online ambassador programs for fundraising

Online Ambassadors:

Manufacturing Viral Fundraising

Through Influencers

A BWF_social webinar in partnership with Network for Good

October 7, 2014

7251 Ohms Lane Minneapolis, MN 55439

2461 South Clark Street, Suite 900 Arlington, VA 22202

952-921-0111 www.bwf.comCopyright © 2014 Bentz Whaley Flessner

Copyright © 2014 Bentz Whaley Flessner

In this webinar, we’ll…

Demonstrate the value in building an online ambassador program for fundraising.

Cover the four-step process for building an online ambassador program.

Establish the components necessary for successful online fundraising campaigns.

Online AmbassadorsYou can post until you’re blue in the face from your organization's official Facebook page...and it still won’t have nearly the impact as a person’s best friend posting the same thing from his/her Facebook page.


Peer-to-peer communication. Why do we care so much about social media users talking about us online?


Source: Nielsen, April 2012.


People learn of a new cause to support when they see their friends supporting a cause on social media.


In fact, online ambassador-driven campaigns are one of the most powerful

new donor acquisition tools available…


When you acquire new

donors online, you’re

acquiring higher capacity donors.

Source: 2012 Convio Study.


Online-acquired donors give larger gifts…


…and they give more over their

lifetimes.

$84

$124

$169

$197

$32

$48

$62

$72

2007 2008 2009 2010

Lifetime Revenue per Original Donor for Donors Acquire in 2007

2007–2010 Medians

Donors Acquired Online

Donors Acquired by Mail


So in short, we care so much about

peer-to-peer or online ambassador communication,

because online ambassadors help you

connect with more donors who

have greater capacity to make big gifts to your organization.

Building Online Ambassadors into Fundraising Campaigns


At UMass Amherst, there was a need to drive up participation, especially among students. After conducting an assessment and workshop with them, BWF_social helped UMass create an online ambassador program for their inaugural UMassGives online fundraising campaign.


Just before, during, and

immediately after the

campaign, UMass Amherst’s

online ambassadors were

sent emails from the annual

giving team with updated

giving day information and

pre-packaged posts for social networks

they were encouraged to

share with their networks.


Buzz erupted on social media during the campaign, thanks to well-

coordinated ambassador activity, mostly through email.


Donors at all age levels gave during the campaign, not just the younger alumni. And most age groups were involved in the social media chatter, too.


Received gifts from 1,588 donors (by

far the most ever in a single day for

UMass Amherst).

Received gifts from 626 students. The entire year prior,

only 529 students made a gift to the

institution.

Saw hundreds of social media posts from ambassadors and their followers talking about the giving day (and a half). This led to a highly increased sense of philanthropy among UMass Amherst supporters during the launch of their

comprehensive UMass Rising capital campaign.

Thanks to the 144 ambassadors we developed with the UMass team, the first, 36-hour UMassGives:


The BWF_social online ambassador process is built on four basic steps:

Identification of ambassadors.

Engagement of ambassadors.

Stewardship and recognition of ambassadors.

Strategic deployment of ambassadors to achieve fundraising goals.


Identification

Online ambassadors are

not necessarily your biggest donors.

They’re not always a celebrity or

prominent community member.

Online ambassadors have big online communities that

they interact with often. And they love your organization.

That’s it. Without either, you don’t

have an online ambassador.


Start with your low-hanging fruit…also known

as those social media followers who

love to like, comment on, share, and retweetthe content you’re posting on your

org’s official accounts.

If you manage a social network for your institution, you probably already know a few of these individuals.


Search your connections—online and offline—for people you know who:

…are strong advocates for organization or mission.

…have given at least once (or have participated in the activity you want them to promote).

…are frequently active on social media networks.


Celebrities are great…

…but celebrity does not automatically make someone an online ambassador.


Celebrities are your best ambassadors when they

truly own your causeand support your organization

or institution.

Keyword/phrase searches—take time, but yield results.

Search hashtagsrelevant to your organization, mission, and supporter base.

Look for repeat likers, sharers, commenters, retweeters, etc.

Click on the users to learn more about their potential for ambassadorship.

Follow links from one account to the next to learn more about ambassadorship potential…

Donor database search and cross reference.

How many donors recently gave online?

How many donors only give online?

Align social network search results with names in your database.

Merge wealth data with online giving records and potential ambassadors.

Software can help…

reverb


Go big…

…with major gift donor online ambassadors.


Miami Children’s Hospital “Together for the Children” campaign

teamed up with a single major gift donor who was walking through Europe to raise money for the hospital.


The generous donor was the source of great content,

while also working his network to support the hospital.


After his roughly one-month walk was complete, more than $1.4 million was raised. Much of it came from major gift donors…


…but several hundred thousand also came from small gift donors.

And roughly 75 percent of the donors were new.

So big fundraising and significant awareness were

by-products of involving a major gift donor in an online campaign.

Securing challenge grants to drive donor activity.

Using challenge grants as seed gifts that accomplish a goal before the campaign begins.

Online giving days are popular among major gift donors, because they feel like they are a part of the greater donor community.

Online giving days are a way of publicly recognizing the support of major gift donors.


Major gift donors LOVE the buzz and excitement online campaigns create

around fundraising for the institutions they love. Get major donors involved by…


Every potential ambassador

should receive a “welcome to the program” email. Some should receive a phone

call or other, more personal

contact first.

Engagement


For some potential ambassadors, you might need to first warm up the relationship with good social media interaction.

Engagement


Provide an orientation program for new ambassadors.

Make it easy to attend and helpful so that they understand their roles and the impact they can have.

Deliver it via remote and in person.

Engagement


Continue the program throughout the years. Ambassadors should not just be leveraged for a one-off campaign…they should grow with your program and be a part of every communication initiative.

Make a commitment to your ambassadors and ask the same from them.


Stewarding Ambassadors

Reward your ambassadors.

They are key volunteers that

can help your org do big things

online (and off). Create a system for reward and

recognition of their activity.


First things first, make sure you’re able to track your ambassador activity.

For example, using smart technology platforms, you’ll

want to know:

Which ambassadors had the most

engagement on the posts they

shared on Facebook and

Twitter?

Which ambassadors

raised the most through emailing their

friends?

Which Facebook

posts led to the most

gifts?


In addition to measuring your ambassadors’ impact, trackable links allow you to easily add gamification as an incentive for ambassadors

…because people LOVE to compete.


Trackable links allow for

the creation of online leaderboards. If

you have competitive

spirit among your

ambassadors, this can

really drive online giving activity.


Build online spaces to recognizeyour top ambassadors.

This doesn’t have to be exclusive to

online spaces—recognize ambassadors

in other well-read channels like annual

reports and print pieces.


Give them perks they’ll enjoy AND want to talk about (and post) online. Like a photo shoot with a famous supporter, an invitation to have lunch with your executive director, or front-row seats to a prominent speaker on campus.


Don’t forget about the fun freebies!


Stewarding ambassadors is about more than freebies and recognition…it’s

also asking them to share content they want to share.

For ambassadors and for all communication, if you know what your audience is Googling on any given day, then you know

what content you should produce and share for them.


Stewarding ambassadors by giving

them content they want requires

knowing their content preferences or

content profiles.

Jonathan Epstein

Accounts: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook

Email: [email protected]

Key areas of Interest: Epidemiology, disease transmission, veterinary medicine, SARS,

MERS, Ebola

Additional Interests: Travel, Africa

Ambassador Score: 72reverb


Deploying Ambassadors

You’ve found your ambassadors,

engaged them, trained them, and

figured out how to incentivize them.

Now, it’s time to work with them to raise more money for your nonprofit.


To deploy ambassadors during events, giving days, and

campaigns, make sure you have a smart email strategy with

suggested content the ambassadors will be asked to post.


Again, software is available to help with this process …but is not absolutely necessary. Especially as you’re getting started.


Crowdfunding…

…isn’t crowdfunding if you don’t have online ambassadors driving the funds.


This happens all too often…


One of the best nonprofit examples of crowdfunding was also one of the first…

Middlebury College’s MiddSTART


Good crowdfunding includes…

…engaging, donor-friendly online infrastructure.


Good crowdfunding…

…is closely integrated with your nonprofit’s mission and message.


Good crowdfunding…

…is driven by well-prepared and trained online ambassadors.


Ambassadors are a big part of the picture, but they’re by no means the

whole online fundraising picture. The best online giving

events have these f0ur things in common.

1. Attractive, engaging, user-friendly online infrastructure.

2. Strategy.

3. Ambassadors.

4. Major donors.


Summary

Identify, engage, and steward your first group of ambassadors.

Deploy them—find communication and fundraising goals they can help you achieve.

Reward and recognize them—after all, they’re high-value volunteers!


Contact Justin Ware by:

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @BWF_social or @JustinJWare

Blog: JustinJWare.com

Web: BWFsocial.com

Let’s keep talking…

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online ambassador programs for fundraising

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