NextGen Fundraising

After reading the same titled post from Chris Brogan and others, I think looking for three words to help guide your 2010 is a great planning exercise. My goal this year is to bring more donors into the fold, so to do so, I present my three words, in order:

Connect
One of the most important things we can do for any of our nonprofit organizations is continue to connect people with our Mission. Are you looking outside your window and your database for new people to connect with? Are you trying new ways to connect with people?

Communicate
Once connected, what are you saying? Not saying anything will be a detriment to your organization, and saying too much will bore potential donors. Why did someone connect with your organization? Communicate based on what you know of that connection to communicate with that person, which will lead you to…

Cultivate
You are now easily able to cultivate a relationship with a new friend which will allow you to create an advocate, volunteer, supporter, board member, etc.

So if you’ve been following this saga that is the birth of a social media program, you know that it has been a long road.  I pitched a social media program to the Red Cross of Santa Barbara County and was met with a very common reaction – that social media tools are  just for kids and that they cannot possibly used effectively to promote a nonprofit’s mission.

So now we’re past the two month probationary period and have the results to report.  Let’s look back at the metrics that we were initially going to measure this program against:

• Number of people following on Twitter and Facebook
• Number of people clicking on Twitter links
• Number of visitors to our website
• Number of relevant comments left of our blog posts

Here are the hard numbers

Twitter: 706 Followers

Facebook: 144

Twitter links clicked through: 1,700+

Website Visitors: up 20% per week

Relevant blog posts: 5

Hmmm, not too shabby.  It does appear as if there needs to be some work on the blog so that people are reading and then participating in the conversation, but overall some good looking numbers.

HOWEVER, the best things to report out on had nothing to do with hard numbers, but the human interactions that resulted from being present online through these avenues.  The first story involves the TweetUp that the Red Cross hosted at the end of May.  I was trying to find a venue that had free WiFi and good drinks, when I finally tweeted my exasperation at the task.  Shortly thereafter, I received a DM from Warren at @City2 offering help.  Before I knew it, Warren contacted @RedsWineBar who had a great happy hour line up and free WiFi – AND they were a fan of the Chapter on Facebook.

When tracking your metrics, be sure to track those things that cannot be captured in a hard number.  Having stories like this will prove that you have the ability to not just connect in a virtual space, but in a physical space where you can exchange ideas, meet those who support you, and hear their feedback.  Remember, having a social media program is like hosting a conversation – you can’t just talk AT people, but need to talk WITH people.  Having documentation that people are willing to step out of their online identity to support and advocate for you is huge!

Wow, did I get a lucky break or what?!?  An interview with the acclaimed and famed, John Haydon!  Check it out.  In it, we chat about how the American Red Cross of Santa Barbara started to use social media to engage donors at a local level.

The posts below will give you some more detailed information on how to move your program along.  The next entry – did social media actually pay off for the Red Cross?  Stay tuned to find out!

I hope you find some insight or courage to get your program started or keep it truckin’ along…

http://bit.ly/PYQJP

So after receiving a two month deadline for proving that a social media program was a natural next step for the American Red Cross of Santa Barbara County, it was time to put the program in full force to see what we could do.

The first thing one needs to think about when launching their program is how to visually tie your different social media tools together.  This is a fairly basic marketing concept, but how many of us in nonprofits have backgrounds in marketing?  Having a consistent theme to your pages allows users to easily identify a site and creates a sense of continuity, rather than having a bunch of pages with an inconsistent look – this can confuse consumers.

So the image we settled on was this – a vintage Red Cross Volunteer patch.  We chose to not simply go with the Chapter’s logo because every Red Cross Chapter in the United States has the same logo with different text to differentiate the Chapter’s location.  This patch also gives a nod to the rich past of the American Red Cross – who has used patches and buttons to identify various programs and roles within the organization.

Once we selected this image for our sites, it was time to get the ball rolling.  This was how we started the first round of social media tools:

Twitter: Before the first tweet, it was important to look for constituents and follow them.  Because the Red Cross is a neutral organization, that meant anyone in Santa Barbara County was fair game.  Remember, as a nonprofit, the number of people you follow may not be as important as the quality of people you follow – so look for people who are in the same demographic region, have the same interests, etc.  You can do this by using the Twitter search feature or through various Twitter bots like @MrTweet – who will send you recommendations.

We spent about a week looking for people in Santa Barbara County and followed them for a few days, then  we looked for any locals who were  following the people we had chosen and followed them.  Yes, it is a bit like stalking, but it was helpful in building a base.  After these people started to follow us, it was time to introduce the organization -  in 140 characters or less of course!

It’s a good idea to state your purpose on Twitter to establish a reputation for your organization.

Facebook: Starting on Facebook is fairly simple.  All you have to do is enter the information requested, and update the status to say that you’re officially launching your social media program.  Remember to use the same image to create cohesiveness between platforms.  Be sure to link to your other accounts to your Facebook page!

Blog: This is a great opportunity to fully explain your organization’s decision to venture into the social media world.  You may want to reach new people, create a new sense of transparency for your organization, or simply need a platform to get information to your community in a quick, economical and efficient manner.  Whatever it is, lay out exactly what people can expect from your social media program and let them know they are encouraged to participate in your organization by leaving comments, retweeting, or sharing your organization with their friends and colleagues.

This  will become part of a few part series where I discuss the journey of starting a social media program at a nonprofit.

While every nonprofit will have a different social media strategy, I wanted to bring to your attention a program that has recently gotten some attention (PS, I worked on this program).

When my social media partner, Mickey (@michelson) and  I were pitching a social media program to the American Red Cross of Santa Barbara County, we spoke about how all of these tools are free, that social media is a great way to interact with the community, that it is a way to show donors on a daily basis what their investment in the Red Cross is doing, that only 2-3 hours/week would give them a very good program…the list goes on and on.  It was clear as day to us that a social media program would  be perfect for the Red Cross to be ahead of the wave because social media was not widely used in Santa Barbara County.

Their response?

“Well, it sounds fun and all, but it seems to only be geared toward a younger generation and it seems like it will take up too much time – time that I would rather be spent on fundraising…”

Hmmmm, not the response we hoped for after our glimmering pitch.  How does one overcome this?  This organization was poised to be the leader in social media in Santa Barbara County, the stars were lining up, and they didn’t want to get on the boat.

Time for compromise: fine, if you’re not ready to get on the boat, let’s at least try a social media program for two months…if you don’t like the results, we’ll pull the whole thing.

Now for metrics; what are we going to measure in those two months?

• Number of people following us on Twitter and Facebook
• Number of people clicking on Twitter links
• Number of visitors to our website
• Number of relevant comments left of our blog posts

This meeting took place on April 16th, and the 60 day count down clock immediately started.

Stay tuned to see what happened…But in the mean time, maybe you should make your pitch for a social media program?