Strategic Online Communications for Nonprofits

The Upleaf Blog

Most nonprofits know of Facebook’s tremendous potential as a fundraising tool.  Facebook Causes offers some great tools that nonprofits can use to learn more about their constituencies, manage fundraising campaigns, and mobilize their online communities.

Not all nonprofits who have a presence on Facebook have been able to harness its full potential, however.  A successful fundraising strategy requires: 1)  a cause that people care deeply for and can get passionate about; 2) a legion of highly engaged fans willing to advocate for the cause; 3) a well-coordinated fundraising campaign; and 4) some creativity.  It also takes time– time to build a critical mass of fans,  and time to build loyalty through regular and genuine communication.

But the justification for nonprofits to invest time and resources in Facebook has just become much more compelling.

JP Morgan Chase recently launched the Chase Community Giving Competition, which relies on Facebook crowdsourcing to choose which charities will receive a portion of the $5 million that Chase is giving away this year.  The competition started in December of 2009, with the top 100 charities (voted by Facebook users) winning $25,000 each and advancing to the second round, where another vote will determine which organizationwill receive the $1 million grand prize or $100,000 prizes for the final runners-up. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this competition is that it levels the playing field– some small organizations made it to the top 100 list and may even be awarded $100,000.

With this competition JP Morgan Chase joins the likes of the Case Foundation and W.K. Kellogg Foundation, who have been using Facebook since 2007 to manage America’s Giving Challenge, which awards both daily and end-of-competition cash prizes to the nonprofits who can leverage the most donations from their fans.  More more than $2 million from Facebook users was donated through the competition in 2009.

So if you’re still thinking about building a presence on Facebook, it’s time to get started– both the competition and the rewards this fall will likely be better than ever!

Even if you don’t end up bringing in some of the big prizes from Facebook, the time you’ve spent raising awareness of your cause, engaging your constituents and building relationships creates valuable capital that will boost your broader online fundraising and help you reach your longer-term fundraising objectives.

Posted by Elizabeth Beachy, Upleaf Co-Founder

CNBC recently published a report on some innovative smartphone apps developed by nonprofits to enable consumers to use their buying power to support socially responsible companies.

What follows is an excerpt of the article by Cadie Thompson:

Advocacy organizations are mounting a mobile marketing push to promote more responsible shopping with apps that give consumers the scoop on how a corporation’s policies and actions align with the shopper’s own views on issues like sustainability and human rights. The apps encourage consumers to only buy products and shop at retailers that share the same moral pillars as the shopper.

“Smartphones are changing the way people are living their lives. They (apps) influence spending decisions and this is the next evolution of that,” Scott Ellison, mobile retail analyst for IDC, said. “Make an app easy, intuitive and fun and people will begin to change their behavior.”

Tapping into the App World for Change

The Human Rights Campaign launched their Buying for Equality app last Tuesday. The app rates companies using its 2010 Corporate Equality Index, an annual report that scores companies on a scale from 1 to 100 based on how well their policies support lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Such policies include anti-discrimination protections, domestic partner benefits and diversity training.

Corporations in the app are color-coded based on their score either green, yellow or red. Green (score: 80-100) means the company supports the cause, yellow (score: 46-79) represents companies working towards supporting the cause and red (score: 0-45) indicating the company has not taken many steps to supporting the cause.

Although the app was initiated to help its core supporters — a loyal group of consumers whose buying power was projected to be about $712 billion in 2008, according to the marketing firm Whiteck-Combs Communications — HRC sees the app becoming a tool for any shopper looking to be more conscious. The app has gained over 4,000 users in its first week, Eric Bloem, the deputy director for the Workplace Project for HRC.

Read full article

Source:  www.cnbc.com

Donors love to ask the question, “What is your cost per beneficiary?“  It’s a great way for them to compare potential grantees working within the same field, and can be a good proxy of an organization’s efficiency.

Now nonprofit organizations can reach more people and decrease their cost per beneficiary thanks to online communities.  Here’s how:

1. Create an online support group. This can be a tremendously powerful tool for organizations that work with populations who are stigmatized, in danger, or dealing with addictions.  It offers built-in confidentiality (participants can select any screen names), safety (no need to leave home), and support from peers who are facing similar issues.

The organization can moderate discussions and screen for abuses, but by and large this strategy requires little time investment from the sponsoring agency as the value is found in interaction with people with shared experiences.  Online support groups have been effective for reaching:

• Victims of domestic violence
• People diagnosed with potentially terminal illness like cancer or HIV
• Smokers seeking to quit
• People with certain types of mental illness

An online support group would usually be custom-built, and hosted within the organization’s website.  It should be built to include an administrative function (someone who can delete or block inappropriate comments, offer advice, and monitor traffic and trending topics), and if necessary, password-protected areas for users.  A great way to launch an online support group is to simply move existing support groups online, and offer some initial incentives for beneficiaries to participate.  From then on it will likely take wings and grow on its own.

2. Move peer education networks online. Peer education is a powerful strategy for behavior change.  As more youth interact with their peers online, traditional interpersonal communication strategies must follow suit. As they do, the cost per beneficiary can drop tremendously.  Peer educators can use their Facebook or MySpace accounts to share their thoughts about key topics with peers, email and SMS text messaging to have confidential conversations, and YouTube to share creative and motivational messages.  The cost of these tools is next to nothing– and they can reach many more youth than traditional door-to-door or face-to-face models. The impact on behavior may even be similar to traditional models, because youth are now so comfortable interacting in these ways.

3. Build interactive online forums for discussion. If your organization’s work relates to civil rights, political issues or advocacy, interactive online forums are a great way to get people involved with your cause and motivated toward action. You could develop a dedicated discussion forum, or simply create dynamic content (allow the public to contribute to your blog or citizen news sections) and encourage people to comment on what they read. By getting people involved with your issues through genuine two-way (or multi-directional) communication, they are more likely to become loyal activists or followers– measures valued by your donors.

In short there are many tools nonprofits can use to build community online, and by doing so decrease the ratio of staff to beneficiaries and cost per beneficiary.  Most beneficiaries are seeking community anyway, not just advice from professionals.

Community is what keeps people coming back– it builds loyalty, creates a sense of belonging, reinforces positive social norms, and ultimately helps create lasting impact on the lives of beneficiaries.

Posted by Elizabeth Beachy, Upleaf Co-Founder