Strategic Online Communication for Nonprofits

The Upleaf Blog

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

Many large nonprofit organizations have been using powerful petition tools for years to mobilize their supporters toward action through quick sign and forward applications.  Now Change.org is shaking things up by making their tool available to anyone– including individuals or small nonprofit organizations– who previously were unable to afford such applications.

The petition tool is free, easy to use, and the directions are simple.  Change.org walks you through the process of setting up your target (elected officials, business leaders, etc), your messaging, and your promotion strategy.

The tool includes some great features to increase visibility:

• Integration with social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter
• Embeddable widgets to promote the petition on other sites
• A ‘leaderboard’ to show how many people each reporter has recruited to sign the petition
• Visibility through Change.org, whose top petitions are sent weekly to half a million activists
• Capacity to send follow-up emails to everyone who has signed the petition
• Allows petition signers to opt in to your email list (great way to grow your list quickly!)

To get started, visit www.change.org/petition and start making changes today!

Posted by Elizabeth Beachy, Upleaf Co-Founder

Online fundraising success doesn’t come easily.  It requires time and effort, and most importantly—a clear strategy—supported by the right tools.

There are tools available to nonprofits that can turn a small team of three employees into a fundraising powerhouse.  The key is to synchronize and automate as many activities as possible, which helps maximize the efficiency of each team member and multiply the impact of every message.

At Upleaf we promote a four-part strategy, where each strategy builds upon the previous one:

1. Constituent Relationship Management System. The foundation of any online strategy is a CRM system—i.e. the technologies and processes that help an organization manage its constituents (donors, members, stakeholders, volunteers, and even beneficiaries).  Most CRM tools can help you:

• Segment target audiences for tailored messaging
• Automate thank-you notes, membership renewal reminders, end-of-year IRS letters for donors
• Consolidate contacts across an organization and track interactions with all contacts
• Automatically upload contact info from online donors, Facebook fans, newsletter subscribers, and other constituents your organization interacts with online
• Monitor results with detailed custom reports

2. Build an Online Community. By “Online Community” we mean creating a space where people associated with your cause or your organization can interact with you and also with each other. Creating an open forum helps build long-term loyalty, attract new constituents, increase your impact, and learn more about your supporters and how they feel about your issues.  It also builds powerful allies and partners in promotion, who can spread your messages to their own social networks.  Some of the most effective ways to build an online community include:

• An interactive website. This means creating space for people to comment on your content, participate in a discussion forum, submit a guest blog post, or share content with friends through social networks at the click of a button.
• Social media applications.  Here Facebook, YouTube, Change.org, Twitter, or even custom social media applications can be highly effective ways to build your interactive community quickly.
• Advocacy.  Action alerts, petitions, or other online advocacy tools get people involved with your cause.  Systems like Democracy in Action make advocacy campaigns easy to manage.
• Online support groups. Many nonprofits serve people who would benefit from being able to interact with each other online. This strategy can increase the number of people reached without increasing staff or overhead.

3. Launch a Targeted Campaign. Once you have established a robust online community and CRM to manage your relationships, you can embark on a targeted campaign.  This requires clear and compelling messaging based on best practices of writing for the web, an appropriate mix of fundraising pitches and showcasing of results, and of course, some creativity.  You’ll want to launch coordinated messages through a strategic mix of:

• Your website (make sure your campaign messages are front and center)
• Email blasts (one of your most powerful tools to call for quick action)
• Social media (get your online community to join in, and also endorse your cause to their friends)
• Google Ads (free to nonprofits through a Google Grant—can bring in new supporters)
• Public Relations (there are some great online PR agencies that can help reach your audiences)

4. Collect Your Revenue. Now that you’ve done the work to get your message out and convince people to donate to your cause, become a member, or buy a ticket to your big event—you have to make sure that it is as easy as possible for them to do so. A couple of tips can go a long way:

• Put a “Donate Now” or “Become a Member” button on your home page and on every single page of your online presence (website, email blast, Facebook cause, etc)
• Enable one-time and recurrent donations
• Encourage donations to specific programs, and clarify what $ amount can make a difference
• Recognize your donors, members or contributors, to keep them coming back

Finally, you’ll want to capitalize on your reach and get creative with your fundraising—set up contests with prizes for your biggest fundraisers, an online store, online auctions, or a Facebook or Twitter challenge.  And most importantly, get your online community involved.  Often they have fresh, new, powerful ideas that a development department would never think of!

If you haven’t yet launched your online communication strategy or need some help sharpening it up, Upleaf offers free initial consultations to nonprofit organizations.  Contact us to set up your free consultation now!

Posted by Elizabeth Beachy, Upleaf Co-Founder