What’s Your Plan? Year-end Fundraising with Earthjustice

#yearend

#yearend

Agenda •  A Look Back at 2013"•  The Importance of Storytelling"•  Feeding the Funnel"•  Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3"•  Q & A"

#yearend

Lawrence Grodeska Director of Nonprofit Community, Change.org Lawrence manages communications with thousands of nonprofits through webinars, public speaking, social media and email to share tools and resources for effective online advocacy and fundraising. "

Meghan Teich Senior Client Services Manager, Change.org Meghan works with organizations to help them find and connect with motivated new supporters through Change.org sponsored campaigns. Prior to Change.org, she was a Strategist at nonprofit communications firm Big Duck, and ran the Digital Engagement Department at Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA).."

Erica Gulseth Online Fundraising Manager, Earthjustice Erica is a seasoned fundraising professional who has worked with a variety of environmental nonprofits, from small regional groups to large national organizations. Currently, she leads online fundraising at Earthjustice, the largest public interest environmental law firm in the world."

#yearend

The world’s platform for change

#yearend

#yearend

Earthjustice year-end campaign ●  Strategy"●  Planning"●  Execution"

#yearend

2013 year-end trends •  Multi-channel becomes the norm"•  Largest year-over-year increase in donations since 2008"•  Online giving grew 3x as fast as overall giving"•  More opportunities to diversify giving programs year-

round"

Digital Storytelling

#yearend

What makes an effective story ●  Pair with opportunities to take

meaningful action"●  Let your audience know you

rely on their support"

#yearend

Earthjustice story: “Save the Wild”

#yearend

Selecting your year-end storyline •  Tie-in to Mission"

– As a legal organization, we rely on strong laws"•  Timeliness"

– 40th Anniversary of the Endangered Species Act"•  Urgency"

– Brutal attacks on ESA"•  Passion / Emotion"

– Highlight current related casework (manatees, wolves, grizzly bears and whales)"

#yearend

Integrating your message •  Keep it consistent across channels"

– Email"– Social Media"– Text messaging"– Website"– Direct Mail"

•  The Rule of 7s"–  It’s a noisy world!"– Repetition is good"

#yearend

#yearend

Don’t forget to thank your donors and activists!

#yearend

How to invest in storytelling •  Promote a storytelling culture year round"•  Develop a storytelling strategy"

– Articulate measurable goals"–  Identify target audience"– Select your tools"

•  Evaluate the impact of your story"

Feeding the Funnel

#yearend

Why feeding the funnel is important •  Response rates are down"

– M+R Benchmarks Report: 0.07% fundraising response rate"

•  List churn is up"– M+R Benchmarks Report: 13% annual list churn"

•  Donations take time"– Cultivating donors is a time-intensive process"–  Start early!"

#yearend

How you can grow your list •  Your website "

– pop-ups"– homepage"

•  Social Media"•  Advocacy campaigns/petitions"•  Acquisition ""

#yearend

Turning a follow into an email •  Just ask!"

–  Post links to sign-up pages"•  Add custom tabs to your FB page"

–  Email sign-up page"–  Advocacy action"– Donation page"

•  Advertise on FB and Twitter"– Create landing pages for each social network"

#yearend

Earthjustice Social Media Conversion Efforts

#yearend

Acquisition •  Understand the costs and ROI"•  Make sure your CRM is ready"•  Keep your story consistent"•  Don’t limit yourself to one channel "

#yearend

Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3

#yearend

The ABCs of AB tests •  A/B tests"

– Testing two different items"•  Subject lines"•  Images"•  Donation button shape, size, color"•  Content (matches, deadlines, etc.)"

•  How to implement"– 10/10/80"

#yearend

Earthjustice Strategy •  Testing Dashboard"•  Testing Calendar"•  Goals"

– Website (conversions)"– Donation/Action Forms"– Email"– Welcome Series"

#yearend

Example: Homepage Hijack

#yearend

Optimizing your donation pages

#yearend

Example: Arctic Welcome Email (Change.org) •  Test Type: Email A/B Test on Subject Line"•  Success Metric: Open Rate"•  Subject Lines: "

– Next Steps to Protect the Arctic"– Thank you for protecting the Arctic"– Arctic"

•  Results: One word subject line won with 99% statistical significance "

#yearend

Optimizing your emails •  Are they responsive? ""

–  Invest in a new template"– Keep them short"– Make sure the landing page matches"

•  Are they mobile-friendly?"– 50% of all emails are opened on a mobile device"– Don’t go heavy on images"– Test across devices to ensure readability"

Q & A

#yearend

What are YOU changing? Web: Change.org/organizations"Social: @ChangeOrgs" /ChangeOrgs"Email: lawrence@change.org"