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Review of an Appnet Seminar

By Ali Woolwich, August 1999

Note from the editors: This review is now fairly old and may not be as useful as it once was, except for historical reasons. For the latest thinking on internet fundraising, we recommend The Email Savvy Organization and other more recent feature articles.

The Philanthropy News Network's Nonprofits and Technology Conference held in San Francisco July 22-24, 1999 featured an Internet Fundraising Seminar presented by AppNet's Director of Strategy and Client Development Ken Weber, Director of Strategy and Client Relationships Michael Cervino, and Client Director Shirley Sexton. [http://www.appnet.com ]. They provided good context and examples for the web's current capabilities, the audiences available, and the collaboration opportunities now available to the nonprofit sector.

A drawback to the workshop was its lack of implementation and cost information. Seemingly geared towards convincing middle management in mid-sized nonprofits to lobby for the buy-in from their organizations, this workshop left interested parties hanging in the abyss between knowing that online fundraising is possible and being empowered to initiate their own programs.

The seminar illustrated the basics of online fundraising: a website with compelling interactive components (including a credit card donation form and outgoing email), audience definition, evaluations planning and compilation of baseline figures of current site traffic prior to changes. After the tools are set up, marketing is launched and then the wait for results begins. Through the evaluation of user logs, the site can be adapted to better meet user expectations and increase fundraising response.

Cervino, Weber and Sexton outlined the recent changes in internet audiences. More than 50% of US households are online-over 100 million users. The world internet population is becoming more like the general population, with women and non-US users approaching 50%. Consumers now regularly purchase an average $600 per person per year online. Nonprofit sector average online donations are 200% higher than gifts made through other channels. Cervino cited possible reasons: online donors are "pre-sold" in seeking an organization out, the spontaneity of credit card use leads to larger sums, and the demographics of online donors are still somewhat of a higher education level and higher income brackets. The average online donor is an "investment donor," who wants some hands-on interaction, wants to know how the money is being spent, and wants to see the issues in the press as proof that their donation is making a difference. The internet also opens the door to greater participation in many languages and from people with disabilities.

Nonprofits were encouraged to make online marketing expenditures equal to marketing in other media, and to take advantage of existing marketing resources, by:

• asking like organizations to share links
• asking users to forward info to friends (known as "virus marketing")
• using existing in-house publications to promote the website
• using local media stories as a channel to publicize URLs and drive site traffic
• taking advantage of the nonprofit rate for banner ads

There is now great potential for corporate sponsorships and collaborations. (See: http://www.hp.com/ghp/features/wwf and http://www.secondharvest.org for examples.) Now that there are a variety of Giving Portals to choose from as another marketing venue, there are certain questions nonprofits should ask when seeking out reputable ones:

• What can they tell you about their traffic?
• Can your organization have access to the email names?
• What data will their company provide you?

Some states are now applying interstate direct mail regulations (and fees) to online solicitations. States that are currently pursuing and fining the non-registered are South Carolina, Florida, and Pennsylvania. Organizations are encouraged to register at this time.

The presentors gave examples of do-s and don't-s for successful website features:

• Don't assume users know what to do-tell them to click or make it automatic (See: http://www.wwf-uk.org.)
• Integrate the donation section throughout the rest of the site.
• Encourage participation with interactive features such as polls, quizzes, surveys, kids section, e-postcards (See: http://www.naral.org/choice/forms/postcards/index.html.), newsletters, email alerts, testimony compilation (See: http://www.aclu.organization/profiling.), instantaneous transaction acknowledgements for opt-ins and opt-outs (note that users may make a second donation if they get a quick reply), online support groups (see: http://www.cancercare.org/services/online3.htm.), volunteer infoshare/chat space, and rewards for user feedback (see: http://www.supportunicef.org.)
• Meet or exceed current user expectations-create webpages with loadtimes under 30 seconds.
• Build user trust-always provide the option to remove from a list at anytime.
• When picking designers, follow these core guidelines:
• Make sure the designer's intentions match your business objectives.
• Make sure they already have the technical skills to implement desired new functions.
• Plan an exit strategy before you sign on.

Thre presentors stressed planning the evaluation process before changes were launched. Anticipate having to prove that your users did what you wanted them to do. Account for printed out website forms-make sure that they are entered into the database as website-based donations. Be prepared to follow up quickly with collected email names to most accurately measure the impact of your outreach. Measure cost reduction created by providing services online vs. with traditional hands-on staff time. Success isn't just dollars but numbers of new volunteers, letters sent, and user participations.

When analyzing user logfiles (See: freeware product Analog http://www.statslab.cam.ac.uk/~sret1/analog/.), AppNet recommends the following:

• Foster longer user sessions, which indicate better user experience (and potential for donation).
• Track the most frequently visited site pages to measure top user interests.
• Evaluate the ease-of-use of your donation page by measuring accessed vs. submitted JOIN forms.
• Track how many different sources bring users to your site.

To their credit, the presenters did a good job of demystifying terms throughout the day, and fielded questions efficiently. Although the workshop was too broad an overview for IT staff looking for costs and tech information, for those wanting to fill in the gaps of their vague concept of online fundraising, this session was a useful demonstration of possibilities.
 

Ali Woolwich is a San Francisco-based nonprofit fundraising consultant. She will be teaching workshops in online fundraising at the Support Center for Nonprofit Management/NDC [http://www.supportcenter.org/sf ] on Sept. 2, 1999 (SF) and Oct. 4, 1999 (San Jose). She will also be teaching a grantwriting workshop through the SF-based Harvey Milk Institute [http://www.gayglobalsf.com/harveymilk ] Oct. 16. She can be reached at aliw@igc.org.

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