whatis your advice to them on how tocreate sustainable change in theiroffice?

AChange is always hard, and it’simportant to start small. There are

so many options out there forsourcing recycled or sustainablematerials whether it’s paper or food,and a lot of times it costs the same asthe non-recycled stuff. I wouldrecommend to start with purchasingand the things you’re bringing intothe office, and then look at the thingsyou’re putting out into the world,whether it’s newsletters, or t-shirts,or campaign materials. We all haveroom for improvement no matterwhat we’re currently doing.

SARAH ALExANDER(@sarahatfww) is Food & WaterWatch’s Deputy Organizing Directorwhere she directs their onlinecampaigns, their national foodorganizing campaigns, and also

helps with outreach to new communities. Sarah hasworked on issues related to food sovereignty,genetic engineering, and local food security. Herbackground is in community organizing, strategiccampaigning and legislative campaigns, havingpreviously worked with Green Corps, the White EarthLand Recovery Project, and the AmericanCommunity Gardening Association.

EILEIGH DOINEAU is NTEN’sSponsorship and DevelopmentCoordinator. She enjoys usingtechnology to be more efficient inher work, but admits thatsometimes a No. 2 pencil just can'tbe beat.

“I THINK WE HAVE BEENABLE TO DO LESS TRAVELBECAUSE OF HOW WE’REUSING TECHNOLOGY.WE’VE ALSO BEEN ABLETO USE LESS PAPER.’”

“WE ALSO BELIEVE THAT WE NEED TO MAKESYSTEMIC POLITICALCHANGES TO DO OURWORK, AND THAT CANHAVE A BIGGER IMPACTTHAN ANY INDIVIDUALCAN MAKE ON THEIROWN.”

Miriam Kagan@miriamkaganAWESOME! check it out @daveiam GiveLocal America: The Aftermath by@kimbiainc #infographic #2014slideshare.net/kimbiainc/give... via@SlideShare

Spread the Word | Ada Initiative adainitiative.orgBethany Lister I thought The Ada Initiative did a great job in their 2013fundraising campaign. All totally ricked community-created content abouthow All is needed and how they’ve helped. Donors were given great samplesharing text which successfully flooded Twitter and created an army ofadvocacies. http://adainitiative.org/how-you-can-help/spread-the-word/Plus: nerdy suggested giving amounts: $128, $256, $512m $1024!

NTEN VOICES: COMMUNITY BUZZ

What’s an example of a greatonline fundraising campaign? We asked the NTEN Community on social media. Here’s a snapshot of what they said:

Mchael Stein@mstein63@NTENorg Another great campaign raised money for No Kid Hungrydonordigital.com/2014/02/no-kid-hungry-online-fundraising-campaign-focuses-on-donation-impact/

Jayne Cravens Pro:The Humane Society of HendersonCounty Kentucky does a great job ofcoming up with quick, successfulcampaigns tied to very specificneeds—a dog that needs to travel to aspecialist several counties away, a dog that needs very specific behavior training, etc.

Bpeace also does interesting yearlycampaigns encouraging people to“vote” for different entrepreneursthey are helping in Afghanistan orRwanda with donations.

Two others I like are ResponsibleCharity and Mayhew International...I really love the tone of such, andhow they space such out amid LOTSof program updates, and tieprogram updates to funding.

ChallengedAthletes 2KADAY

Boys and Girls Clubs of San Francisco:Give 5 For School Supplies

http://www.kidsclub.org/give-5-for-school-supplies/

Keep Indianapolis Beautiful:Small But Mighty (SBM)

campaign http://www.kibi.org/


Ken Zakalik@kenzakalik@NTENorg online fundraising campaign - St Jude Naming Opportunities.bit.ly/QzVjfJ

Michael Stein@mstein63@NTENorg Great online fundraisingcampaign that we worked on forAmeriCares, here’s article on our Blogdonordigital.com/2014/02/online-tax-receipt-portal-scores-for-americares/

Documents

NTEN: Change | June 2014