QR Codes for Supporter Engagement ... Do Your Homework!

• One organization included a QR code that linked to its donation page as part of its annual appeal letter that went to 40,000 supporters. Putting the QR code on the letter leveraged an existing program and took no additional effort or incremental costs. The organization didn’t explain what the QR code was, believing that those who knew might try scanning it.
• Another organization took a similar approach of including a QR code that linked to its donation page from a holiday appeal ad that it ran in the local newspaper. The QR code cost nothing additional, yet gave readers another way to interact and visit the site.
• Another client reported organizing a scavenger-hunt type group event around a city where people went from place to place and scanned a QR code poster that it had created. The codes took them to Web pages where they answered questions and were given clues about where to find the next sign. There was no donation component to this particular event, but it definitely helps to build supporter relationships.

In the first two examples above, there weren’t huge numbers of donations given but there were some. The point of these is that technology in general and QR codes in particular give organizations interesting and innovative ways to engage supporters. Some may lead directly to more donations while others may not.