tibet network: better online fundraising

Online fundraisingGlyn Thomas – Digital communications manager, WDM

Contents Growing your email list

Fundraising emails – best practice

Retaining people on your email list

Webpages and linking campaigning to fundraising

Thanking people for their donations

Segmenting your email list

Social media

Software solutions

Growing your email list Getting new people onto your email list is crucial for online fundraising. Online and offline recruitment methods.

Your ideas Ways of recruiting supporters online and offline

Fundraising emails – best practice Have a very clear ask – why do you need the money? Include the full URL, not just embedded text: http://www.wdm.org.uk/give Have a link to the donation page very high up in the email Only include the fundraising ask in the email – nothing else 30% of emails are now being read on smartphones – keep the email in one column so it works well on smartphones Thank people for their previous donation at the very start

Your ideas How can we make this email have as much impact as possible?

Dear …,

I visited Indonesia earlier this year to see for myself the impacts on people and planet when UK banks and investment funds pour billions into coal.

Please help us fight energy injustice by targeting the UK banks making it possible. 

When I visited the small village of Maruwei, a local woman named Yesmaida told me “only a few in the community benefit from mining, most just experience loss.”

Yesmaida and her community are already experiencing the impacts of two nearby coal pits. One of these is run by a company that recently received a $1 billion loan from UK bank Standard Chartered. Now UK listed global mining giant BHP Billiton is preparing to extract coal in the region.

Read more stories from the people I met in Indonesia and make a donation today if you can.

Destroying communities and environments in the name of dirty energy must stop. 

Best wishes,

Keeping people on your email list Send a mix of emails to your supporters – not just fundraising emails. Report back to all your supporters – tell them what you’ve done and how you’ve used their money. Ideally send one email a week to your list – but never just for the sake of it. Stop people unsubscribing! Have interesting content, and when people unsubscribe from your email list, give them an option to receive fewer emails or just campaign emails.

Webpages Have a prominent donate button with an orange background Have large boxes on your forms Have a strong story / case studies / clear explanation of what you’re going to use the money for Make sure any error messages sound like they’re written by a person Social proofing – show how many other people have donated or how much you’ve raised in total Have multi-step donation forms

Linking campaigning to fundraising People who have taken action are four times more likely to donate to the same cause

Thanking people for their donations Send people a thank you email, immediately after making their donation. The content of the thank you email should be linked to what you said you would be using the money for. Have a video message on the thank you page.

Segmenting your email list Send different emails to different people on your email list. Longer, more detailed emails, to people who take more campaign actions as they’re more engaged. Send a reminder email when you have a fundraising appeal to people who haven’t donated following the first email.

Segmenting your email list Stats from EN presentation

Targeting by segment• Never made a donation previously

but taken action on food campaign

• Never made a donation previously and not taken action on food campaign

• Previous one-off donor• Regular giver

Two different emails for each segment

Each went to 10% of the segment – email which performed best (brought in most money) went to remaining 80%

Split testing emails

Some stats 154 donations from first emails128 donations from reminder email 62% of income from first email38% from reminder email £18.94 average donation from first email£14.03 average donation from reminder £8 average donation from £3 prompt£23 average donation from £20 prompt

Social media Thank people who you know follow you on social media for their donation. Encourage people to say on Facebook and Twitter that they have donated to you – have share buttons with a pre-written Tweet or Facebook post on the thank you page after someone has donated. Put out a series of content, one item a day for a week, all linked to your fundraising appeal: Photo; Video; Infographic; Link to a blog Keep reminding people about your email list and how people can sign up to it.

Social media The more people who follow you on social media, the more potential donors you have. Here are some ways to increase your number of followers quickly and easily.

Software solutions Engaging Networks SalsaLabs Wufoo Campaignion