Tuf2009 Online Advocacy And Fundraising

Online Advocacy and Fundraising: Are You Doing Everything You Can?

Mark Davis, BlackbaudCassandra Koenen, Web Manager IFAW

Online Advocacy and Fundraising:Online Advocacy and Fundraising:Are You Doing Everything You Can?Are You Doing Everything You Can?

• Why is Online Advocacy Important to Fundraisers?– Online advocacy is important to many nonprofits

for more than its ability to influence policy

– Online advocacy is a critical tool for identifying and engaging new subscribers, and keeping existing subscribers motivated.

– Organizations with combined online advocacy and fundraising combined raised 200% more online than organizations without advocacy(1)

(1)Source: The eNonprofit Benchmarks Study, 2006, M&R Strategies


• Is Advocacy Still Relevant?– 6-Month Doubling of Sphere Action Items

– Obama’s Organization

– Other High Profile Campaigns


• Who are Active Online Advocacy Orgs?– Larger e-mail lists– Larger online communications budgets– Higher volume of advocacy e-mail

messages

Source: The eNonprofit Benchmarks Study, 2006, M&R Strategies


• How Do Advocacy Emails Compare?– 2007 Email Response Rates


0.13%

3.60%

7.50%

0.00%

1.00%

2.00%

3.00%

4.00%

5.00%

6.00%

7.00%

8.00%

Fundraising Email Newsletters Advocacy

Em

ail

Res

po

nse

Rat

es


• Who is Acting?– 60% of Advocates… Aren’t– ‘Super Activists’ Account for 42% Actions



• Who to Target?– ‘Super Activists’ are Most Likely to

Support– Use Wealth Screening Tools to Identify

Potential Major Donors


• How to Promote Your Advocacy?– Use Campaigns to Recruit New Advocates– Use New Media to Promote Campaigns


• Use Campaigns to Recruit New Advocates– New Supporter Acquisition


• Use New Media to Promote Campaigns– Lessons Learned from Obama


• Use New Media to Promote Campaigns– Map Mash-up Provides Interactivity


• Special Notes on Use of New Media– Convert MySpace and Facebook users to Email as

Quickly as Possible– Use social networking sites to promote your

action alerts– Limited success (so far) with direct fundraising– Use widgets for supporters to use on other sites– Don’t let your content slip out of date– Integrate with overall communications strategy.


• How to Communicate to Advocates?– Use Welcome Series to Convert Donors– Target Appeals based on Advocacy

Interest– Tie Appeals to Real World Events


• Use Welcome Series to Convert Donors– Automated Email Communications


• Target Appeals based on Advocacy Interest– Tie Donation to Specific Action


• Tie Appeals to Real World Events– Use Friends Asking Friends®


• How to Ensure Success?– Integrate Advocacy and Fundraising

Experience– Converge Organizational Interests


• Integrate Advocacy and Fundraising– Online Membership Tools


• Integrate Advocacy and Fundraising– Event Fundraising


• Converge Organizational Interests– Crossing the Fundraising-Advocacy Divide


• Summary– Advocacy is a Great Acquisition Tool– Implement a Cultivation Strategy, i.e.,

“Ladder of Engagement”– Need Single CRM for Fundraising and

Advocacy Data


Case Study:IFAW Stop Whaling Campaign

Presented by:Cassandra Koenen


IFAW Stop Whaling Campaign

A campaign to mobilize the public to call for an immediate end to Japan’s Commerical Whaling.

Goals: - Recruit new users into IFAW’s existing online community- Generate 10,000s of new messages to the government of Japan- Provide a range of engaging, meaningful activities for new and old users- Increase donations from Whale Supporters Campaign Components: - Launch a Stop Whaling blog - Posting campaign videos to Youtube.com - Campaign Page on MySpace and Facebook- Activate a mobile campaign- User-generated photo submission using Flickr groups


So what Web 2.0 elements did we use to build our campaign…..

Popular Social Networking Sites Facebook and MySpace


Worked to create a mobile activist list


Used YouTube to Get the Message Out


Created Opportunities for Supporters to Engage and Create Content


Looked for new ways to disseminate the information and keep the campaign fresh – IFAW launched the Stop Whaling Blog and Podcasts – all

are available through RSS Feeds


The final step in building a campaign that would utilize some of the best and social networking tools available was to create a site that would bring all the aspects together

Drive the social networking

sites

Highlight the Blog

Feature latest Youtube video


Results

Number of New Constituents: 10,000

Number of Advocates: 60,000

Conversion Rate: Doubled from previous year

Number of Mobile Sign-ups: 350


What Role Does Email Still Play

Total Emails Sent: Series of 4 pieces a combination of fundraising asks and advocacy

Email Segments:Segment by recencey and frequency – donor versus non-donor

Open rates:Depending on type of ask – can be anywhere from 13 – 27% - but don’t focus as much on open rates as conversion

Conversions:59% of those that opened the email clicked on a link 60% of those that clicked a link took an action = 35% of those that opened an email took an action


Did we achieve our goals

Recruit new users into IFAW’s existing online community

Generate 10,000s of new messages to the government of Japan

Provide a range of engaging, meaningful activities for users

Increase donations from Whale Supporters

85% increase in recruitment over previous year

48% increase in actions generated over previous year

Sign petition, send a letter, sign up for mobile alerts, read and comment on the blog, watch video

27% increase in income over previous year campaign


What Next For the New Activists


The Power of Integration

• Action postcards from Direct Mail supporters

• Petitions from tabling and grassroots events

• Online action letters• Petition on Facebook• Petition on Care2

Results almost 100,000 actions delivered!

Tuf2009 Online Advocacy And Fundraising

News & Politics

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