Online Fundraising: Myths to Avoid and Rules to Raise By

FIVE MYTHS OF ONLINE FUNDRAISING

Myth #1: “It Worked for Obama, So It’ll Work for Us.”

The Obama team had great ideas and great success, but they were marketing the most admired man in the world. You’re not.

Scale your expectations to a realistic understanding of your issue, cause or organization.

Test which tactics are relevant for your organization:

Learn best practices for organizations your size, and adhere to them.

• “BlackBerry style”• Short emails• Centered graphics

• Premiums• Plouffe-style video• Contests

Myth #2: “If It Works in the Mail, It Will Work Online.”

There are lessons to be learned from DM (ask strings, segmentation, personalization).

But online audiences tend to be younger, more informed, more educated, and more affluent.

There is a much higher premium on timeliness in online communications.

You need to be more personal and creative to break through the clutter.

You can’t live by fundraising alone.

Myth #3: “Email Is Dead; We Need to Build Up Our Facebook Fans and Ask Them For Money”

The online donor base is 50+ and will still rely on email for years to come.

Email is still the most predictable and reliable source of online revenue: Size of your list Frequency of messages Trackable metrics

Web money can be lucrative but requires a steady and strong stream of traffic.

Facebook, Twitter and other social networks are critical vehicles for keeping your audience engaged, but have yet to emerge as fundraising powerhouses.

Myth #4: “If We Had the Tools to Build Our Own Social Network, We Could Have a

Gazillion Activists”

See Myth #3 – email will still be your best source of revenue. Connecting supporters with one another is important – but

building your own network tools (e.g. my.barackobama.com) is costly and very difficult.

Several large social networks exist – leverage those and invest the development cost instead in advertising, etc. for list growth: Facebook Progressive blogs Change.org Care2 Democrats.com

Myth #5: “If We Make a Funny Video or Do a Money Bomb, It’ll Go Viral and

We’ll Raise Lots of Money” Actually, it probably won’t. You can’t predict what will

or won’t work. Always incorporate a MSM press push – don’t

underestimate the power of the news to drive traffic. Any “big” idea must have a name capture element or

it is an opportunity wasted. With few exceptions, spontaneous moments yield the

best results – be ready to take advantage of them.

FIVE RULES TO RAISE BY

Rule #1: Grow Your Email List

Why? Email is the most predictable source of revenue. Email can be a source of significant traffic to your site – which

can help in increasing the number of “drive-by” donations. Email drives actions – which can also drive donations.

How? Be opportunistic. Work with like-minded organizations. Leverage your strengths: Earned media? Traffic? Facebook

fans? Surrogates?

EMILY’s List:Stop Stupak!*

Results Nearly 100,000 activists

joined together and successfully opposed the Stupak amendment in Congress.

Tens of thousands new email addresses acquired.

Thousands of new donors acquired.

*Microsite live in less than 24 hours to capitalize on moment of opportunity

EWG Splash Page

Results Added hundreds of

thousands of email addresses.

Congressman Anthony Weiner:countdowntohealthcare.com*

Strategy Use earned media to push a

simple, low-bar action in order to build community of health care activists with limited resources.

Results Recruited 100,000 activists in 8

weeks.

Estimated 25,000 live event participants.

13,000 votes in online contest.

*Low-cost website built in 24 hours with free, off-the-shelf software.

Rule #2: The More You Engage Your List, the More Money You Will Raise

Statistics show that users who have taken any action on an email – even just clicking through – are three times more likely to turn into a donor.

Every message you send should have some kind of “action”: Viewing pictures Reading articles Signing a petition Watching a video

Remember the users on the other end of the email and make sure the message will be relevant to them – if it is not, consider not sending it.

Hillary Clinton for President:“Thank You and a Gift”

Strategy Build a strong connection

immediately with new list sign-ups. Offer free bumper sticker, then

up-sell those who request stickers to make a contribution.

Results 48% of people who opened the

email ordered bumper stickers. Nearly 4% of those who ordered

bumper stickers became donors. 243% net ROI.

Gillibrand for Senate:“Photos For You”

Strategy Use photos to engage

supporters in the new Senate campaign.

Have images – not words – tell a story about the candidate.

Results 50% of people who opened the

message clicked through to view the photos.

Rule #3: You Need to Ask for It!

If you don’t ask, you won’t raise. Make your fundraising requests clear, specific, and relevant. Incorporate donation pages into every aspect of your website. The email that goes out the door always beats the one that

doesn’t.

Ask…

…and Ask Again…

…and Ask Some More.

Rule #4: Get All the Basics Right

Raising the most money means getting ALL the essentials right: Email delivery Open rates Click-through rates Landing page conversion rates Upsell rates Unsubscribe rates

Offer a clear, specific, and relevant reason to give money to YOUR organization (the transaction).

Transactions

Transactions

Rule #5: Set Goals and Work Towards Them

Too often, organizations “raise what they can.” Setting goals means figuring out how to achieve

them. Be aggressive in goals, conservative in budgeting.

EWG CASE STUDY

Challenge Large, organically grown list

In July 2009, over 500% list growth since 2007

Online fundraising wasn’t growing at the same rate as list growth

In July 2009 1.1% of list were donors

Goal

Take our large online fan base and convert them in to a

consistent revenue stream.

Strategy Identify the source of the problem by diving into the

metrics Low click-through rates Low landing page conversion rates Losing more people through opt-outs than

obtaining in donations Develop a plan to address each of the issues

Link fundraising campaigns to major moments Optimize donation landing page Drop the prospect ask amount to $5

Increased Click-through Rate by 25%

Original Donation Page

New Donation Page Increased Conversion Rate by 500%

Results

Tripled the number of online donors in one campaign

Replicated results in following campaigns

On track to double 2008 online fundraising