A Better Way to Do Good

Public versus private appeals. Tailor your “ask.”

A new study has found that fundraisers and volunteer coordinators should alter their appeal depending on the public/private nature of the “ask.” Public appeals are more successful when the focus is on the benefit to others. Conversely, private appeals should focus on the benefit to the donor.

Read the Executive Summary here.

Simple Works. It Never Fails.

Recovering from a few weeks of travel and speaking engagements, I look back on the messages I delivered to nonprofit audiences.  My supposition was that the majority of us is bombarded with technology and information.  Websites, Google, Bing, Ning, Facebook, MySpace, Blogs, Twitter and so on batter and overwhelm us all.  We do not know what to do first or next to increase online fundraising.   

My advice is to simplify.  Don’t try to do too much; a trap of the mediocre majority.  Instead, pick one online fundraising goal, like setting up a blog site or developing a community of friends on Facebook.  Focus and do it very well.  When successful, add one additional goal.  Time lines be damned.   

Even more emphasis must be focused on simplifying nonprofit websites!  Data from a recent nonprofit website usability study show:

• 53% publish unclear content and use confusing terms
• 47% offer poor page design
• 17% of sites unable to find the DONATION button

In general, I see way to many sites that the homepage is overloaded with information.  It’s easy to be verbose; it’s very difficult to be brief.  But remember, brevity delivers clarity of message. 

 Donors want to see two things:

1.  Mission:  Tell them your mission in five words with a picture.

57% of sites tested did not state the mission.

2.  Donations:  How will my donation of time or money be used? Tell them where the money goes!

Only 4% of nonprofits cited use of donation money.

Build a homepage restricted to three elements: A picture and five words describing your mission, bullet points of how the money will be used and a big, simple donation button.

This example is from Yéle Haiti.

Now, go do it.

 

Donation amounts decrease as number of donors increase

The June The NonProfit Times article, 2008: Giving Dropped $6.4 Billion; Largest Decline On Record, reports that overall giving decreased in 2008. That is no surprise. But it did not drop by much, only 2%.

Now let us compare that figure with the losses in the financial sector. In 2008, the US S&P 500 lost 38.6%. The big story here is that donors lost a large chunk of their savings, yet they continue to give at almost the same levels they have in the past. Sure donations amounts may be smaller, but at the end of the day people are still donating.

If we look at Click & Pledge’s statistics for 2008, we find that the average donation amount is down, but we also see an increase in the number of donors using our system. In 2008 there was a 30% jump in the number of individual donors. And these trends are continuing in 2009.

What trends are you seeing? Share your experience with us.

Learn how to raise a half a billion dollars online

Have I gotten your attention? I bet so.

In “Raising Money as if You Were Barack Obama” Dr. Kamran Razvan, CEO of Click and Pledge, and Scott Cottington of Cottington Associates will share the secrets that allowed Barack Obama to raise half a billion dollars online. This session will be presented at Politics Magazine’s Conference “The Art of Political Campaigning” this Friday, June 12, 12:30pm. This session explains how to easily obtain the technology and expertise to inexpensively, effectively and securely raise money on your website.  Topics include donations, FEC reporting, banking options, recurring payments, what it should cost, security, design, databases and more.

Come by and visit with Kamran at the Click & Pledge booth. Click & Pledge will be exhibiting at Politics Magazine’s Conference from Thursday, June 11- Saturday, June 13.