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Online Fundraising Challenges & How to Solve Them

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Online Fundraising Challenges

Nonprofits have had immense success fundraising on Facebook, raising billions of dollars since the platform’s fundraising tools emerged in 2015. So, if you’re:

  1. An organization with hundreds, thousands, or tens-of-thousands of “likes” on your nonprofit’s Facebook page.
  2. Seeing regular engagement with the information you post.
  3. Seeing some engagement with the platform’s fundraising functionality.
  4. Giving supporters the option to hit the “Create Fundraiser” button whenever they want.

Then why aren’t you seeing impactful results through the platform?

The truth is, social media is much more than followers, birthday fundraisers, dashboards, and donations. To truly make the most of Facebook fundraising, you’ll have to inspire and grow relationships with each and every supporter on the platform.

In this guide, we’re going to discuss two pervasive obstacles for nonprofits when it comes to making the most of online fundraising on Facebook, as well as solutions to help you overcome them. We’ll cover the following obstacles:

  • Communication & Relationship-Building
  • Zero-Dollar Fundraisers

Surpassing your Facebook fundraising challenges will set your team up for success during the pandemic-fueled era of predominantly online fundraising, as well as when you strategize for beyond this crisis. After all, Facebook fundraising is going to be thriving long beyond the pandemic’s end.

With that said, let’s dive in.

Communication & Relationship-Building

One of the most prevalent online fundraising complaints from nonprofits is how challenging it can be to communicate and build strong relationships with donors from afar. When you’re not hosting fundraising events and having one-on-one meetings with supporters, it’s hard to express your gratitude and understand who they are, why they’re supporting you, and how they want to engage with your organization going forward.

This is especially true when it comes to Facebook fundraising campaigns, simply because they’re often user-led. This means one of your nonprofit’s supporters chooses to create a fundraiser on your behalf. Your organization doesn’t receive a notification when these fundraisers are created and it can be easy to let fundraisers slip by without any acknowledgment.

However, people that start Facebook fundraisers are going out of their way to garner support for your organization publicly— they’re championing your cause on a public platform. It’s crucial to acknowledge this support and grow these relationships for years to come.

Solution: Make the most of Facebook’s built-in engagement tools.

When it comes to supporter retention, thank-you notes, surveys, and regular communications are key. Facebook’s built-in engagement tools, such as Facebook Messenger, can help with this. Here are a few ideas:

  1. First, you’ll want to navigate to your nonprofit’s page and click on the “Fundraisers” section. You’ll be able to view all fundraisers started on your behalf and “Sort & Filter” those fundraisers to discover those most recently started.
  2. Then, you’ll want to comment on the most recently started fundraisers and thank those users for their support. At this point, you can invite them to continue engaging with you via Messenger and publicly “Share” the fundraiser on your nonprofit’s page if shareable.
  3. Through Messenger, you can send encouragement and tips for success as well as ask questions to learn about how the user wants to engage with your nonprofit going forward. This is how you can forge a strong connection between your organization and that particular supporter.

For a large nonprofit with many followers, this may seem overwhelming— if there are tens to hundreds of fundraisers started on your behalf each week, conversing with each one can be a large administrative ask.

In that case, consider partnering with a company that provides managed services for Facebook fundraising (such as GoodUnited). This partner can help you understand who your supporters are, why they care about your organization, and how you can build a personalized relationship with that supporter through Messenger and beyond. This can be instrumental in growing your relationships with supporters on Facebook at scale.

Zero-Dollar Fundraisers

Zero-dollar fundraisers are Facebook fundraisers that run out of time without raising any funds. So, let’s say a user pledges to raise $500 for your nonprofit with a deadline of one week. If it’s a zero-dollar fundraiser, the user will reach the one-week mark without raising a single donation.

These fundraisers are damaging for many reasons. First, they’re embarrassing and disheartening for the user that starts them and can deter the user from fundraising again.  Second, they cast a bad light on your nonprofit and the amount of public support you can garner. Any Facebook user can see the fundraisers that are started on your behalf directly on your fundraising page. If many users are starting fundraisers, but they’re not raising any funds, it will seem as though you don’t have significant public support.

The biggest reason that zero-dollar fundraisers are so prevalent on Facebook is that many users aren’t fundraising professionals and therefore, they don’t know how to reach their goals successfully. That’s where you step in.

Solution: Share tips for success with users.

The solution here is to educate users to raise donations successfully through Facebook. This includes sharing tips such as:

  • Make the first gift yourself. Did you know that 94% of fundraisers that don’t raise their first gift within 24 hours end as zero-dollar fundraisers? Users should kickstart their own effort by making the first gift.
  • Include a personal message. While your nonprofit’s Facebook page cover photo and mission statement will auto-fill, users should add an additional message about their personal connection with your organization.
  • Regularly share the fundraiser. They should share the fundraiser multiple times and provide updates about how the gifts raised so far have helped progress toward their overall fundraising goal.
  • Align with your nonprofit’s branding. If you’re hosting a full peer-to-peer campaign for users to create Facebook fundraisers alongside, participants should use the familiar branding for the overall campaign (cover images, naming conventions) to benefit from brand recognition.

There are a few ways to share these tips with users. First, you can share them via Messenger. For example, you can communicate with the user throughout their campaign and share encouragement and reminders to re-share their fundraiser. Further, you can create a Facebook fundraiser user guide that shares these tips and post it on your nonprofit’s website and Facebook page.

The goal here is to show users that you’re invested in their success and willing to help them reach their goals. This will create a positive experience for fundraisers and grow relationships between your organization and those users one-on-one.

Since the platform’s fundraising tools emerged in 2015, nonprofits have raised over $1 billion through Facebook birthday fundraisers alone— this doesn’t include Facebook Live fundraisers, nonprofit donate buttons, or Facebook Stories fundraiser stickers. When you consider the full range of Facebook fundraising tools, the potential of this channel is booming.

However, successful Facebook fundraising is dependent on much more than the platform’s fundraising tools. Communicating with supporters in-channel on Facebook is what will build relationships that have a lasting impact and overcome some of your biggest online fundraising challenges. With these tips, you’ll be off to a great start.

8 Tips to Get Your Nonprofit Started with Digital and Social Media

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Social Media Nonprofit Digital Marketing

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, now is the time to dramatically change the ways you interact with and engage clients, donors, sponsors, and funders and advocate for your mission.

You may be expanding pre-pandemic digital marketing strategies. Or, digital marketing, including social media, may be new terrain.

Awareness vs. Action

First, let’s be clear about what you want to accomplish. Unless you have a budget the size of Coca-Cola’s, building awareness will be a never-ending battle.

Instead, you want to focus first on your goals and the specific action(s) you want your audiences to take. Beginning here sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised at how many organizations just start cranking out content.

Take the case of an organization with two tremendous digital assets, two websites with active blogs, one targeting consumer audiences and the other B2B.

When I asked the communications director about her goals, she did a double-take. No one, it seemed, had ever asked her that question. Dumbfounded, she said, “I don’t know.”

Gulp.

Whether you’re the executive director or the marketing and communications director, this should never be the answer you hear (or say) to this question.

8 Tips to Get the Most from your Digital Marketing and Social Media Investments

Money and time are precious resources for every organization. Here are eight tips to invest yours wisely and achieve results.

  1. What are your goals?
    As a business, your core goals should revolve around generating revenue, based on your specific business model.
  2. Who are your audiences?
    Clarify as much information about each. Where they live, marital status, family size, occupation, shopping habits, household income, ethnic backgrounds—these are all details you’ll want to know.
  3. What content would be valuable?
    Now that you know your goals and who your audiences are, it’s time to decide on content. What format, what level of detail, what types of information are best?
  4. Where should you distribute it?
    Related to the types of content are the distribution channels. Let’s say you run an education organization. If you’re speaking to middle school and high school kids, social media that they use may be effective. Those same channels, with rare exception, however, would not work for the superintendent. To reach him or her, you may need to create a brief white paper, short video, webinar, or even a personal conversation.
    Be sure to use media whose audiences reflect your audiences.
  5. All Roads Lead…Where?
    You will have multiple pieces of content and visual or video assets that speak to multiple audiences.  Know how each piece works in your overall portfolio. Always provide a call-to-action (CTA). What do you want your customer to do? At the end of the content, tell them. Don’t assume they know.
  6. Amplify with social media.
    When you create the primary content, generate multiple engaging posts about it using important keywords in both. Get a little personal. Or be provocative, even contrarian. Use humor and images and memes. Get people’s attention while sharing bits of content that will intrigue and encourage readers to take action.
  7. Amplify with advertising.
    If your campaign is critical to revenue generation and worth the investment, amplify it further with advertising. Focus on the right keywords and audience segments. Consider using a landing page to track responses.
  8. Metrics
    By tracking metrics, you can see how your social media campaigns and advertising are doing to drive click throughs to your landing page and persuading current and new audiences. By adding a drip email campaign, you can build relationships and also track how engaged your new subscribers are with your messages. Ultimately, you can see what percentage take action.

While this process may seem extensive and overwhelming to some, remember the rewards.

  • Your marketing is more effective.
  • Your organization builds its capacity.
  • You will expand your audiences and engage more people in your mission.

What’s the next action you’ll take so that as we move beyond the pandemic, you’re in a better place a year from now?

Building a Nonprofit Digital Strategy: Key First Steps

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Nonprofit Digital StrategyWith the growing prevalence of the internet, the necessity of developing a digital strategy is not something nonprofits should overlook. Over the past several years, many nonprofits recognized this opportunity and began shifting to digital outreach. The pandemic accelerated that transition, and with social distancing guidelines in full effect, organizations can no longer interact with supporters face-to-face. In other words, having a digital presence is more important than ever.

To strengthen your online presence and connect with supporters during social distancing, you’ll need to develop a nonprofit digital strategy. In short, a nonprofit digital strategy is a plan to expand your organization’s reach online. It involves any outreach that takes place online, including your website, social media accounts, and any other marketing materials.

With many of your supporters already online, digital marketing is one of the most effective ways to reach them. However, with all its nuances, it can be difficult to know where to start (especially if you’re not particularly tech-savvy). To help, this guide will cover the essential first steps to improving your online presence:

  1. Upgrade your current technology.
  2. Define your overall goals.
  3. Develop a communication plan.
  4. Analyze performance data.

Developing a strong digital strategy will offer ongoing value to your nonprofit, both with fundraising and sharing your mission. If you’re ready to learn the necessary first steps, let’s get started.

Step #1: Upgrade Your Current Technology.

To truly maximize your online presence, you’ll need a dependable online fundraising solution. You likely already have a platform (or several) that you use, but it’s always worthwhile to check for potential areas of improvement.

Analyze your organization’s current toolkit and determine where it’s falling short. For reference, these are the core features your tech stack needs in order to ensure success:

  • Customizable donation forms. Your donation form is the core of your online fundraising strategy. In order to accept donations online, you’ll need a donation form located directly on your website. Further, you should be able to customize it to match your brand and collect the information you need.
  • Web development tools. A dependable content management system (CMS) will help you create a beautiful website that engages visitors and encourages interaction. Make sure your CMS is nonprofit-specific so that it includes all the fundraising functionality that generic website builders don’t offer.
  • Marketing tools. Proactive communication with supporters is one of the most important parts of fundraising. With software that offers dedicated marketing tools, you’ll be able to automate data from your CRM, segment your supporters into email lists, and schedule emails so you can stay connected and steward strong donor relationships.
  • Data and analytics. When used effectively, insightful analytics can inform future decision-making and improve fundraising efforts. Ensure your software allows you to monitor the most important data to your team, so you can visualize your efforts and locate areas in need of improvement.

Your online presence can mean the difference between exceeding fundraising goals and falling short. Especially as social distancing remains in effect, it’s important that you have a centralized system that allows you to continue fundraising and to connect with donors from afar.

Step #2: Define Your Overall Goals.

After you’ve solidified your toolkit, it’s imperative that you determine your desired outcomes for your digital strategy. Setting measurable goals prior to taking action will serve as a strong foundation and guide your strategy development.

If you’re struggling to determine which objectives to set, start with more general ideas, such as:

  • Increasing digital event sign-ups
  • Increasing member satisfaction scores (determined via surveys)
  • Raising a certain amount of money

Once you’ve set more general goals, you’ll want to nail down the specifics and make them concrete. To accomplish this, there are a few key steps to take as you set your digital goals:

  1. Analyze your current strategies. What gaps exist in your current digital process? Your updated goals should address any shortcomings, whether it’s an issue due to ineffective use of staff time or underperforming technology.
  2. Talk to key stakeholders. Those who are directly involved in executing your digital strategy may be able to provide insight into areas that need improvement. Ask your director, board members, and any other leadership for feedback on goals they think are worth considering.
  3. Review your long-term priorities. Each of your goals must align with your nonprofit’s long-term priorities, whether they’re financial, program-related, or mission-oriented. Take the time early on to ensure your digital strategy goals don’t contradict your broader goals to avoid conflict down the line.

Walking through these steps will guide you toward more concrete, actionable goals from the start. Whichever goals you choose, make sure they’re quantitative so that your team will be able to measure progress toward them. You’ll start off on the right foot by setting smart, achievable goals with realistic checkpoints along the way.

Step #3: Develop a Communication Plan.

Once you’ve implemented efficient technology and defined concrete goals, you’ll need to develop a communication plan to help you reach those objectives. Starting with your target audience, select the platforms that will likely yield positive results.

Let’s explore three digital marketing outlets that any nonprofit digital strategy should take into account along with tips for successfully using each:

  • Your website. Your nonprofit’s website is likely the first stop on anyone’s journey to learn more about your cause. It houses information pertaining to your programs, your work, and involvement opportunities. The best nonprofit websites include valuable content that can be shared across all outlets to drive traffic back to the site itself. This includes a well-designed donation page, your volunteer form, blog content, and more. Any outreach (e.g., emails, social media, etc.) should direct users back to your website, so the onsite content must be optimized to convert them into donors, volunteers, or advocates.
  • With all the hype surrounding social media, it can be easy to neglect a tried-and-true method: email. Use your emails to promote new content on your website as well as involvement opportunities. Adjust your messaging and target email subscribers using segmentation, which involves grouping your supporters into meaningful groups (e.g., major donors, recurring donors, volunteers, etc.). Learn about this strategy in depth with Doubleknot’s ultimate donor segmentation guide.
  • Social media. With an estimated 6 billion social media users worldwide, there’s a good chance some of your existing supporters and future prospects have social networks. Harness the power of the share button with digital content such as engaging videos, powerful imagery, inspiring donation appeals, and content on your website, such as informational blog posts. Interact with followers in the comment section and invite them to share your posts with their personal networks for an even greater reach.

For the best results, you’ll want to implement a combination of various channels, which is a popular strategy known as multichannel marketing. However, investing time in several platforms may ultimately turn into a waste of resources.

Instead, you’ll need to select the digital channels that make the most sense for your team and its conversion goals. This allows you to refine your messaging, instead of sending mediocre outreach across several platforms. To explore this concept further, take a look at CharityEngine’s multichannel fundraising guide, which provides tips your team can implement.

Developing your digital plans with each specific outlet in mind will allow you to create effective messages. Doing so in advance will give you sufficient time to create content that’s optimized to attract attention from each outlet’s audience.

Step #4: Analyze Performance Data.

Once you’ve reached your marketing or fundraising goals, it can be easy to stop there. However, to solidify your digital presence, you’ll need to continuously analyze performance and update your strategy as you go. Identifying which conversion metrics you’d like to track early in the process will help you determine progress and overall performance as your strategy unfolds.

The specific metrics your team will need to gather and analyze depend on the type of campaign you’ve hosted. Specifically, these are common data points that can be used to inform your future outreach strategies:

  • Donor Acquisition
  • Donor Retention
  • Volunteer Applications
  • Event Registrations
  • Email Subscriptions

If you’re struggling to determine which metrics to track, base them off of the goals you set early on. From there, break down the quantitative metric that measures that specific outcome. For instance, if your goal was to increase the effectiveness of your email campaigns, you may consider measuring open rates, conversion rates, and unsubscribe rates.

Without analyzing progress, the time and resources you’ve invested in developing a digital strategy will go to waste. By taking this extra step, you’ll continue improving going forward and maximize your potential.

There are many steps involved in creating a nonprofit digital strategy. Remember, the right technology will serve as the foundation for your plans and will open the door to a number of possibilities. Go into it with a strategic game plan, and you’ll be sure to expand your audience and reach your conversion goals.

If you’d like to learn more about developing a strong digital presence, check out DNL OmniMedia’s nonprofit digital strategy guide. You’ll learn about a range of steps your team can take to solidify your digital outreach plans and improve outcomes. Best of luck!

Social Media: The Key to Success? – Using Social Media to Increase Awareness

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Social Media Tips for NonprofitsThere’s a saying that “ignorance is bliss,” but in today’s digital world, data seems to travel at warp speed. We get information in real time, and social media is one of the most popular sources. For better or worse, it has become an integral part of life and changed the way we communicate.

Social media brings the world closer together. Everyone from preteens to presidents uses it to advertise, advocate, and communicate. Especially now, in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis where “remote” is the new normal, the digital space is exploding as corporations and organizations seek ways to stay connected to their markets.

According to a 2020 “digital state of the union” report by the social media management platform Hootsuite, there are currently 3.8 billion active social media users around the globe. That’s 49 percent of the world’s population! It only makes sense that nonprofits look to these online audiences to raise awareness of their work and engage supporters.

“Social media is powerful. It connects brands directly to their customers,” says Moniza Khokhar, principal at Ayser Strategies, a New York area digital strategy firm. “You can create relationships that translate into brand loyalty and grow your whole organization off your social media if it’s done right.”

Increased brand awareness can mean new volunteers and more donations. So how do you best use social media to promote your nonprofit’s work? And how do you capture attention in the cluttered digital landscape?

Mitchell Petit-Frere, creative content manager at Family Promise, a national nonprofit that serves families battling homelessness, says social media is critical for organizations to remain competitive. Over the past two years, Petit-Frere and Khokhar have redefined Family Promise’s social media strategy, more than tripling its online following. The improved brand recognition has contributed in part to increased media coverage, volunteerism, and donations.

When it comes to creating a social media plan, Petit-Frere and Khokhar say first and foremost, nonprofits should identify their main message and determine their target audience.

“What do you want people to know about your organization? How do you want them to see you?” asks Khokhar. “Use that message to shape your content.”

Once you’ve established your messaging, Petit-Frere says, consider your audience.

“Where you post on social media is as important as what you post,” he notes. “For instance, Facebook is popular because its demographic spans all ages. But if your work can tell its story through impactful photos or you want to attract a younger following, Instagram is a powerful platform.” (See the list at the end of this article for user demographics of some of the most popular social media platforms.)

Once you’ve determined the most appropriate platform(s) for your organization, you can begin to strategize. Here are ten insightful tips:

1. Keep it consistent.

Petit-Frere advises using coherent branding – logos, fonts, colors – across all platforms, including your website. Post consistently as well, whether that’s once a day or once a week. As he explains, “There’s a lot of competition for attention on social media. You want to be on people’s screens regularly.”

 2. Let pictures tell your story…

Visual content is impactful. Photos of the communities you serve or volunteers in action invite followers to learn more. Video is even more appealing, says Khokhar, engaging people up to 1200 percent more than text and images combined. She suggests grabbing your phone and recording a short video – “no more than a minute” – whether it’s your CEO speaking about an issue, donors enjoying a fundraising event, or an interview with a volunteer or industry VIP. Also, consider “going live” on social media (“Hey, folks, we’re coming to you from our annual 5k race, talking to Jane Doe about why our mission inspires her to run!”).

3. …But use your voice when necessary.

Petit-Frere notes that plain text and infographics definitely have value. Some stories simply need words.

4. Start a conversation.

Invite engagement. For example, post a photo of volunteers with the caption “What’s your favorite way to volunteer with us? Respond in the comments below!”. Comments can attract attention, recruit followers, and help you learn about your audience. Encourage sharing posts (people are more inclined to share photos and videos), and respond to comments in a timely and constructive way. Remember, news travels fast on the internet.

5. Post appropriately.

Familiarize yourself with the unique character of the sites you use and post accordingly. “LinkedIn, for example, has a professional focus, while Facebook and Instagram are casual and can support humor and tug at the heartstrings,” says Petit-Frere.

6. Remember, variety is the spice of life.

Vary posts across platforms. People follow multiple social media accounts for the diversity of content. Also, consider your demographic – information about planned gifts won’t interest the typical Instagram crowd, but LinkedIn followers can likely relate.

7. Keep up.

Stay current with news and trends in your sector. Does your work intersect with new national policies or programs? Is a celebrity promoting a cause related to your mission? Petit-Frere recommends following other organizations and influencers in your space: “Engage with them, comment on their posts, tag them in yours. Listen to what they’re saying. They might post something that inspires or informs you.”

8. #usehashtags

Used strategically, hashtags increase engagement and allow your organization to appear in more searches. Create ones that are catchy and easy to remember.

9. Pay to play.

Social media is free, but a small investment can boost your impact exponentially. Petit-Frere cites Facebook, whose advertising feature matches nonprofits to the right audiences for as little as $10 a month. It may feel like “Big Brother” is watching, but the fact is, social media ads target very specific audiences (“single 20-somethings who own dogs,” “West Coast stay-at-home moms who enjoy wine and nature”) and put your organization in front of the people who are most likely to be interested.

10. Get analytical.

Social media’s built-in analytics help you understand your audience, which can inform your marketing and communications strategy. For instance, Facebook tools report who visits your page, what they respond to, and more. Polling features let you solicit feedback to learn more about followers, like their locations and interests. “The key is to make sure engagement is happening and your followers are increasing,” says Khokhar.

At the end of the day, social media is just that…social, a way to engage with the world and bring your mission to life. A successful social media strategy increases awareness of your organization, allowing you to share your work with a larger audience and reap the subsequent benefits. As Petit-Frere sums up, “Nonprofits are storytellers, and social media is the perfect place to tell our stories.”

User Demographics
of Some of the Most Popular
Social Media Platforms

Facebook: Used by all age groups (seniors are the fastest-growing demographic), accessed primarily by mobile phone.

Instagram: Platform of choice for younger, college-educated generations (age 24 and under), especially females, with income up to $75k.

LinkedIn: Most popular with women and men ages 46-55, with a growing millennial presence. Highest number of users in U.S., followed by India, China, and Brazil. Half of users have college degrees and income above $75k.

Twitter: Globally, more male users than female, but in the U.S., male-female ratio is 50-50. Most users under age 50, often live in cities, and are typically wealthier and more educated than the average American.

YouTube: Most popular platform (Facebook comes in second), used by 73 percent of American adults. Primarily accessed by mobile phone.

Source: Hootsuite

Manager and Board Member Social Media Policies for Compliance with “Lobbying” Rules

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Nonprofit Manager Board Member Social Media Policies for Compliance with “Lobbying” RulesBefore the ubiquitous use of social media, managers and board members of 501c3 organizations would have had a hard time unintentionally “lobbying.” Communicating a political position used to require big spends like radio or TV ad buys, press release circulation, or printing posters and leaflets for distribution. Now, however, a post(s) by a nonprofit manager or board member on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or YouTube could expose a 501c3 organization to risk of noncompliance with IRS lobbying rules. Therefore, organizations should learn some of the IRS’s “lobbying” rules of the road. Note, other entities, like the FEC and various state agencies, also regulate political speech, but this article limits its analysis to those rules found in the Internal Revenue Code.

All nonprofits should learn the definition of “lobbying” before adopting social media policies for any of its affiliates, including its board members and managers. An organization may engage in “direct lobbying” or “grassroots lobbying.” Organizations directly lobby when they both communicate their viewpoint and request an action from those who draft and/or enact the relevant laws. Organizations engage in “grassroots lobbying” when they both encourage others to communicate a viewpoint and request action from those who draft and/or enact laws.  For example, stating, “Citizens of State X, vote for Ballot Initiative 10 in the next election,” is direct lobbying (because every citizen voting for/against the ballot initiative is a “legislator”); and stating, “Citizens of State X, call Sen. Doe at [phone number] to get them to vote for Bill 10 in the next legislative session,” is grassroots lobbying.

Note, “lobbying” does not include non-partisan, education, and research activities relating to matters of public policy (e.g. a whitepaper on climate change without reference to a specific law or candidate).

If a board member or manager  “lobbies,” as defined above, even on  their personal social media pages (or elsewhere), the charity should consider whether the IRS could interpret that activity to be a “substantial part” of the nonprofit’s overall activities, thereby risking revocation of its 501c3 status. The policies articulated below contemplate a nonprofit subject to the “no substantial part” test referenced above.

No Substantial Part Test

Unfortunately, the IRS and much of the relevant caselaw has not clearly defined when lobbying constitutes a “substantial part” of a nonprofit’s activities. The analysis does include, among other things, time spent by the organization’s board and managers. Thus, organizations should consider:

  1. how managers and board members communicate in social media (both on their own pages and others);
  2. the organization should maintain disclaimers across its social media accounts;
  3. track the time and publicity of political statements made by charity leadership; and
  4. if all this seems confusing, consider the “expenditure test” as an alternative to the “no substantial part” test.

First, organizations should adopt clear policies about how managers and board members interact with others’ posts. This policy should cover leadership interaction on their own pages and on others’ pages.

On their own pages, charity leadership should include, in their bio or other permanent location, a statement that the opinions and statements of the individual manager or board member does not reflect the views of the organization. While the IRS does not automatically attribute every statement made by a manager or board member to an organization, an abundance of caution, in this context, makes sense. Note, even if a board member or manager does not make affirmative political statements, selectively promoting, removing, or commenting upon others’ posts on their own pages may be considered a form of “lobbying.” So, it is advisable to maintain a disclaimer whether that manager or board member plans on commenting upon elections or legislation.

On others’ pages,  a nonprofit’s social media policy should caution or prohibit “liking,” “retweeting,” or supporting political posts or posts with website links, even if they are non-political. Websites are dynamic. So, an apolitical “like” or “retweet” may become political when the owner of the linked site changes the “liked” or “retweeted” page. If a board member or manager feels compelled to engage in political discussions on social media, they should ensure that, in addition to their bio disclaimer, each post has a disclaimer that their statements do not express the views of the nonprofit.

In short, when adopting social media policies for charity leadership, organizations should ensure that board members and managers clearly articulate when they speak for themselves and when they speak for the organization.

Second, because board member and manager statements will be viewed in the context of the organization as a whole under the “no substantial part” test, the organization should also maintain disclaimers across its social media accounts. The disclaimer should state that the opinions or statements made by all charity affiliates (but especially pointing out the leadership) belong to those individuals personally and that no one should attribute them to the nonprofit. If board members and managers make political comments on their own social media pages, the organization should take care when mentioning them on social media to ensure that the organization is not incorporating personal, political views into their organization’s social media.

Third, track all time spent by board members and managers on political issues. If a board member or manager spends a considerable amount of time on social media making political statements, and those statements are attributable to the nonprofit, the organization may come closer to having “lobbying activities” construed as a “substantial part” of their operation.

Fourth, if these policies would be difficult to adopt and/or enforce, consider electing the “expenditure test,” analyzed under IRC § 501h, a viable alternative that has clear cut rules based on a scale directly related to a nonprofit’s total expenditures.

Conclusion

To the extent board members and managers get excited about participating in certain campaigns (electoral or regarding a specific issue), they must have clear boundaries around their personal statements and those made on behalf of the organization.

 

About Culhane Meadows
With nearly 70 partners in ten offices across the country, uniquely structured and cloud-based Culhane Meadows’ (www.culhanemeadows.com), Disruptive Law® business model delivers outstanding, partner-level legal services to major corporations and emerging companies across industry sectors more efficiently and cost-effectively than conventional law firms. Clients enjoy exceptional and highly-efficient legal services provided exclusively by partner-level attorneys with significant experience and training from large law firms or in-house legal departments of respected corporations. Culhane Meadows is a proud member of NAMWOLF.

 

Digital Marketing Tips for Nonprofits During the Trump Era

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Digital Marketing for NonprofitsThe current U.S. administration’s rampant changes to laws have been getting a lot of media attention, which has also had the effect of boosting online donations. In fact, nonprofits usually see donation spikes for 72 hours after major press coverage. For instance, recent changes to immigration policies have put the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in the spotlight, which has resulted in huge donation spikes.

Another trend that nonprofits are seeing under President Trump’s administration is what some are calling “outrage giving,” or when online donations come flooding in because donors are fired up on a certain topic. A great example of this is when folks thought a budget proposal would cut funding for Meals on Wheels. Meals on Wheels typically received around $1,000 a day in unsolicited online donations, but when the budget news broke, they received more than $160,000 in just a few days.

Your organization or cause can quickly become the subject of unexpected media attention, so make sure you are armed with the best digital marketing strategies when it does. Here are a few tactics to consider ahead of time:

#1. Optimize for Mobile or Risk Becoming Irrelevant

When donors see something on social media or in their emails, they are likely reading it on a smartphone; therefore, when they feel motivated to give, it’s critical that your organization’s donation form have a secure and fast mobile checkout experience. According to Dunham & Company, 25% of donors say they have already used their smartphone to give through a charity’s website, and that number is growing! If your site’s donation form isn’t mobile-compatible, you might be making it difficult for your donors to support you.

How can your nonprofit organization ensure that your donation forms work on smartphones and tablets? The answer is mobile responsive design – a way of building a webpage so that content and images are automatically sized to the screen size you’re browsing on. Responsive design is why some webpages look great on both your smartphone and your laptop. A lack of responsive design means that a web page might look fine on your computer, but squished and unintelligible on your smartphone. A design that looks good on smartphones won’t slow down donors and avoids lowering your conversion rate.

For nonprofits, email is the top converting online channel, and most emails are read on mobile devices. Every time you send an email appeal, make sure the “donate now” button leads to a mobile responsive donation form. This ensures everyone will be able to give, no matter what device they’re using to read your content.

Not sure if your donation form is mobile responsive? Do a periodic check at the office to see if your donation pages work on different devices. Get your staff to see how they look, preferably across a range of smartphone models or tablets. Don’t forget to fill in the forms and click through as far as possible.

Big Tip: The majority of your followers on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are also reading your content on a smartphone. Anything that a charity posts on social networks must be accessible for mobile browsers, or you run the risk of lowering your call-to-action’s conversion rate.

#2. Email Segmentation Sets You Apart

According to the 2016 M+R benchmarks study, email marketing accounted for more than a third (34%) of online revenue for the top 25 nonprofits. Yet in a digital age full of online noise, effective email marketing can be tricky.

Segmentation is essential when communicating with your donors. It allows you to send potential new donors and repeat donors relevant messaging.

Effective segmentation and personalization goes beyond including a donor’s name in your email content. For instance, if you have a pool of loyal monthly donors, does your email asking them to sign an emergency petition include messaging that recognizes their incredible support so far this year? Generic messaging is less persuasive and leaves donors feeling like they’re just one of thousands on your mailing list.

Maximizing the persuasive power of your content is crucial for charities and nonprofits because your supporters are increasingly choosing to respond to donation requests by email. The Dunham & Company study above found that the percentage of donors motivated by an email to give online has jumped 40% since 2015!

When you unexpectedly find yourself in the limelight, make sure you are able to email the right supporters quickly – even on a weekend.

Big Tip: Make sure your donor management platform allows you to generate relevant supporter lists quickly and easily from any location! When you have important news to share, you may not have the time to wait until Monday morning to get your e-blasts out.

#3. Instagram Has The Eyeballs

Facebook is still a huge driver of donations, but Instagram hit the 700 million users mark and is projected to have a billion users by the end of this year!

Perhaps more crucial than number of users is the amount of time spent on the platform. Instagram users aged 25 years and over now “spend more than 24 minutes a day” on the app. That’s a lot of potential for your content to be seen, shared, and acted upon!

If you work for a nonprofit, expand your social footprint to include Instagram – after all, if you find yourself in the limelight, you’re going to want to already have a presence on the platform.

As with any fundraising effort, you don’t want to jump right in and immediately start asking for donations. Wired Impact suggests that you attach a solid story to every Instagram post you make, and to “tell the part of the story a visitor would never know from looking at the picture.”

Instagram isn’t just about photos and captions – the platform also allows for live-streaming and uploading videos as well. It’s a good option if you want to create more dynamic content to really help tell your nonprofit’s story. The live-streaming feature can be used to broadcast your events or activities, telling your audience what’s happening as it happens. Here’s 5 things your charity can do with live-streaming right now!

When you have something important or time-sensitive to communicate, put resources behind it to boost it!  According to the 2017 Global NGO Online Technology Report, 34% of NGOs worldwide have paid for advertising on social media.

Big Tip: You already know that Facebook can boost your posts for a fee – Instagram can do the same thing. Target your sponsored posts at specific demographics, reaching the right audiences with your messaging. If your cause is in the news, place a sponsored Instagram post and use the appropriate hashtag to catch attention from potential supporters on the app. Instagram advertising has a variety of useful call-to-action items you can use to drive traffic to your donation or petition pages, including “Sign Up” / “Learn More” / “Donate Now” and more!

Why Your Nonprofit Should Be Using Quipist

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Social Media for NonprofitsIt’s been said that generosity breeds generosity. This couldn’t be truer with regard to Quipist, a new social platform founded by two Silicon Valley scientists who moonlight as philanthropists. Quipist’s founders, Emanuel F. Barros and Aric Katterhagen, are men with big ideas and even bigger hearts. And so, when they launched Quipist, they did so with social good in mind.

The philosophy behind Quipist is simple: the more popular a social media platform becomes, the greater its ability to have a positive impact locally, nationally and worldwide becomes. This isn’t just lip service: a portion of Quipist’s ad revenue goes toward charity. Better yet, its users get to decide which ones among the causes the Quipist Foundation supports.

But Quipist does more than give charities a financial boost – it also helps strengthen their social media presence while expanding their rolodex of connections.  True communities exist within Quipist, and when a charity finds its niche within the site, it can effortlessly establish itself as a strong player within that group. And once a nonprofit becomes as an influencer in a specific space, it becomes much easier to fundraise and gain supporters.

Making a community on Quipist is easy, and growing that community is even easier, thanks to the platform’s easy-to-navigate filters. It allows users to set preferences that will determine the type of content that appears on their stream. Quipist caters to its users and shows them only the content they’re interested in seeing. In the non-profit world, this feature offers a tremendous benefit. It ensures even the little guys receive as much clout and visibility within their niches as an industry’s major players.

But that’s not all. Quipist is loaded with other great features that can benefit both nonprofits and Quipist users. Features include:

  •  A digital marketing dashboard that helps manage social media. One feature, the Quipstream, is in aggregator that allows users to read multiple social media feeds at once. This can be a real time-saver for users struggling to balance multiple platforms. It brings together other major sites, including, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Google+, Reddit and Tumblr, just to name a few.
  • Quipist allows social media cross-platform posting, which means users can post to other social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumbler) directly from Quipist.
  • Branding and community outreach efforts can get a huge boost from Quipist. Nonprofits can create main accounts, and also subaccounts that focus on the areas their charity focuses on. (For example, a nonprofit such as Vision Literacy can create a Vision Literacy profile, and subsequent subaccounts that list news, upcoming events and more.
  • Like other sites, Quipist allows users to customize their avatar, bio, links and privacy settings.  But it’s unique in that it allows users to have “private friends” that no one can see. This can be handy when there’s a sensitive or private issue. For example, a nonprofit that runs a herpes support group can allow members to keep their diagnosis and affiliation private.

As I mentioned, money fundraised through the site’s ad revenue gets divided to the causes to the Quipist Foundation is supporting. Nonprofits can sign up by joining Quipist and making an online request.

For budget-constrained nonprofits who struggle with fundraising, Quipist can be an ideal solution. After all, when it comes to Quipist’s influence on nonprofits, one click can go a long way.

 

 

 

 

 

Social Media: An Indispensable Tool for A Successful Crowdfunding Campaign

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Crowdfunding for NonprofitsFor the past several years, crowdfunding, – in the age of shared economy and “pay it forward” – has become one of the best ways to fundraise for nonprofit organizations and individual causes. Crowdfunding is so effective because it allows individuals to quickly and efficiently reach large numbers of people through various social media channels. It’s that instant communication of a story with friends, family, acquaintances, and others who share similar interests, that makes crowdfunding so profound.

Social media has become the megaphone and public relations of crowdfunding. As a nonprofit organization or as an individual you must be ready to create content that will engage all possible donors.

Crowdfunding for Nonprofits

Some of the best practices to use social media in crowdfunding campaigns are:

  1. Be ready to engage family and friends. Let them know beforehand that you will be setting up a crowdfunding campaign and ask from them to let their networks know. If necessary, write for them the pitch: “My cousin Ernesto just had a baby which needs medical care – will you help?”
  2. Identify “campaign ambassadors” early on. These are the people who believe wholeheartedly on your campaign and will help spread the message of its importance.
  3. Be truthful when writing your campaign story. Be specific and to the point. Remember people are giving you willingly their time (to read about your campaign) and hopefully their money to help.
  4. Use social to your campaign’s advantage. If your campaign is about a start-up or a product be sure to be a member of interest groups / pages on Facebook as well as already follow specific Twitter / LinkedIn accounts that have an interest in what your campaign is about.
  5. Create a content calendar.  Your campaign needs attention, just like you need air to breathe. If a campaign is left unattended and no follow-up content is created or posts written in social media, it will never thrive. Think of sharing aspects of your campaign at least three times per week.
  6. Be sure to discuss how this campaign will ____________ (innovate, help, secure, transform). Write the milestones and why are they important.
  7. Schedule your posts in social media and be sure to celebrate every milestone and thank people for their contributions. Donors who are engaged with a personalized thank you could donate more money, engage their own audience to help, or help you in the future.
  8. Use good visuals, video, testimonials to engage your audience.

A funding goal that is achievable is also important. For individuals who donate close to their community and many times to organizations they know, it is important to know the success of a campaign is achievable.

If your campaign reaches its goal be sure to thank the whole community that has supported you. Social networks should not only be used to fundraise but also to give thanks. Have that content ready and stay positive!

Employing a Social Media Strategy to Supplement Volunteer Recruitment

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Nonprofit Social Media StrategyWith the expectation of immediacy in the digital age, it’s no surprise over 75% of American adults use social media.  As millions connect daily, social media has become cross-generational and a part of everyday life; those same millions using it to gather daily news and connect with social causes.  If harnessed correctly, social media can be the perfect medium for any non-profit organizations volunteer recruitment arsenal.  Like most things though, having a well laid plan is necessary, otherwise much of what social media has to offer will be squandered.  Considering the amount of technoliteracy required, simply charging the Millennial to post content on social media isn’t a strategy.  Adversely, being of an elder generation isn’t an excuse for not having a strategy either.

Volunteer administrators are tasked with recruiting, training, staffing, and acknowledging volunteers.  At many non-profit organizations, the function of recruitment is reactionary, with volunteer administrators responding to emails, answering phone calls and arranging meetings.  Employing social media allows those recruiting, to be proactive by opening new doors, enlarging the organization’s social network, and increasing the likelihood of onboarding new volunteers.  Keep in mind though, every detail from the content, channels you post on, when and how often you post needs to be intentional with a designed purpose.

Understanding the purpose is first determined by knowing the ‘why’ of the social media strategy.  Whether the goal of the strategy is to generate support for an event or to create a virtual community among volunteers, knowing this goal will shape ‘how’ it’s accomplished.  The ‘why’ in this particular case is converting virtual followers into volunteers.  For those just starting out, focus on one goal at a time to maximize results before implementing more advanced practices.  Focusing on more than one campaign can diminish your social return on investment (ROI), conversion rate of followers to volunteers and your message consistency.  Because this process needs to be Inclusive to other programs within the organization you’ll want to avoid creating a strategy on your own.

Start by conducting an audit to set a benchmark:

Using publicly available data, measure your current social media metrics and set a standard.  But don’t stop there, compare your metrics against likeminded organizations.  Include your information technology (IT), webmaster, and communications staff in the conversation.  Social media engagement needs to be cross-functional to successfully engage the many social circles that exist. As a collaborative group, create guidelines to measure ROI.  Be sure to consider the following;

  • Measure website traffic.  Work with your webmaster and determine current traffic rate before implementing the strategy.  Continually measure the change in traffic as time progresses.  Websites with a social media presence experience nearly 55% more traffic than those without.  
  • Followership and social reach.  Determine current rate of new followers per month.  This only works by having authentic followers (not bought and paid for) on social media.  Over time, monitor this to see if there’s an uptick in followers.  Building a network of authentic followers will create a community around your organization’s brand.  Followers connected to your organization will advocate, share, repost and comment on your content.
  • Frequency of posts.  Each social media channel has an optimum posting frequency rate.  Measure your efforts against current industry standards, using that as a starting point.  Identify what works best, readjusting frequency as needed based on audience feedback.  Finding the optimum post rate will allow for increased visibility of content, while mitigating risk of ‘content shock,’ or audience fatigue from over posting.  
  • Social media is about interaction.  Go beyond ‘numbers’ and dissect the feedback you receive.  Be cognizant of language used by the audience when engaging and compare this over time to quantify effectiveness.  What you say about your organization may (or may not) be what others are sharing through their social networks.  Keeping interaction conversational with followers will humanize your organization’s virtual presence, creating authenticity and trust.  It will also allow you to keep your finger on the pulse of what’s being shared about the organization.

After the audit, plan the deliberate outreach to the targeted audience:

When focusing on volunteers (current and potential) you’ll want to research and understand the population you’re trying to convert.  Pay attention to their demographics and where they reside on the social web.  Different populations have a tendency to use certain social media channels.  Conduct research and seek out the populations you desire.

  • Collect demographics.  Send surveys and conduct deep dive of publicly available information about current and potential volunteers.  Gather age, gender, location, education, profession, and their sources for news.  Collecting data will allow you to segment your outreach and better understand your audience, resulting in stronger virtual connections.
  • Use analytic tools.   Monitor click rates and capitalize on how people engage.  Consider using Google analytics (similar applications) or paid ads that allow you to track and analyze data.  Adopting analytic applications will let you quantify and assess the degree in which your audience engages.  This allows you to see what resonates with your audience and hone in on what works.  

Creating content with consistent branding:

While consistent messaging is important, also consider the way it’s reinterpreted by the audience.  Social media is largely ‘social,’ so focus on making the virtual connection.  Be sure the recruitment strategy is on message with the overall strategic plan of the organization.  Content and logo use should be within the branding and style guidelines that exist, but may need to be modified, allowing engagement to be conversational.  Consider color schemes, images, videos and nomenclature.  Add keywords for search engine optimization (SEO).  Tone and voice should be such that it reaches the broadest audience while being relevant and engaging.  Using images and videos will keep your message brief, concise, and visually stimulating, keeping your audience captivated.

Employ an editorial calendar and a dashboard:

Use an editorial calendar to plan content that’ll be used on social media and traditional marketing channels.  Plan the types of posts, who’s assigned to content creation, due dates and when to publish.  Coordinating content, will ensure material is regularly posted for your audience.  Be sure content creation and editing are congruent with current organizational branding and style guidelines.  Here’s a great editorial calendar template by CoSchedule.com that can be used as a starting point.

After you set up an editorial calendar, save yourself a tremendous amount of time and schedule your posts in advance using a dashboard.  The employment of a dashboard will allow you to schedule posts on multiple channels simultaneously, collaborate with other team members, analyze results (usually a paid feature), and simultaneously track several campaigns.  Research the use of dashboards carefully, as some allow integration between Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Facebook, but some do not.

Social media should be used to augment (not replace) traditional means of marketing and outreach.  Don’t forget incorporating social media into existing marketing tools.  Integrating social media into your website, publications, email newsletters, events and promotional booths will bring your social media presence outside the social web.

Adopt staffing roles and shared responsibilities:

Because social media takes place 24/7, managing interaction will present challenges.  Unless there’s full-time staff whose job is to manage social media, you’ll need the support from others who can commit time to monitoring engagement.  Achieve this by assembling a team that can dedicate time to posting and interacting with followers.  Ensure team members have visibility of what the others are doing.  Create an environment that encourages information sharing to prevent duplication of effort, while facilitating true collaboration.  Until your organization can determine significant ROI of your social media strategy, responsibilities of social media management will be a team effort.  In the meantime, the team can work on attaining buy-in through shared management.  Sum the hours of shared responsibilities, painting a picture of how much dedicated time is necessary to do this successfully.  Only after there’s buy-in from leadership will a dedicated staff member be considered to manage social media.

Initiating engagement and listening to feedback:

Be social.  Interact with followers who post and share your content.  Like the act of volunteering, the virtual connection should focus on the experience through virtual engagement.  Be deliberate with your message while being conversational.  Assign a real person (not an auto responder) who can reply promptly while using discretion.  Below are some tips to do to this effectively.

  • Transcend formal discussion.  Conversational engagement will humanize the organization’s web presence.  Go the extra mile and nurture back and forth dialogue that’s honest, authentic and transparent.  This will create an intimate and positive conversation, keeping your followers engaged and enthusiastic.
  • Capitalize on the engagement.  Create chat sessions, Facebook groups and hashtags that allow followers to provide feedback, advice and commentary.  Both successes and failures exhibited by the organization will be noticeable based on what people share through their social media.  By creating and owning these outlets, you can post content to drive conversation in a direction advantageous to your goals.
  • Post in real-time.  Take advantage of social media and post updates in real time while at events where volunteers are serving.  Like a conversation between two people, volunteers will document and record their good (and bad) experiences, sharing them through virtual conversations.  If those you’re engaging have a good experience, the conversation that follows will take care of itself.
  • Properly tagging others.  ‘Tagged’ followers often times receive an alert notifying them of engagement and will in turn respond, creating conversation.  By tagging others, you allow the conversation to be tracked.  If it’s not tracked, you lose an ability to analyze the data using third party applications.
  • Listen and continue cycle:  Follow the conversation and analyze engagement through the entire lifecycle of the strategy.  Use the data to periodically audit the process, making adjustments as needed.  Feedback from engagement will contribute back into the process of auditing, setting new benchmarks, targeting and segmenting the audience, generating future content, staying in tune with supporters and strengthening the virtual relationships.

For many including myself, it’s hard to remember a life without instant access to the digital world.  But in the grand scheme of things, social media is relatively young in age when compared to other marketing tools.  There’s a reason traditional marketing tools have stood the test of time.  While social media isn’t a ‘fix’ or something to be solely relied on, it’s one of the fastest growing social circles for collaboration with an estimated 20 million new users projected over the next five years.  For non-profit organizations that have a limited advertising budget, little visibility and few staff, social media can offer an outlet that levels the playing field against the 1.5 million other organizations competing for the same attention from volunteers.  Like starting anything from the bottom, it takes dedicated time (give it an hour a day), deliberate action, fine tuning and most importantly, patience.  As your audience grows, so will your conversion rate of authentic followers to volunteers.

 

Three Tips for Social, Two Tools for Posting, and a Millennial in a Pear Tree

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nonprofit social media advice - nonprofit, hashtags and moreThe millennial generation cares just as much about their legacy and impact on the world as they do about accolades on their individual resumes. The spirit of giving, volunteering, donating, and investing in others is especially strong among millennials during the holiday season. The Millennial Impact Report, sponsored by the Case Foundation, states that 84% of millennials made charitable donations in 2014 – and 30% of those made their donation via an online giving platform.

Are you thinking through new and innovative ways to reach the millennial generation? Optimistically, nonprofits have a digital strategy in place that uses the right channels to make it easy  for millennial donors to interact while also being practical to maintain internally. As the end of the year approaches, however, consider a few additional easy-to-implement tips that could further raise awareness and boost donations, especially among the eager-to-participate millennial demographic.

How Many Messages for Good? About a Billion.

Take every digital communications channel you know, your supporters use, and the world recognizes. What is the common denominator? Texting.

SMS integration into your digital strategy is important, and there are an abundance of text-to-give platforms. Fairly new to the scene is a company called Twilio, a Silicon Valley cloud communications company creating software that makes reaching distinct audiences via text message simple. For example, the American Red Cross implemented Twilio SMS communication capabilities to rally geographic-specific volunteers via text messaging – a technology everyone uses and understands.

At Dreamforce 2015, Twilio pledged to set aside 1% of its current equity to fund their charity arm, Twilio.org, expanding their commitment to philanthropy and setting more nonprofits up for targeted communications success. Their corresponding campaign ‘A Billion Messages for Good’ echoes that commitment and furthers the impact of social good.  501c(3) nonprofits are eligible to apply to receive $500 of kickstart credits, and a 25% discount on SMS (text) messaging, voice calls, client calls and recording.

Not a coder? No problem. Twilio has support materials to help you along the way, including non-coder guides to walk non-programmers through the SMS message setup process step-by-step.

More Than Shameless Selfies

Instagram is red-hot right now, having grown a community of 400 million users in just under 5 years. Business Intelligence recently reported that Instagram is more important (in terms of prestige) among young people than Facebook or Twitter. What Instagram possesses as a powerful visual storytelling tool, however, it lacks as a donation platform – because of the inability to add donation links directly to photos or in the comment fields. To overcome this, put a donation link in your Instagram profile with a mention of the link in individual photo captions.

In addition, nonprofits may consider accompanying storytelling on Instagram with sponsored content (ie: an advertisement) to further their reach and drive people to invest in their cause. Instagram’s self-serve ad platform is perfectly simple to use, and you pay only for results. You have the ability to target individuals based on the content they like, comment on, view, etc. This means a local animal shelter can directly target Instagram users who share pet adoption stories or engage with various animal rescue content.

Additionally, Instagram offers the choice of various calls-to-action. Instead of a headline like “Shop Now,” nonprofits can select “Learn More,” making their relationship with a potential donor more authentic and emotive. Video content can be especially powerful for nonprofits, allowing up to 30 seconds of visual storytelling. If a nonprofit is crafty enough in its targeting, messaging, and execution, you will see dividends from the investment in sponsored content.

#donate – The Hashtag of Generosity and Real-Time Donations

Recently founded Washington, DC startup GoodWorld is changing the donation landscape on Twitter and Facebook. GoodWorld has made donating an instant, easy experience that can be shared to inspire action from others.

Recently I met a nonprofit representative at a social event, and she was telling me compelling stories about their work and impact on others’ lives. I felt compelled to invest in their mission in that very moment, on-the-spot. She referred me to use GoodWorld, asking that I simply tweet “#donate $amount @thecharityname” to commit the donation quickly and easily. As soon as I posted my tweet, I received an email with a personalized payment link that I could complete when I got home. GoodWorld helps capitalize on these moments of inspiration, translating emotional response into commitment and action

How does it work? Sign up your nonprofit organization through GoodWorld, whose technology will then scan your Twitter and Facebook pages for the phrase “#donate.” Then instruct your donors to simply write “#donate” on any Facebook post or Tweet with your nonprofit tagged in the post. This hashtag triggers an email directly to the interested donor with a personalized link to complete the donation.

The act of using #donate not only secures instant dollar donations but also spreads your organization’s message to the reach of that donor’s social following. You’re using donors as your brand ambassadors, making your job as a communications professional easier than ever.

 

This is simply a sprinkling of new trends and ideas to think through as end-of-year add-ons to your nonprofit’s already existing digital strategy. Or maybe they spark thoughts to fully incorporate into your 2016 digital strategy. Inevitably trends shift, making room for better technology to emerge every day. Your digital roadmap will make the shifting journey easier to navigate, and put you in control of having the most impact on your audiences.

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