New Study: The Wired Fundraiser
Today Network for Good released a new study, “The Wired Fundraiser: How technology is making fundraising ‘good to go.’” It covers: What happens when people with a cause take it to cyberspace; why marketers and fundraisers like us should care; and what we should do about the phenomenon.
The full report is here, but if you just want the highlights, below are the key findings.
In the meantime, if you’d like to be a Wired Fundraiser yourself, support victims of the wildfires sweeping California with this widget. Link to it in emails or click on the Share tab within the widget for code to display it online.
KEY FINDINGS
1. When Wired Fundraisers Talk, People Listen: Wired Fundraisers are regular people with a cause and a keyboard, and they are proving highly effective at fundraising for their favorite charity in an ever-widening personal sphere of influence online. That’s because today, the messenger matters even more than the message. People trust messengers they know, like friends and family. These messengers naturally communicate in the most effective ways – through personal means, in a conversational tone, and with great stories. A promotion from a charity can’t compete with that level of intimacy, authority or authenticity.
2. Not Every Wired Fundraiser Is a Champion: The successful Wired Fundraiser has a relatively rare combination of true passion and a means to lend a sense of urgency to their cause. Not every Six Degrees fundraiser or Facebook Cause is a winner, but a proud few – the superactivists - are very effective, raising $9,000 on average and reaching 150 people.
3. Technology Gives the Wired Fundraiser Special Power: Widgets and social networks make personal fundraisers more effective for four reasons. Widgets – bits of code that enable you to generate and place content anywhere online, including on Facebook pages or blogs – make it possible for personal fundraisers to take their message anywhere they communicate online, including social networks where messages spread very efficiently. They make it possible for the fundraiser to evangelize in their own way, in their own words. Because they make fundraising so easy, widgets attract a new group of fundraisers. Importantly, widgets also make it easy and convenient for friends and family to give instantly, when they feel an impulse to give. That means more donations to more causes.
4. Smart Charities Embrace the Wired Fundraiser: Technology enables anyone to be a fundraiser, anywhere online. The control over the message is in the hands of the Wired Fundraiser. Wise charities see this as something to embrace rather than something to fear. They tap into the opportunity to spread their message further, by new means, via new messengers.
More on how to be a Wired Fundraiser or tap into their power is here in the full paper.
Katya - this report is paramount to online fundraisers. It validates that people DO give via the ‘do good’ social networks, and shows that Network for Good is committed to amplifying that baseline giving. A great case for anyone who is trying to convince nonprofit development directors of the benefits of engaging in social media. The opportunities and rationale are officially undeniable. Thanks, over and over.