Strategic Online Communication for Nonprofits

Posts Tagged ‘online communications strategy’

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

Sure, having a celebrity founder and spokesman helps, but many celebrities have foundations that don’t enjoy anywhere near the same popularity as the Livestrong Foundation.

Why has the foundation been so successful?  In part because they’re doing everything right with regard to their online presence:

• A dynamic, interactive, attention-grabbing website, with a “We Believe” declaration so inspiring it reaches to the depths of your soul.
  • A “donate now” message that grabs your attention.  You can’t miss it—marked with the trademark yellow bracelet.
  • Once you click on “donate now” the first message you see reassures you that your money will be spent wisely (78% of all donations go directly to grants and programs).
  • The site offers multiple ways to make a donation, with something that appeals to everyone: “in memory”, “wedding donations”, “workplace giving”, “events support”, “download a song from iTunes” and more.  They’ve thought of every way you might want to give and made it easy for you.
  • For those who prefer to make a purchase and receive something in return, there’s a link with products to choose from that make both a fashion statement and a values statement.
  • The site is easy to navigate and tells you everything you need to know, in simple language.
  • In plain view you can access their services and see testimonies and photos of people they’ve helped—which again reassures you that your donations really make a difference.

• A strategic partnership with Nike through sale of their products, which brings visibility to their cause and drives new traffic
• A strong social media presence, with over half a million fans of their Facebook page, 200,000+ members of their Facebook cause, and even 60,000+ fans of their Spanish-language Facebook page.  Livestrong also has 30,000+ followers on Twitter.  That’s a lot of daily exposure.
• Innovative media coverage, most recently through the Tour de France “chalkbot” that enabled people around the world to have their text messages chalked on the pavement during the competition.

Their web presence is a bit fragmented, with several different sites drawing in different traffic (just under 80,000 unique monthly visitors to Livestrong.org and 650,000+ monthly visitors to Livestrong.com, 60+ different Facebook pages or causes) but the bottom line is that they are using every major online tool to get their message out.

And it’s working.  Livestrong raises over $30 million a year, with a large portion of their revenue coming from small donations from individual donors.  That’s strategic online communication with undisputable results.

Many nonprofits are starting to dabble in Web 2.0— Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube—the list goes on.

Some organizations have been tremendously successful fundraising through social media, provoking massive viral responses to their wildly creative ideas.  The majority of nonprofits however, have been slow to see financial returns.

Facebook’s Causes just recently surpassed the $10 million mark for donations.  This sounds like a lot, but when spread between 26,000 organizations it amounts to only $385 per organization.  The reality is that many causes haven’t raised a dime, while others have drawn in over $100,000.

What makes the difference?

Strategy, creativity, and persistence.

It is clear that the most successful organizations have a clearly defined strategy, and each comment or photo or story posted is consistent with that strategy.  This is KEY.  You need to know where you want to go before you start walking, and stay focused until you get there.  Some nonprofits use social media not to raise funds, but rather to engage constituents and raise awareness about their work.  Many in this category consider their strategies to be a huge success because they’ve effectively increased their website traffic, have thousands of followers, and have grown their contacts lists exponentially.  Bravo!

Creativity also goes a long way.  The more you stand out from the crowd, the more Facebook fans you garner, the more you get retweeted, and the more popular your YouTube video becomes.  Again however, that creativity must help you reach your objectives to be considered effective.

As in everything else in life, persistence will take you far.  Maybe you don’t have a particularly creative message or approach, but you can still build your followers and fans little by little, day by day, by routinely getting your consistent messages out there.

There is a lot of information out there about how to make your strategy a success.  I’ve compiled several links below to help you find creative inspiration and follow some key tips for success.  We wish you luck!

4 Facebook Tips for Nonprofit Success

10 Twitter Tips for Nonprofit Organizations

Donations, Volunteers, Supporters on Social Networks

Six Online Fundraising Campaigns that Work

Viral Video for Nonprofits

By Elizabeth Beachy, Upleaf Co-Founder