ePhilanthropy: Using the Internet to Build Support
For nonprofit organizations, the Internet represents an unprecedented and highly cost-effective opportunity to build and enhance relationships with supporters, volunteers, clients and the community they serve. As ePhilanthropy has emerged, organizations have discovered that consistent and deliberate email communication that drives traffic to the organization's well organized and informative Web site has become the key to success.
Charities should approach the Internet as a communication and stewardship tool first and a fundraising tool second. Success will come not from an emphasis on the technology, but on cultivating and enhancing relationships.
A growing number of nonprofit organizations are turning to the Internet to improve supporter relationships, find new efficiencies in their operations, advocate issues, better inform their key publics, as well as to raise funds. As the use of the Internet grows, some are predicting that its use for philanthropic purposes (also known as ePhilanthropy) will replace traditional methods of fundraising such as direct mail, telephone, personal solicitation and even planned giving. This will not be the case. Instead, organizations that are succeeding are those that utilize the efficiency and effectiveness of Internet-based ePhilanthropy services integrated fully with traditional fundraising methods.
The growth of ePhilanthropy has required even the most seasoned nonprofit professionals to learn new skills and to re-evaluate how they approach nearly every aspect of fundraising. These tools add a new dimension of efficiency and require higher levels of integration for nearly every "offline" approach to attracting philanthropic support.
Success will come not from an emphasis on the technology, but on cultivating and enhancing relationships. The Internet provides countless highly efficient opportunities to enhance relationships, improve donor satisfaction and, therefore, to raise more money. Those who give online, however, are those who are invited to give online. Therefore, strategies must be devised and deployed to identify, cultivate, and solicit philanthropic support.
The true powers of Internet-based development methods lie in their ability to do more than simply function as a novel way to raise money. When an organization can successfully build and enhance a relationship with a prospective donor, it has a much higher chance of successfully soliciting a gift. Therefore, charities should approach the Internet as a communication and stewardship tool first, and a fundraising tool second.
As far back as 1999, in the Craver, Mathews, Smith and Company study, The Landmark Study of Socially Engaged Internet Users, it was found that 50 million Americans over the age of 18 were already online and volunteered time to a charity or cause-related group. Since it is already known that people who volunteer are more likely to donate to their favorite charity than those who do not, this report represents a significant basis for why charities must begin asking for support online. Since 1999, the population cited in this report has clearly grown.
From Tragedy Comes Support
Apart from a tragedy of truly monumental proportions that can inspire donors to give, nonprofit organizations must still ask for support if they expect to receive it. While there are many more online donors now than there were prior to the terrorist attacks of September, 11, 2001 these new online donors are not simply surfing the Web looking for a cause to support. These newly experienced ePhilanthropists are much more likely to be inspired to contribute based on the mission, the stated need and the opportunity to give presented by a charity that they have probably already supported offline.
In the days and weeks following the terrorist attacks in the USA on September 11, 2001, the world turned to the Internet and provided a charitable response never seen before. During this period, the ePhilanthropy Foundation verified that more than $138 million was donated online from some 1.4 million donors. The level of online philanthropic activity in the weeks following these events was so amazing that it has become a defining moment in American philanthropy.
For nonprofit organizations, the Internet represents an unprecedented and highly cost-effective opportunity to build and enhance relationships with supporters, volunteers, clients and the community they serve. Connecting with supporters online provides a new means for converting interest in the mission to direct involvement and support. Email is the most important tool in harnessing the power of the Internet. According to a 2001 Gallup Poll, email is the number one online activity for 52 percent of the people using the Internet. In that study, 97 percent of people said that email had improved their lives. Couple this with a U.S. Commerce Department report that shows that the number of Americans using email has grown from 45 percent to 54 percent in just the past two years, and there is a very powerful argument for nonprofits to integrate the use of email and the Internet into their fundraising strategies.
For the donor, the Internet gives easy access to numerous philanthropic choices. Increasingly, as the ePhilanthropy revolution continues to build up steam, more and more people have turned to the Web to fulfill their charitable intentions. As ePhilanthropy has emerged, organizations have discovered that consistent and deliberate email communication driving traffic to the organization's well-organized and informative Web site has become the key to success.
Email: The Communication Tool
Through the appropriate use of permission-based email, a nonprofit can provide its donors with increased access to information and more timely details regarding the stewardship and solicitation of their charitable support. This increased access and detailed information help strengthen the relationship and trust between the nonprofit and its supporters. To earn this trust, nonprofit organizations will have to become accustomed to increased levels of scrutiny and demands for evidence that the charity is well managed and provides service consistent with its mission.
Email has become a vital and inexpensive tool for promoting nonprofit organizations, cultivating, educating, activating supporters, soliciting and re-soliciting donors. To aid nonprofits in the use of email, the PhilanthropyFoundation.org (a nonprofit organization created to foster the ethical and efficient use of the Internet for philanthropic purposes) has created the following recommendations:
- Ask permission to email everyone you communicate with. Ask those visiting your Web site to enter their email address and give you permission to email them with updates as they become available. Requests for email addresses and permission to use them should be included in your direct response programs, at events, in the media, in person, anywhere you connect with supporters. Approach this exactly like an off-line prospect donor list - it is!
- Do not send unsolicited email or "spam."
While it is acceptable to rent or exchange direct mail lists, it is not acceptable to buy email addresses from other organizations or companies unless the people on those lists have "opted in" to receive mail from third parties. By the same token, do not share your supporters' email addresses with anyone else unless you have received explicit permission from them to do so. - Do not over-message supporters. Do not bother your supporters with too many messages or messages that are not relevant to them. The great advantage of email cultivation and solicitation is its ability to help you develop relationships via inexpensive communications; but do not abuse the trust you are trying to build.
- Do not be afraid to ask for gifts. While most of your email messages will cultivate, educate or move to action, it is also acceptable to ask donors or prospects to make a gift (and to remind them of how important their last gift was in achieving your organization's mission). You can also invite the donors' feedback with a short survey or request for comments.
- Be ready to answer your email messages. Email and the Web make it easy for your donors and other supporters to contact you with questions, concerns or problems. To answer all those emails requires a well-organized system and staff assigned to the task. People expect a quick answer - 36-hour turnaround or faster - to their emails. Make sure you allocate resources within your organization to respond, and provide a telephone number on your Web site for people who want live assistance.
Do not miss the opportunity to invite those receiving your email messages to pass them along to others. This will enhance your communication efforts and allow those who support you to recommend your mission to others.
Although technology and the Internet offer tremendous opportunities for efficiency and success, it is the personal relationship each donor can build with the charity that will define the degree of success the nonprofit will have. The successful use of email has become a vital tool in a nonprofit's online cultivation, marketing and solicitation strategy. Following the five email recommendations above will help nonprofits focus on the relationship they are building, increase awareness among supporters and, over time, will lead to fundraising success.
Sending email messages and building a Web site are not enough. Success on the Internet requires an integrated strategy that embraces standards for protecting and preserving donor relationships. For-profit vendors have developed a wide array of services to help nonprofit Web sites. Many of these services are catalogued on the Nonprofit Matrix.
The ePhilanthropy Foundation has developed the "ePhilanthropy Toolbox" as a way of drawing attention to the wide array of techniques and services available. The elements of the toolbox fall into six categories:
- Communication, education and stewardship;
- Online donations and membership;
- Event registrations and management;
- Prospect research;
- Volunteer recruitment and management; and
- Relationship building and advocacy.
Just as not all nonprofit organizations use the exact same mix of traditional fundraising methods, so too will organizations pick and choose, through trial and testing, those online methods that best suit their organization's constituency and operational requirements. As this mix of tools and services for each organization will vary widely, organizations should always evaluate options and test assumptions. Incremental improvements and additions of services will help supporters and staff become accustomed to using the new technology and communicating via the Internet. Only by testing can the organization learn which techniques perform the best.
Communication, Education and Stewardship
Use of the Internet as a stand-alone solution is not effective. While there are no short cuts to long-term success offline, there are similarly no short cuts online. ePhilanthropy methods permit an organization to communicate and engage supporters not only through a Web site, but directly through email, which can direct attention back to the organization.
As part of an integrated communication and fundraising strategy, ePhilanthropy offers effective and efficient opportunities for nonprofits to communicate with a much wider audience than they might otherwise have the resources to do. Direct mail, telephone, radio, television, personal visits and other traditional means of communication with supporters all have significant personnel, printing, postage or other costs associated with them.
Getting the Word Out
The online environment offers several opportunities to communicate with potential supporters. Essential aspects to getting the word out online are enumerated below.
Search Engines
Each search engine has its own criteria for cataloguing the resources of the Internet. Yet no single search engine provides reference to more than 16 percent of the Internet. Therefore it is important to register the organization's Web site with several of the leading search engines (i.e. Google, Lycos, Yahoo, Alta Vista, Hotbot, etc).
"Pass-along" Marketing
While it is highly unlikely that anyone receiving a direct mail appeal from a charity will make several copies, address envelopes to their friends and family, and mail copies of the letter urging they also support the organization, it is very likely this activity will take place online. Also known as viral marketing, it is a method of asking the recipient of an email to send the message along to other people they know who might be interested. Within a few seconds the message can be sent along to scores of people on their personal email list. Very important to the success of this method is the fact that the message is now being sent by a friend or family member, thereby increasing the chances of it being read.
Send to a Friend
Those who visit a nonprofit organization's Web site are often looking for expert information related to the mission of that organization. By offering the option to "send-to-a-friend" an article or link to a Web page on the site to a friend, the utility of the Web site's content is further enhanced. Once again, the power of this feature is that the recommendation is coming from a trusted friend or family member.
Online Donations and Membership
Most visitors to a Web site go there because they know or care something about the organization or its mission and they are seeking information. Effective sites offer multiple opportunities for visitors to support the organization through advocacy, volunteerism or donations, often on each page of the Web site.
William Park, the chief executive of marketing firm Digital Impact, says "It's the most measurable marketing vehicle of all time." Response rates are more quickly and accurately measured than in other media. This combination of price and response makes email, particularly email newsletters, very attractive to nonprofits. Several vendors have developed services that make it easy for organizations to use email and the Internet for soliciting donations, outreach, education and advocacy strategies. The integration of the organization's Web site (content and encrypted online donor forms) and email (pushing the message to supporters) along with direct mail, telephone and other campaigns, not only provide additional options for donors, but also give them the opportunity to become more informed and engaged donors.
Event Registration and Management
ePhilanthropy special event management makes event registration easier for nonprofits and event attendees. Online services are available to send event invitations, organize volunteer activities, maintain income and expense records, and provide high-quality registration and donor relations' services.
Golf tournaments, walks, silent and live auctions each have specialized registration and item organization needs. Several online services have been developed to address one or more of these specific requirements.
Prospect Research
While an incredible amount of information about fundraising prospects is available online, it is important to pay close attention to the management and use of information gathered.
Electronic Screening
The Internet makes it possible for charities of all sizes to obtain helpful information regarding the capacity of their key prospects to make a major gift. There are several free and paid access databases available to nonprofits seeking to identify prospects with wealth. Several companies have developed services that make it possible to match a charity's prospect database to specific information about known persons with private wealth, philanthropists, inside stock traders, private company owners and high net-worth professionals, as well as corporate and foundation executives and trustees.
Volunteer Recruitment and Management
Volunteers are important to any successful nonprofit program or fundraising endeavor. The Internet provides tools that can enhance relationships and improve communication. Recruiting volunteers online is an excellent way to reach non-traditional volunteers, including populations that might be underrepresented in an organization's volunteer ranks (seniors, ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, etc).
There are several online resources available that can help with technical assistance, resource sharing, training and consultation. Organizations interested in posting volunteer opportunities online have several options to obtain help in locating volunteers, tracking them and managing their activities.
Privacy and Trust
Seventy percent of U.S. Internet users report being concerned about privacy online, yet 80 percent are willing to provide sensitive information online when asked, in exchange for small benefits. Years of experience in the offline world have taught fundraisers that attention to detail, privacy, security of information and honesty in reporting while building a case for support are key components to any successful solicitation of support, whether that support comes in the form of volunteerism, advocacy or contributions. Attention has to be paid to privacy issues in any organization's ePhilanthropy strategy. To increase the likelihood that the trust supporters have for the charity will be transferred to the online environment, the < href= http://www.ephilanthropy.org/site/PageServer target_blank>ePhilanthropy Foundation recommends that charities:
- Publish their privacy policy on the Web site and at other places where such data are requested or required.
- Review and strengthen internal security and use of confidential data.
- Ensure that supporters can control the information collected about them, including removing their name from lists for future online communication and/or solicitation.
- Respond promptly to complaints and all forms of electronic communication.
- Consider seeking certification from one of the well-known privacy trust marks such as BBB Online.
Relationship Building and Advocacy
For some organizations the promotion of their mission through emailing an elected official, signing an electronic petition, receiving electronic "action alerts," or forwarding email messages to friends, coworkers and family serves an important role in building and enhancing online relationships.
An online advocacy campaign can serve as a successful way to rally support and an excellent way to build an email database. Making effective use of the organization's Web site and email database requires careful planning. The messages in the "action alerts" should match those of print media and the Web site. It is important to identify specific goals for online advocacy. Follow-up to these prospects or donors through traditional direct mail or other methods should refer to the initial email contact. An example might be: "Last month you joined with 75,000 other dedicated Americans who are joining the fight for tougher drunk driving laws. Today, we are writing to ask for your help."
Since their initial contact was on the occasion of an advocacy campaign, it is important to provide appropriate follow-up. Charities might consider proposing additional advocacy activities, an invitation to volunteer, or suggestion to make a charitable gift to support ongoing efforts related to the initial advocacy request. The purpose is to turn potential donors acquired during an online activism campaign into donors.
Conclusion
ePhilanthropy techniques have brought to the nonprofit world an unprecedented opportunity to leverage technology for the benefit of the charity and convenience of the donor. In every organization, time and resources are spent on recruiting and retaining charitable support. This support is based on relationships built and missions fulfilled. Hundreds of options exist to develop solutions for each of the six categories of ePhilanthropy outlined in this paper. Use of the Internet enhances these efforts by providing efficient and effective communication tools tied to robust secure online services. These services empower donors to utilize information and support charitable causes any time and any way.
Source: This article was based on the following: ePhilanthropy: Using the Internet to Build Support, by Theodore R Hart. International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing. London: Nov 2002. Vol. 7, Issue 4.
If you have trouble reading this e-newsletter due to formatting issues, or visible HTML code, or if you would like to discuss content-related issues, please contact Bill Freeman, NRC e-Newsletter Editor at wjf@daremightythings.com.
Hypertext links and other references to non-CCF products and services are provided for information only and do not constitute endorsement or warranty, express or implied, by the CCF, DHHS, or U.S. Government, as to their suitability, content, usefulness, functioning, completeness, or accuracy.