The eNonprofit: Online Engagement

and Internet Services

Presented by John Kenyon

Author: John Kenyon

Responsibilities

Respect

Varied

Levels

of Experience

Participate, Think about Your Angle

Share your Experiences and Ideas

Silence Electronics

Session Agenda

Session Overview Internet Tools and Services

• Online Fundraising• Online Donation Processing• Email Communication • Organizational Capacity• Data Management • Integrated Services

Discussion Evaluation

Audience Needs Poll

What I’d like to hear about

Topics Issues I am struggling with

Could you talk about…

Online Fundraising:Same Paradigm, Different Tools

Source Informaton: The NonProfit Handbook, James Greenfield, 2002 Supplement, 3rd Edition, (AFP/Wiley Fund Development Series),

Prospects

Involved Prospects

Supporters

Attract

Commit

Engage

Retain

Drive Traffic, Collect Email

addresses

Interact by web and email

Online Donation

Personalized web/email

contactCommitted Supporters

Online Donation Systems

Internet “back-end” software that allows a web visitor to donate money to your org via credit card

Online Donation Processing vendors vary: Some are part of a larger software suite (Blackbaud) Some only do online donation processing (DonateNow) Some do online donations, event registration (Convio)

Business model includes: Setup Fee Monthly Fee Transaction Fee Credit Card processing fee Merchant Account requirement

Online Donation Rules

39 states require that nonprofits register for charitable solicitation status to fundraise in that state

Some online donation processing vendors will register for you (Network for Good/Groundspring.org)

More info at Techsoup “Internet Issues for Tax Exempt Organizations”by Alice Anderson/Robert Wexler

Donations Identify Supporters

Prospects

Involved Prospects

Supporters

Drive Traffic, Collect Email

addresses

Interact by web and email

Online Donation

Personalized web/email

contactCommitted Supporters

Online Donation Tips

Make Donate Now button immediately visible: Above “the fold”

Put a Donate option on every page

Minimize the number of clicks to make a transaction Don’t ask for more information than what

is needed for the transaction

Show that your site is secure https://, Info about SSL and digital certificates

Consider carefully using a service where it is obvious that the donor is sent to another site to give Donors may lack confidence that they are giving to

YOU

Online Donation Tips

Include a brief sentence on why people should give and the great things you will do with the money

Give options for donating (online/phone/fax/mail)

If you have appeals or membership: Link to detailed information on a separate page Appeals are most effective when date-specific

Create a donor thank you verification page and send an automatic email thank you Include in the email thank-you a link to your website

Send a mail acknowledgement within 24-48 hours of the email acknowledgement

Donation Systems - Key Elements

Excellent customer support, user interface and ease of setup

Download your data 24/7 with multiple reports

Customize the donation page with look of your web site

Ability to issue to the donor both an on-screen and email receipt

Ability to handle recurring donations

Ability to handle premiums (incentives)

A trusted vendor: it’s your job to investigate them Complete merchant banking and credit card processing Trusted security system (SSL)

Review: Online Donations

Register or use a vendor who registers

Have a donor-friendly and donation-friendly website

Give other options for donating/giving

Thank you’s and follow-up

Reflection and Discussion

•Your Experience

•Online Engagement

•Online Fundraising

•Online Donation Processing

•Tools you like

•This makes me think about….

Email

Why Email is so Great

Email Strategy

Email Spam Guidelines

Email Messaging Systems

Vendors

Examples from the Inbox

Why Email?

People respond quickly - to compelling messages

Word of mouse (pass info to friends,“viral marketing”)

People email more often than they make an online donation

When combined, email, direct mail and web activities are powerful advocacy and fundraising tools

Higher Response Rates (Email 5-15%, Direct Mail .5 - 5%)

Inexpensive (Email .20/ea., Direct Mail .75 - 2.00/ea.)

Immediacy - 80% respond within 48 hours of email1 Source: Jupitor Communications

2 The eMail Marketing Report, eMarketer 2001

Source of slide: Introduction to eMarketing, Convio Corporation

Email Strategy

Regular Email Communication is a relationship cultivation activity

Combining email and web activities allows you to reach and re-reach donors/prospects through iterative contact

Combining email and direct mail builds personal relationships

Personal relationships are the heart of fundraising

Email Techniques

Hypertext links“Click here to read more; See the pictures here”

Word of Mouse marketing (viral)“Email this article to a friend; Spread the word”

Personalized greetings and references“Dear Susan, salmon can’t write to their senator but you can”

Incentives“Members receive a 10% discount on all books and classes! ”

List segmentation - Let’s email only non-member donors who gave $50 or less

Click-through tracking“How many people clicked on that link?”

Enewsletter Techniques

Create Table of Contents - glance-able, enticing

Establish the Brand of your organization Create Headers and footers with your org name and date

Content Write for readers to scan Create links to longer items on the Web

Establish Timing for newsletter Keep to regular schedule: quarterly, monthly, weekly

Provide ability to pass the eNewsletter to a friend

Avoiding the SPAM label

ASK for and DOCUMENT permission to emailOnline and Offline

Postal Address and Unsubscribe option in every email

NO renting or buying lists - Cross-pollenate

Manage Data - “Do Not Email”, “Do Not Send Enewsletter”fields in your database, honor “unsubscribes”

Accurate Subject and From lines - no sensational language

Email Privacy Policy

Ask stakeholders desired frequency of communications

Bulk Email Systems

Bulk Email systems are online software vendors that send bulk email for your organization

Features vary, but generally: Create a database of email addresses Conduct email campaigns

(send bulk personalized email) Put a “Subscribe to Our Newsletter” function on your

website Allow recipients to unsubscribe/subscribe to email lists Create HTML emails Track click-thru’s on urls

Email Systems - Key Elements

Clear spam prevention policy; good ISP relationships

Ability to set “To,” “From” and “Reply “addresses

Easy subscribe, unsubscribe

Automatic removal of unsubscribes, bounces

Subscription confirmation option

Easy to understand user interface

Ability to segment list

Trackable URLs so that you can analyze email recipient behavior

HTML sniffer

See Idealware report - www.idealware.com

Tracking & Measurement

The success of email campaigns depends on goals and benchmarks for those goals

An email messaging service allows you to track subscriber activity (benchmarks)

Knowledge of subscriber activity can tell you: What emails get read What people click on What people respond to to with actions or donations Who is subscribing/unsubscribing

Knowledge of results and examining patterns helps you create more effective campaigns

eNewsletter delivery statistics

eNewsletter clickthrough statistics

Specific url clickthrough statistics

Review: Email

Use your web site to gather email addresses

Build your email list everywhere to increase prospects:• Combine all spreadsheets in your office• Gather emails at events, phone calls• All print materials

Locate an email messaging vendor appropriate for your budget and start using the service

Start emailing updates, then a campaign, then a regular e-newsletter

Assign a staff person to handle email campaigns and administration

Test approaches, respond to data and track results

Reflection and Discussion

• Your Experience

• Email Communication

• Campaigns

• Tools you like

• This makes me think about….

Organizational Capacity

? What questions should we be asking ourselves?

? What pieces need to be in place for our organization to be a successful “eNonprofit”?

? How do we best focus organizational energy?

Organizational Capacity

Database Established Strategies

Operations (Staff and Technology)

Time Money

Capacity Snapshot

Database

Fundraising Strategy

Operations Time Money

+ + + +

= Your Organization’s Communications Capacity

Internet Tools Evolution

Source Information: The NonProfit Handbook, James Greenfield, 2002 Supplement, 3rd Edition, (AFP/Wiley Fund Development Series)

Web Site

Email Messaging Program

Integrated Systems

Phase 1 Online Donation

Processing

Phase 2

Phase 5Phase 4

Phase 3 Interactive Website

Organizational Resources and Capacity Must Also Increase

Are Goals Balanced with Capacity?

Web Site

Email Messaging

Program

Integrated Systems

Phase 1 Online Donation

Processing

Phase 2

Phase 5

Phase 4

Phase 3Interactive

Website

Create Strategy Based on Capacity

First things first:

1. Your Data2. Your Website 3. Online Donation System 4. Email Messaging System

Go for the long-haul; online engagement is not a quick-fix and will not bring instant results

Develop a team of interdepartmental staff/board

Make a budget

Create a vision, make goals, plan an approach

Data Management

Online engagement activities will require back-end data administration and integration

Data integration means matching email/web information to offline databases

Each organization has a unique and dynamic set of information and information vendors

Staff resources need to be assigned to manage,analyze and report donor data

The role of a database administrator is extremely important to successful fundraising and engagement

•New email addresses from direct mail

•Change of addresses from direct mail

•New prospects with email addresses

Online Event Registration

• New donors, new email addresses

• Change of email address• Segment codes from

database to email db for direct mail emails

• New email subscribers with addresses and segment codes

• Email Unsubscribers• Bad email addresses• Change of address

Internet

Dire

ct Mail

Fundraising Database

E-MailDatabase

Online Donations

Internet

Email Database to Fundraising Database

Fundraising Database to Email Database

•Newsletter Signups/Web registrations

•Contact includes segment codes

Internet

Email/Web Subscriber

Sample Work and Data Flow for Email/Database Administration

Database Administrator:

Part Mom; Part Cop

Database Administrator manages workflow

@ @

Integrated Online Services

Integrated services/systems are either hosted software systems (application service providers or ASPs) or software suites

Integrated systems combine and manage data integration between online donation processing, email management, web and database administration. They can include modules for:

Web site content management Email messaging Credit card processing Donor database, giving

history E-commerce Events registration & mgmt Advocacy campaigns

Integrated Systems Advantages

Eliminates “silos” of data Donor data and web data are easily combined Event registration, survey information, email

click -throughs can all be tracked into donor database You don’t have to import and export data

from one system to another Reduces misinformation and duplicate information

carried through systems

Allows powerful integrated marketing and fundraising tools Can segment data Can track big picture of donor Can update content of website easily by non-technical staff

Integrated Systems Disadvantages

Expense($3,000 - $50,000 + setup, $300 - $5,000+ per month)

They involve conversion of existing data and systems into the new system

Sector is young; there will be changes in vendors

Your organization has to be committed to changing business processes and providing staff resources and training

Reflection and Discussion

Your Experience

Online Fundraising

Email Communications

Organizational Capacity

Integrated Systems

This makes me think about….

Thank you!

By taking the time to improve your technology knowledge and skills, You will make a positive impact on all of the organizations you work with.

All Images: Flickr - Creative Commons LicensePresenter contact: John - kenyonsf@yahoo.com