Using digital media in the fundraising environment

Sarah Webb, Digital Fundraising Manager, British Red Cross

Introductions

Agenda

> Getting buy in to digital fundraising > Getting an organisation ready for digital> How does it work at the British Red Cross?> How do you decide where to go?> Where do you focus your efforts?> Results, future plans> Questions?

Getting buy in to digital fundraising

Getting buy in to digital fundraising

> If your senior management team don’t recognise the importance of investing in digital yet, then you have your work cut out!

> Many big charities have been fundraising online for many years

> Some charities rely entirely on online recruitment and have ceased to recruit offline

> Online fundraising will continue to grow

Getting buy in to digital fundraising

> Highlight recent fundraising successes online such as Haiti

> Show them how much money can be made online> Show them the figures> Explain that not all returns will be monetary or

measurable> Explain why you need to be in the online space as a

brand – just because you aren’t there doesn’t mean that no-one will be talking about you!

Getting an organisation ready for digital

Getting an organisation ready for digital

> This is an ongoing and long term process

> Get the right people in place with the right skills

> Do you need technical skills in-house or can you use agencies?

> You need someone with drive willing to take up the challenge of driving this area forward

Getting an organisation ready for digital

> It is helpful to show some quick returns to keep the organisation interested and impressed with results

> Communicate what you are doing with the rest of the organisation - demonstrate how it can support other offline fundraising efforts

> Show them the stats! Show them case studies! Be enthusiastic! Have ideas!

How does it work at the British Red Cross?

How does it work at the British Red Cross?

> We have two digital teams - one in Communications, one in Fundraising

> Digital Media in Communications focus on the main website (SEO, accessibility) and our online brand

> Digital Fundraising is based within Individual Giving in the Fundraising Division

> Our focus is to maximise the income that we generate online

How does it work at the British Red Cross?

> In 3 years we have grown from just me, to a permanent team of 4

> We have our own expenditure budget and are accountable for bringing in income each year from single cash donations and regular gifts

> We are part of Individual giving but support all fundraising teams in their online fundraising activity

How does it work at the British Red Cross?

> We are guardians of the ‘Donate now’ section of the website

> We manage the online donation process and regular giving forms

> We ‘own’ the organisations email marketing system and support others that wish to use it

> Broadly, what we do can be split into online recruitment, building relationships online and website development that supports these areas

How does it work at the British Red Cross?

This includes;> Google grants and paid search> Online advertising> Affiliate marketing> Virtual giving> Mobile marketing> Email marketing> Social media > Off to online

How do you decide where to go?

Start with the basics

> What is the organisation doing currently?> SWOT analysis – what do you do well, less well?> What stage are you at?

– Do you need to get the basics in place? Can you take donations online, are you sending emails, are you using social media?

– Or are you more sophisticated and just need polishing?

Digital Fundraising tools

> What digital fundraising tools do you have? Are they fit for purpose?– Web CMS– Email broadcast system– Tracking system – are you able to track online

activity effectively?

How do you decide where to go?

> Are you currently doing anything to drive traffic to your site?

> What happens when someone makes a donation?> Do you thank them? Follow up?> It’s useful to make a flow chart of the user journey

Where do you focus your efforts?

Where do you focus your efforts?

> So where do you focus your efforts?> Don’t be overwhelmed – especially if you are just

starting out and have limited resource and budget available

> Remember that online – everyone’s shop front is the same size

> Focus on a mixture of quick wins and some longer term developments that will help shape your future digital capabilities

Quick wins

> Test small scale online recruitment campaigns – see what works for your organisation

> Send a monthly e-newsletter – keep in touch and start talking to your supporters online

> Send thank you and welcome stewardship emails> Improve your donation form - make sure that

people can give easily online

Quick wins

> Use the free tools available to you if you haven’t already – there is no cost to you to set these things up– Google Grants– Google Analytics– Social media

(Facebook, Twitter)

Longer term development

> Look at what concepts work for you offline or elsewhere in the organisation – don’t reinvent the wheel

> Integrate with offline recruitment and warm activity – put url’s on mailing packs, inserts, door drops

> Test different methods of recruitment – see what works for you, don’t spend your budget on pretty, exciting stuff to impress your peers unless you know that it will bring you a return

> Build an online communications plan alongside your offline activity

Results, and future plans

Results, and future plans

Think3 steps ahead

Be bold

Don’t forgetyour ROI

Have a vision

Keep your eyesopen

So what can be achieved?

> From 2007 – 2008 we achieved a 48% increase in online income for the BRC

> In less than 3 years I grew my team from me, to 4 permanent staff and a rolling internship scheme

> After the recent Haiti Earthquake disaster we raised the most income ever for an emergency appeal online since the Tsunami at just under £3m and 30% of the appeal total

> Our email database has grown from 40k in 2007 to more than 250k today

> In 2009 we sent out 5.5 million emails

Thank youAny Questions?

Sarah Webb, Digital Fundraising Manager, British Red Crossswebb@redcross.org.uk 0207 877 7150Twitter: @swebbyLinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/sarahwebb