The Cutting Edge

Twitter - A Mix of Wit and Titter

2009-06-30T10:35:00Z

Despite social networking types using the word liberally as if we all are intimate with the term, you may or may not have heard of Twitter, a social networking, micro-blogging site that allows you to write or text messages to the site. It has sometimes been described as the SMS of the Internet.

Twitter has become quite a phenomenon in recent times. In March 2009, a Nielsen.com blog ranked Twitter as the fastest-growing site in the Member Communities category for February 2009; Twitter had a growth of 1382%.

Over the past year, I've noticed more and more organisations within the Third Sector ‘twittering' on a consistent basis. It would appear that if used correctly, it can indeed become an influential medium for supporters. For example, several 2008 U.S. presidential campaigns used Twitter as a publicity mechanism, including that of Democratic Party nominee and President Barack Obama. British comedian Stephen Fry is also well known for having a myriad of followers and was reported in The Times in April 2009 as being the celebrity with the most followers on Twitter (just under 1 million).

Obviously, this can be a very powerful publicity vehicle, but does it work in the not-for-profit space? Personally, I feel any medium where you can promote information about your organisation and YOU control the content - is first class. I think the success of Twitter boils down to content consistency, frequency of update and immediacy. Providing there someone to frequently manage an organisation's updates and the content is relevant to its supporters, I believe it's a great benefit to any organisation. It's also a great testing ground or listening tool on how your audience respond to your posts.

Probably the most important aspect of Twitter for our sector is the potential to raise awareness by ‘friendraising '. The more awareness we raise, the more knowledge the general public has about the cause, so increasing the amount of supporters. Bullying UK is a great example of a charity that uses Twitter to build awareness with limited emphasis on raising money. They regularly post anti-bullying posters on their site to help them gain more followers. It's been very successful so far and followers are increasing rapidly.

Many think Twitter can help charities raise funds without spending any money themselves. This is true, but this medium is not particularly sustainable. Good-ly is a great example of an interesting and sustainable way to raise money via social networking, which is less reliant on the ‘geek' factor. If you use Good-ly to make a product recommendation on Twitter, Facebook or anywhere else, and people buy what you suggest, they give 55% of any earned referral fees to charity. They rotate attention to 3 charities each month to even out distribution.

Twollars are another great example of a more sustainable way to raise money via social networking. Twollars are a currency of appreciation for Twitter. Twollars are designed to reward positive actions. You can give Twollars when someone helps you by tweeting useful information, sharing a tip, writing an inspiring Tweet or if you are just feeling generous. Besides giving them to people, you can show your support to multiple charities on Twitter by sending them Twollars. The recipient can then collect Twollars this way and later, exchange them for hard currency from businesses and people who support their cause.

I know many believe that Twitter's a fad and the novelty will disappear, which in some respects, could be true. However, they said the same thing about blogs and social networking - and look at them now! Facebook is a great example of this - now the main referral source for JustGiving. Perhaps the only true way to discover whether it works for you is jump on the Twitter bandwagon and test it out!

Know Your Supporter

2009-04-03T13:40:00Z

How many organisations can safely say that they know their supporters? I have a feeling that many organisations will say they know their supporters very well, however upon deeper analysis, will discover that perhaps they don't know them as well as they thought.

Having been to many conferences, roundtables, speaker sessions etc over the years, I hear many stories and personal anecdotes. However, there is one in particular that I hear on a regular basis that I would like to share:

Mary was a regular volunteer for a charitable organisation in the U.S. She had been volunteering 3 mornings a week for over the last 10 years. It was later discovered that Mary had given a major gift ($1 million) to a neighbouring charity. The charity she had been volunteering with had no idea that she was wealthy and could give this type of gift. They only viewed her as a supporter in terms of her time. When asked why she donated the money to the neighbouring charity and not to the one she volunteers for, her response was "I didn't know you needed the money and you didn't ask." This is a great example of not knowing your supporter - one charity's loss was another's gain. They lost out on a considerable gift because they didn't take the time to understand their supporter. How many Mary's do you think are attached to your organisation?

Sadly, there's no magic solution that will reveal everything and anything about your supporters. However, there are ways in which an organisation can utilise specific tools to help them gain this information.

In this economic climate, we have to work smarter, not just harder. Therefore it's so important to maintain good relationships with your existing supporter base and think of innovative, effective ways to reach out to new supporters. How can you do this? By utilising a Supporter Relationship Management (SRM) solution.

SRM includes a wide range of tools designed to understand and serve both prospective and existing supporters more effectively. By implementing a robust SRM solution, you can better understand established supporters, identify and concentrate on your best supporters, target supporter development efforts and keep your existing supporters loyal. At first glance, this may seem like an additional unnecessary expense with little return. However, taking a supporter-centered focus should boost your revenues, lower overall expenses and increase supporter responsiveness.

According to a recent survey conducted by the market research firm Gartner, which consisted of 90 business and IT leaders, more than three -quarters of respondents are planning to enhance their investments in SRM initiatives in 2009, rather than de-commit resources. It may seem counter-intuitive during a difficult economic climate to increase investment rather than cut costs. The instinctive reaction is to switch to defensive mode; cut all strategic projects and then wait until things improve. However, in the long run, retreating could be more detrimental. Now is the time to make smart investments, so you can focus on improving supporter retention and increasing wallet share.

Fundraising In A Recession

2009-02-11T15:38:00Z

It's a new year and a brand new blog!! I'm very excited about blogging and I'm looking forward to sharing my thoughts, views and opinions on the sector.

In the current economic climate, it makes sense to me to write my first blog on Fundraising in a Recession (now that is has been officially announced). Many not-for-profits may be feeling the impact of the financial crisis and others may be wondering how to cope.

It's undoubtedly a difficult time; however there are ways to navigate successfully through this period. There's been too much negative press surrounding the recession and I believe, by implementing these suggestions below, not-for-profits will remain successful during this time:

Retain your supporters
Now is the time to show your supporters you appreciate their donations. It's important to respond as quickly as possible to thank supporters when they make a donation. You want them to know that you value their support and the quicker you do this, the better. SMS is most effective way to do this as responses are almost instantaneous and go right to the supporter's mobile phone. This increases the likelihood that the message will be read and it will also help to build strong support relations. In addition, another way to help retain supporters is to understand and communicate in ways which they prefer, for example, if supporters wish only to be contacted via email, then you should respect that.

Consider that for an organisation raising £10M annually, a 3% increase in donor retention could equate to an additional £1.5M in contributions over a three year period. In 2009, organisations are likely to see greater returns by improving retention rates and average gift size vs. new donor acquisition.

Innovate
Now is the time to do more with less by doing things differently. Believe it or not, now is the time to invest in software or upgrade your current system because that will help you become more efficient and streamline your work processes. It will also provide a considerable ROI and help to save you money in the long run. Many won't even need to do that - talk to your software partner and get their fundraising experts to review your use of your system - that may just be the best investment you ever make!

Diversify
Many of the organisations we work with are suffering because of an over-reliance on legacies and corporate giving. Moving forward, charities must work to diversify their income streams and develop a healthy balance of voluntary income (committed givers and major donors), fees for services, grants, legacies, corporate giving, etc.

Emphasize CRM
With less money to go around there will be increased competition for donors. It's the charity that can effectively engage with the donor, which can be responsive and develop a real, two-way relationship that will win out in the end. We believe it's the organisations that can make the most of these opportunities that will thrive. Make all communications personal, anticipated and relevant

Make the most of the Internet
In our recent State of the Not-for-Profit Survey, 96% of all respondents reported having a website but only 26% actually had a strategy for how to use the Internet to support their organisation's mission. Given today's economic climate, charities must leverage the power of the Internet to acquire, engage and retain supporters in a more cost effective way.

Data
In a recession no prudent CEO or FD will support anecdotal justifications for spending. Now above all is the time to collect data about everything you do; normalise it (make sure you know the data about the data); integrate it from the different sources; analyse it and from that insight you will be able to move forward in certainty and gain support from your board for all sorts of investments.