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.
Ask for online donations today. Really.
Posted by katya on Wed, December 27, 2006
Today and tomorrow are the best days of the entire year to ask for donations online. So do it!
At Network for Good, we see our giving spike to incredible levels in the last week of every year. That’s because online giving is perfectly suited to philanthropic procrastinators who want to get in their donations by the end of the tax year. Our giving is expected to go from about $70,000 on December 1 to well over $1 million a day for the final days of the year.
Please send out a last-minute email appeal today and ask folks who have not given recently to make a year-end donation to your organization online. If you don’t have a way for them to give online, get a DonateNow button for free in five minutes at Network for Good. Or go to Network for Good, search for your charity, click on “donate” and then share that URL with your mailing list. Don’t delay - there is no better time to ask for support online.
As I start wrapping things like a pink iDog for my daughters this Christmas, I have been thinking about how to give my kids another gift that feels even better to experience—the gift of helping someone else. Here’s what I propose: this holiday, give your child—or someone else’s child—$25 to spend on charity. You can give them $25 to spend at Network for Good (which has every charity based in the US) or Global Giving (which has a bunch of international projects) or the charity you work for. Let them choose how to spend it, either by letting them pick the charity or by designating their donation to a special project. Spend it together online, checking out pictures and project descriptions.
This will do two amazing things, one for your soul and one (of course) for your marketing savvy.
1.) In watching a child make this decision, you’ll feel wonderful about the child, your work, the holidays and the world in general, as when I helped my daughter decide whether to give to a teacher of Sudanese refugees or playground equipment for Gulf Coast kids.
2.) In explaining to a child what your charity and other charities do, something strange and transformative may happen. The way I described various charities and projects to an 8-year-old, I realized, was far more compelling than anything I had said in weeks. Wow, I thought, there is no better way to boil down the essence and power of a good cause. Look at your web page, then listen to how you describe it to a young person. You might realize you’re not telling the story you could be telling.
Guest Star Blogger Mark Rovner: Getting Passionate
Posted by katya on Mon, December 18, 2006
Today’s guest star is the smart, savvy and charmingly snarky Mark Rovner of Sea Change Strategies. His blog is good reading, and this post (and DEFINITELY the white paper) is worth your attention.
When it comes to marketing, bulls*@t has seen better days. The evidence is coming in fast and furious that a new emphasis on authenticity is coming to dominate the public landscape — from reality shows to Youtube to anti-brands.
In the fundraising realm, declining donor loyalty may be a sign of revolt against much of the technique-driven garbage that is sent out in the name of small-dollar fundraising.
There is nothing about the Internet that makes communications inherently more authentic than TV or direct mail. There is no shortage of bullshit online. But the Internet does offer new opportunities to humanize fundraising in a genuine way.
Following is an excerpt to the first chapter to the whitepaper Sea Change just released, ostensibly on year-end fundraising. But what it’s really about — what Sea Change hopes to become known for — is changing the conversation with donors for the better.
[And by the way, authentic doesn’t mean boring, just as bulls@#t doesn’t necessarily mean fun.]
From “A Procrastinator’s Guide to Year-End Fundraising”—four ways to build donor passion
• Tell your organization’s founding story once a year. Communications guru Andy Goodman calls this one of the “sacred bundle” of stories – a profound reminder of the deep values and moral struggle that gave rise to your organization’s existence.
• Have a genuine cultivation strategy and calendar. Send emails to donors that thank them, that report back on how you’ve spent their money, and then offer an inspiring anecdote or factoid. You can’t thank donors enough, and chances are, you don’t. Make it a point not to ask for donations in these communications.
• Ask your donors for their feedback and opinions on a regular basis. Remind them that you know there are people behind those email addresses.
• Offer periodic live chats or phone-in briefings with your CEO. This is a staple of major donor fundraising, inexplicably absent from the online giving scene.
• Offer real-life glimpses into the life of your organization. We are entering an era when authenticity is arguably the paramount value in marketing communications – a potentially massive shift from the fakey-fake formula that still guides most direct mail. One recent example: a brief, affecting and heart-felt thank you video by Amnesty International staff.
Large American nonprofits spend at least $7.6 billion per year on marketing and public relations, and may in fact spend a great deal more, according to the Changing Our World analysis of 71 nonprofits with annual revenues of $10 million or more per year. Itemized examination of IRS Form 990 Line 43, where marketing and communications expenses reside, resulted in an extrapolated estimate of $7.6 billion for the sector.
With more than 100 nonprofits forming everyday, it’s becoming a very competitive world for donor dollars. That’s driving a lot of marketing spending. And since most of us don’t have a huge marketing budget to sling around, we have to work smarter than ever. Not a relaxing thought on a Friday afternoon in the heat of fundraising season.
One way to work smarter is to get your online fundraising up and running, because it’s cheap and competitive. Network for Good (my nonprofit) can really help you in this department. Get a Donate Now button, do email outreach, and use the long tail of the web to reach people where they cluster online.
And at least this study gives you another talking point for defending your marketing budget -- it’s a competitive world out there.
My daughter’s brownie troop gave a Build-a-Bear to a major in Afghanistan, and he has chronicled the bear’s life.
There are variations on this—Flat Stanley being a popular one—but the consistent, sound idea here is that people like to be able to picture themselves, or something personal of theirs, in places far away. It makes the world a little smaller, and their life experience a bit larger.
What is your nonprofit doing to take people into the world where you work? What personal ties are you helping them establish to the people you help? Are you blogging photos and stories from foreign countries, showing where their dollars went? Can you come up with a Flat Stanley donors can send and see in action, amid your work? Transport people with pictures or stories (thanks Beth) so they get the pleasure of seeing their mark in the world. It’s what we all want before we die - to know we made a difference and that someone, somewhere will remember.
I remember being involved in some audience research a few years back about “caregivers”—people who take care of an elderly parent, for example, or a chronically ill spouse. The main finding of the research was that “caregivers” did not self-identify as “caregivers.” So a marketing campaign to promote useful resources for “caregivers” was not working. It had no audience, because the audience did not see itself as bearing the label bestowed upon it.
Now my friends at Spitfire have a fascinating, free new report called Discovering the Activation Point that reinforces this point. A key finding, says Spitfire, is:
When nonprofits approach their audiences and label them “activists” or “advocates,” it creates distance between the organization and the people they are trying to influence. While we might want our audiences to identify themselves as activists, more likely they identify themselves emotionally as concerned parents, responsible homeowners, or pet lovers. Having an actual conversation with them and taking into consideration what they care about and how they identify themselves is far more likely to be effective at persuading them to act.
Well said, Spitfire. The report then digs into how to get people to act, if labels that imply action don’t work. Some key findings:
An activation point occurs when the right people at the right time are persuaded to take an action that leads to measurable social change.
When people have a high level of awareness of an issue, they are not motivated by more information. In fact, it can contribute to their state of inertia.
Hope is the only absolutely, positively essential ingredient to campaigns trying to inspire action. You must make people believe that the situation will get better – with their help.
There are several stages to successful persuasion:
Stage One: People need to know, believe and care enough to want to act.
Stage Two: People must have the will to act.
Stage Three: Once people act, they must be rewarded for doing so.
Timing is everything. Deciding when it is the right time to persuade people is a critical factor to defining an activation point – and can be very tricky.
Understanding an audience’s comfort zone is key. There are clear limits to what even the most passionate people are willing to do, especially if the “ask” is outside their comfort zone. On the other hand, asking people to do things within their comfort zone allows them to feel good about helping without putting themselves at risk.
People are selfish. They need to feel an issue is directly relevant to their own lives before they will act.
I took this low-quality shot from my car window the other day. This car was next to me in traffic, and it got me thinking.
If we’re passionate about a cause, we may wear it on our sleeve, or on our bumper, with great pride. Such zeal can be good and bad. Good, in that passion can be wonderfully persuasive. Bad, in that too much passion (especially the angry, slightly raving kind) isolates you from human engagement and makes you a lousy marketer. I get a certain feeling when I see cars like this: “wow, that looks like a nice, well-intentioned person, but hope I don’t run into them at a cocktail party.” If you are a very loud preacher for your cause who rarely breaks to listen to your audience - or take in their perspective - you could end up with an audience of one. Yourself. Be passionate, but be in a conversation with potential supporters. Good marketing is not a stickerfest, nor is it a monologue. It’s a give and take.
There are a lot of great personal fundraising widgets proliferating now (just ask Beth)—what makes ours different is that you can upload personal photos and text, link to your own video, and fundraise for any of more than one million charities—including the ones you work for! In designing the badge, we put the spotlight on the individual fundraiser for two reasons: first, the number one reason people give is because someone asks them (especially someone they know) and second, people like to create things with their personal imprint. The badge enables this, plus it tracks donations in real time so people can see the difference they are making. Network for Good processes the donations and transfers the funds directly to the nonprofit.
On our site, you can build a badge for your nonprofit and give it to your supporters—or let them create their own. Better yet, create it through Yahoo!’s Network of Giving campaign and your nonprofit could receive up to $50,000 in matching funds, plus billing on Yahoo!’s web site. Great publicity!
So far, it works on nearly all blogs and some social networking sites, and we also have a simple text version you can put in your email signature—but it’s not yet working everywhere. It’s a Beta work in progress! Try it out and share your triumphs and frustrations here or at our badge blog.
The word QUIZ came into being in a very unusual way. One day in the late eighteenth century, an Irishman named Daly bet a friend that he could introduce a new word into the language in 24 hours. That night, Daly went all around the city of Dublin writing QUIZ on walls. The next day everyone in Dublin was asking, “What’s a quiz?” Daly won his bet, and the word QUIZ became a part of the English language - literally overnight. Because Daly’s quiz tested people’s ability to come up with a quick answer, the word has come to mean a short, fast test.
In Chicago, a friend cuts off the end of roast beef before she cooks it. She does it because her mother does it. Her mother does it because her grandmother did it. So one day, the friend asks her grandmother why for years she has cut the end off the roast beef. The reason? Her grandmother says, “because my pan is too small.”
I love this story because it tells us so much of how humans think. We so often do as we have always done out of tradition or habit or imitation without questioning why. We move within our personal frames of reference, over and over, back and forth, until our ways are ingrained and unquestioned.
I do this so much myself. And deep within the comfort of habit, I find myself irritated at the end of the day when my eight-year-old asks, “why?” to so many things. Yet she is so wise for asking. We should all ask why the end comes off the roast beef more often. I know I should. When I do is when I make a breakthrough on a problem, idea or project.
Reject the frame you’re given, just a little, and see where it leads you.
Posted by Britt Bravo on Tue, December 05 2006 Britt Bravo is a Writer, Podcast Producer, Nonprofit Consultant from Oakland, CA
Hello Katya’s Nonprofit Marketing Blog Readers!
Katya was kind enough to ask me to guest blog here so I thought I’d share a post with you that I recently posted on the NetSquared blog:
What makes us write a donation check, spread the word about a campaign, or show up for a meeting or protest? What makes us want to act for social change? Emotional connection. Passion for a cause.
For the past year, I have been writing for NetSquared about nonprofits and NGOs that are using the social web to cultivate donors, advocates and activists for their organization and their cause. I find that the campaigns I respond the most to are the ones with heart, whimsy and oftentimes, a story. Here are my picks for the Best Internet Marketing for a Cause 2006 (in alphabetical order). I hope you’ll add your picks in the comments.
1. Sign a pledge and track the impact of their pledge on a map.
2. Download Wille Nelson singing Bob Dylan’s “Blowing in the Wind.”
3. Watch a movie about mountaintop removal on YouTube.
4. View the National Memorial for the Mountains on Google Earth. Each flag represents a mountain that has been destroyed.
Jane Goodall Institute’s Geoblog: The Jane Goodall Insitute has created a geoblog, the Gombe Chimpanzee Blog, Using Google Earth, the geoblog allows readers/viewers to view Gombe National Park in Tanzania while they read entries by Emily Wroblewski, a field researcher who is studying the Gombe Chimpanzees. I can’t imagine a more powerful tool for environmental nonprofits and NGOs than to “fly” your supporters and potential supporters over the area of the world you are working in.
Human Rights Video Hub by WITNESS and Global Voices:WITNESS and Global Voices Online have teamed up to pilot a Human Rights Video Hub where anyone anywhere can upload human rights related videos to raise awareness and launch campaigns. You can check out the pilot project on the Global Voices blog here. Among the videos up right now is footage of police dispersing student protestors in China, UCLA police using a taser gun on a student in a library, and video shot by journalist Brad Will during the protests in Oaxaca, right before he was killed. Launch of the completed Hub is planned for 2007.
Kiva:Kiva is a nonprofit that allows individuals like you and me to make loans through PayPal to entrepreneurs who are working their way out of poverty. You can watch a 16-minute documentary about Kiva on the FRONTLINE World web site. When the documentary aired on Ocober 31st, the response from viewers was so great that it brought the Kiva site down. As co-founder Jessica Jackley Flannery said, “Kiva started out of relationships and love, ideally I would love for that to be present in every single transaction that happens. People connecting.”
Menu of Hope by Chez Pim: Led by Chez Pim, food bloggers donated a delicious array of food-related raffle prizes for the second annual Menu for Hope in 2005. Each $5 donation that a reader made qualified them for one virtual raffle ticket to win the prize of their choosing from the prize list. The campaign raised $17, 000. Clearly, the way to a donor’s pocket is through her stomach. For more info. about this year’s campaign for the United Nation’s World Food Programme click here.
Sam Suds and the Case of PVC, the Poison Plastic by Free Range Studios and the Center for Health, Environment and Justice In this online video produced by Free Range Studios and the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, Sam Suds is a bar of soap in charge of protecting the Johnson family from dangerous toxins. His next case is to find a mysterious character called “PVC”. He’s not making a lot of progress until a rubber duck he calls “Duckface” tells him,"It’s this rubber duck I’ve been seeing, he seemed nice enough at first, but I’m starting to suspect that he ain’t made of rubber. . . I think he’s PVC.”
What are your favorite examples of the Best Internet Marketing for a Cause?
Here are two interesting campaigns for doing good, full of possibilities for imitation:
1.) Modern Day Robin Hood
Here’s an interesting campaign, complete with a wildly popular YouTube video of a cash giveaway, a home page where you can buy visibility like the Million Dollar Home Page, interactive voting, etc.
2.) Starbucks “Chain of Cheer”
Check out their pay-it-forward type of goodwill campaign, which combines fun stuff online with guerrilla marketing giveaways like Robin Hood’s on the street.
We’re entered the one month a year when people are most inclined to do something nice for someone. How can you capitalize on the holiday spirit to generate excitement and action for your cause, drawing on the social marketing mantra—make it fun, easy and popular? Remember, for the donor, it’s not just about doing good, it’s about feeling good.
The comments to Bill’s guest blog are interesting, and they underline the fact that nonprofits don’t always doing a good job showing they are unique or different. There are at least two reasons for that: 1) they aren’t unique or 2) they are doing a poor job showing their unique qualities.
Draw the following picture, which is a combination of thinking from Jim Collins’ hedgehog concept and BBMG‘s branding thinking. What is in that sweet spot in the middle—the intersection of what you do well, what your audience wants and what’s unique about you? Is there anyone else with the same sweet spot? If so, you may have a problem.
Stake a strong competitive position - a position no one else has - in your field and in the minds of your audience. Then make clear in all communications your unique importance in the pursuit of good. If you can’t do that, maybe you should be merging with someone who can.
Posted by katya on Wed, December 27, 2006
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