Chapter Four

Fundraising Anytime Everywhere

Creating social change is no easy task. It takes people, planning, resources, and money. This chapter is about the money. Truth is, today’s organizations and campaigns rely on fundraising to build community, communicate with supporters, tell their story to the world, and provide direct services. Done well, fundraising not only provides resources, but also gives people an opportunity to invest in the process of change. This rewards donors, organizations, and communities.

Today, we look around and see unstable local, state, and national economies. We see governments slashing support for cultural programs, education, and social services. Nonprofits and their donors are needed more than ever. In 2011, $298.4 billion were raised for charity across multiple channels, about 2% of the GDP according to Giving USA 2011, the Annual Report on Philanthropy. The majority of money raised from the private sector came from individuals. As we have seen, online channels and mobile have created more ways than ever for people to access and interact with organizations.

Your organization needs to master multichannel communications to identify supporters, engage them in the cause, and give them ways to invest time and money.

FUNDRAISING IS LIKE BAKING BREAD

Think of fundraising as baking bread. You can’t mix only one or two ingredients like flour and water together, toss it in the oven, and expect a warm, crusty bread to come out. Baking bread requires time and several key ingredients that make up the perfect chemistry to get the right consistency, make the dough rise, and ultimately end up with the best loaf of bread. Similarly, in fundraising, there are several strategies (or ingredients) for raising money. The best fundraisers we know focus on building a steady stream of donors by nurturing relationships with their constituents and moving them up the engagement ladder.

Equally important, they understand what motivates people to donate, and they craft strategies and tactics with that information in mind. For example, storytelling is a psychological marketing tactic that’s used to emotionally connect us to one individual’s (or animal’s) plight, and tends to increase donations. In contrast, data driven messages cause people to use the analytical parts of their brain and can suppress giving. In addition, organizations need to show donors how their donations are making an impact on the ground, as we discussed in Chapter Three. Organizational fundraising communications (such as emails, donation pages, social media, and mobile) also need to be navigable, readable, and understandable. To sum it up, fundraising is part community and relationship building, part psychology, and part marketing and usability.

In this chapter, we first examine what drives people to donate money to charity. Next we discuss the different giving channels that supporters use today. Then we drill down into a variety of strategies, tactics, and examples to show you how they work in action. We don’t expect that you will integrate all of these strategies and tactics, but it’s good to understand all of the options so that you can determine which ones are realistic for your organization’s budget, resources, and staff.

PSYCHOLOGY OF GIVING: WHAT MOTIVATES PEOPLE TO DONATE?

We believe that if we are truly going to change the world, we need to be realistic about the power and influence of money and how it impacts real social change. In this section we invite you to expand your understanding of why people typically donate to causes and take a look at data that we think is worth testing in your upcoming fundraising campaigns.

If you’re an organizer, social media campaigner, or even a web manager reading this book, you may feel that people give money to charities because either they want to help people or communities in need or because they want to be a part of a movement and feel connected to something bigger than themselves.

While these reasons are certainly logical and factor into why people donate their money to charity, several studies have been done around the psychology of giving that tell a partially different story—the findings may surprise you.

People Want to Save One Person

You might be thinking: How could donors prefer to save one person instead of hundreds or millions? Peter Singer, a professor of bioethics at Princeton University and author of the book The Life You Can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty, says people are motivated to give when you show them a single person in need that they can personally and emotionally identify with. For example, in one test that involved a children’s advocacy organization, one group of participants were given the opportunity to donate money after they viewed messaging and data such as, “Food shortages in Malawi are affecting more than three million children.” A second group with another set of participants viewed a photo of Rokia, a little girl from Malawi, who was very poor and struggling to get by. The photo was reinforced with messaging that indicated a gift to support Malawi would change her life. Guess which group gave significantly more money? The second group, which saw the photo of Rokia and were told how they could make a difference in her life. Typically, people emotionally connect with individuals rather than large groups of people.

People Are Ruled by Their Emotions

In the book Science of Giving: Experimental Approaches to the Study of Giving, edited by Daniel M. Oppenheimer and Christopher Y. Olivola, various authors and researchers outline several studies by psychologists and economists who researched donors’ giving patterns and the psychology behind their decision to donate money, which we shall highlight.

Allyson, in her graduate school days, was focusing a lot of her art and web interactive projects on social justice issues, especially domestic violence, homelessness, and animal welfare. Some of her go-to resources for research were organizational websites and email updates, which were filled with staggering statistics but not real stories. One day after completing an exhaustive amount of research on the web, she went home feeling overwhelmed and powerless. There was so little emotion being conveyed for such emotional issues, she remembers. She took a paintbrush and painted on a canvas, “Don’t Make Me Think.” What does this flashback have to do with fundraising? Everything. When we rely on people thinking rather than feeling, we lose a chance to connect with donors emotionally—and a donation opportunity.

Researchers Stephan Dickert, Namika Sagara, and Paul Slovic say their studies show donors are driven by emotions and empathy toward others when they donate to charity and choose how much money they will actually give. For example, one study they conducted, “Affective Motivations to Help Others: A Two-Stage Model of Donation Decisions,” asked participants how they felt about children who were sick and suffering. Participants were also asked to think about the value of those sick children’s lives. Researchers found that when participants saw a painful situation such as the sick children, they wanted to turn those sad, guilty, or negative feelings into something that made them feel good, like donating money to help the sick children. Michal Ann Strahilevitz, one of the other researchers in the book, confirmed a similar theory and said part of a fundraiser’s job is to sell happiness to donors. Donating money makes people feel happier. The happier they feel, the more they will donate. Oppenheimer says that we’re not just raising money, we are helping donors feel good about themselves.

The participants’ empathy for the children also had a direct impact on how much they donated. The more participants were approached with empathy messaging, the more money they donated. But when participants were asked to think about the value of a sick child’s life and thus tap into the analytical side of their brain, they gave less. The desire to donate is emotional and empathetic, not analytical and rational. Data and statistics may support a policy argument but they don’t motivate people to give. Emotion and drama in your messaging and storytelling inspire people to act and give money.

Donors Are Influenced by Their Peers

Researchers found that exerting “peer pressure” influences people to donate more money. For example, volunteers who were managing the phone lines during a public radio station fundraising drive raised 29% more money by telling callers who were phoning in a pledge gift that a previous caller had just donated more money than the caller on the line was intending to give. And even more interesting were the results when a volunteer said that the previous caller was of the same gender. Gift size then increased by 34%. A similar impact was also seen in direct mail. These types of studies show that people are not just “caving to peer pressure” but want a sense of belonging. Our peers provide validation that a cause is important or that our beliefs are shared by others like us.

While this particular study was not tested in online channels, spurring competition (which is a form of social peer pressure) through online peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns has been very successful throughout the nonprofit community. For example, walkathons and runs such as the AIDS Walk or Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure that gained popularity in the 1980s and 1990s utilize online peer-to-peer fundraising platforms like Team Raiser.39 They rely on an organization’s ability to mobilize their constituents to compete with each other to raise money by collecting pledges from their friends, family, colleagues, and even followers on social media.

The More You Ask People to Suffer, the More Money You Will Raise

You may think asking people to suffer to raise money sounds crazy, but it works. This is one reason an extreme athletic event like the Boston Marathon is so popular and raises over $10 million a year for charities in Boston.41 For example, Olivola’s studies found that people feel okay with suffering physical discomfort for the privilege of then giving money. “When people anticipate that they’re going to have to suffer to raise money for a charity, then their willingness to contribute to that cause actually goes up.”42

Essentially, when “pain” or “suffering” is endured it can be motivating in part due to social pressure. People tend to feel that if all these other people running the marathon can do it and put up with it, they can too! We do things in groups that we could never motivate ourselves to do alone.

This connection between raising money and people feeling the need to suffer also speaks to other types of peer-to-peer fundraising that involve discomfort or humiliating situations. For example, when blogger and author Geoff Livingston was raising money for the nonprofit Invisible People, which documents and shares stories of people experiencing homelessness across the United States, he organized a personal fundraiser called the “Punish Geoff Fundraiser,” hosted on the online fundraising platform Razoo.43,44 Livingston said he would let someone throw a pie in his face, film it, and post it to YouTube if 56 people donated $18 as seen in Figure 4.1. Livingston pitched to all of his friends, colleagues, family, and followers throughout his personal fundraising campaign via email, social media, and his own blog. While having a pie thrown in one’s face may not be painful physically, it’s humiliating for many people.

Figure 4.1 Geoff Livingston Met His Fundraising Goal and Got Dished a Pie in the Face

People Want to See Their Impact

Donors may be driven by emotion and peer pressure and willing to endure physical exertion but they are also perceptive. They know that their $10 or $100 gift alone is not going to change the plight of Rokia, the little girl from Malawi. But they know that, collectively, their gifts will help her have a better life for now, and they expect your organization to show them the tangible impact. In fact, demonstrating impact increases donations. This is an easy win for nonprofits. You already have access to this information; now share it with your community.

Paull Young of charity: water says one of the organization’s secrets to fundraising success is to show donors exactly where their money is going through documentary photos, videos, and GPS coordinates. This helps donors see exactly which village and water project they helped support.

People Want to Be Appreciated

There’s an old Stone Roses song called “I Wanna Be Adored” in which lead singer, Ian Brown, sings his heart out about how all he wants in life is to be adored. Like Ian and every other human being on this planet, donors want to feel adored and appreciated.

When Craig Newmark, founder of craigslist and craigconnects, donated money to the New Organizing Institute (NOI) to support a mobile app that helps U.S. voters register to vote, NOI didn’t just send Newmark a typical thank-you note. They took the time to be creative to show how appreciative they were of his support and designed a craigslist-like ad with the same look and feel of craiglist.org, which you can see in Figure 4.2.

Figure 4.2 Thank-You Note from NOI to Donor Craig Newmark

NOI posted it on a webpage and sent Newmark an email with the link. Newmark said his immediate reaction after seeing it was, “It’s definitely novel and it made me feel appreciated as a supporter.”

Of course nonprofits don’t have the resources to thank every single donor in a similarly unique way. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t always be thanking your donors, even for the little things. Treat them like VIPs, whether they donate $10 or $1,000 dollars. Greenpeace International is a great example of an organization that has set up processes to ensure that both low-dollar and high-dollar donors are thanked often and personally:

“Our victories are due to our supporters’ work and donations. We are constantly thanking them,” said Dionna Humphrey, senior email campaigner for Greenpeace International. “We have a supporter care team that serves as our frontline to answer questions, and who also call donors to thank them for their donations whether it was $5 or $499. This is so important in making them feel validated.”

To ensure your donors always feel appreciated be careful not to treat them like ATM machines that dispense $20 bills whenever you ask. charity: water does a fantastic job of showing their donors how much they appreciate them. Each donor that they have a phone number for is called and wished a happy birthday by a staff member no matter how much they donated to the organization. And they are not asked for a donation on this call, ensuring that the outreach is focused on building the relationship and thanking them for all that they have done.

Seasoned fundraising strategist Nick Allen says, “On the one hand, you won’t raise much money online if you don’t ask your supporters often. On the other hand, they did not sign up for your list, take your advocacy action, or donate because they wanted to get more fundraising appeals in their in-boxes. They engaged with you because they cared about your organization, or mission, or effort—so you need to continue engaging them and take them along an engagement path, not just ask, ask, ask.”

FUNDRAISING CHANNELS

Now that we’ve covered some of the complex emotional factors that go into your donors’ decision making, we’ll drill down into the different channels supporters are using to make donations and how much these channels raise.

Offline and Direct Mail

In the past 10 to 15 years the Internet, social media, and mobile devices have truly transformed the way we communicate and do business, yet 79% of donations are still made by personal check, according to the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP).45 And veteran fundraising consultant Mal Warwick confirms that the majority of new donations, which account for a large proportion of all philanthropic gifts, come through direct mail.46

While the majority of donations are coming from offline, the average multichannel donor (someone who donates both online and offline) contributes $197, compared to an offline-only donor who contributes $63, according to 2011 donorCentrics Internet and Multichannel Giving Benchmarking Report.47 These statistics demonstrate why we need to focus on creating multichannel fundraising campaigns, and implement and adapt messaging for each channel to reach donors wherever they are at anytime.

Online

About 6.3% of donations come in through online channels such as an organization’s main website, online fundraising appeals directing people to specialized campaign donation pages, and social fundraising platforms ranging from Causes to Razoo, according to the 2011 Online Giving Report.48 And up to 40% of all online donations come in during December.

Although 6.3% may seem low in comparison to offline fundraising, online fundraising is one of the fastest growing channels. In fact, most sectors in the report saw double-digit growth since 2009, as highlighted in Figure 4.3.

Figure 4.3 Online Giving Growth Since 200950

According to Network for Good, 65% of the people surveyed said that they planned to donate money online in 2011 versus only 4% who donated online in 2001.49 This is significant because it shows how comfortable and willing people are to give online today. Furthermore, online donors are typically younger, earn higher incomes, and give bigger donations than offline donors, according to the 2011 donorCentrics Internet and Multichannel Giving Benchmarking Report. The average online donation is $145 per online gift, according to the report.

“Digital is a key channel for us, with more than 70% of new supporters joining us online last year,” said Tobin Aldrich, who works with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in the United Kingdom.51 Organizations like charity: water say that in the past two years 75% of their revenue has come in through digital channels.

In 2010, $22 billion dollars were raised online in the United States, a 34% increase from 2009, according to Steve MacLaughlin of Blackbaud.52 The massive response and donation level was largely a result of online donations, but the numbers are slightly skewed due to the unusually large scale of the Haiti disaster we discussed in the preface.

In 2011, online revenue for nonprofits increased by 15.8%, down from 20% in 2010 but above the increase of 14% in 2009, according to the Online Marketing Nonprofit Benchmark Index Study that examined data from over 700 nonprofits.53 But again, it’s important to remember that the numbers were a bit skewed in 2010 due to the significant fundraising around disaster and international relief.

Similar to the findings of the donorCentrics Internet and Multichannel Giving Benchmarking Report, a Visa study that examined cardholder’s data found that when people donate online they tend to give more money.54 The Visa study also found that those donors who contribute $500 or more use online bankcards more than personal checks. Online donations also have a positive impact on recurring donation programs. Visa reports that 90% of people live up to their commitment of making recurring donations versus 79% who set it up through personal checks.

Another important reason that online fundraising is important for an organization’s overall fundraising, as studies such as the donorCentrics report show, is that online fundraising has a positive impact on direct mail programs. Every year, about 32% of donors acquired online switch from online giving to offline giving via direct mail. “They then continue to give offline in similar proportions in subsequent years. Eventually, just under half of all online-acquired donors convert entirely to offline, primarily direct mail giving,” said the report. “Over time, the high giving amounts of online donors coupled with the high donor retention rates provided by direct mail make for a powerful combination.”

SOCIAL MEDIA

Of the 6.3% of online donations, how much is being raised through social media and texting? Not too much yet. A look at the data in Figure 4.4 from the 2011 Nonprofits Social Network Report shows that only 0.7% of nonprofits have raised more than $100,000 using social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn.55

Figure 4.4 Fundraising Across Social Media Channels

This is not really a surprise given the evolving relationship between donors and nonprofits via social media. And while we believe that it will gain more momentum as more organizations look to social media as part of their engagement and outreach (which will have a long-term impact on organizations’ fundraising strategy), it’s important to remember that social media is about being social. The channel is best used to foster relationships with prospective and current donors rather than as a channel to raise money.

“Making a value judgment on [social networks like] Facebook based only on donations received completely overlooks the inherent value that [social networks like] Facebook offers,” says communications consultant and author of Facebook Marketing for Dummies John Haydon.56 He’s right. Social media should be used to get people so excited about your organization that they want to join your movement and share it with their friends, family, and colleagues. If you build a strong relationship with prospects on social media (or any channel) and move them up the engagement ladder, you can convert a percentage of them to donors during the course of your relationship with them.

Social media can also help you build a more personal and social relationship with your current base of donors and activists. Social media’s strength is in the reach that’s created as users talk about your campaign, said Haydon. “Your fundraising strategy should include ways to get people to converse about the cause. The more they talk about it, the more their friends become aware of your fundraising campaign.”

Mobile

Up until 2008, mobile fundraising wasn’t utilized in the United States very much because, historically, the carrier fees were too expensive and charged up to 50% in donation fees. However, in 2008, the Mobile Giving Foundation made it possible for nonprofits in the United States to use text-to-give donations at a much more affordable rate, only taking about 10% in donation fees (excluding mobile vendor setup fees) at the time of this writing.

This news attracted the attention of organizations such as UNICEF, the Salvation Army, and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, who began testing the integration of mobile fundraising in their campaigns, said Katrin Verclas in an article on the MobileActive.org site, a nonprofit she founded.57

Organizations raised about $500,000 via mobile in 2008, which is about $300,000 more than online fundraising brought in its first year in 1997, according to James Eberhard of Mobile Accord in an article on the MobileActive.org blog.

Then, in 2010, mobile fundraising made history after the world witnessed the photos, video footage, and stories of the tragic earthquake in Haiti that killed and injured hundreds of thousands of people, displaced over one million, and devastated the country’s infrastructure. Organizations such as CARE, Catholic Relief Services, and the International Rescue Committee rallied the public to come together and donate money to the relief efforts. As we discussed in the preface, this was the first time the United States witnessed the power of multichannel campaigning that included text-to-give programs to immediately allow people to donate money. It was also a critical turning point for mobile fundraising; the public finally recognized mobile as a safe and secure channel for making donations.

It was during this time that the American Red Cross raised a record-setting $32 million in two weeks through their text-to-give campaign to support Haiti relief efforts, according to Josh Kittner, senior marketing consultant of Digital Engagement at the American Red Cross. The text-to-give campaign was promoted via

• Email campaigns
• Peer-to-peer online fundraising drives through social fundraising platforms such as Causes, CauseVox, Crowdrise, JustGive, and Razoo
• Online marketing and advertising
• Public Service Announcements, including ones that featured President Obama

However, it’s worth noting that a study by Pew Internet Project, in partnership with the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University and the mGive Foundation, found that the donations raised through the Haiti texting campaign were motivated by “impulse giving” in response to the tragic events people were witnessing.58 The study also found that mobile giving is a social networking activity, but more through word of mouth than through online channels. Approximately 43% of the Haiti text donors encouraged their friends or family members to text to donate and 75% pitched to them in person, while 21% encouraged them by posting to social network channels.

As of this writing, 64% of U.S. adults use text messaging and 9% have texted to donate from their mobile phone, according to the same Pew Internet study.

Text-to-give programs also encourage multichannel giving. Another study by mGive concluded that 79% who donate money via texting have also donated to other channels such as email, website, or direct mail.59 In addition, the study said that 86% of people who texted to donate considered donating higher amounts of money via other channels. While mobile fundraising certainly has grown as a fundraising channel in the United States over the past few years, it still has not been widely adopted. We think it will continue to mature though, and is definitely worth testing if you have a sizable list and the right opportunities to fundraise around.

PLAN A MULTICHANNEL FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN

Now that you understand people’s motivations behind giving and the channels they use, how do you go about planning a multichannel fundraising campaign?

Establish Fundraising Goals

Set your total fundraising goals up front. When determining the “magic number,” it’s important that you set realistic expectations. For example, if you are experimenting with social media fundraising for the first time, it’s important to remember that only 0.7% of organizations raise more than $100,000 through that channel. Be very conservative in your goals, and consider the staff time and vendor fees you’ll need to support your campaign.

Develop Campaign Goals and Messaging

Sometimes it helps to crystallize your campaign goals by doing a simple exercise. Answer the question, “What three or four main goals will we achieve by raising X dollars for Y campaign?”

For example, here are some campaign goals that we answered internally for a neighborhood soup kitchen whose mission is to provide warm meals and job training to people who are experiencing homelessness.

“What goals will we achieve by raising $50,000 for the neighborhood soup kitchen?”

Again, be realistic when setting campaign goals. Think about smaller, achievable goals like we discussed in Chapter Three. Also remember these goals are for internal purposes. When your organization designs and rolls out its campaign publicly, you can still convey the fact that there are lines of hungry people waiting for food by telling an individual’s story.

Define the Messaging Hook

When developing your campaign and messaging, you will need to share the compelling story behind the issue you are fundraising for and discuss the immediate need, as we outlined in the soup kitchen example. Tell donors how their donation will benefit the organization, program, and those served. Remember, people want to see a tangible impact. You will raise more money if this is clearly highlighted in your fundraising messaging. Fundraising appeals that have urgent deadlines and matching gifts have higher open rates and average gift amounts.

Identify Your Target Donors and Their Channels

Who will you be targeting with your fundraising campaign? Existing donors who have donated to a similar campaign appeal before? Primarily new donors with whom you have built a relationship through Facebook around a certain campaign?

Since often each online channel has different demographics, it’s also important to understand prospective and current donors’ preferred channels for donating and communicating. Do they prefer to donate via online fundraising appeals that are signed by your organization’s executive director? Direct mail? By phone? Through peer-to-peer online fundraising campaigns?

Set up a Fundraising Calendar

A fundraising campaign calendar is one of the most important parts of multichannel fundraising plans. It maps out the timelines for the entire campaign, helps you plan an engagement ladder with your constituents, and outlines staffing and resources. A good calendar outlines a schedule for drafting, editing, and implementing the campaign and considers the goals, audiences, and channels for each component, including

• Email appeals and graphics
• Welcome series for new donors
• Website donation landing pages, graphical callout boxes, and homepage hijacks
• Direct mail
• Telemarketing
• Social media strategies and messaging
• Text-to-give messaging if appropriate
• Online or print advertising to promote the campaign, if appropriate
• Fun interactives that don’t ask donors for money
• A/B testing, which analyzes two versions of a webpage, appeal, or message to see which is more effective
• Segmenting
• Thank-you messages and fundraising campaign updates

Farra Trompeter, vice president at Big Duck, a branding and communications firm, also notes how essential it is to consider other communications going to your community during a fundraising campaign because you don’t want to message your supporters too much. “Be sure your story is strong, and that each element or message makes sense on its own, as well as builds on the other channels. [And remember] while your campaign is certainly significant, it is not the only thing your donors, advocates, and other supporters will see. Consider the other communications going out from your organization (newsletters, reports, event invitations), as well as other campaigns from similar causes, holidays, and general news happenings.”

Figure 4.5 is a great example of a campaign calendar for the Baldacious campaign by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society that Trompeter helped create.

Figure 4.5 Campaign Calendar for the Baldacious Campaign by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society

Staffing and Resources

As part of this fundraising calendar process, it’s also important to establish staffing resources and identify how this fits into the overall timeline.

“A tight team that’s worked together, knows their stuff, and understands what everyone else is doing probably doesn’t need to muddy a calendar with project management details, dependencies, and broken down tasks. But the typical nonprofit fundraising team is working with outside developers, designers, and writers, plus staff, spread across the country, some of whom just started in the past year because of typical nonprofit turnover,” said online strategy consultant Ted Fickes. “And the weekly team meeting and countless emails to everyone, just doesn’t get you organized enough. So, a calendar should to the extent possible specify the relationships between people and tasks.”

ROLL OUT YOUR MULTICHANNEL FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN

After you have gone through the steps of creating a plan for your fundraising campaign, the fun part begins: doing it.

Write a Series of Fundraising Appeals

Fundraising campaigns are often done as a series of cohesive online and offline fundraising appeals because they generate higher response rates and more money than stand-alone appeals. The most common fundraising series is done via direct mail, telemarketing, and email but can certainly incorporate mobile texting and even social media.

While there should be an overall campaign theme to your series, each individual fundraising appeal should be crafted differently to show the breadth of your campaign work, the critical need, and your impact.

A fundraising series often comprises three appeals, though it can certainly be more, particularly for year-end fundraising campaigns. The first appeal tells the story of the overall campaign, laying out the campaign goals and the impact donors can expect to see from their donation. The story should be woven into all of the fundraising appeals in the series.

The second appeal updates people on the campaign’s progress. It also reminds people of the story you shared in the previous appeal. This message tells them that you still need their help to make an impact and meet the campaign goals.

The final message is another update and one last ask for help to truly make that tangible impact and meet your goals.

Once a donor has given money to your fundraising campaign, do not ask them for more money as part of this fundraising series. Donors will get frustrated and feel like you are taking advantage of them. Twenty-year veteran fundraiser Tony Poderis said it best: “Prospects and donors are not cash crops waiting to be harvested; treat them as you would customers in a business.” “No successful businessperson deals with customers as if they had a responsibility to buy. Prospects and donors have to be courted as you would court a customer. They must be told how important they are, treated with courtesy, and respect.”60

Your fundraising series should also include thank-you messages that are sent to the donors who contribute, as we discussed earlier in this chapter. Personalized thank-you emails or letters should be sent within 24 hours after your organization receives the donation.

Remember to consider other online audiences and content channels such as social media, blogs, and mobile. These channels need different text formats and styles, unique donation pages, and other special considerations to maximize conversions.

Segment Your Donors and Prospects

Identify your donors and prospects by segmenting them to personalize your campaign and make your ask more appropriate to their interests and level of engagement. For example, you want to avoid sending the same appeal to members of your list who have never donated to your organization and those who have donated $250 three times in the past twelve months. These two segments are connected to your nonprofit very differently. Therefore they should receive different appeals that match their level of engagement.

Cultivate and segment your activists in your fundraising. Frank Barry, who does Internet marketing and strategy at Blackbaud, says, “Key industry benchmarks and trends show that engagement online through advocacy is an effective springboard for raising money because advocates are seven times more likely to give compared to non-advocates.”61

Conduct A/B Testing

Many organizations run their fundraising program in a vacuum. They don’t do enough testing with their fundraising to find out what strategies, variables, and tactics in their fundraising appeals, messaging across multiple channels, and landing pages increase donations. Don’t assume because a campaign tactic was successful for another organization’s fundraising campaign that it will be equally successful for your own. That is not necessarily true, and this is why A/B testing is so critical to your fundraising campaigns.

All organizations, regardless of size, should do some A/B testing with their email fundraising appeals. If you have a mobile texting program or a very active and large social media following, A/B testing can be valuable too. It’s worth noting, however, that for A/B testing to be statistically significant you will need to test your campaigns with thousands of people, not just a few hundred.

A/B TESTING IN ACTION

The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, which formed to provide aid to Haiti after the earthquake, had a 10.2% increase in donation amounts overall (about $1.02 million) after testing two different versions of their website donation landing page, which we highlight in Figure 4.6.

Figure 4.6 Version A: Clinton Bush Haiti Fund Website Donation Form

Version A featured

• A two-column layout with a prominent photo showing people in Haiti receiving help from humanitarian workers on the ground with text above the photo that read “Support Haiti Relief and Recovery Efforts.”
• Below the photo were six short sentences of explanatory text.
• Two fewer form fields than Version B.
• Button copy that read “Support Haiti.”

Version B featured

• A single-column layout.
• No images, just explanatory text and the donation form fields.
• Button copy that read “Submit.”

Version A outperformed version B significantly. Check out some of the specific donation increases the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund experienced by changing just a few variables to their fundraising appeal and donation form.64

• By changing the button from “Submit” to “Support Haiti” in the form field, they experienced a 15% increase in dollars raised per page view to about $59.38.
• By making the donation form a single column and adding an image, donations increased by 8% per page view.
• When the organization did not show a “Verified” icon on the site, donations decreased by 5% per page view.

Keep in mind that an A/B test may not give you the data quickly enough to make changes to a current campaign (though it could). An organization that tests consistently, however, will always be learning and have information that can help improve future campaigns.

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Suggested Elements for A/B Testing

The following is a list of common elements that have been tested in online fundraising campaigns that will provide your organization with the necessary data to tweak and optimize your fundraising appeals and donation landing pages:

• Subject lines and whom the message was from
• Layout, graphics, font sizes
• Donation page landing flows
• Number of donation form fields
• Fundraising copy in the main message, headlines, and form fields, including the submit button
• Donation amounts
• Placement of donation asks in the fundraising appeal
• Deadlines
• Matching gifts
• Appeals from celebrities
• The text that makes up tweets, Facebook updates, and text messages with calls to donate
• Length and phrasing of Tweets, Facebook updates, and text messages with calls to donate
• Time of day and days of the week that donation appeals are sent to donors and prospects

STRATEGIES TO RAISE MORE MONEY ACROSS CHANNELS

So you’ve got a multichannel fundraising plan and a rollout strategy but you’re not sure how to best promote campaigns across all the different channels and synchronize them. Here are some strategies we’ve seen that work well.

Direct Mail Channel

While direct mail is getting more and more expensive to produce, print, and mail, it’s still the number one channel for bringing in donations, so don’t abandon it altogether in favor of online fundraising or social media. In fact, you can use direct mail to enhance online fundraising.

Use Direct Mail to Enhance Online and Offline Giving

Nonprofits that integrate direct mail and email fundraising typically raise more money than stand-alone appeals. The next time you send out a direct mail piece, kick off the campaign series with an email appeal 24 hours before the direct mail piece is set to arrive in your donors’ mailboxes. The ACLU tested a fundraising series that leveraged direct mail and email, and the average gift was $64, compared to $48. Direct mail, email, and telemarketing raised the most money, with an average gift of $80.65

Capture Donor Email Addresses Through Direct Mail

Over the past few years, direct mail response rates have declined, which has raised concerns for many nonprofits that rely on it as a major funding source. As nonprofits continue to communicate more with donors and prospects online, it’s important that you capture direct mail donors’ online contact information too. When you send out a direct mail piece, give donors the option to make their donation online, including setting up recurring donations. You can also offer premiums (tied to your mission) to encourage them to make the donation online or simply to provide their email address with a tear-off card that they can mail back to you.

While it’s good to focus on getting offline donors’ email addresses, don’t ask for additional information, such as their mobile numbers or Twitter handles. Adding too many requests can depress response rates in direct mail.

“As in all direct response channels, we have to carefully test additional asks (like requesting more contact info) on fundraising reply slips. We must make sure that the additional asks don’t distract and then depress fundraising response,” said Mwosi Swenson, vice president of the online fundraising firm Donor Digital.

Swenson says that nonprofits are finding it increasingly difficult to collect more data from direct mail. “Everyone is increasingly sensitive about giving out their telephone/mobile numbers; there’s no way to get around that. And for mobile numbers or social media account information, we must offer a great reason why a donor would give up that additional contact information—what useful, interesting, pertinent information is the organization going to provide in return,” said Swenson.

Promote Your Website and Social Media Channels in Direct Mail

Just because you need to be careful about not asking your direct mail donors for too much information doesn’t mean you can’t promote information about where your direct mail donors can connect with you online—share information about your website and social networks.

Email Channel

As we discussed earlier, research shows that organizations that have their donors’ email addresses raise more money. Nonprofits such as the ACLU say that donors on their email list give about 25% to 35% more money than other channels.66

In today’s battle of the in-boxes, Tweets, Facebook updates, text messages, and banner ads flying across the screen, organizations can’t afford to ignore the basics of crafting a good email appeal that motivates and inspires supporters to donate money.

TIPS FOR RAISING MORE MONEY WITH EMAIL APPEALS

1. Use Short, Catchy Subject Lines.

Hook your supporters right off the bat with a short and catchy subject line.

Example of Bad Subject Line:

“Renew Your Commitment to End Dog Homelessness”

Aside from this subject line being boring, you are also intimidating your members to shoulder a very big issue—that they alone are responsible for saving all dogs. Bad idea!

Example of Good Subject Line:

“Help Keep a Puppy Safe in DC’s Blizzard!”

This is a good subject line because it’s focused, local so the organization can segment the appeal to their DC supporters, timely because there is a blizzard coming, and a bit emotional. Who doesn’t want to keep a puppy safe from a terrible blizzard in their hometown?

2. Focus on One Issue in the Email Appeal, Not Multiple Issues.

Focus people’s attention on the single and most important issue of your fundraising campaign. Don’t dilute it with several issues or different asks—don’t have a call to donate money on one line and a call to volunteer two sentences later. It adds a layer of complexity and decreases response rates.

3. Keep Your Email Appeal Short and Sweet.

So you hooked your members with a short and catchy subject line, now continue to engage them in the body of the text with a brief (three to five paragraphs), straightforward appeal that tells one story and appeals to their emotions. Since your goal is capture your donors’ attention in just a few short paragraphs, it’s important that you not muddle the story with every little detail. You will have the opportunity to spread your story out over a series of fundraising appeals

Tell your members how their $50 donation is going to make a specific impact. For example: “Your $50 donation will help feed puppies like Lita, one of the sweet black labs we rescued yesterday, for an entire month.”

4. Ask for the Donation Upfront.

People typically skim appeals; so provide an opportunity for people to donate (with a link) within the first paragraph of the appeal. You want to make sure you frame the story first, before you ask for money. Then repeat the call to donate at least two to three more times.

5. Make It Timely and Deadline Driven.

The most successful organizations raise a lot of money around timely issues. Any opportunity that your nonprofit can connect fundraising campaigns to current news, seize it! Adding deadlines also gives a sense of urgency.

Figure 4.7 Picture of Lita, One of the Rescued Black Labs That Allyson and Her Husband Adopted

6. Add a PS at the Bottom of Emails.

Adding a “PS” at the end of emails is sometimes one of the most read content in an email appeal. Boil the campaign down into one key message and test this as a PS in your next fundraising campaign.

7. Follow Up and Thank Your Donors.

Don’t forget to close the loop. We can’t stress how important this basic cultivation strategy is to engaging and sustaining donors. All too often nonprofits forget to thank their donors (or don’t thank them soon enough) and close the loop in online fundraising campaigns. Donors want to know if you met your goals, or if you didn’t meet them. So take the time to build better relationships with them and schedule follow up emails. Also make sure you include any stories, successes, and photos or videos so that donors can see how their donation made a difference. This relationship-building strategy is important to your overall fundraising strategy. Donors are more loyal to organizations that show their appreciation, follow up, and share results.67

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WEBSITE CHANNEL

Your organization’s website serves as the most important funnel for connecting with donors and generating online donations. But if your website isn’t optimized for fundraising, with prominent calls to donate that lead donors to easily navigable donation landing pages, your organization won’t raise much money through its website.

Here are some key fundraising strategies to implement on your website to bring in the money.

Utilize Homepage Hijacks and Donate Callout Boxes

When you have a very important fundraising campaign, it’s critical that you promote it across your website. There are two simple strategies you can implement to encourage your web visitors to increase donations.

Homepage hijacks, as you can see in Figure 4.8, are a graphically designed fundraising pitch that sits on top of the homepage. When users click to make a donation, they go to a unique fundraising campaign landing page that tracks donation response rates. You tend to see a lot of homepage hijacks around year-end fundraising, but they can be leveraged for any big or urgent fundraising campaign any time of year. It’s important to be strategic about homepage hijacks. They should be used for the biggest fundraising campaigns of the year only or else you may annoy web visitors who are coming to your site for information and content. And if you use one, consider adding a web browser cookie to it so that web visitors who come back to your website often don’t see it multiple times in a short period. Alia Mckee of Sea Change Strategies recommends that organizations use a cookie so that repeat web visitors only see the homepage hijack about once a week.68 You should also always give visitors the option to close the hijack window through an “X” button so that they can access your main website immediately.

Figure 4.8 Homepage Hijack Example by Humane Society of the United States

Display Callout Boxes on Your Homepage

When your organization is in major fundraising mode, consider placing callout graphic boxes around key areas of your site such as the homepage, your blog, and campaign landing pages (especially when it relates to the issue you are fundraising for) that ask people to donate to the campaign. The graphic callout box can fit into the size of an ad space or whatever dimensions work best for your site.

Optimize Your Website Donation Landing Pages

What’s the secret to creating a successful donation-landing page? Make it short and user-friendly, with the most important form fields as far above the fold as possible. Follow these simple tips from the Procrastinator’s Guide for Year-End Fundraising (which we refer to as The Guide from here forward) by Sea Change Strategies and Care2, and you will see more donations come through your website all year long.69 Important: You will also want to test and make sure that your donation page is mobile-friendly and works properly on smartphones such as the iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry.

Collect Only the Information You Need

It’s easy to get caught up in collecting a lot of information about your donors. But don’t fall into that trap because for each extra form field you add, you will suppress donations. Focus on collecting the most important information you need to seal the deal, such as first name, last name, email address, mailing address, and credit card information. As you build a relationship with your donor, you can continue to collect more information over time.

Focus Your Website Donor on the Task at Hand

If you asked a supporter to donate money to a specific campaign, that is what your donation landing page should focus on. Don’t muddle the page with a lot of other options like “join our email list,” “become a monthly donor,” or “renew your membership.” One exception might be testing the inclusion of a link to a “why give” page on your website, according to The Guide. Suppressing your global navigation on the donation page focuses your donor even more and can lead to more donations. If you suppress the global navigation, remember to provide a navigation link back to the home page.

Use Consistent “Donate” Language on Your Website

If you want people to donate money to your organization, don’t mince words, particularly in your buttons and links, which are key cues for people to click on to donate. The best words for your donate buttons and links are “Donate,” “Give,” or “Contribute.” And be sure to track each of these donate button terms to see which one performs the best with your community.

Look Legitimate

The nonprofit world is no stranger to fraud. Make sure that you provide your organization’s contact information, privacy policy, Verisign seals or similar verification seal, and any ratings from the nonprofit evaluation providers, such as Charity Navigator, Guide Star, and Great Nonprofits. Milo Sybrant, managing director of engagement media at Amnesty International USA, said the organization experienced a 5.11% increase in their fundraising after adding the Better Business Bureau seal above the donation form.70 This is an easy tactic to raise more money.

Don’t Make Donors Jump Through Hoops to Make a Donation

Donors get infuriated when donation pages don’t work properly or they have to click three times to access the proper donation form. Poor online donation experiences can ruin a donor relationship forever. With that in mind, test your donation page, and try to break it. Look out for broken links. What happens if you don’t fill out the required information; do you receive an error? From The Guide: “If at all possible, make sure donors thrown into error hell don’t have to re-enter all their personal information.”

Display a Thank-You Page After the Donation Has Been Processed

Thank your donors immediately by directing them to a thank-you page upon completion of the donation form. Be sure to include Tell-A-Friend forms to encourage your donors to share the campaign with their friends through email and social networks.

Within 24 to 48 hours, send a personalized thank-you email to your donors. These are easy to set up in most all CRM systems.

Social Sharing

You can also test integration of social sharing on the thank-you pages, where people can edit and post updates to social media such as Twitter (“Join me in donating $25 to @humanesociety to provide blankets to homeless puppies like Lita in DC shelters—sourced link”).

“People that just gave are your most passionate supporters. Give them the opportunity to share the good word while they’re most excited,” said online strategy consultant Ted Fickes.

Show Fundraising Results in Real Time

If you want to raise money on any channel you need to share your fundraising goals and demonstrate impact in real time, says Blackbaud’s Barry.71 One of the most effective ways to do this online is to integrate a thermometer or graphic on a donation page that displays the fundraising goal and updates as people donate. The graphic also quickly tells people what percentage of the fundraising goal has been met.

“Seeing the goals and the impact does two things. First, it helps website visitors further understand what the project is all about by seeing real data. Second, it allows visitors to connect with the fundraising efforts on a deeper level. By seeing the impact people start thinking, ‘Wow, that’s amazing . . . I think I can help here!’” said Barry.

MOBILE CHANNEL

With the rapid adoption of mobile technologies, nonprofits should evaluate different options to integrate mobile into their fundraising plans when it’s a good fit and a good investment. Between text-to-donate campaigns, using QR codes in print ads or posters, and optimizing email fundraising appeals for mobile devices, there are plenty of avenues to explore and test to start raising more money with mobile if you have enough staffing and resources to support a mobile program.

Text-to-Donate

One of the biggest areas nonprofits are eyeing these days in the mobile channel is text-to-give programs. There are two basic routes nonprofit staff can explore to setup a text-to-donate campaign in the United States—both require shortcodes, five- or six-digit special telephone numbers used to route text messages from mobile phones to mobile messaging applications.

Proprietary Shortcode

Acquiring a unique shortcode can take time to secure and is more expensive than sharing one. The advantage is that you get the opportunity to brand yourself around your unique shortcode code and to launch different types of fundraising appeals and action alerts.

Shared Shortcode

A cheaper route is to use a shortcode that is shared with other groups but the key word is unique. This route can be problematic—if donors mistype the keyword, the donation will not go through—but some vendors such as Mobile Commons have tried to address these issues by designing their app to pick up common misspellings. They also do not allow similar keywords for other campaigns. As of this writing, people can’t donate more than $10 at a time.

Many organizations (outside of the American Red Cross during natural disasters such as the earthquake in Haiti or Japan) that have experimented with text-to-donate campaigns have not raised a significant amount of money. However, if your organization is seeing traction with mobile fundraising and you want to take it to the next level, consider hiring staff or consultants who are trained to engage with people via mobile to build deeper relationships with those constituents.

Raise More Money by Leveraging Mobile and Email

As we highlighted earlier, if you have a large enough list of supporters’ mobile numbers, texting can be a great strategy to boost your overall fundraising response rates. In an A/B split test, the Humane Society of the United States experienced an increased response rate of 77% during one of their year-end fundraising drives by texting an appeal to their donors with mobile numbers 24 hours before an appeal hit their email boxes. Of course the organization has a very large and active email list, so it’s not surprising to see how well this A/B test performed.

Using QR Codes at Offline Fundraising Events

Oxfam International used QR codes in one of their London retail stores as part of a fundraising campaign that involved celebrities donating sentimental items and clothes. When potential buyers scanned a QR code on a sales tag with their smartphone, videos of celebrities popped up with a personal story behind that item for sale. For example, when someone scanned the QR code on a dress that songwriter and activist Annie Lennox donated to the auction, it showed a video of her telling a story of how she wore it to Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday party in London.

The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation uses QR codes in their brochures at their offline fundraising events. “The QR code links to our lead advocacy volunteer, telling her story and briefly describing the benefits of joining our advocacy team,” said Mike Kondratick at JDRF.72

One of the metrics they track for measuring the effectiveness of QR codes is their walk-related sign-ups. “Our mobile sign-ups were up noticeably in 2011 walks, about 8% or so. This growth via mobile accounted for the vast majority of our walk day growth overall,” said Mike.

SOCIAL NETWORKS CHANNEL

While most nonprofits have a presence on social networks, the majority of them are only raising enough money to fill a small piggy bank. However, a few organizations, such as Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), are starting to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. “HSUS is the third most successful nonprofit on Facebook Causes (the largest social fundraising app on Facebook) in terms of fundraising,” said Carie Lewis, director of emerging media at the Humane Society of the United States.

At the end of 2011, HSUS reached their goal of raising $500,000 on Facebook. HSUS deployed a number of strategies and tactics to raise money on Facebook. The simplest strategy they used was to repurpose all their email fundraising asks on Facebook. “People on Facebook want to stay on Facebook. We notice considerably higher conversion rates when we bring ‘the ask’ inside of Facebook. We also provide other ways to donate, either by a sourced link to our website or via Blackbaud/Convio’s donation API on a custom Facebook tab. Some people just don’t trust donating on Facebook yet, much like they didn’t trust the donate button on our website in the beginning. But it’s important that we position ourselves for growth in this area, too, as the trust forms and the tools mature,” said Lewis. “But the real key is engagement. By providing our fans what they want like fun contests, polls asking for their opinion, listening to their feedback on posts, thanking them, answering every question, and other engagement opportunities, we believe that our fans will feel enough of a connection with the brand to do what we ask—such as making a donation.”

Lewis also says that every one of the organization’s emails, thank-you pages, and auto responders are shareable on social networks. “Within only months of us making our emails shareable, Facebook became the number one referring site to our website, surpassing Google. The number and amount of donations made on our website sourced originally from Facebook also continues to increase over time.”

Tailor Fundraising Pitches to Multiple Channels

When drafting fundraising pitches, you will need to tailor messages to each channel, since each one has a different tone, length consideration, and nomenclature, as we discussed in Chapter Three. “Donors are looking to hear about you in many places—some may just want to communicate in one channel; others will [want to] connect with you in several. The messaging and visual story of all these channels should reflect one another, while also taking into account the unique aspects of that channel and how people use it,” says Trompeter.74

Evaluate Your Fundraising Campaign

Evaluating your fundraising campaign as you roll out your various fundraising appeals is critical to your organization’s success raising money anytime, everywhere. Measuring results during the live campaign will help you tweak your fundraising plan along the way or even change course if a strategy is clearly not working. This will help you maximize engagement and donations.

Email Fundraising Appeals

There are some terrific nonprofit fundraising industry benchmarks that have been developed over the years, which we shall highlight. As you review them, note that results will be different for each nonprofit organization. While understanding these data is important, you should identify metrics that are realistic for your organization.

According to Convio’s Online Marketing Benchmark Study:75

• Median open rates for online fundraising appeals are 18.4%.
• Median click through rates are 1.7%.
• Median donation rates are 0.16%.
• The average online gift via email appeals is $93.67.
• The median amount of funds raised from first time online donations was $136,625.
• Average sustainer gifts were $25,474. This is a 38.7% increase from 2010.

Fundraising Metrics on Social Media

If you are doing any fundraising on social media, it’s important to establish your own metrics, since many organizations still aren’t raising much money through this channel and there is little data available. And the organizations that are raising some money are seeing vastly different results, so the data are a bit skewed and inconsistent. Here are four metrics you should review as part of your social fundraising campaigns at least once a month:

Mobile Fundraising

Similar to social media, mobile fundraising is still in its infancy stage. As of February 2012, there are many gaps in the data and statistics that mobile vendors and nonprofits are collecting and sharing. Despite the gaps, there are a few metrics that are worth considering if you plan to test mobile fundraising.

On average, the size of an organization’s text messaging list is 1.2% of its email list, as we mentioned in Chapter Three. This number is expected to grow considerably over the next few years and is something you will want to track at your own organization.

Both opt-in and opt-out rates to receive texts from organizations are low, according to Angela McIntosh, director of business development at MobileCause. Opt-ins range from 1% to 7%. Opt-outs hover around 1%. “Carriers have greatly restricted the amount of communication that can occur after a text-to-give donation. Most of our clients choose to use a mobile pledging service rather than text-to-give so that they can more easily communicate with their donors and cultivate longer-term relationships,” said McIntosh. An estimated 75% of text-to-give donations are completed by the donor, meaning individuals replied with the word “yes” to confirm their gift, according to McIntosh; 25% of text-to-give donations are not completed by the donor.

Currently, for most organizations, mobile fundraising is not a cost-effective fundraising source. Most donors prefer to give money to nonprofits through other channels. Unless you have a large email list and you are ready to invest in staff, consultants, and vendor fees to support a mobile fundraising program, we recommend holding off until mobile fundraising matures.

Be Realistic

As you know, there are never any guarantees with fundraising; so while we encourage you to test a few of these fundraising strategies and tactics, raising money anytime, everywhere is no easy task. Be prepared to

• Set realistic goals and benchmarks
• Tell stories that appeal to people’s empathy
• Show donors their impact
• Cultivate your community across multiple channels

Now that we’ve looked at advocacy and fundraising, in Chapter Five we discuss building community. We show you how other organizations are using a variety of channels to share their message, tell their story, and build strong, engaged communities, as well as point to how you can start building community anytime, everywhere today.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Spark a conversation with your team or organization about these core fundraising principles with the following questions:

NOTES

39. www.convio.com/our-products/luminate/teamraiser.html

40. spring2action.razoo.com/giving_events/spring2action2012/home

41. www.nonprofitquarterly.org/philanthropy/20153-boston-marathon-a-test-of-runners-fundraising-endurance.html

42. m.npr.org/news/front/142780599?page=0

43. invisiblepeople.tv/blog/

44. www.razoo.com/story/Punishgeoff

45. www.afpnet.org/Audiences/ReportsResearchDetail.cfm?itemnumber=4620

46. www.frogloop.com/care2blog/2009/5/31/is-direct-mail-dying-or-dead-hogwash.html

47. www.blackbaud.com/nonprofit-resources/online-giving-report.aspx

48. Source: 2011 Online Giving Report

49. www.flickr.com/photos/13159483@N00/6355681921/in/photostream

50. www.flickr.com/photos/13159483@N00/6355681921/in/photostream

51. www.guardian.co.uk/voluntary-sector-network/2011/sep/26/seven-tips-mobile-fundraising

52. www.nptrends.com/nonprofit-trends/how-much-money-is-raised-through-online-giving.htm

53. resources.convio.com/BenchmarkReport.html

54. www.afpnet.org/Audiences/ReportsResearchDetail.cfm?itemnumber=4620

55. nonprofitsocialnetworksurvey.com/

56. www.frogloop.com/care2blog/2011/12/27/is-facebook-good-for-fundraising.html

57. mobileactive.org/fundraising-and-mobile-phones-update

58. www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/MobileGiving/Key-Findings.aspx

59. www.mgive.com/Studies/DonorSurveyReport.aspx

60. www.raise-funds.com/2003/nonprofit-fund-raising-demystified/

61. www.npengage.com/advocacy/advocates-more-likely-give/

62. www.event360.com/blog/nonprofit-fundraising-strategies-a-b-testing-to-optimize-online-conversions/

63. support.google.com/analytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&topic=1745207&answer=1745147#utm_source=gablog&utm_medium=blog&utm_content=content&utm_campaign=content_experiments_launch

64. philanthropy.com/article/tech-guide/131007

65. www.slideshare.net/farra/secrets-of-integrated-fundraising

66. www.slideshare.net/farra/secrets-of-integrated-fundraising

67. This section was adapted from www.frogloop.com/care2blog/2010/2/6/five-online-fundraising-tips-to-raise-more-money.html

68. https://care2.webex.com/care2/lsr.php?AT=pb&SP=EC&rID=2551692&rKey=b44710ac91058749

69. seachangestrategies.com/blog/2010/08/17/webinar-reprise-the-overachievers-guide-to-year-end-fundraising/

70. https://care2.webex.com/care2/lsr.php?AT=pb&SP=EC&rID=2551692&rKey=b44710ac91058749

71. www.npengage.com/online-fundraising/7-online-fundraising-tips-learned-from-participating-movember/

72. www.frogloop.com/care2blog/2011/8/18/qr-codes-in-action-five-nonprofits-share-their-experiences.html

73. www.npengage.com/social-media/the-power-social-fundraising-and-friends-asking-friends-infographic/

74. www.bigducknyc.com/blog/fundraising-advice-and-predictions-2010

75. resources.convio.com/COP_Benchmark2012.html