Online Fundraising: The Hype And The Results

A report titled Reality Check: How Grassroots Environmental Organizations Are (or Are Not) Raising Money Online just came across my desk.

Fundraising trainer Andy Robinson, working for the Institute for Conservation Leadership, interviewed grassroots environmental leaders about how they were using online fundraising – separating out the hype from the results. The lessons are good to note for all of us without the reach of the large national nonprofits.

A clear winner: Time-bound email campaigns built around a specific theme or program goal, with a challenge to be met by the campaign deadline and lots of emails reminding recipients to come on board – as many as one message per day. Special note: make sure the campaign theme has maximal relevance to your recipients.

Team-based fundraising with a personal fundraising page: very effective way for individuals to support a project and reach out virally to their networks and beyond. There are various software programs that support this specifically although some fundraising database programs can also provide this aspect.

Competing in online contests: can be successful but (as many of us found in the Chase Online Challenge) focusing on recruiting FaceBook “friends” to vote for our organization often takes away time from building off-line, more personal relationships.

Which brings us to Integrated Campaigns (using email and social networking tools to increase offline (and online) giving) – the real value of this material. Using e-communication as a touch along with snail mail, phone, and in-person contact: fundraising = relationship-building, and on-line is yet another piece in the arsenal.

The report is free to download on the Institute for Conservation Leadership’s website once you register on the site. Go take a look (and then reach out to touch a supporter – personally – today)!