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Improving Donor Engagement Online

Richard Dietz, Nonprofit R+D

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Consultants have all the answers…

• Nope, not really

• Great at coming up with “Best Practices”

• Only way to know if it works for YOUR organization is to test

• Always be looking for what is working

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Myth #6 (From the last webinar on Online Fundraising Myths)

The Only Real Way to Measure Fundraising

Success is the Amount of Money Raised

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Myth - Success Equals $ Raised

• Think of the business world– “Sales funnel” = “Donor funnel”– Online donor >> Major Donor

• “Raising Friends” is another measure– Engagement >> Peer to Peer fundraising >> Funnel– Friend of a friend could be major donor

• Engagement is yet another measure– 7 touches before giving - get them involved

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What are “Engaged Donors”

• Engaged Donors are those who are taking ACTIONS– Donate– Attend events– Volunteer– Recruit new donors

• Engaged Donors are those who are a part of your “Community”– Interacting and communicating WITH your organization– Interacting and communicating with others ABOUT your

organization (online and offline)– Building a relationship

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Why do you want “Engaged Donors”?

• More cost-effective to renew a donor than find a new donors

• Engaged donors extend your organization’s reach into the world

• Engaged donors do more:– More frequent donations, larger donations– Take more actions– Tell more people about your organization– Peer to Peer fundraising

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How to Tell if Your Donors Are “Engaged”

• They are taking actions– Back to the definition of an engaged donor

• Social Media– Increased mentions– Increased fans / followers

• Increased traffic to website– From social media, emails, etc.

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Ideas to Nurture Engagement Online

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Mind the Gap

• The “Engagement Gap”– The gap between a first time donor and an “engaged donor”

• What do you do with your first time donors?

• Need multiple ways / methods to get involved

• Need a graduated offering of actions– Start simple (forward this email)– Move on to more involved actions (peer to peer fundraising)

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ASK!

1) Ask them to do small favors– Tell a friend, forward email, sign petition, comment on blog,

volunteer– Every simple action will deepen the engagement and bond

2) Ask them what they want / need / care about– Easy way to engage and get them to do a small favor– The results will allow you to tailor content to what they care

about

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Events

• In person and online events– In person - Gala, meetups, etc.– Online - webinars, online chats, Tweets, etc.

• Get to know them on a personal level– Deepen the bond and cultivate those major donors

• Smaller niche events– Eg. Women’s Caucus or Austin Chapter– Easier for individuals to connect

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Listen / Connect with Influencers

• Always remember that engagement is a conversation

• Don’t just listen on your site, go where the conversations are already taking place– Facebook, Twitter, etc.– Largest growth on Facebook is 35+ year olds, with the 55+ crowd

growing at 922%

• Join the conversations in an authentic way

• Accept and respond to criticism

• Identify Influencers and engage them separately– Provide extra support to help them spread the word

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Give Them the Content They Want

• Community Philanthropy 2.0 survey, donors (30-49) want to hear about:– Organizational Impact (80%)– Success Stories (74%)– More details about the organization (71%)– Info on financial accountability (43%)

• Segment and tailor your content– Examples - Obama and Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

• Make it easy to pass it on– Tell-A-Friend / Forward This Page

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Make It Easy

• Make it easy to stay in touch– Capture emails, blog updates, RSS feeds

• Make it easy to spread the word– Tell-A-Friend / Email this Page– Social Media Icons

• Make it easy to interact– Blog commenting– Online forums– Facebook and Twitter widgets on website

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Nurturing Engagement in New Versus Established Donors

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Nurturing New Donors• Welcome Email(s)

– 1st 30 days is key - Research in retail sector– Higher open rates, click-throughs, and actions

• Special invitations to events / opportunities– “Since you are a new donor…..”

• Give updates on how their donations are helping– Give specific examples / Use emotion

• Ask them to tell others– Tell-A-Friend scripts, social media, etc.

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Nurturing Established Donors

• Identify your most passionate donors and give them additional support– Need to identify them (CRM, Sage Fundraising Online, etc.)– Help them to spread the word

• Segment and speak directly to them– Online tools make this much easier– Separate emails for your top supporters

• Special Recognition– Events for repeat donors only (VIP’s)– Recognize at live events and in print

• Name tags / Badges in community / Article in newsletter

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Tools to Engage Donors

• Constituent Relationship Management (CRM)

• Tell-A-Friend / Send this article

• Google alerts

• Social media icons

• Sage Fundraising Online

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Conclusion

• Donor engagement can lead to many good outcomes

• Only YOU can figure out what works for YOUR organization

• Check out the new online tools like Sage Fundraising Online

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Question and Answer

Register for the next webcast in the series:Peer-to-Peer Fundraising

http://bit.ly/apHuSp

Contact Richard Dietz:

richard@nonprofitrd.com

512-850-6501

Contact Sage:

www.sagenonprofit.com

800-811-0961

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