Focus On: E-philanthropy: Upping Your E-appeal

Are you making the most of the Internet? If your organization is like many nonprofits, it might be time to rethink your online strategy.

Instead of thinking of the Internet as a sideline area rife with additional expenses and hassles, “all nonprofits should be thinking of it as a core tool,” according to Sheeraz Haji, CEO of GetActive Software in Berkeley, Calif.

This can be a major leap of faith when, for most nonprofits, online fundraising still represents a very small portion of revenue. Nick Allen, president of Donordigital, a San Francisco-based online fundraising agency, estimates that online fundraising might account for only 1 percent to 4 percent of an organization’s donations.

“But,” he says, “it’s doubling every year,” adding that that trend will continue as more Americans get broadband access.

“[Online fundraising is] another way to approach the donor,” he says. “Use it to increase response to other channels.”

But, Allen adds, “Be realistic about adding online. … Local social-services organizations should not expect to raise any significant money online, but they should still have a presence. At a minimum, everyone should have a Web site and an e-mail newsletter.”

News-event capitalization
“The immediacy of e-mail is its greatest asset to fundraisers,” asserts consultant Karen Gedney, of Karen Gedney Communications Inc., Brooklyn, N.Y. “You can respond immediately to news events with an e-appeal.”

Gedney has done copywriting for some recent e-mail campaigns for the International Fund for Animal Welfare and recounts how two news-based appeals “got a great response.” In the first case, an e-mail was tied to hit just when a story about the relocation of 24 Bengal tigers in New Jersey made national news. In the second case, Gedney says, “We sent an e-appeal right after The New York Times ran a front-page story on the cruelty of the Canadian harp seal hunt. You could never do this before with direct mail — by the time the donor received your package, it would be old news.”

Human Rights Campaign, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that raises money in support of gay and lesbian rights, also has used the news-event strategy with success in recent months.

“The Internet is great for being able to keep tabs on important events in the news world and, when appropriate, using events as a launching pad for timely fundraising campaigns,” says Ann Crowley, deputy director of annual giving at HRC. “For example, this past February, President Bush announced that he wanted a constitutional amendment denying marriage of same-sex couples, thereby putting an end to gay marriages. HRC sent an e-mail pitch that raised a total of $700,000.”

HRC worked on the effort using GetActive Software. Haji explains what went on behind the scenes: “It was all their idea. They had a fully capable platform of Web tools at the ready. When Bush came out against gay marriage, it was only an hour later that they literally created this campaign focused on the threat of a constitutional amendment. That’s the power of the Internet.”

On the heels of successful campaigns such as this one, HRC has begun to budget for e-fundraising as part of its overall appeals.

“We see immense potential in the Internet as a fundraising channel,” Crowley says. “We’ve budgeted online as 6 percent of the total organization budget or of annual giving/direct for the current fiscal year.”

HRC raised $24 million last year, with $7.5 million coming via the direct marketing programs.

“Of course, we were hesitant to put a lot into it without testing the waters a bit first,” she adds.

To begin integrating e-fundraising elements into its overall efforts, HRC signed on with Donordigital about a year ago, and it brought in just under a half a million through e-mail campaigns alone.

Viral marketing tools
As Nick Allen defines viral marketing, it refers to “hitting people who have hot buttons and who are into a cause and will then pass the word along.”

“The question then becomes, do you have a message and is it something that can become viral — that you can send out and that can spread with some urgency? If so, then that can make a successful Internet campaign,” Allen says.

Sally Green, HRC’s associate field director, who also recently was put in charge of the organization’s online efforts, calls online “the wave of the future.”

“The Web allows people involved in organizations to tell their stories,” she says.

For example, HRC members can create their own Web pages, which can be used to share their stories with friends and family, to spur action and advocacy concerning issues of personal importance, and even tie to e-mails to help raise money for those causes through HRC.

Another example of viral marketing: the recent Meetup, where more than 7,000 Americans signed to meet locally to discuss the federal marriage amendment. Meetup.com is a free, online service that organizes real-world gatherings of e-communities with common interests, and HRC tapped into it by placing a link on its site to help its members “meet up” about this important issue.

GetActive’s Haji concurs that it is important to “leverage the social networks of your core donors.”

“Schools have been doing this with their alumni,” he explains. “Now, social organizations, political campaigns, you name it — they’re putting the tools into the hands of their members so they can reach out to their networks of friends and their sphere of influence.”

Two-way integration
HRC prints its Web address on every mail piece it sends out, “showing where [donors] can go to donate along with a code; and we urge them to ‘save a stamp’ by making their donations online if they’d like,” Crowley says, explaining that that’s just a small way online and offline fundraising efforts are being integrated at the organization.

To help with broader attempts at integration, an e-team was formed two years ago.

“Everybody was doing a good job, but by forming a team, it helped us all recognize that what the right hand does, the left hand needs to know about and so on,” Crowley recalls. Now, she adds, “We’re trying to aggressively cross-market online and offline membership efforts.

“Through our e-fundraising drives, we have reason to believe there’s a lot of overlap in people who come to the site and people to whom we mail,” she says, “but it’s not all integrated on the back end yet, so it’s unclear. We’re working toward that end.”

Integrating is important and has proven to be worthwhile for his clients, Haji says.

“In your print and other media, you must be telling them about all of these tools you have available on the Web site.”

For instance, he cites KVIE, the PBS station in northern California, which began integrating personalized online fundraising to prior donors and members.

“If [a donor] gave during ‘Sesame Street,’ she would get a personalized-ask e-mail based on that program and also personalized based on the amount she gave,” Haji explains.

The campaign had a huge impact, with memberships growing more than 68 percent in the year following its implementation.

Integrated media use also means utilizing e-tools on the front end, as was the case with an organization that sent out a quick e-mail before its big direct mail package was set to mail. People are more likely to open a package that they know is coming, Haji says.

Lisa Wilson, director of development at North Shore Animal League America in Port Washington, N.Y., says her organization also is focusing on integrating its offline and online strategies more. For example, Wilson says she’s recognized that it’s important to “look at all of the offline media efforts to be sure you’re collecting e-mail addresses.”

“On the Web site, you have to make sure you have tracking mechanisms in place,” she says, “so that you can follow up with people who come to the site looking for information.”

Partnering campaigns
Partnering with other companies or organizations can lend added credibility to a campaign, provide additional exposure and even give a boost to the total dollars raised.

NSALA’s Web site features a partnership with US Bank offering a branded affinity credit card. People who sign up for the NSALA Visa card will make a difference two ways: US Bank makes a donation for every new card it signs up through the site, plus a portion of every purchase made using the card goes to the animal-based nonprofit. NSALA also has placed buttons on the Web sites of other like-minded organizations to drive traffic back to its own site.

“’Click here to feed an animal’ is a phrase that worked well within a Hunger Site partnership we did with other like-minded organizations that were working to rid the world of hunger problems,” Wilson says. The Hunger Site’s Animal Rescue Web subsite featured the NSALA button with that simple wording.

Relationship building
For NSALA, the Internet also represents an important relationship-building tool.

“We can’t just look at how many dollars are coming in through the Internet right now, but how are we communicating with donors and building relationships online for the long haul,” Wilson says. “With e-mail and the Internet, we’re just scratching the surface. We mail 40 million direct mail pieces a year. We’ve collected about 150,000 e-mail addresses at this point — of which we’re mailing about 80,000.” (The rest of the addresses have been flagged as unmailable, she explains.)

Currently, NSALA brings in about $30 million a year in donations.

“And [the Internet] is still a very small percentage, bringing in $217,000 from this past year’s (e-mail) campaign,” Wilson says. “But it’s growing fast, and I think it could be a million in a few years. There’s definitely that potential.”

NSALA’s Web site has evolved into a place for donors and would-be donors to come and visit, spawning a successful, Web-based feature called the Cyberkennel.

“This is where people who are interested in adopting a pet can go and view the animals before coming to the shelter to adopt,” Wilson explains. “All of these tools get donors involved with the organization.”

Crowley agrees that for HRC, getting donors involved and building lasting relationships is important.

“The more engaged our donors are in HRC, the more likely they are to contribute financially,” she says.

Alicia Orr Suman is the former editor-in-chief of Target Marketing magazine and a freelance writer specializing in direct marketing. E-mail her at aorrsuman@aol.com.