Trends in Fundraising for Nonprofit Organizations
2012
White Paper
Fundraising’s Social RevolutionHow Social Media is Changing Nonprofit Culture and Practice
About This PaperThe purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the ways in which nonprofits can use and
are using social media within their fundraising programs. Organizations and individuals who are
interested in getting started with social media practices or who are ready to take social media to
the next level will find foundational information as well as recommendations from well-known
experts and practitioners. Some of the information in this report is based on original research
from a survey conducted by WealthEngine in June 2011. The use of concrete examples of current
practices and what is working within successful nonprofit environments should help all nonprofits
use social media tools and resources to their best advantage.
WealthEngine Publications Team: Key Contributors:
©2012 WealthEngine TM, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Reproduction and distribution of this publication in any form without prior written permission is forbidden. The information
contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. This document is informational in nature and we do not
guarantee any of the information either expressed or implied. Readers are encouraged to consult with their appropriate legal,
accounting and professional counsel before implementing any suggested actions. WealthEngine has no liability for errors, omissions
or inadequacies in the information contained herein or for interpretations thereof and shall not be held liable for any claims or losses
that may rise from the implementation of the best practices in this report. This document includes ideas for enhancing
WealthEngine’s products. These ideas are subject to change at any time.
Tony Glowacki, President and Chief Executive Officer
Sally Boucher, Director of Research, WealthEngine Institute
Shane Bair, Creative Director
Kimberly O’Donnell, Chief Marketing Officer
Lili Mehta, Consultant, Marketing and Special Projects
Jeremy Woolf, Senior Manager, WealthEngine Institute
Dawn Andreas, Program Manager, Eventbrite
Laura Coltrin, Product Marketing Manager, Eventbrite
Jennifer Huebner, Development Researcher, University of Virginia
Beth Kanter, Author, Consultant, Trainer on the use of social media in nonprofits
Lynn Lazar, Director of Prospect and Research Management at William Paterson University
Dan Michel, Digital Marketing Manager, Feeding America
Mark Miller, Associate Vice President for Philanthropic Marketing and Communication at Children’s National Medical Center
Ritu Sharma, Executive Director & Co-Producer of Social Media for Nonprofits
Angela Vaughn, Web Marketing Manager, The Salvation Army Chicago Metropolitan Division
Fundraising’s Social Revolution 1Fundraising’s Social Revolution 1
ContentsIntroduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Becoming a Social Nonprofit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
The Social Nonprofit and Social Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Developing a Social Culture Is a Must for Social Practices to Take Root . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Creating a Social Structure Allows Social Culture to Flourish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Getting Started with Social Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Building and Growing Your Social Communities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Leveraging Social Communities to Support Organizational Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Turning Strategy into Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
The Ethics of Social Media for Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Multi-Channel Fundraising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Are Your Website and Email Mobile-Enabled? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Nonprofits Find Annual Giving Enhanced by Social and Digital Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Social and Digital Technologies in Major Gifts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Influence on the Social Web . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Conclusion & Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Social Technologies are Enabling Individuals and Organizations to Have Greater Impact . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Appendix: Measuring the Success of Your Social Efforts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Measuring the Success of Your Social Efforts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Fundraising’s Social Revolution 3
Welcome to the social revolution. The world is catapulting
towards more connectedness, more interactivity and more
community. Change is occurring at exponential speeds
we can barely keep pace with. Like it or not, “social” – the
instant sharing of content using online technologies – is
the new norm, and social media and social technology
are the platforms and tools we must embrace if we are to
thrive in this new reality.
Business entities, nonprofit organizations, governmental agencies, civic, secular and
faith-based organizations join families and individuals in co-creating this new world
community. This is not just about Facebook, Google+, Twitter, or YouTube; this is
about new ways of thinking, working, socializing, relating and communicating.
In the broadest sense, the widespread use of social media is breaking down
communication barriers and opening organizations, companies, governments
and individuals to new kinds of interactions and new levels of transparency. Social
media platforms have substantially changed the way organizations, communities
and people communicate and are notably different from traditional media for their
accessibility, lack of hierarchical structure and rapid interactivity.
Many nonprofits have been relatively quick to adopt social practices including the
use of social media and social technologies. According to a study by The University
of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research1, the 200 largest U.S.
charities (as compiled by Forbes Magazine2) are outpacing the business world and
academia in their adoption and use of social media. Previous research by the same
Center found that academia (colleges and universities) were using social media to
a greater extent than businesses, represented by the Fortune 5003 list of America’s
largest corporations by revenue.
The research is not so positive when looking at small- and medium-sized nonprofits.
For instance, research conducted by Georgette Dumont of the University of North
Florida4 concludes that while small and medium arts & culture nonprofits are
adopting social media tools and practices, they are doing so at a much slower
rate than their larger counterparts.
1 Nora Ganim Barnes, Ph.D. and Eric Mattson. US Charities’ Adoption of Social Media Outpaces All Other Sectors for the Third
Year in a Row. (The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. 2010) <http://www.ecauses.org> 2 Forbes.com. The 200 Largest U.S. Charities. < http://www.forbes.com/lists/2011/14/200-largest-us-charities-11.html> 3 CNNMoney. Fortune.com. Fortune 500. <http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/?iid=F_Sub> 4 Georgette Dumont. Nonprofit Engagement of Social Networks. (University of North Florida. November 2010)
<http://www.academia.edu/380014/Nonprofit_Engagement_of_Social_Networks>
4
This is not just about Facebook, Google+, Twitter, or YouTube;
this is about new ways of thinking, working, socializing, relating
and communicating.
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Fundraising’s Social Revolution 5
Large or small, highly or loosely connected, social tools and technologies
present a unique and compelling opportunity for nonprofits who dare to take
the social leap. This paper is designed to:
T Define the “social nonprofit”
T Review the best ways to become a “social nonprofit”
T Explore the ways in which digital tools and technologies are being used
by nonprofits
T Provide tips and next steps for nonprofits at every stage of the
transformation to “social”
In order to meet these goals we conducted multiple interviews with practi-
tioners and subject matter experts to compile proven and popular strategies
for social media engagement.
Fundraising’s Social Revolution 7
The Social Nonprofit and Social TechnologiesWhy is it so difficult for nonprofits to adopt social media? What causes many
nonprofits to say, “We tried Facebook, but it didn’t work for us?” Being a social
nonprofit is not simply posting regularly on Twitter and Facebook, or uploading
video to a YouTube channel. Being a social nonprofit involves a change of
culture: a new way of being in and interacting with the world.
Social media and social technologies are the tools and platforms we use to
facilitate networking, content sharing, two-way conversation, feedback and
relationship building in our digital world. Social nonprofits use social technologies
to build virtual communities. The technologies and platforms are the tools, but
nonprofits don’t become “social” by adopting tools. They need content to share,
staff to listen and learn and contribute, a constituency or following for interaction,
plans to provide consistency, a blueprint to define goals and objectives, and finally,
a vision of the organization as part of the networked whole, not necessarily at the
hub, as illustrated below.
Broadcast Media Social Media
One way communication of traditional broadcast media contrasts dramatically with the highly dynamic
communication of social media. The interactive web of social communications reaches more people and the
message is more trusted.
The value of social media is its ability to create a viral, dynamic web of
communication. Traditional media broadcasts communication to a few outlets
(advertising, earned media, etc.) with minimal interactivity or sharing of content.
The viral, peer-to-peer model of social media communications gets information
to those who can act on it directly from sources they trust.
8
WealthEngine conducted a survey of 1,300 individuals in the prospect
development and fundraising fields to determine the extent to which they
use social media in their work.
The majority of development professionals responding to the survey indicate
they use social media most frequently for finding details regarding employment,
education, familial relationships and marital status. LinkedIn is the most popular
site, with 72% of respondents – and 84% of those who identified prospect
research as their primary focus – using LinkedIn as a regular source for this type
of information. LinkedIn was generally considered more reliable than other
platforms, such as Facebook and MySpace, and some respondents felt it was likely
to be more up to date than even corporate websites for accurate employment and
job title information.
Facebook is considered a useful research resource by 52% of respondents (54% of
researchers), with Twitter and YouTube a distant third and fourth in popularity for
research purposes at 13% and 12% respectively. Respondents are using these
sources, in addition to the ways suggested above, to:
T Determine the social and professional networks of donors and prospects
T Identify the interests, hobbies, causes and missions about which prospects show
interest and passion
T Dig deeper to build a more comprehensive picture of their prospect
T Find photographs and/or video of their prospects
The chart below shows the many ways nonprofit development professionals use
social media to enhance their work.
Percent of Survey Respondents
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%
Create an events list
Make contact via Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.
We do not use social media for this purpose
Identify new prospects
Research a prospect identi ed on social media by staff
Obtain contact information
Identify geographical location
Obtain a photograph or video
Identify connections to our organization
Determine social networks/relationships
Dig deeper to create a more comprehensive pro le
Identify interests, causes or missions
Validate information
Find information on employment, education, family, etc.
2%
6%
8%
27%
34%
36%
41%
46%
46%
56%
61%
62%
64%
85%
Percent of Survey
Respondents
Fundraising’s Social Revolution 9
Developing A Social Culture Is A Must For Social Practices To Take RootBefore nonprofits can become effective at harnessing or leveraging the power of
social media they must first look inward. What is the predominant culture of the
organization? Is it top-down and hierarchical? Does it value privacy and control?
Is it comprised of individuals working individually to accomplish static objectives?
Social nonprofits are none of those things. According to Beth Kanter, one of the
foremost experts in nonprofits’ use of technology and co-author of two books on
social media in nonprofits including 2012’s Measuring the Networked Nonprofit,
nonprofits must cultivate a social culture or ‘be’ before they can ‘do.’
As Kanter explains, “A social culture where everyone in the organization uses social
media to engage people inside and outside to improve programs, services, or reach
communications goals. Working socially challenges deep-set organizational assump-
tions about leadership, roles, and structure. It forces organizations to think hard about
what’s important to manage, and what can be left uncontrolled. Social culture strikes
at the heart of what organizations value and how they operate.” Kanter outlines
some of the important steps an organization must implement in order to create a
social culture in the book she co-authored with Allison Fine, The Networked Nonprofit:
1. Ensure Leadership Buy-in. Organizations cannot become social until their
leadership becomes social. The best way to create a social culture is to get the
organization’s leadership looking, listening and interacting on social media
platforms. This will acclimate leaders not only to the mechanisms and content
shared on social media, but to its instantaneous nature and more casual voice.
2. Promote Internal Discussion. Kanter and Fine stress the importance of involv-
ing internal organization stakeholders in an open and robust conversation
about social media. What is the value? What if it’s a waste of time? How will we
know? What if employees goof off on Facebook all day? What if we lose control
of our message? These are questions that need to be asked and answered, not
by a summer intern, but by the nonprofit stakeholders, including leadership. The
goal is to manage expectations and set known limits for social media use and
application.
Being a social nonprofit is not simply posting regularly on
Twitter and Facebook, or uploading video to a YouTube channel.
Being a social nonprofit involves a change of culture: a new way
of being in and interacting with the world.
10
3. Codify a Social Structure. Once a social culture has taken root, explains Kanter,
you can ensure that senior staffers have fully embraced it and that employees
know what they can and cannot do by putting it on paper. There are three steps
for creating an organizational policy:
a. Create the policy
b. Educate and train the staff
c. Use the policy to guide action
4. Create the Social Media Policy Document. Kanter recommends looking at a
variety of examples of social media policies, both corporate and nonprofit, before
creating your own.
The transformation to a social nonprofit begins with leadership and vision. Once
that vision is articulated and understood, following the steps above, organizations
should be sure their organizational structure will support and strengthen the social
culture by permitting social media and communications to permeate all aspects of
the nonprofit.
Creating a Social Structure Allows Social Culture to FlourishIt may well be that older and more established nonprofits will find it more difficult
to adopt a social culture. Because of existing infrastructure and investment in
traditional forms of communications and fundraising, in addition to staff who
may have a vested interest in the status quo, they may have difficulty gaining
momentum for a shift to a social culture. Younger, leaner nonprofits tend to
develop their culture around the already existing social infrastructure and are
therefore more likely to have social media and new digital technologies neatly
integrated within their systems and processes from the beginning.
While the journey to social may be harder for older nonprofits, every day it proves
more worthwhile and increasingly imperative. In the past year, from September 2011
to September 2012, Facebook has grown from 800 million users to 1.01 billion users,
representing a 26% year-over-year increase. There are now more than twice as many
Facebook users than there were internet users in the year 2000. Clearly, social media
is not going to disappear or become irrelevant. According to Ritu Sharma, Executive
Director & Co-Producer of Social Media for Nonprofits, “It’s important for traditional
nonprofits to begin engaging with audiences via social media sooner rather than
later. As their current donor bases age, these nonprofits need to replenish their base
with younger supporters. Social media is one way to meet these younger people
where they are, instead of asking them to come to you.”
Social tools and technologies are being used by nonprofits in a wide variety of
ways, by a wide variety of departments, and by individuals at all levels and areas of
Fundraising’s Social Revolution 11
responsibility. Social media and online technologies cut through organizational
structures and hierarchies, thereby helping to perpetuate and deepen the social
culture at organizations where social practices are taking root. Social practices also
have the power to create internal, cross-departmental dialogue and work groups,
which strengthen organizational structures and breed understanding, insight,
innovation and creativity.
Social tools are often used in nonprofit organizations in the areas of:
T Education and advocacy
T Prospect development including prospect identification
and prospect research
T Fundraising including events, engagement & cultivation,
email and online campaigns
T Marketing & public relations including constituent
engagement, brand awareness, media relations,
service recovery, crisis communication
T Human resources including staff and volunteer
recruitment, internal communications, training
While a few nonprofits have one or more full-time staff devoted to social media,
others may have a single staff person devoting part of their time to social media,
and still others may have no formal structure in place. While designating a staff
“point person” is a necessity, ideally the social media strategy and implementation
are shared across multiple departments and a cross-departmental team or
committee approach is employed.
Mark Miller, Associate Vice President for Philanthropic Marketing and Communica-
tion at Children’s National Medical Center (CNMC) in Washington, D.C., explains
their approach. “To plan our content, we’ve formed what we call a ‘hive’ with staff
representing marketing, fundraising, public relations, and internal communications.
We meet each Friday to review the past week’s social media activity and to plan for
the week ahead. We evaluate the level of engagement for our content using a tool
that gives us information on the number of clickthroughs, comments, shares, and
other data. We can also compare what was popular on Google+ vs. Twitter and
Facebook. We track every mention of our name on any of the platforms, as well as
topics that are related to our mission. For example, our marketing team may want
to monitor discussions related to cancer, obesity, or other conditions.”
Their content management tool also allows them to schedule posts automatically to
Facebook, Twitter, and G+, so they don’t have to do that manually several times each
day. The social media team at CNMC plans about one month ahead, but remains
ADVOCACY
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12
flexible and alert to opportunities and challenges as they arise in deference to the
immediacy of these communications mediums.
Developing a structure where all stakeholders can take ownership of the social media
strategy means that all stakeholders can influence content and messaging, and that
the messaging is consistent and coordinated, while not necessarily created by one
person or in a single “corporate” voice. It also allows the activities designed or created
to benefit one objective to be exploited for the benefit of other objectives.
WHAT’S WORKING? Children’s National Medical Center (CNMC) Uses Social Media to Grow Email List
Mark Miller, Associate Vice President for Philanthropic Marketing and Communica-
tion, and his team at the Children’s Hospital Foundation conceived of a fundraising
campaign for Valentine’s Day 2010. They asked supporters, via email, to donate
$25 and send a valentine to a sick child. “The campaign didn’t work too well as
a fundraiser,” says Miller. “But the next year, we simply asked people to send a
valentine, without asking for a donation, and we asked them to share that
opportunity with their personal networks through Facebook and Twitter.” This
time, the campaign struck gold. While it generated several thousand dollars
for the organization (through a secondary call to action for donations), the
real success was substantial growth in the organization’s email list.
The campaign was repeated in 2012, resulting in a 35% growth in the foundation’s
email list. “We added 6,570 new names to our list in 2012, and 78% of those resulted
from people on our current email list sharing it with their networks on Facebook
and Twitter. Much of the remainder was generated by their sharing it via email and
blogs. Our own Twitter and Facebook posts were productive, but the real power of
this campaign was peer-to-peer sharing.” The “Send Your Valentine to a Child in the
Hospital” campaign has been one of the hospitals most successful and is a featured
exhibit on the Showcase of Fundraising Innovation and Inspiration website (sofii.org).
What was originally conceived as a fundraising idea became an astonishingly
successful list building exercise, and now the organization is able to track those
new names to determine the best ways to further engage them to become
donors, volunteers or social ambassadors.
Fundraising’s Social Revolution 13
Getting Started with Social TechnologiesFor many nonprofits that have made the decision to embrace social media and other
online technologies, the question becomes, “Where do I start?” Interviews with Laura
Coltrin, Product Marketing Manager, and Dawn Michele Andreas, Program Manager,
of Eventbrite, and Ritu Sharma of Social Media For Nonprofits, uncovered six steps for
nonprofits that have not yet made the transition to social technologies:
1. Start Small. “You don’t have to do it all at once,” says Andreas. “Everyone is over-
whelmed by the idea of going social. Find out where your clients, donors, and
prospects are, and that’s where you should spend the most time.” How do you
know where they are? Ask them – send a survey, do a focus group. Look them
up and see if they have Facebook pages. If so, do they also list a Twitter handle?
Are they on LinkedIn? “One simple way to test their presence on different sites
is to send an email including widgets (social media icons with links) or links for
your different platforms,” suggests Coltrin. “Measure the click throughs and you’ll
know where the email recipients are spending more time. Did most people click
on the Twitter icon? Then that’s a good platform for you to have a presence on.”
If you simply don’t know, assume they are on Facebook. Facebook has over one
billion users – most people who are on any platform are on Facebook.
2. Follow and Learn from Those Who Are Doing It Well. “The only way to do it
is to do it. Create a Facebook page, then follow and generate ideas from organi-
zations that are doing it well. There is a lot of information out there, read it and
learn. You will stumble, but the only way to achieve success is to actually do
it,” says Sharma. Who to follow? You could follow the stars, like Charity: Water,
but Andreas suggests looking at the pages of organizations similar to yours, to
see how they are doing it. “Pay attention to the look and feel of the page, the
photographs, the voice and structure of the content. But more than anything,
the sign of a great social media presence is how engaged the members are. Are
they commenting? Answering questions? Chatting with one another? Are they
retweeting? There are different metrics for different platforms, but the sign of
good social media is that it is social.”
3. Ask Questions. “Once you’ve identified the nonprofits of your type who have
an engaged presence in the platform you’ve selected as your primary focus,
ask questions,” suggests Sharma. “Interview them. How did you start? How did
you grow the community? How much time do you devote to this activity? How
do you manage it? Who manages it?” Learn from their answers and put regular
processes into place.
4. Set a Goal. Coltrin recommends setting a goal and working backwards to
accomplish it. “The goal might be how many followers you will attempt to gain,
or how many posts or tweets you will make.” Defining your strategic priorities,
whether it is to grow the community of followers, to monitor what is said about
your organization online, push out a particular amount or type of content to
enhance your reputation as an industry thought leader, or acquire new names
or email addresses, is a must in order to determine your level of success and to
improve processes for better results.
14
5. Commit to a Consistent Schedule. “Find your drum beat,” advises Sharma.
Once you’ve found a structure and defined objectives for your social activity,
determine how often you will tweet (6 times daily?) or post to Facebook (3 times
a week?). Stick to your schedule. Consistency is important and you must keep
it interesting and relevant. Mix content from internal and external sources, and
educational or human interest content with calls to action. Empowering others
in your organization to create content is one way to keep the information fresh
and relevant.
6. Start Conversations Internally to Make It Easier for Outsiders to Jump In.
“Many people don’t want to be the first to comment,” says Sharma, “but are
comfortable stepping into an ongoing conversation.” So encourage your staff
to not only start conversations and pose questions, but to jump in and respond
to other staff members’ posts as well. Before you know it, you’ll be hosting
engaging conversations and building relationships. Of course, no employee or
volunteer should ever misrepresent themselves online or pose as an outsider if
they are actually an insider.
Building and Growing Your Social CommunitiesAfter you’ve laid (or reevaluated) the framework for your social media program, the
next step is to grow your social community. Sharma suggests that nonprofits just
starting out plan to spend five to six months to build a solid community. Following
are six methods to grow your base:
1. Organic. “Use all of your direct communications channels with your donors
and friends to promote your social media presence,” suggests Andreas. Include
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and other widgets (linked icons) in all your
communications. Directly ask your supporters to “like” your pages, follow your
tweets, and “join the conversation.” “This request can be one of two or three
points you make in a communication, or it can sometimes be successful as the
only request,” adds Sharma.
2. Recommendations. Once your donors and friends have “liked” you, ask them
to recommend your page to their communities. Sharma explains, “This is the
‘network multiplier effect’,” and it is very effective at increasing the reach of your
social communications. Statistics show that this effect can increase the response
to your promotions by two, three or even four times.
3. Post Relevant Content. All of your efforts will be useless if you are not regularly
posting content that is relevant to your audience. Post original content, repost
or link to others’ interesting content, and remember to keep it engaging and
interactive for the user. “Articles, photos, videos, surveys, quizzes and contests
all help keep it lively,” shares Coltrin. You should also participate in discussions
in groups that attract followers similar to yours. Attracting these members to
follow links to your content will gain you additional followers. And ask your
friends, supporters and partners to re-post your content on their relevant sites.
Fundraising’s Social Revolution 15
4. Publicly Share with Others. Don’t be afraid to showcase your existing ‘social’
relationships, by sharing your opinions, thoughts, photos and articles in other
groups and users’ forums. If you post relevant content for a related group on
their Facebook wall, LinkedIn group or shout out to them in a tweet, others will
see you and will be likely to show their support for you online.
5. Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Including your organization’s name in your
Facebook URL increases the opportunities for the page to be found by search
engines. “Links between social sites, like Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube and your
organizations Blog, all help raise the profile and ranking of your nonprofit on
search engines, and that increases organic traffic to your social media platforms,”
explains Coltrin.
6. Facebook, LinkedIn and Google Ad Campaigns. “The prior suggestions all
target people who are already connected in some way to your nonprofit,” says
Sharma. Ad campaigns are one way to profile people who meet specific criteria
who aren’t yet connected to your nonprofit, and target them with creative and
relevant messaging to attract them to your site and your cause.
Any and all of these are great ways to grow and nurture your online communities.
With a thriving community, you may now wonder how to leverage those online fans
to support your organization’s objectives.
WHAT’S WORKING? Feeding America Grew Facebook Community by 445% in One Year
Dan Michel, Digital Marketing Manager of Feeding
America, shares the success they have found using
Facebook ad campaigns. They began the paid acquisi-
tion program in FY2011 starting with a base of 45,000
Facebook fans. Using Facebook advertising, which
Michel describes as reasonably priced, they grew the
community of fans to over 200,000 by June 2011.
The goal for Feeding America now is to “go local.” Michel explains, “Feeding the
hungry takes place at the local level. We want to focus people who like us
nationally to their local food bank where they can have a more direct impact.”
Feeding America is implementing this strategy during September which is Hunger
Action Month. They created a Hunger Action tab on the organization’s Facebook
page, allowing their 300,000 fans to find their local food bank and “like” it. Feeding
America is measuring the success of this endeavor by the growth in size of local
food bank’s Facebook communities.
Fundraising’s Social Revolution 17
Turning Strategy into ActionOnce you’ve developed a social community and following, the next steps involve
action. How can you leverage this resource to meet your organization’s objectives,
whether these are for marketing, fundraising, programmatic or other strategic goals?
We’ve identified three stages of involvement organizations go through to reach
social maturity and reap the full benefits of their social networks.
1. Listen to assess what people are saying, monitor and observe behaviors and
relationships and learn from peers and constituents.
2. Engage by posting content, answering questions and effecting actions.
3. Integrate relationships into existing organizational activities by recruiting
advocates, drawing donors and prospects closer and identifying and leveraging
influencers.
1. Listening as a first step in social engagement enhances service recovery,
feeds program enhancements, identifies brand ambassadors, and fosters
morale.
Many nonprofits, including Feeding America, got started in social media by
listening. Feeding America began active listening as a way to hear what was
being said about hunger, and also what was being said about the organization.
Dan Michel, Digital Marketing Manager, explains, “Listening is an important first
step to enable us to engage with the public to dispel myths and stereotypes
about hunger, and also educate our constituents to proactively prevent
misunderstandings.
Tips for Listening in Social Media
T Designate staff “listeners.”
Appoint individuals to
monitor and respond to
comments, both negative
and positive, and be sure
they are empowered.
T Leverage time saving tools.
There are many free and
affordable technologies
to assist nonprofits with
monitoring what is said
about them on the web
and within social groups.
Consider Hootesuite, Simply
Measured and Sprout Social
for starters.
T Keep your chin up.
Don’t be afraid of nega-
tive comments – look at
them as an opportunity to
turn a critic into a fan. For
example, CNMC noticed a
father who had checked in
via the geolocation program
Foursquare was in their
lobby. While waiting to
register he grew impatient.
Knowing this enabled CNMC
staff to send a fruit basket
and assist with the check-in
process. They were able to
turn a potential critic into a
raving fan.
T Be responsive.
Direct customer service
inquiries to specific social
media outlets only if/when
you have someone to review
and respond.
18
Feeding America and many others have discovered that it’s not such a bad
thing to know what is being said about you, especially when making strides to
improve image or grow a brand/mission. In fact, social media, including blogs,
Facebook, Twitter, and newer platforms such as Google+ and Yelp, provide
organizations an easy way to listen to their constituents, to respond in timely
and authentic ways and to capture ideas and suggestions for ways they can
improve. Says Mark Miller of Children’s National Medical Center, “When we
get a negative comment, we can quickly respond and often turn the problem
around. Sometimes, we even get a thank-you for being so responsive. We view
negative feedback via social media as an opportunity to be more aware of our
families’ needs and improve our service.”
Most nonprofits have found that negative comments are far outnumbered
by positive ones. Many of those who comment or post on Facebook, Twitter
or within LinkedIn groups are thanking the organization for their service,
commenting on a great experience, or recommending the nonprofit to others.
Nonprofits of every kind are finding that social media is making word of mouth
marketing and advertising exponentially more effective. Miller is able to share
hundreds of examples of heartfelt and emotional testimonials like the one
below from the hospital’s Facebook page:
CNMC is also able to share these positive comments, praise, and testimonials with
their staff internally. What better way to encourage excellence and promote morale
than to share thanks and kudos directly from the mouths of grateful recipients?
2. Engaging constituents with relevant content and meaningful responses to
drive website traffic, improve marketing reach, enhance brand reputation
and expand media coverage.
As we all know, relationships take work. And social media relationships are no
different. The nonprofit who has made a commitment to social practices must
commit to regular posting as well as monitoring social media platforms.
“My daughter is celebrating her 4th birthday today. And
it’s all thanks to the wonderful, amazing staff at Children’s
National. Thank you for saving her life 4 years ago. Our lives
are profoundly different because of the surgeons, doctors,
nurses and support staff at Children’s. We have so much love
for you guys. And an immeasurable sense of gratitude.”
- Children’s National Medical Center’s Facebook Page
Fundraising’s Social Revolution 19
According to Miller, there is no magic formula. What to post is largely depen-
dent on the platform, and nonprofits should experiment to see what works best
for their audiences. “It is definitely possible to post too much,” he shares. “One
day, we had a lot of news, a research study and other announcements, and we
posted four times on our Facebook page. We saw a measurable drop-off in
followers – people actually “unliked” us, and that told us we overdid it. So you
can do too much – even if it’s good, relevant content.”
For Miller and the team at CNMC, the right frequency seems to be one or two
postings to Facebook and three to four “tweets” on Twitter each day (including
replies and retweets). They post to Google+ about two to three times a week.
Dan Michel at Feeding America normally posts to both Facebook and Twitter on
a daily basis, with 3-4 Facebook posts and a few more frequent posts to Twitter.
WHAT’S WORKING? Children’s National Medical Center Changes Social Content and Manages Frequency Depending on the Platform
T Facebook, according to Mark Miller, Associate Vice President for Philanthropic
Marketing and Communication at Children’s National Medical Center, is very
social, friendly, supportive and conversational. “It feels like a club or a community.
We post pictures, videos, links to our website and blogs, press releases, event
summaries, and more. Of all the platforms, we get the most clickthroughs on
Facebook, and it’s one of the top drivers of traffic to our website.”
T On Twitter, Miller has learned to tweet in very short, digestible chunks. “We get
fewer click throughs with Twitter, but more retweets or sharing of the content.
We need to be sure that the tweet has information in it, so even if they don’t click
on a link, the post is still valuable.”
T Google+ is different, according to Miller. As an early adopter, he sees the Google+
community as being less cluttered than Facebook, easier to use and simpler. It is
a great place to post your most relevant content, because its audience are largely
opinion leaders. “We are selective about what we post to Google+,” he says. “We
have more than 150,000 followers there, and we don’t want to overwhelm them
or over-promote. Google+ is for our ‘cream of the crop’ content.”
20
But Michel clarifies that this is content posting (not responses), though they also
respond frequently on both platforms. “Some people get the idea that this is just
another weird broadcast medium – that they just need to post good content.
But that misses the point. It’s about a conversation, and listening and respond-
ing is important.”
Content posted on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,
Google+ and others may often include links to the organization’s website and
therefore serve as excellent tools to drive potential supporters and clients to
further engage with your organization. This gives you many new opportunities
to capture their interest and contact information. Track referrals to your website
from social sites, and the path they take when they get there. Begin to under-
stand their interests and motivations. Feeding America uses calls to action and
advocacy to push social media fans to their website where they can provide
their email address (for future calls to action) and can send a message to their
representatives or industry leaders.
Social media provides an opportunity to expand the reach of your marketing
messages without costing a lot. “We know that at any given time, most people
aren’t looking for a hospital,” explains Miller at Children’s National Medical Center.
“So the question is how can we build a relationship with families so they know
we’re here when they do need one?” That’s why CNMC focuses on giving parents
practical information to keep their kids healthy and safe. This might include
information on bike safety, flu prevention tips, or how to prevent sports injuries.
“If they do eventually need a hospital or specialist, they know us, they know we
care, and they know we’re credible. Social media also lets parents see that other
parents trust us and have had positive outcomes.”
Establishing your organization as a thought leader in your field through
content generation and distribution can also enhance your organization’s
brand and reputation. Distributing original research and content, commenting
on current events that impact your mission, and calling out interesting research
and thought leadership within the news making community, serves to develop
your local, regional or national reputation. The research need not be compre-
hensive—statistics, surveys, etc. can be highly valuable to share. Moreover, the
results can be scaled for multiple social media postings. While it used to be
that organizations and people had to depend on traditional media outlets to
establish reputations outside of local communities, social media has put
reputation establishment within anyone’s reach.
When possible, content and commentary should tie social media and social interaction with your organizations website.
OrganizationWebsite
Social Media Networks Community of Fans
Organization Response
Organization Content
Community Feedback
Fundraising’s Social Revolution 21
3. Integrate social media relationships into prospect research and fundraising
activities.
Social Media is broadly used in prospect research to collect data on donors and
prospects, as well as to identify connections and build prospect lists.
Forty-eight percent of individuals identified as prospect researchers in
WealthEngine’s survey use social media at least daily for their work.5 Eighty-five
percent use social media for finding details related to employment, education,
relatives and marital status. Sixty-two percent are using it to identify interests,
causes or missions for which the prospect may have an affinity.
Jennifer Huebner, a research analyst at the University of Virginia, explains
how she has successfully harnessed the power of LinkedIn. “I’ve set up
searches within LinkedIn with specific criteria to locate alumni who have
recently been promoted or changed positions. This has been a great way to
identify prospects who may warrant a second look. We have used it not only
in ferreting out details of employment histories, but also as an opportunity for
our gift officers to proactively reach out to prospects with congratulations and
build relationships with them.”
WHAT’S WORKING? Feeding America Uses Social Networks to Extend Brand Reach
Feeding America has 300,000 followers between
Facebook and Twitter, according to Dan Michel, Digital
Marketing Manager. Any way you slice it, that’s a big
audience and a big reach for press releases, news articles
and blog postings that might otherwise reach a pretty
limited audience. When many of those followers share
the messaging with their personal networks, the news
almost instantly reaches many thousands more people
than an organization could reasonably reach given the
costs of traditional methods of distribution. This reach
can also be leveraged to thank partners and supporters.
5 Tony Glowacki and Kimberly O’Donnell Mullins. Social Media Impact in Prospect Research. (WealthEngine, Inc. July
2011)<http://info.wealthengine.com/rs/wealthengine/images/APRA_2011_SocialMedia.pdf>
22
There are a number of ways to identify new prospects and supporters from
existing social networking friends. Nonprofits are using the networking data
visible in applications like Facebook and LinkedIn to proactively identify their
supporters’ connections. These connections may also be good prospects for
the organization. The WealthEngine survey found that 56% of researchers
responding use social media to identify the social networks and connections of
their prospects and donors, and 27% are using it to identify new prospects.
Nonprofits are also identifying prospects and potential prospects through
existing groups on social networking sites. For instance, a health-related
organization might join health and wellness Facebook groups in their region or
nationally. There, they can listen and learn what members care about, and add
relevant and meaningful content in a non-threatening manner. In this way,
they can identify the interests and passions of group members and determine
where there is potential overlap with their organization’s mission.
As Children’s National Medical Center found with their Valentine’s Day campaign,
social media and email campaigns can be a significant source of new names and
email addresses. They have since launched a Tats for Tots campaign, requesting
supporters to send a temporary tattoo to a sick child with a message or joke.
Again, they asked responders to share the opportunity with their networks and
have reaped the benefits in new names of potential supporters.
The Ethics of Social Media for ResearchMost WealthEngine survey respondents strongly caution themselves, their organ-
izations, and anyone using social media as a source for prospect data to be fully
aware that social media data is self-reported and should be verified using other
sources where possible. Many researchers either do not include details from social
media if they cannot be cross-verified, or at the least include a note within the
profile that information is self-reported and not verified.
Seventy-five percent agree that social media is ethical to use, because it is public
information just like any other public source, but almost all draw the line at creating
connections with prospects (“friending”) for the purpose of collecting personal and
otherwise hidden information. Some respondents also expressed concern over
using their personal accounts for research. Many researchers use their organiza-
tion’s LinkedIn account rather than their own, for example, to validate employment
history. Among the 5% that disagree it is ethical to use data from social media in
prospect research, their concerns center on the accuracy of the information. Many
respondents commented that the use of this data should be in accordance with
the APRA Ethics Statement which says in part that any data collected and recorded
be both accurate and appropriate to the fundraising process.
Fundraising’s Social Revolution 23
Multi-Channel FundraisingWithin nonprofit fundraising, organizations have many opportunities to leverage
social media and online technologies for engagement, cultivation and giving.
Most experts agree that social media as a stand-alone fundraising channel is
unproven. Dan Michel, Digital Marketing Manager for Feeding America, says
“Everyone wants to make money,” but cites the Nonprofit Technology Network
(NTEN) Nonprofit Social Network Benchmark Report that shows that only 3% of
nonprofits have raised over $10K using social media. “There are spikes, particularly
around disasters, that make us think we can be doing more, but those are spikes,
and completely erratic.” Michel suggests that fundraising through social media is as
yet unproven, but he believes there is potential. “I went to a conference recently,
where a participant said, ‘I am in my twenties, and on social media now. I don’t
have a lot of money. But when I am in my forties, and I do have money to give,
I’m going to give to the charities that are talking to me now.’ That tells me there
is value as well as fundraising potential in developing these relationships now,
whether or not they have an immediate fundraising impact.”
Many nonprofits have discovered that multi-channel fundraising, just like multi-
channel marketing, is the most effective approach. A multi-channel approach
simply integrates social media and online fundraising channels with traditional
direct mail, event, email and/or telephone strategies. A recent study by NTEN
and M-R Strategic Services found that in 2011, by adding social media to the mix
of fundraising appeals making up a campaign, the quantity of donations increased
20% on average, leading to an overall increase in funds raised of 19%.6
MultichannelFundraising
TelemarketingEv
ents
Peer-to-Peer
Direct M
ail Email Campaigns
WebsiteSEM
Facebook Advertising
Social Media
6 M+R Research Labs and NTEN Nonprofit Technology Network. 2012 eNonprofit Benchmarks Study.
<http://www.e-benchmarksstudy.com/>
24
Are Your Website and Email Mobile-Enabled? Without doubt, making forms, email, websites and other content mobile friendly
is an important consideration for every nonprofit and commercial enterprise. It
is predicted that by 2016 the number of mobile connected devices will exceed
the world’s population in 2012.7 More and more of our population will connect
to the web via a smart phone or other portable tablet-like device. For organiza-
tions behind the curve on developing mobile-friendly content and apps, this must
surely be an area for resource investment. Is it necessary for each organization or
fundraising initiative to have an app? Not necessarily. Unless you are sure that
your initiative is going to have a strong response or long shelf-life (like the Salvation
Army’s 120-year-old Red Kettle Campaign, for which there is an iPhone app out this
year), you may first want to concentrate on making your emails and web content
display well and navigate easily on mobile devices.
Nonprofits Find Annual Giving Enhanced by Social and Digital Technologies The Salvation Army’s Chicago Metropolitan Division (SACMD) serves the greater
Chicago area, Northern Illinois and Northwestern Indiana territories. Angela Vaughn
is the Web Marketing Manager for the Division, and is responsible for deploying
email campaigns, updating and maintaining the organization’s web site, social
media posts and updates, mobile alerts and peer-to-peer online fundraising
campaigns. “I’m responsible for all things digital for the division,” she explains.
The SACMD sends both engagement and solicitation emails to nearly 65,000
constituents. “We get better open rates for the engagement pieces – our
e-newsletter – than we do for the solicitations, but at 17% and 14% respectively,
both are very respectable.” The recently released 2012 eNonprofits Benchmark
Study published by NTEN and MR Strategic Services shows overall open rate for
fundraising solicitations at 12% and newsletter opens at 13%.
With a solid email solicitation and engagement strategy in place, the SACMD
has been planning to invest in and expand its social media presence and reach.
SACMD runs a blog and maintains a presence on Google+, Facebook, Twitter,
Foursquare, YouTube, Flickr and LinkedIn. Content and messaging is supplied
by volunteers and several departments, specifically communications and special
events. For the past two years, they have used Facebook ads and Google Adwords
to grow their digital and email communities. These strategies have helped to
increase their Facebook following over five-fold from 1,500 followers in 2010 to
their current following of over 8,000.
7 Cisco. Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update, 2011–2016.
<http://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/collateral/ns341/ns525/ns537/ns705/ns827/white_paper_c11-520862.html>
Fundraising’s Social Revolution 25
WHAT’S WORKING? The Salvation Army Chicago Metropolitan Division (SACMD) Practices Multi-channel Fundraising by Integrating Social and Mobile Technologies with Email, Online, and Events
The SACMD finds social media and digital technologies are helpful for two of their
largest annual fundraising events – Donut Day and the Red Kettle Campaign. They
use social media to push out lots of messages, including historical facts, event
details, and kickoff information. They also dedicate a text-to-give number for each
event, and encourage text donations in addition to online and traditional donations.
Mobile numbers are also used to push text alerts about the events.
Foursquare is another social technology that is
proving useful in their integrated, multi-channel
fundraising strategy. Currently, they use it to
promote events, including the Donut Day and
Red Kettle fundraising campaigns. Angela Vaughn,
Web Marketing Manager for the division, anticipates
growth in the use of geolocation technologies like
Foursquare for promoting thrift store locations and
events, as well as happenings at the individual
institutions and corps.
“Our next big push is to develop a mobile friendly donation form,” says Vaughn. “The
analytics show that a lot of our web users are mobile, and that group is growing. We
need to make it easy for smart phone and tablet users to contribute.”
Fundraisers have found social media helpful in
enhancing traditional campaigns with multi-
channel techniques and within major giving to
engage and cultivate donors.
26
Social and Digital Technologies in Major GiftsMany organizations are viewing social media content as a fertile field from which
to pluck relevant, timely and useful information to identify and cultivate major gift
prospects. By connecting via social networks, prospects are identifying an affinity
for the organization, and as they reveal their interests and passions, as people do
in any relationship whether on- or off-line, it allows the organization to cultivate
them toward a truly meaningful giving experience. William Paterson University of
New Jersey is one institution having success engaging and cultivating constituents
through social media channels.
Lynn Lazar, Director of Prospect and Research Management at William Paterson
University, describes their strategy for using social media: “We are finding creative
ways to use social media—not with the sole intention of bringing in money—but
to create a buzz about us and help reconnect the University with alumni and
friends. We are hopeful that this will support our engagement activities, which will
ultimately help us reach our fundraising goals.”
William Paterson’s experience illustrates how social media and digital strategies can
contribute to cultivation and major gift fundraising efforts. It provides fundraisers
one more way to make contact and begin building or growing a relationship. Social
media doesn’t take the place of face-to-face cultivation and fundraising, but it does
provide an additional communication channel, and one that is interactive,
sometimes viral, and convenient.
Fundraising’s Social Revolution 27
WHAT’S WORKING? William Paterson University Uses Social Media to Enhance Engagement and Major Gift Cultivation
With the use of Google Alerts, William Paterson staff have begun tracking news
regarding alumni and send out weekly updates of newsworthy alumni. After a
news alert is received about an alum—a promotion or other milestone—the
Stewardship Manager sends a letter to them recognizing their news. Sometimes
it’s also posted on the University’s Facebook page. “There are many different ways
to use the information gathered, for us it’s all about celebrating our constituents.
Social media allows us to engage with alumni, donors, partners and the commu-
nity in a faster, more meaningful and effective way,” shares Lynn Lazar, Director of
Prospect and Research Management at William Paterson University.
Sometimes social media uncovers a fundraising
opportunity. “An alumni posted on Facebook that
he had a new business venture,” says Lazar. “While he
had never given to the University before, we brought
it to the attention of our alumni and marketing
departments who then published an article in our
alumni newsletter on him and other alumni in the
same industry. He was appreciative and advance-
ment began further cultivating the relationship.”
Today, he has contributed to the university, and the
relationship is successfully advancing.
“We’re starting to see the impact we can make with the use of social media along-
side our prospect research tools, and we like what we see,” concludes Lazar. “Social
media is helping us engage constituents in a bigger way and we are furthering
our philosophy of giving back first, asking second.”
28
Influence on the Social WebThe digital social world continues to evolve, and in some respects, mirrors the
offline world. It has often been said that “word of mouth” is the best advertising.
But as Malcolm Gladwell found and reported in his acclaimed book The Tipping
Point, some people are more influential in their word of mouth recommendations
than others. Some people are “connectors” or “ultra connectors.” Mark Schaefer,
author of 2012’s Return on Influence: The Revolutionary Power of Klout, Social Scoring
and Influence Marketing suggests that through social networks, energy and deep
knowledge of a topic, these connectors can cause epidemics of interest and
action.8 Schaefer shares the story of World Vision, the Christian humanitarian
organization, which has found a way to harness the power of influential
members of its community.
New technologies are making it easier for organizations like World Vision to find
out who their influential community members are. These new technologies,
including Klout and PeerIndex, are social scoring mechanisms that use complex
algorithms to compute “influence scores” for any individual with an online presence
on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or other applications. While still in its infancy, social
scoring promises to be a useful – albeit controversial – development in the social-
sphere. Whether influence scores are used in marketing or fundraising, or a blend
of both, who wouldn’t want to identify their most knowledgeable, trusted and
well-connected constituents to enlist as advocates for their mission or brand?
8 Schaefer, Mark (2012-02-15). Return On Influence: The Revolutionary Power of Klout, Social Scoring, and Influence
Marketing (Kindle Locations 519-522). McGraw-Hill. Kindle Edition.
Fundraising’s Social Revolution 29
WHAT’S WORKING? World Vision Leverages the Power of Influential Bloggers to Draw Attention to Their Mission and Engage New Supporters
World Vision, the Christian humanitarian organization,
has been sponsoring trips for influential bloggers to
experience first-hand the work of the organization and
write about it. World Vision knows that these bloggers
are influential with their constituents, and have tapped
into that social influence to help make the mission and
true work of the charity come alive for their readers.
Quite a concept: engage influential members of your
community to share their passion and experience with
your mission to the rest of the community.
Research bears out the genius of their strategy. Consider a business to business
(B2B) approach that uncovered the value of the blogging community. As
Schaefer reports, “Base One, a London-based B2B agency, surveys procurement
professionals across Europe every year to detect changes in the ways those
professionals are acquiring information for their decision-making process. As you
might expect, the number of people utilizing social media sources such as blogs
in the purchasing profession is increasing year over year, especially among those
under age 30. But here’s where it gets really interesting. Bloggers are rated as the
most influential sources of information. Higher than supplier websites. Higher
than trade shows. Even higher than the word-of-mouth recommendation of a
fellow professional.”
As with World Vision, recruiting and supporting bloggers so they may fully experi-
ence and provide a voice for your organization—or those to whom you provide a
service—can be an impactful addition to a social strategy.
Fundraising’s Social Revolution 31
Social Technologies are Enabling Individuals and Organizations to Have Greater Impact Over the past 7 to 8 years, the world has changed dramatically and irrevocably. The
widespread accessibility of low cost internet access, digital technologies and social
media have made the world a place in which many more connections can be made,
anyone who wants a voice or platform can have one, and companies and organiza-
tions are more open to and accountable to their constituents than ever before.
As we’ve seen, nonprofit organizations are adopting social media and other new
digital technologies to contribute to every aspect of their strategic objectives. And
even as these innovations are changing how organizations relate to the world, they
are also changing the way people and departments within organizations relate to
each other.
Digital strategies cross many organization goals and functions, including fundraising,
communications, public relations, human resources, programs, service recovery,
prospect development, volunteers and more. Those organizations that are adopt-
ing social strategies and becoming social nonprofits are finding these strategies
are driving greater collaboration and improved multi-channel, integrated efforts
across departments. When harnessed effectively, the proliferation of information
and its application through social media can be an exceptional communications
and fundraising tool for an organization. At the end of the day, these technologies
are enabling organizations and individuals to come together, find common ground,
and make a positive impact in their communities and around the world.
Recommendations
1. Start where you are. Technology can be intimidating, but don’t let that stop you. Social technologies are forgiving of
the uninitiated and there is lots of advice out there. The sooner you start, the faster you will feel comfortable.
2. Get your organization’s leadership listening on social media. Start with a small experiment to get them involved and
engaged. Once they “get it,” expand your trials.
3. Build your community using a variety of methods. Whether you use organic means or paid fan acquisition or a
combination of both, social media is a cost effective way to identify fans with an affinity for your organization.
4. Remember it’s a conversation. Listen first, then post and respond appropriately.
5. Engage constituents with meaningful, relevant, funny and interactive content. Be creative, involve others within and
external to your organization, and have fun!
6. Integrate social into all levels of your organization. This isn’t just for marketing and brand awareness; you can leverage
social media to uncover and build relationships with donors, prospects and ambassadors.
7. Consider now how you will invest in making your website and email communications mobile friendly. The future is now,
and a good percentage of every nonprofit’s supporters and prospects are accessing the internet via mobile devices.
8. Measure your social activities. We may not yet know the full value of them, but if you begin to track and measure today,
you will have the benchmarks to compare against tomorrow.
Fundraising’s Social Revolution 33
Measuring the Success of Your Social EffortsFollowing are a few of the ways nonprofit organizations are measuring the success
of their social media investments.
Most organizations measure their success in the social media space in
several ways:
Number of followers or fans in the nonprofits community
Growth rate of the fan community
Number of “opens,” (for email) or clicks (for embedded links)
Number of actions completed (for calls to action)
Participation rate (for appeals)
Average gift size (for appeals)
Many organizations are beginning to dive deeper to find the value in social
media by measuring things like:
Percent share of the “conversation,” for instance Dan Michel, Digital Marketing
Manager, monitors what percent of conversations about “hunger” Feeding
America is mentioned in
Percent of online giving coming from web and unsolicited sources (including
social media “fans”) vs. email solicitations9
Number of Facebook fans per email subscriber (average for all nonprofits: 103
per1,000)10
Facebook “action rate” (number of likes & comments/members of the
community) (average for all nonprofits 2.5 per 1,000)11
The cost and value of a Facebook Fan (cost average for all nonprofits - $3.50
and value over one year - $214.81)12
9 M+R Research Labs, and NTEN Nonprofit Technology Network. 2012 eNonprofit Benchmarks Study.
<http://www.e-benchmarksstudy.com/> 10 Ibid 11 Ibid 12 NTEN Nonprofit Technology Network, Common Knowledge and Blackbaud. 4th Annual Nonprofit Social Network
Report (2012) <http://nonprofitsocialnetworksurvey.com/>
Fundraising’s Social Revolution 35
ReferencesBarnes, Nora Ganim, Ph.D. and Eric Mattson. US Charities’ Adoption of Social Media Outpaces All Other Sectors for the Third Year in a Row.
The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. 2010
<http://www.ecauses.org.>
Cisco. Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update, 2011–2016.
<http://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/collateral/ns341/ns525/ns537/ns705/ns827/white_paper_c11-520862.html>
CNNMoney. Fortune.com. Fortune 500.
<http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/?iid=F_Sub>
Dumont, Georgette. Nonprofit Engagement of Social Networks. November 2010 University of North Florida.
<http://www.academia.edu/380014/Nonprofit_Engagement_of_Social_Networks>
Fine, Allison and Beth Kanter. The Networked Nonprofit. John Wiley & Sons, June 2010.
Forbes.com. The 200 Largest U.S. Charities.
<http://www.forbes.com/lists/2011/14/200-largest-us-charities-11.html>
Glowacki, Tony and Kimberly O’Donnell Mullins. Social Media Impact in Prospect Research. WealthEngine, Inc. July 2011
<http://info.wealthengine.com/rs/wealthengine/images/APRA_2011_SocialMedia.pdf>
M+R Research Labs, and NTEN Nonprofit Technology Network. 2012 eNonprofit Benchmarks Study.
<http://www.e-benchmarksstudy.com/>
NTEN Nonprofit Technology Network, Common Knowledge and Blackbaud. 4th Annual Nonprofit Social Network Report. 2012
<http://nonprofitsocialnetworksurvey.com/>
Schaefer, Mark Return On Influence: The Revolutionary Power of Klout, Social Scoring, and Influence Marketing 2012. McGraw-Hill. Kindle Edition.
About WealthEngine ™, Inc.WealthEngine TM, Inc. is a leading provider of sophisticated wealth identification and prospect
research services to charities, hospitals, institutions of higher education, political campaigns,
advocacy groups, and other nonprofit organizations, as well as to firms that offer luxury goods and
financial services. Four thousand clients use WealthEngine’s products for comprehensive research on
individuals, companies and foundations. Headquartered in Bethesda, MD, WealthEngine serves both
the United States and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.wealthengine.com.
wealthengine.com [email protected] 800.933.4446
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