Welcome to my personal blog on Robin Hood Marketing—the concept of stealing corporate savvy to sell just causes—and my life as a marketer, from Washington DC to Madagascar to points in between.
Juicy stats, benchmarks and lessons on online giving
Posted by katya on Wed, March 18, 2009
Target Analytics today released the 2008 donorCentrics Internet Giving Benchmarking Analysis, which they admit may just qualify as the longest title in the history of online statistical reporting.
In plain English, this is a useful annual study that give you a sense of how 24 big national nonprofits are doing with their online fundraising. You can compare and contrast your results. Loads of fun for the fundraising geeks among us—Benchmark! Experience insecurity! Or smile with schadenfreude!
Here are the highlights from the report (in bold) with my commentary (not in bold). My comments are based on Network for Good’s analysis of the donations we processed for 30,000 nonprofits last year:
·Online giving continues to grow rapidly in 2007 and 2008, even in the absence of major disasters which fueled the growth of online giving for relief and animal welfare organizations in previous years.
Yes, Network for Good saw 34% growth in dollars during that time.
·Even with this growth, online giving is still dwarfed by direct mail giving.
Yes, don’t throw out your postage meter yet. But keep in mind online giving is tracking (though lagging) to the trends of online shopping and banking. It will represent more and more of giving in the future, so get a strong foothold in online fundraising now. With younger donors and higher gifts—and lower fundraising costs—you can’t afford to ignore it.
·Online donors are younger and have higher incomes than traditional, primarily direct mail donors.
Yes, our average donor is 39.
·Over the past few years, online giving has become an increasingly significant source of new donor acquisition.
Yes, studies consistently show this. Another reason you can’t neglect online giving.
·Online donors give much larger gifts than traditional donors.
Yes, our average gift size $125.
·Online donors have slightly lower retention rates overall than traditional donors.
The New York Times did a whole story on this less encouraging part of the study today, natch. I think this is caused by two things: the poor track record of nonprofits in cultivating online donors and the fact that many online donors are reacting to a crisis. We wish more nonprofits would encourage recurring gifts online and that nonprofits were cultivating online donors to their full potential. Since these donors give larger gifts we feel that when proper follow-up and segmentation are put into place, the value of the online donor will far exceed that of other channels. This is especially true when you factor in the efficiency/costs of processing and cultivating them.
·Higher acquisition giving levels and higher revenue per donor in subsequent years may mask issues with cultivation and retention of online donors.
This is really true. Donors give more over time, so the real value of online donors is going to become clearer down the road. In aggregate, the study notes, online donors have much higher cumulative value over the long term than traditionally acquired donors.
·Online giving is not a strong renewal channel; every year, large numbers of online donors migrate away from online giving and to other channels, primarily direct mail.
See above. Also, I know from my own experience, when I give online, nonprofits might only cultivate me by direct mail. The best nonprofits have a nice multi-channel outreach program. Don’t assume people want to give in only one way, online or off.
·Donors to direct mail – the primary giving source for most organizations – rarely give online. In the relatively rare cases when mail donors do give online, they tend to give higher average gifts –both before and after their first online gift. Online donors downgrade when they switch to offline, primarily direct mail giving. Having an email address on file makes a positive difference in the giving behavior of offline donors.
·Donors in the southwest and mountain regions of the United States are disproportionately more likely to give online.
I guess we Eastcoasters are behind the curve.
·Differences in revenue per donor and retention rates between online and offline donors are consistent across geographical regions.
If you are STILL with me, then you are truly a fundraising geek like me, so I’ll share more data! This from a Cygnus Applied Research Survey, Philanthropy in a Turbulent Economy.
This study showed:
·More than 52 percent of donors said their gifts would be on par with 2008, while just 17.5 percent planned to give less.
·Donors also said they were giving more to fewer causes (28.6 percent), being more thoughtful about their donations (29.4 percent), and donating more to local charities rather than national or umbrella organizations.
·But the respondents were prepared to make sacrifices to sustain their philanthropy. Of those who planned to give at least as much in 2009, 50 percent said they were willing to make compromises in other areas of their life to do so.
·Most people said the recession would not affect their previous charitable commitments. Of those who were committed to a multi-year gift, 87 percent said they would pay the donations on time…Meanwhile, donors who were forced to make cuts preferred to give smaller donations, rather than halting their support altogether.
·42.5 percent said they would give to a charity they had not supported in the past if someone they knew was seeking the gift. Many donors (40.3 percent) said they were also willing to give for the first time if the charity was working directly to help people hurt by the recession.
1. Listen to them: This is the key. If you really want someone’s attention, PAY ATTENTION TO THAT SOMEONE. You have to listen to be heard, see to be seen. Are you doing this? If not, that may be why your audience isn’t opening your emails, taking your calls or answering your appeals. You need to be in conversation, not monologue, with people in order to make them receptive. Here’s a good example of letting your audience have some say. Here’s another with great user generated stories.
2. Connect to what you’ve heard: Once you’ve listened to your audience, you’ll know what to say. Because you’ll understand what interests and passions make your audience tick - and which are the interests and passions you need to tap in your own outreach. Your message, if you’re framing it right, becomes highly inclusive of your audience, as you see here.
3. Show, don’t tell: Connect through stories and great messengers (see #4). This works far better than talking about yourself in a sterile way. Great stories get people’s attention like nothing else. Think of the many speeches you’ve nearly slept through until you perk up with cues like, “let me tell a story,” or “here’s or an example” or “that reminds me of the time…”
4. Change the messenger: I’m always saying this, but it really does bear repeating. Don’t be the only one asking for help. Provide great information and stories for your supporters to spread within their circles of influence. Tap someone helped by your organization to write your newsletter. Authentic outside messengers can do more for your message than you can ever do yourself.
You have to love this. (There’s sound, so keep in mind if you’re at work. Some of my poor readers got in trouble at work watching my Colbert clips. Fair warning this time.)
1. funny
2. hard not to forward
3. easy to spread on facebook (I posted it on my facebook page after seeing it from Shaun, with just a click)
4. delivers a great message in a positive way
How refreshing… and from the Federal Government no less!
Hear what constitutes just enough planning for your marketing campaign. Thanks to my organization Network for Good, we’ve got a great free teleconference tomorrow (which you can later access online). The great Kristen Grimm of Spitfire (who happens to be spitfire herself) will be speaking on Great Campaigns in Nine Simple Steps: How to Succeed with “Just Enough” Planning.
Campaign planning in 9 easy steps
Ideas for campaign goal-setting, staffing, timelines and messaging
How to measure success along the way
Q&A session to answer your campaign questions
Why you should care about the jewelry store across the street
Posted by katya on Thu, March 05, 2009
Parking around my office is a challenge - few spots, metered, and all pricey, so it’s hard to find enough change to pay for it. Most of the businesses around the neighborhood have reacted this way: they post little signs in their windows saying “we don’t make change for the parking meters.”
Then there’s a jewelry shop across the street from my office. They have a sign that is the rare exception: “We will gladly make change for the parking meters!” it says.
I bet they get a lot more in-store traffic than they would otherwise. And maybe most people don’t buy jewelry when they come in for change, but I bet people browse or make conversation because they feel they feel it’s nice to do when they’re getting change. And in making conversation, people forge a personal connection with the owners. That means perhaps when they are in the market for something, they’ll go back to the store.
I wish more organizations thought like that. Is your nonprofit on a street where you could hand out parking meter change? I bet people would donate part of their change. Are there other favors or nice things you could do for the people who might become your supporters someday?
There’s also a larger lesson here, about how you choose portray yourself.
Nonprofit marketing folks and fundraisers: Don’t define yourself by who you are not - or what you refuse to do for others. Define yourself by who you are - and what makes you special.
I just gave $336 to a stranger who knocked on my door…
Posted by katya on Tue, March 03, 2009
I really did.
It was this guy, a canvasser for Save the Children:
I answered the door because it was 15 degrees outside, and I figured a canvasser holding a clipboard must be awfully dedicated to something interesting to be out on a night like this.
He was raising money for Save the Children. Little did he know who he was getting behind my door—a professional fundraiser who might actually end up blogging his visit. But he was friendly and open and not too freaked out when I told him I knew all about Save already, but what I really wanted to know was why they were doing fundraising via canvassing. He said because it worked wonderfully. Most of Save’s child sponsors sign up via canvassers, apparently. Save is focused on this approach, scaling back TV ads and other broad-brush, less effective means of getting recurring, monthly gifts—a great gift that pays off for their programs many times, over time. It didn’t hurt that he added my neighbors had donated, too.
Made sense to me. I just gave him my credit card number and a year’s commitment of $28 monthly gifts to sponsor a child in Africa. Oh, and a copy of my book and a pitch about Network for Good too, of course. And I made him pose for a picture.
The lesson? Nothing beats the personal touch. I say this all the time, and I’m a skeptical marketer, but even I can’t resist it. A nice guy going door to door to personally and earnestly ask me to help a girl in Africa on a very cold night was just too personally compelling to refuse. Really. I’ve politely hung up on half a dozen fundraising telemarketers in the past week and thrown away ten pieces of direct mail, but this was too hard to turn down. And more rewarding as a yes. Well done, Save the Children.
I’m not saying you need to hire a group of canvassers like Save to do face-to-face appeals, but do try to make your asks more personal. Get your volunteers to spread the word to their neighborhood. Or to hand-write your donor thank-yous. Helping children? Include their drawings in your communications. Encourage your supporters to tell their friends and family members why they love you. Or at the very least, segment that mass email campaign according to some audience groups smaller than “everyone on my mailing list.”
Ode Magazine has published a list of “25 intelligent optimists” and my hero Seth Godin (3,000 posts!) was kind enough to name me as one. You can read the article here.
But more importantly, read about the other inspiring folks here.
(PS - in the article my story is portrayed a little out of order - if only my life were that linear or logical. CARE was one of my first jobs and the need that really got me was what I saw in Cambodia and Madagascar. But I’m still an optimist and try to be intelligent on my good days.)
People are conformists. They do what they think other people are doing. This is the basis of social norms theory and plenty of effective marketing.
What does this mean to you if you’re marketing greener behavior?
Don’t tell people to save the planet. Show them what their neighbors are doing if you want them to think about their behavior.
There’s a great analysis of a study that did just this at NeuroMarketing blog.
The study found if people think their neighbors are using less electricity, they lower their usage. If they think they are using more, they may increase their usage.
One of the smartest minds on marketing in the world and an expert on social norms theory, Robert Cialdini, calls this phenomenon the magic middle in his new book Yes.
If you’re marketing greener behavior, keep this in mind.
If you’re marketing anything, keep this in mind. The magnetic middle works for raising money, too.
I get asked to cover different initiatives all the time here on the blog. Most of the pitches stink. They are self-aggrandizing and really hard to follow. Worse, people attach press releases and expect me to comb through a release to determine how the story is relevant to my blog—and if it is, to start from scratch writing it up. If I like the content—for example it’s a great study—I write back and ask for five bullets summarizing it. Why? Because while I used to be a journalist, now I have a full-time day job. I don’t have much time for reporting. And a blog entry is not a news article anyway. So I’m not willing to spend an hour putting together a post.
Here’s how you pitch a blogger:
1. You actually read their blog
2. You explain in the first sentence how your idea is relevant to their blog
3. You write a short, pithy summary of your idea in bullets that can be cut and pasted into a blog if the blogger likes it
4. You even embed links for them
These simple steps will greatly increase your chances of getting covered.
Last night, I got pitched by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids to blog their campaign. They did a good job. I’ll tell you why: they did all of the above to promote their new report, Deadly in Pink, which takes the tobacco industry to task for targeting girls and young women in their marketing. Better yet, they gave me a cool widget that summarizes everything they’re doing. All I had to do was plop it in and add my commentary. Here it is:
My only improvement on this widget would have been a big call to action with a one-click way to join their crusade. The end of the video and the buttons below it don’t exacty nail that, but it’s close. I’m disgusted by the tobacco industry when I watch this, but i’m not really sure what to do about it.
If you don’t have the money for a widget, don’t worry. Even a bulleted list is nice for a blogger.
By the way, if you watch the video, take note: tobacco companies are really good at marketing. After all, they’ve managed to sell something deadly. Check out the values they play to: empowerment, stylishness, self esteem.
Your organization can tap into those same values for good. CARE does it all the time. Steal tobacco’s marketing savvy and use it for good!
This week, I flew on Virgin America. It was UNBELIEVABLE. A cool, space age-looking interior. A power plug for your laptop under your seat, in economy. Internet access on board. Your own TV on the seat with live television and loads of movies. Hungry? You just tap on the seatback screen and order whatever you want, whenever you want. The flight attendant brings it right to your seat. All for less than $300 for a roundtrip flight from DC to San Francisco.
So let me ask you something, are you going to think about flying Virgin America next time you fly?
Let me ask you something else: have you seen any ad lately that got you as interested in the airline as I did?
I’ve spent a lot of time in my speeches lately talking about how important the messenger is in marketing.
Sometimes, the messenger IS the marketing.
If a company or organization is the messenger promoting themselves, that’s one thing.
If your friend or neighbor professes love for that company or organization, that’s quite another.
Now is the best time in the world to get people other than your employees to talk about you. It works way better. For prompting action of any kind.
And it’s free. I didn’t get a dime from Virgin America to say how much I like them, on this blog or when I was emailing friends on board (saying how great it was to be able to work and communicate at 35,000 feet.)
Being extraordinary gets people to talk about you, so treat your audience like Virgin Airlines passengers. Those valentines (the people who love you) will do you the great favor of proclaiming their affection far and wide.
10 Steps to Online Fundraising Success and 4 Mistakes to Avoid
Posted by katya on Thu, February 12, 2009
This afternoon, I’m presenting on this topic at CADCA’s National Leadership Forum, the nation’s largest training conference for community substance abuse professionals. You can check out the entire presentation HERE. (While you’re at fundraising123.org, also check out John Kenyon’s More Than a Donate Button: Composing Your Online Fundraising Plan in ‘09 presentation.) My top ten are:
1. Get the tools (decent website, DonateNow button, email signup, email campaign tool)
2. Put your DonateNow button and website address everywhere
3. Create and fuel your email engine.
4. Now make sure people give: Focus on the AUDIENCE.
5. Answer for prospective donors: why me?
6. Answer: what for?
7. Answer: why now?
8. Answer: who says?
9. Thank early and often.
10. Do the advanced stuff (like social media)
What to avoid?
1. Thinking a DonateNow button alone is an online fundraising program
2. Putting yourself at the center of every message—that’s where your audience belongs
3. Having a lame, confusing or ill-considered call to action.
4. Being ungrateful—thank your supporters lavishly, over and over
For this week’s websites/blogs of the weeks, I thought I’d share my go-to resources. It’s taken me forever to figure out the best places for information on nonprofits, nonprofit marketing and fundraising online. Here are some tips:
Guess what? They’re assigning marketing homework in fifth grade. Yep.
Here was my daughter Sophia’s assignment: to invent a fantasy sled and then write a paragraph to market it. In my unbiased opinion, it was the best piece of marketing I read all week.
This is how she described her sled, which was shaped like a giant globe and had a trampoline, elevator, Egyptian desert, Eiffel Tower replica, kitchen and swimming pool among other features:
Is the economy getting on your nerves? Don’t want to spend money this winter to travel? Well, I think you need a Debbie. This eco-friendly, travel-themed sled gives anyone a cultural experience without worrying about your economic investment and more importantly, all those pesky tourists… Debbie is like traveling without ever leaving the country!
This got me thinking. Here is what ten year olds like, totally understand. And it applies to nonprofit marketing. And fundraising. And most human communication.
1. YOU MUST GET RIGHT TO THE POINT: Kids don’t have the corner on the short attention spn market. So ten year olds don’t waste time getting to the heart of the matter. Nor should we. They keep it clear and direct.
2. IT MATTERS WHO IS TALKING: Kids listen to who is real and who is cool. Guess what? So do grownups. Sophia is an authentic messenger. To her audience - mom and the teacher - she has a lot of authenticity and credibility.
3. ALWAYS OFFER DESSERT: Kids are always focused on dessert. Adults want the sweets too. Lesson: put the reward right out there, front and center. Kids get the concept of benefit exchange better than anyone on the planet. They are pretty aware of what’s in it for them in any situation. Like travel on the cheap without leaving the country or dealing with tourists…
Way to go, Sophia.
PS: Sophia could teach those spammers a thing or two. Lately, I’ve been getting a lot of fake “comments” on my blog from people called “San Francisco Personal Injury Lawyer” or “New York personal injury lawyers.” I moderate so I can delete people like this. Not authentic, folks. Lay off my blog.
Posted by katya on Wed, March 18, 2009
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