Appealing to Mom

For the past two weeks, my inbox has been flooded with appeals built on Mother's Day. I confess, for my clients and for my own personal life, Mother's Day came way too early this year and left me a bit unprepared. This is why I should look at my Google Calendar every day!

So, I sat down on Sunday night and began wading through the plethora of appeals and newsletters with a Mother's Day theme. I finished up last night. I had a lot of clicking around to do.

Here are some highly unofficial statistics and notes from my inbox:

• 29 straight appeals, 21 of them with links to honor or memorial giving

• 6 of them featured gift memberships

• 18 of the appeals offered an eCard option

• 13 newsletters with mentions about Mother's Day

• Two appeals with links to video

• Moms are "choosy", "picky", "stubborn", and "hard to please"

• Donors need to "honor", "celebrate" and "surprise" Mom

• Most donors have no idea what to get their mothers for Mother’s Day

• Mom loves organic flowers, chocolates, and shirts

• But, don’t just get Mom those things--she likes eCards, too.

• Mom understands the importance of feeding the homeless and feeding children, giving water to children, helping the blind, helping the deaf, and helping fight diseases ranging from cancer, heart disease, HIV/AIDS, etc.

• She also understands the importance of emergency relief efforts in places like Myanmar, Darfur, and Haiti, education reform, preventing animal cruelty, adopting an animal, sponsoring a child, testing for disabilities, fighting climate change, conservation of trees and nature, supporting our troops, helping people with physical disabilities, meeting people just like herself, and the current crop of political candidates running for president

• Mom is waiting for your eCard today (hopefully, she’s not just sitting by her computer literally waiting).

These messages all show the diversity of Mother’s Day as an occasion for nonprofits to build their brands and give a nice spike to their online fundraising for May. I like the idea of virtual gifts over real gifts. Gift memberships and eCards can say a lot to honor Mom. They also show moms how well she raised her children. Plus, they are easier and simpler to deliver as last-minute gift ideas.

If your organization doesn’t feel like your message or mission is directly related to Mother’s Day, you might think again. Mom apparently has a lot of interests and knows a lot of things. But, we always knew that, right?

So, with five days to go before Mother’s Day, I’ll see how many last-minute appeals arrive in my inbox. However, as a dad, I wonder how many of these same organizations will feature appeals for Dad?

Working the Numbers: The latest benchmark study

The 2008 eNonprofit Benchmarks Study-- a newly-released update from the original 2006 study released by M+R and NTEN. I've spent a week reading and re-reading, looking at the sites of the organizations who participated in the study, and trying to see how these apply to the entire sector. A few CEOs and development officers have asked me for a brief about it... one asked me for a five-second breakdown of the study. Wow, five seconds. OK, here goes (each bullet is one second):

• eMail open rates and click-through rates are down


• Online gifts increased and $1,000 gifts are more frequent online


• Monthly giving is up


• Nonprofits send an average of four e-mails per month


• Go download a copy and soak up the numbers yourself

The recent wave of benchmark studies should keep your organization busy reading for awhile. These studies confirm that online fundraising numbers continue to rise, even as e-mail rates drop. Segmenting and communicating through social networks and specific channels can keep your organization on the rise. And, these kinds of studies will help you make your case to invest in your online future. So, go read it, memorize it, and hopefully you can make your five-second pitch to expand your online efforts.

Wired Wealthy: The Rich Like YouTube?

Convio, SeaChange Strategies, and Edge Research recently released "The Wired Wealthy: Using the Internet to Connect with Your Middle and Major Donors", a fascinating look at how middle and major donors use the Web and donate online. The study surveyed donors with with email addresses who had given more than $1,000 online during an 18-month period.  The report breaks the surveyed population into three smaller groups: the "all business" donors, the "casual connectors", and the "relationship seekers", or folks who really want to build affinity with an organization online. This "emotionally connected" group made up 29% of the surveyed population, a big target for your organization to reach out to online.

Other interesting demographic notes about these high net-worth individuals (HNWI):

• 84% earn more than $100,000 annually
• 87% have a college education
• The average age is 51 years old
• 18 hours per week spent online
• 90% make purchases online
• 52% use YouTube; 16% use LinkedIn, 9% use Facebook

Your organization should download this report and decide how these HNWI survey results and figures will change your strategy. A few things can immediately change:

• Your Major Gifts group needs to communicate with these donors online, not just through dead-tree media and phone calls
• Use video on your site, preferably your homepage
• Site logins, segmented newsletters and appeals, and personalized messages should be standard issue for your website and messages with anyone who gives over $1,000
• Set your site giving levels with $1,000 or higher tiers (57% of those organizations who participated in the survey said they have received gifts at this level and above).

Ultimately, you should treat all your donors with respect and try to personalize communications. However, if you've often just siphoned off big donors from your CRM and separated them from the online world, then think again. The wealthy are wired, indeed. 

NTC 08: A Few Updates

A few thoughts and announcements as NTC 08 wraps up here in New Orleans today:

* DoGooderTV has posted the winners in the 2008 Video Contest. Congratulations to the Humane Society of the United States for their Best Overall Video win.

* Best Overheard Quote and Overall Sentiment: "Don't judge ROI by donor dollars, judge it by the results of the lives you change and how you make your donors feel about this change." Well put.

* Best Treats: Coffee and beignets from Cafe du Monde and Jelly Bellies from GoLightly. Both were addictive.

* Check out the blog posts on Technorati for more feedback from NTC 08.

* Finally, one of the best sessions came from See3's Mike Hoffman on video for nonprofits. A great session and I'm glad they posted it:

2008 NTC Day Two Wrap-Up

Day two: Sessions, sessions, sessions!

NTC 08 Day Two started off with a hilarious plenary speaker, New York Times Tech guru David Pogue. Pogue spoke about the three trends for the future: cell phone technologies, television and movies whenever you want them, and Web 2.0 user content. The most interesting example he gave was Google's Grand Central, a service where one phone number will ring or text any phone in your life, which means you are always accessible, whether you like it or not! Pogue ended his talk with a grand piano performance of his famous (at least for NYTimes site junkies like me) iPhone song (And yes, I held up my iPhone for the ballad). Here's the video of Pogue in action:

There were plenty of breakout sessions today ranging from communications, IT, fundraising, and community building. The morning sessions focused heavily on e-mail campaigns, mobile phone fundraising, analytics and social networking. The afternoon sessions continued the Web 2.0 discussions and discussions built on analyzing campaigns. The key question that seems to be on a lot of minds is understand the value of social networking. Does it work? Does it build awareness? Does it raise money? How do you measure the ROI of social networks? Should your organization be doing social networks? How will it affect your organization?

A lot of organizations were quick to share their stories and curious to hear feedback from what other have done. It's a bit unruly and uneven to navigate, but the social network gurus gave strong advice for sticking to your guns and pursuing new audiences with these tools, even though the ROI was difficult to measure. Of course, onLine always says go for it! If you can build an online with social networks, social bookmarks, or any micro-group, you should pursue it. You never know when a channel could open a very big door. It's all trial-and-error and even the best experts can't predict which organization will have a groundswell.

The evening wrap-up featured afternoon ice cream and a Network For Good-sponsored reception, followed by a night out on the town in New Orleans. I have a feeling I may be one of the few people at the morning sessions.

2008 NTC Day One Wrap-Up

Ah, New Orleans: the palm trees, St Charles Avenue streetcars, the Mississippi River and rolling, morning clouds, and the more than 1,000 techies who descended upon the Sheraton New Orleans for NTEN's NTC '08. The tech conference started with a Day of Service, as more than 80 tech professionals helped almost 30 local groups and organizations. Check out Beth's Blog for more information on this great service from NTEN.

Today's sessions focused on Affinity Group Meetings, ranging from an informal gathering of the Information Systems Forum group to discussions on Salesforce.com and Google Apps groups. If you don't belong to any affinity groups, you should. Join a listserv or online group and expand your techie or service knowledge with your peers. These groups can help you find a solution to your particular tech issue without having to do all the research or re-invent the wheel. Very informative peer groups today and a nice serve-up for tomorrow's big sessions. Plus, as almost moderator mentioned, it's all about networking.

The day ended with this year's Science Fair, as vendors and service providers set up their booths to show their wares and expertise. Food and drinks were served as bags and bowls were filled with business cards and pamphlets. The best tchotchke of the event was the red, flashing antennae from digital media platform gurus Red Antenna--very cute.

The big push this year was all about open source tools and how you can tie them into social networking tools and databases, whether it's MPower, Convio, or Salesforce. There were also groups like NPower, TechSoup, and Network For Good promoting their networks and services. Whether you were a social networker, fundraiser, database manager, or a communication manager, there was something for you to see and learn.

Tomorrow, the big sessions, with more chances to hear what challenges nonprofit techies and vendors face and more solutions.

Join onLine from 2008 NTC Central in New Orleans

Join us this week as onLine's Garth Moore blogs every day from NTEN's 2008 Nonprofit Technology Conference in New Orleans. More than 1,000 attendees will come from organizations and vendors far and wide to connect with colleagues and share information on technology, communication, fundraising, and more. This year's plenary speaker is New York Times personal technology guru David Pogue.

If you can't make it to this year's event, then stay in touch with onLine this week for news, analysis, and photos from the conference. And, if you are at the conference, say hello to Garth Moore as he bounces between sessions and the coffee stands.

ePhilanthropy During Tough Economic Times

It may be tough to think about raising money online during our less-than-desirable economic times. However, right now is the perfect time to push your online giving programs and drive offline marketing to your website. Direct mail is becoming more expensive with the rise in fuel prices and, as a result, the rise in postage. Plus, your members, donors, and constituents might not like all the trees being razed for those hefty envelopes. You can really push your e-mails, social networks, and blogs to drive folks to your giving areas and make your case.

Check out Convio Founder Vinay Bhagat's sage wisdom piece 10 Online Marketing Strategies for Fundraising in Challenging Times; great advice for initial steps and solidified basics for your online fundraising programs. It definitely keeps in mind with everything we've been saying here at onLine for the past year.

Remember, tough times won't necessarily shut down your operations. In fact, these times will help your organization discover its true supporters and networks. Be sure to give them good reasons to bookmark your site.

Peer-to-Peer Fundraising

How often have you asked your volunteers or constituents to help with your online fundraising? Yes, that can be a scary thought at first; but, there are probably a few people out there who love to help your organization with a friendraising campaign, creating a tribute fund, or helping raise friends and funds through a social network. These peer fundraisers can be the best connectors for your organization.

The success of the recent America's Giving Challenge campaign exemplifies how peer-to-peer fundraising can be effective. It's easy to get started: start with an online survey or announcement in your online newsletter or enlist active members of your online social networks to help. Ask them about their experience with online tools and technologies--they may know more than you! Introduce them to your online fundraising or event tools and get them involved.

Sarah Hoddinott, Fundraising Product Manager at Advanced Solutions International, offers a few best practices for successful peer-to-peer fundraising, regardless of what technology you use to facilitate it:

Integrate peer-to-peer fundraising into your current fundraising strategies.
Inventory your current communications tactics (email, physical mailers, website, etc.) and examine the messaging. Has it been watered down to reach many different audiences? Through peer-to-peer campaigns, you maintain the core messaging but enable your donors to personalize the message for their own networking and recruitment efforts.

Introduce online events to the list of ways a donor can help.
A-thon-based events can be launched and managed online far quicker, with less overhead cost, than multi-location physical events. Peer-to-peer Internet-based events eliminate the need to physically go to an event, allowing participation from across the globe, right from their computers.

Identify campaign ‘champions’ and give them the tools to rapidly expand the donor network.
Take the time to find your top supporters, reach out to them first and show them how to use peer-to-peer tools.  Once they understand how easy it is for them to create their own personalized campaign website, carrying their own messaging, they will be able to reach out to their networks far quicker, and with no added costs.

Understand, motivate and thank your donors.
In peer-to-peer fundraising, you can easily focus on keeping your participants involved in the campaign by quickly sending them personalized automated emails that provide fundraising tips, solicitation reminders, encouragement and your gratitude. Traditional means of communicating with donors are costly, time intensive and slow.

Create friendly competition and build individual and team incentives into your campaigns.
Create accurate, real-time responsive leader boards that allow campaign champions to see how their fundraising efforts stack up against fellow champions. Offer prizes to the top fundraisers and top teams.  Encourage team captains to motivate their team members and offer them easy ways of communicating within their team. 

Reduce unnecessary administrative efforts from each campaign.
Peer-to-peer tools automate many administrative functions of fundraising programs. Donor communications becomes automated, personalized donor websites can be created by the donors themselves, tax records and receipts are automatically generated and distributed. By using online-based events, the costs and coordination associated with physical venues is eliminated.

Automate your donor acquisition strategy.
Peer-to-peer tools that fully integrate with your donor management systems will allow you to capture new donor information and donation habits. By allowing your donors to create their own online networks, all donors that interact with those personalized websites can be captured, collecting money and expanding your database at the same time.

Dear "First Name Not Given"

I recently signed up for an organization's online newsletter: simple enough input form and the acknowledgment screen was fine. I even puttered over to their programs area to look around after registering. Then, two days later (!), I received my welcome e-mail message that began with this salutation:

"Dear First name not given,"

Uh-oh.

Now, I've received quite a few "Dear Friend," messages from organizations, but this one was the best... or worst. Someone at this organization obviously needs to examine their response devices. This made me wonder how many organizations check these autoresponders or devices. Setting up automatic acknowledgments should be standard knowledge, but a look into my last two weeks worth of e-mails turned up nine messages from organizations that started with "Dear Friend," and one "Dear first name not given".

Why is this important? Simply put, you bought, leased, or developed the tool to maximize a constituent relationship and if you can't be on a first name basis with your constituents, how do you expect to grow an online relationship? The big and medium-sized CRM services provide standard templates for registration and donation processes. This should be one of the first things you customize in your CRM tool! Your capture forms most likely have a first and last name field, that information should be right in the autoresponder. I wouldn't drop it in a subject line (too spam-y), but you should definitely have it at the start of any welcome or appeal message. In fact, you might add the date they joined, the amount of their last donation, and target an interest or two with specific content or graphics.

Get personal and dig in, your constituents will notice and you'll maximize the potential of your online tools.

So, if  "Dear First name not given" is my first name, what is my whole name?

Best Super Bowl Ad: Text-to-Give PSA

Forget the rest of the Super Bowl ads (frankly, I don't drink soda or watch a lot of Fox), the most exciting ad was United Way's text-to-give PSA with Tom Brady. The ad was only 10 seconds long--perhaps not as gripping as watch a squirrel narrowly avoid being run over--but, it was great to see text-based giving finally land on these shores. It may be low-dollar giving, but for a nation of kids growing up using SMS over e-mail, it is the future of giving.

After that PSA, who needs the second half?

Read United Way's press release on MarketWire

Planning This Year's Appeals

By now, you are planning your organization's online appeals and campaigns for the year (still hungover from the holiday campaigns and a hopefully a nice vacation). You might be in a panic: Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Valentine's Day are quickly upon us, membership renewals are floating out the door, and you've been asked to think about next year's holiday campaign already. It can be overwhelming, but keep a few things in mind:

Not Every Holiday Needs a Mailer: You should assess your online audience interests and your own branding and bandwidth to see what holidays deserve an e-mail. Does Easter or Memorial Day really work for your mission? What about Flag Day (no kidding, it might)? Make a smart assessment of what will work for your organization. Use your offline marketing calendar and past successes as a starting point. Maybe Flag Day is the perfect day for your organization's appeal.   

Be Flexible: Create an annual calendar and prepare to have it go haywire by April. No big deal. Being flexible means doing a last minute appeal for the CEO, entering an online giving contest, or issuing a new corporate partner appeal. Of course, you may have disaster relief waiting in the wings at any moment. Planning is great, but nothing's set in stone. Creating an annual appeal schedule will help you stay focused, but bend, don't break.

Be Creative, Be Smart: Take the time now to think about your messaging, even if you don't build any creative yet. Think of the messages for each campaign and who you are trying to reach. Now, are there ways you can distribute mailings without inundating your housefile? Can we trim a few mailings here and there or segment your housefile down for more specific mailing topics? Be creative with not only your content, but how you reach out to others.

So, what should your schedule look like? Well, it can be as simple as a spreadsheet by month with the name of the mailing, the segment, and due dates for content, and the delivery date. You might want to assign duties or make notes for each campaign. However you format your calendar, remember to keep your appeal schedule focused and easy to change. And welcome to 2008, this could be a great year for your online program.

Is My Money Making a Difference?

One of the biggest advantages of shopping online is instant access to information needed for an informed purchase. Price comparisons and user reviews give online shoppers added confidence that they are getting the best product at the lowest price.

Increasingly, donors desire access to information that allows them to give confidently. About 58% of high-net-worth households said they would make bigger donations to charity if they were able to determine the impact of their gifts, according to research conducted last year by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

In Mary Ellen Podmolik's recent Chicago Tribune article, "Online guide to giving well,” she introduces a new web site that is attempting to make it easier for donors to know if their money is making a difference. Three years ago while looking for a good charity to make a donation to by year's end, Holden Karnofsky wanted to write a check to someone for $5,000, but he didn't know to whom. "The first time I did it, I had no idea where to start," he said. "I went to Google and typed in 'charity.'" Karnofsky thought choosing the best charity should be like selecting any consumer product, using the Internet to comparison shop and find the best use of his $5,000. However, he frequently found himself stonewalled in trying to extract more information from charities.

As a result, Karnofsky and two former colleagues formed GiveWell, a non-profit group that hopes to make the inner workings of charities public by offering them grants and then putting an abundance of information about the charities online. Karnosfky's idea has charities apply for GiveWell's grants, examine the impact of the various groups and then put all that information, along with GiveWell's yeas or nays, online. For its first round of grant-making, 150 charities submitted applications.

Give without Spending a Dime

Okay, let’s be honest. It’s the Friday before Christmas and who really still wants to be at the office. If you aren’t already “out-the-door,” you’re probably at your desk making last minute holiday shopping lists (and checking them twice).

I’ve got something you can do with your time (your lunch time, of course): Give without spending a dime via a host of fun and easy Web sites.

FreeRice.com lets visitors play word games and at the same time donate food to the hungry. A word pops up on the home page of the site, with four short definitions listed below. When you click on the right answer, 20 grains of rice are donated to the United Nation’s World Food Program by the site's advertisers. So far, more than 10 billion grains have been donated.

Those who want to skip the word games have plenty of other click-to-give charities to choose from, including The Animal Rescue Site. Each time a visitor clicks on a large purple rectangle on the right-hand side of the Web site, a donation is made to provide food and shelter for unwanted animals. It also tells you how much was donated with your click—and the entire operation is sponsor-funded.

For more clicking-to-give ideas, check out Paul Thomasch’s recent article, “Click-to-give holiday gift of charity.” So what are you waiting for…let’s get clicking.

"Zagat-like" Web site for Non-profits

"When's the last time you bought a book from Amazon and didn't read the customer reviews?" Perla Ni, founder and chief executive of Great Nonprofits asks, in a recent Chronicle of Philanthropy article (subscription required).

Likened to a Zagat restaurant guide, Ms. Ni and her team's new web site, Great Nonprofits, allows people who receive help from a charity or who volunteer for one to log on and rate their experience on a scale of one to five stars. In addition, people can add comments of praise, suggestions, or criticism about what the charity does well or needs to improve. Just as Zagat's helps you determine the best restaurant to go to in town, Great Nonprofits helps you decide which charities are worth supporting.

The idea for Great Nonprofits sprang after Hurricane Katrina when Ms. Ni, then publisher of the Stanford Social Innovation Review, wanted to know which local charities were doing a good job. They had a difficult time figuring that out, however, despite being insiders in the nonprofit world. Ms. Ni knew there was a market for such information because at the Review she had seen countless efforts to effectively evaluate charities. "That's a question at the heart of every donor," she says, "How can I trust you with my money and my time?"

Great Nonprofit sites for Pittsburgh and San Francisco have recently launched, with plans for more city sites in the near future. 

Looking for Stocking Stuffers? Give Charity Gift Cards

Retailers aren’t the only ones selling gift cards this holiday season. With more than half of all consumers saying they plan to buy gift cards this year, charities have joined the $26.3 billion dollar game, reported The New York Times.

“This is a movement that has exploded in the last year,” said Trent Stamp, president of Charity Navigator. “It seems to be something that has caught on nationally,” he added. “People are realizing that giving somebody another sweater is not as good as giving them the opportunity to give to a charity they support.”

Most gift cards sold by retailers are used to buy clothing, toys, electronic devices and the like. But groups offering charity gift cards say their offerings are not that different. “Philanthropy and commercial products are converging with each other,” said Daniel B. Goodman, president of Charitygiftcertificates.org. “We’re offering a charity gift card as basically a commercial product.”

Two new gift cards that allow gift recipients to choose where the money will go arrived on the market in November. Network for Good introduced the Good Card and TisBest Philanthropy began selling its TisBest Charity Gift Card.

Online? You’re Not Alone.

When Harris Interactive, a market research firm, first began tracking online use among adults in 1995, the group found that only 9% of the population—or 17.5 million—said they went online.

Today, according to a new Harris Poll, four out of five U.S. adults now go online. The survey found that 79% of adults—about 178 million—go online, spending an average 11 hours a week on the Internet.

The poll also found that adults are spending more time online at home and at work, up two percent each at 72% and 37% respectively, from 2006. More dramatically, 31% of those surveyed said they went online elsewhere, up from 22% in 2006.

"It's not just a laptop or a desktop anymore. How many of these people are using some kind of hand held device for all of their online activity?" said Regina Corso, director of the Harris Poll.

Click here to view the full report.

Doing Good has never been Easier

According to the Giving USA Foundation Americans donated nearly $300 billion to charity last year. Why is giving more in vogue these days than ever? “It's now easier to get a philanthropic bang for your buck thanks to humanitarian-minded credit cards, grocery stores, Web sites and other ways that fit snugly into your daily grind,” explains Christine Dell'Amore’s recent article “How to Be Routinely Charitable” in the Washington Post.

The Web, in particular, plays a role in “doing good.” Here are just a few options literally at your fingertips. 

GoodSearch, a Yahoo-powered search engine, donates 50% of its revenue to the more than 45,000 charities and schools chosen by site users. While GoodSearch has attracted celebrity philanthropists, its users are mostly regular folks who want to do good, co-founder Ken Ramberg says. You can see how much money your charity has raised this month with the site's "Who do you GoodSearch for?" feature.

Go on a cyber shopping trip at iGive, which donates to charity up to 26% of each purchase from such popular stores as Macy's and Best Buy. Founder and chief executive Robert Grosshandler says the site has sparked a "virtuous circle" of people spreading the gospel of daily donating.

Sign up for a credit card through Working Assets and the company will give 10 cents to a nonprofit group (choose from over 50 groups) for each purchase made with the card. "People join because we make it easy to make a difference," co-founder & chief executive Laura Scher says.

So what are you waiting for? It’s never been easier to do good.

From 2007 Convio Client Summit: Big CRMs "Open" For Business

Leave it to platforms like Facebook and Drupal to help the current crop of nonprofit CRM providers to get a bit more "open". Both Convio and Kintera have announced open platform initiatives in the past week. The buzz at this week's Convio Client Summit was positive form both vendors and organizations. The tools are light right now, but Convio provides cookbooks for developers to build on some existing applications with Facebook, Google Maps, etc. The promise is there, now it's up to the crafty developers to go out and make it happen for the organizations.

Convio will offer database connectors, extensions to other platforms, and APIs to post constituent data, as an example. I suspect more nonprofits will hire developers and firms to help build or configure these tools to extend into other platforms. It should be interesting to see how developers share their apps with other partners and how the truly creative nonprofits will extend their Convio data to other social network and media platforms.

It remains to be seen what Blackbaud will do now that these two major players have "opened" the marketplace for organizations. And for now, these are not completely "open-source" platforms. But, the days of closed, proprietary systems are now officially over. Welcome to the new tools. Bravo for the new efforts.

Convio's Announcement

Kintera's Announcement

Nonprofit Tech Blog's post about Convio and Kintera APIs

Beth's Blog discusses Convio Open

Greetings from Austin and the 2007 Convio Client Summit!

Today and tomorrow, the onLine blogging team is at the Convio Client Summit in Austin, meeting online fundraisers from around the country and discussing the latest trends. We'll have some commentary here next week, but please stop by the Changing Our World booth (table three) in the exhibits hall and say hello. We'd love to hear more about your program, talk about best practices, and show you some of what we've got. Ask for Jenn, Garth, or Ed.

Google Offers Google Checkout for Nonprofits

Just announced today, Google is offering Google Checkout to nonprofit organizations. Through the end of 2008, nonprofits can process online donations at the fine rate of $0.00 per transaction and 0.00% fees -- can you believe it, a true 100% of the donation goes to the organization?!

Here are a few words posted on the Google Checkout Blog about it this morning:

"Besides being free, Checkout for Non-Profits is designed to make the entire donation and collection process more efficient. For donors, it enables you to complete a donation with just your Google login, and it helps you track your giving in a convenient and central place (a feature that should be particularly useful for those of us who tend to start our tax returns on April 14). "

Just earlier this week I had used Google Checkout to make a donation to an organization and was wishing that:

1. I didn't have to register with Google to complete my transaction. I see this as a possible roadblock to completing a transaction, but maybe everyday online donors are more accepting of the need to register for things these days... maybe...
2. The receipts looked more like a donation thank you and less like a shopping receipt.

Perhaps wish #2 is addressed with the new Google Checkout for Nonprofits and I look forward to taking the system for a test drive.

Have you already used Google Checkout for your online giving system? If so, we want to hear what you think! Use the comments to give us your thoughts.

New site announced at Clinton Global Initiative -- www.mycommitment.org

The Clinton Foundation launched www.mycommitment.org today at the Clinton Global Initiative. The site encourages individuals to make a commitment to make a difference in the world. Keeping with Clinton's push to hold philanthropists accountable for their commitments, the site asks you to:

1. Select the area of need (education, energy/climate change, alleviating poverty, and others)
2. List the action you'll take (give time, money, things, skills, etc...)
3. Set a date when you'll complete your commitment
4. Describe your overall commitment motivation and activities

Visitors can search the commitments made by others and get a few recommendations on how to make a commitment, including 50 Ways to Change the World.

Overall, it's a nice model for organizations to use who are interested in cultivating their constituents and encouraging them to make a commitment and follow through, whether it be for donating, volunteering, advocacy, or other support methods.

Reminder: onPhilanthropy Publisher Tom Watson and Editor Susan Dempsey are blogging live this week from the Clinton Global Initiative. Keep up-to-date with the latest news from the conference here.

Online Gifts in 2006 top $1.2 Billion

According to a recent survey conducted by The Chronicle of Philanthropy (subscription required), "Electronic gifts to the 187 organizations that provided figures for 2005 and 2006 grew by 37%, from $880.7 million to $1.2 billion. Online gifts grew by more than 50% at 85 organizations. Of those, 34 saw Internet gifts more than double." The American Red Cross and the United Way of America raised online $496.2 and $240 million, respectively.

Significant gains aside, online donations still account for a very small percentage of overall giving. "Online giving represented less than 1% of total contributions for 103 of the 147 organizations that reported both the amount of money they raised online and their total contributions in 2006."

While nonprofits are still feeling their way online, a greater emphasis should be placed on incorporating the Internet into traditional fundraising vehicles. As Mark Graham, director of electronic media at the American Friends Service Committee reminds us—"all of your postal appeals, email newsletters, online solicitations and publications need to tell the same story." And today's tools make it easier to do just that with targeted email campaigns and customized content that reflects donor's interests.

Tom Emmons, Compassion International's Internet marketing programs manager, puts it best "online fundraising is most effective when it's reinforced by another medium."

Web Trends You Might Want to Ignore

From the crystal ball at Advertising Age, a look at "The 10 Most Asinine Trends Online and Why You Should Ignore Them" -- everything from Second Life to mobile and video advertising to Google's foray into print and radio ads. If you're not sure about where to put your online advertising dollars, this quick read may be the gut check you need.

Would donors rather help 1 or 100? You might be surprised.

It's always great to see Wired Magazine contain some content that hits home for online fundraising. "Count on Geeks to Rescue the Earth" in the September 2007 issue looks at the psychology of numbers and how it affects our ability to make giving decisions.

The bottom line, our brains might just be wired to help an individual and not group. Research is showing that an individual is morel likely to be responsive and help that one child on tv walking barefoot through a shantytown and living in squalor than they are to helping a group of children living in the same conditions.

Apparently a brain can grasp how one child lives, but show a group of children and the  empathy drops off quickly.

The article is based on research done by Paul Slovic, a psychologist at Decision Research. The article mentions a recent experiment that showed a picture of one starving child in Mali and asking people if they'd be willing to help the child. A different group was shown a picture of two starving children. The group seeing 2 children would give 15% less than those shown just 1 starving child. Another experiment asked whether you would donate to help 1 dying child vs. a picture of 8 children dying from the same cause. The group shown the picture of 8 would give 50% less.

This is a great case for testing disaster relief appeals -- would pushing help for a single example of tragedy do better than asking for donations to support the masses? Or as Slovic uses in another presentation, there is this quote from Mother Teresa that says it all:

"If I look at the mass, I will never act. If I look at one, I will."

Where's Your Video?

A recent Pew Internet survey about online video reported that 57% of Internet users watch video online and 75% open a video link that a friend shares with them. it's all over the Internet, yet nonprofits are still scrambling to create YouTube channels and promote their videos. DoGooder.tv, Ourmedia, and oneworld.tv also help nonprofits post their video pieces. So, the question shouldn't be "Does your organization have an online video(s)?", it should be "When will your organization post an online video?"

There are a lot of great videos out there to inspire you. Check out Nonprofit Technology Conference's recent online video contest on DoGooder.tv. A colleague of mine loves the video on the Millennium Promise website. I recently asked one of my technology lists if they had any inspiring videos out there and the lists came flooding in (very YouTube heavy). And of course, check out our sister blog, media>, to watch a wide array of videos and podcasts aimed at nonprofits and philanthropy. Hopefully these will inspire you to take your organization to the next step.

What are those steps? If your group or organization already has in-house video, get it digitized and throw it up on your website. In fact, put it on your homepage. Then, open a YouTube account and post it online. Check out some of the above links to post your video. 

If you don't have a video, er... well, make one. yes, OK, maybe first consider hiring outside resources to help you film and edit your video. Perhaps you have enough existing footage (or b-roll) from events that you can hire an editor to splice it together with your logo and some music. But, when all else fails, do it yourself.  Film your own piece, write your own script, and pick up some editing software. Then, pick up Digital Video for Dummies and DV Filmmaking, two great starter books that will really expand your DV vocabulary. You and your cohorts will be hooked on video and your organization will have a nice marketing/fundraising piece that you can spread across the Web, show major donors, and stick on your homepage.

iPhone=Visionary

I have an iPhone. I love my iPhone (click pic). I'm somewhat of a tech geek, but only to a point. I like technology if it advances the bottom line, makes us better communicators or increases efficiency. The iPhone achieves these goals. How? Simplicity. The camera is easy to use, the iPod is easy to use, the e-mail tools are great and it jumps from e-mail links to Safari in no time flat. I easily move between my home and office wi-fi networks or just use the network. OK, my big fingers need to practice with the keyboard, but it beats a Blackberry. My six-year old figured out the functionality within a few minutes, as did a techno-phobic office mate who can barely work our copy machine. I have nontechno-savvy friends who have walked into an Apple store, picked up the phone, and quickly learned the UI and functionality. They could move between the applications without thinking, thanks to big buttons, a QWERTY keyboard, and simple applications. Simplicity works.

I've heard the grumbles and complaints, but given that Apple came up with a feature set and made it work is nothing short of visionary. Yes, they could have added more (and they will), but they came up with a vision and fulfilled it; quite admirably, too. It doesn't play embedded Flash items on websites, but that's on the way (frankly, who cares). I filled out two online giving scripts with no problems at all. Plus, if text message giving takes off, then who needs the browser, right? And, the feature sets, apps, and bug fixes will roll out over the next few months. Heck, they'll even have an iPhone nano soon (I'll already be considered old-school). Even if you say phooey to the iPhone, all phones will look like this within two years. Visonary, indeed.   

So, how can iPhone help your nonprofit? Well, as much as any new technology. It can help only if you make it work. And initially, the audience will be very small. But, take a look at your site on the iPhone safari browser. How does it look? Is it spaced out well? Is the text evenly spaced? Does it have a lot of Flash? Are links properly coded? Does the CSS work well? You site design could be heavily influenced by how it looks an an iPhone. Look at SMS messaging and look into text-based giving. Maybe there is an app you could be developing for the iPhone? Start thinking ahead and gauge the development waters—our nonprofit could be on the threshold of something visionary, too.
 
This post submitted on an iPhone :)

The Buzz about Widgets: We told you so...

The recent Nonprofit Times article (by Beth Kanter, who is part of our blogroll) about widgets really hit home with a lot of people. I belong to a few lists who noted the article. The techies' response: "Eh, 'bout time someone noticed... know any good developers?" The marketers' response: "Yes, we know already." Everyone in the nonprofit world: "WOW! CHECK THIS OUT! LITTLE THINGS ON PEOPLE'S WEBSITES AND WE CAN MAKE MONEY. "

*Ahem* Easy now. Don't rush. Single file, people!

That story, along with the Chronicle of Philanthropy's report about online giving (subscription required), and Tom Watson's great article about Facebook, has really got people buzzing about online giving again. Online giving didn't really go away, but in the face of fewer immediate, media-hyped disasters and relief efforts (there are still plenty of slow, agonizing disasters in the world), it didn't get full attention from traditional resources for awhile. But, development departments are finally ready to sink their teeth into widgets, and just in time for developing those fall and holiday season apps.

If you still aren't sure, check out our post about donation widgets from a few months ago. Now, remember that widgets go beyond "the ask." They can incorporate all kinds of functionality: content, RSS feeds. blog posts, etc. Remember three things about widgets (along with all the other advice you've read thus far):

• They're fun and can be useful tools for spreading the word. But, they are gadgets. Don't blow your budget getting a few developed. Ease into and it find the right widget and builder.
• Develop a marketing plan to get them to your users: e-mail announcements, site links, and social network posts. Heck, find some bloggers who like your organization or cause and contact them directly. And give it three months. Don't junk it until you know it has completely stalled.
• This won't be a windfall. It will augment giving and traffic, but it's not THE killer app... yet.

Check out Squidoo's Widget Finder for more information. Also, if you have a killer widget, let us know! Leave a comment with a URL so everyone can ogle and covet your idea!   

Money for Nothing... Part 2

As promised, here is a follow up to "Money for Nothing".

UBIT may sound scarier than it actually is. I invited Jonathan Gudema, a planned giving expert and lawyer at Changing Our World, to provide a few thoughts on this issue:

Q: Can you describe UBIT (in a non-scary way)?

Jonathan:  Very simple. Congress got upset in the early 1950’s with people running for-profit enterprises within charitable structures. Not fair to the competition and by the way, isn’t it tax evasion? The solution: tax the profits of the “unrelated business” activity as if it were a for-profit business. Only the profits are taxed – any revenue received by the non-profit in its ordinary course of activity (such as tuition payments or investment income) is not taxed. The best example of this was actually the impetus for the law: NYU School of Law received a gift of all of the stock of the Mueller Macaroni Company in the 1940’s, making it the owner of the business.  At that time, since Mueller’s was then owned by a tax-exempt entity, its general business profits were exempt from taxes, too. The government stepped in and created UBIT.

That is the simple part. Not so simple is figuring out what is considered an unrelated business activity. Every year, there are adjustments. Here are a few of the things you must ask yourself: Is this profitable business activity related to our charitable purpose (other than raising money)? 

• Example: Sale of posters promoting organizational message is related and not taxable.
• Example 2:  Sales of liquor by a veteran’s organization is NOT related and therefore taxable.

The IRS has ruled on hundreds of specific cases, issuing rulings as to whether or not a particular activity is “related” or “unrelated.”

The best advice I can give is to review proposed business-for-profit activities with your legal counsel and CFO. One critical fact: Should your organization earn too much unrelated business income, not only will you be paying taxes on that income, but you stand to lose your tax exempt status. This is not an area to fool around with: seek legal counsel!

Q: How much money would need to be generated from a non-traditional donation model for UBIT to be of concern?

Jonathan:  Technically, any amount of profit from an unrelated business is taxable – but the general rule is that if an activity is not carried on regularly (like a one-time sale of shirts), the profits are typically not considered for UBIT.

Q: Nonprofits have sold branded shirts, mugs, and the like for years… but with an affiliate program, the charity doesn’t even need to sell a thing. They simply link a constituent to a third-party online store and receive a cut of the purchase. Is this UBIT-related all the way?

Jonathan:  Depends on who is selling the goods. As mentioned above, if the message of the charity is being promoted on t-shirt, that may well not be considered for UBIT. But, again, if the scope of the shirt sales is out of sync with the needs of the organization, you may face UBIT and/or loss of tax exemption.

Q: Do you think there are IRS officers in Second Life? ;)

Jonathan:  No. 

Q: As I’m sure you’ll want me to remind readers that they should seek advice from their own legal council, could you provide a few simple guidelines to keep in mind when considering a new line of funding and how to avoid or plan for UBIT?

Jonathan:  Keep your CFO and general counsel in the loop from the beginning of the process.  It is their job to protect the organization in these circumstances.  So, anytime you, one of your board members, or web team members comes up with a great money making scheme, bring in lawyers and accountants early before it gets a life of its own.  There is plenty of reading on the Internet on UBIT – starting with the IRS website.  Get your glasses ready.

Thanks to Jonathan for providing some insight into UBIT. onLine would love to hear from you if your organization is currently using an alternative revenue stream online. Let us know how it's going in the Comments.

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