Seeking Big Gifts Online

Tuesday, June 10, at 12 noon, U.S. Eastern time

Jeff Regen is vice president of online marketing and communications for Defenders of Wildlife, an environmental charity in Washington. Defenders of Wildlife receives more than 40 percent of its first-time gifts of $1,000 or more online.

Betsey Fortlouis is senior director of member communications for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in New York, which has been expanding its online major-gifts campaign.

Jeff Patrick is president of Common Knowledge, a San Francisco consulting company that helps charities conduct online fund raising campaigns.

A transcript of the chat follows.

Peter Panepento (Moderator):
    Welcome to today's online discussion about attracting major gifts online. Many charities are thinking about or have started expanding their online fund-raising efforts to include major gifts. But we're finding that because this is such a new practice, many in the field are still trying to figure out what works and what doesn't. Today, we have three experts who have worked on creating major-gifts campaigns online. They will be here for the next hour to share their experiences with you.

Peter Panepento (Moderator):
    As always, I'd like to encourage you to submit your questions to our panel. You can do so to by clicking on the "ask a question" link on this page.

Question from Sheila Baker, Alzheimer's Family Day Center:
    How do you start the on-line giving process. Do you mail a letter to your current donors? Do you do a survey to ask donors if online giving was available would they give using the on-line method? Where exactly do you begin?

Jeff Patrick:
    We engage the e-subscriber immediately following their opt-in. We like to get them an initial piece with a short welcome that acknowledges that they are new to the list, and then get them involved in something interactive: a link to an active blog where commenting is available and encouraged, an advocacy e-action (for advocacy org's), a photo gallery with commenting.

Then we follow up with subsequent emails that engage the e-subscriber in the cross-section of issues and campaigns for the organization - ideally all within the first 30 days of their online relationship with the organization.

Question from Darrell:
    Our organization is just getting online both with a website and online giving. What should we be doing so that we do this the right way? We serve a very defined region of West Texas.

Jeff Regen:
    The first thing is to setup a website and ensure it has highly visible, differentiated opportunities to donate. To ensure your new website is meeting your needs, ask yourselves:

1) who are our audiences

2) what information, activities are they looking for 3) what are the best ways to engage them on your issue--eg: quizzes; advocacy actions; discussion boards; donation opportunities; etc.

4) what will lead them to donate--typically you'll want Donate Now or a similar button in the navigation, but then at least one big button prompting people to donate for a specific reason, issue, or to support a specific program or activity.

If you have limited experience, hiring a consultant can help with this

Question from Peter Panepento -- Moderator:
    When does it make sense for organizations to make the move into soliciting major gifts online? Do they need a certain operational capacity? Can smaller charities do this as effectively as larger ones?

Jeff Patrick:
    We see the Internet (email and web) as an additional valuable channel for donor stewardship. I don't think we'll be seeing $20 million asks via email anytime soon, but I do think that two aspects of the Internet are very valuable for major donor cultivation: a) Rich Media and Deep Reference Materials: The web is astoundingly good at presenting deep, rich, compelling information in a way that is closer to TV than it is direct mail. As such it is a wonderful way to get the deep programmtic and other materials to your mid-tier and major donors. Second, the real-time nature of the web is great for real-time events i.e. for keeping your whole base, incl. major donors up to date with what's happeing for time sensitive events (think disaster relief or homecoming events, for example).

I think this can work just fine for smaller organizations, but clearly there needs to be a prospecting, recruitment and major donor program in place. I mention this because we see many smaller orgs doing individual giving but not following thru to develop the crucial major donor giving program.

Question from Holly:
    When seeking a major gift online how is the moves management and donor cultivation different than personal visits?

Jeff Patrick:
    We greatly encourage the use of email and online outreach for major donors and prospects. To be clear, we're not suggesting you make a $20 million ask via email, but rather that you use the online channel to support and augment your face-to-face efforts with major donors and prospects. Remember, the online channel (web/email) are wonderful at providing highly interactive, compelling, rich media content. Use that to your advantage - craft specialty outreach materials for your mid- and large donors.

Second, email and the web are real-time - as things happen you can keep your base informed up to the minute. Use this special feature of the web to do this for your entire base, and especially your major donors. They will appreciate the timeliness of your work and the information and feel empowered.

Question from Rachel, small nonprofit:
    Hello, How do you get internet donors to feel a personal connection to the charity if the only contact they are having is with the website?

Jeff Regen:
    Engage them online: quizzes, actions, activities, discussion boards, polls, encourage them to share stories/thoughts/opinions/comments--ie, user driven content, donate

Engage them offline: encourage them to setup house parties, go to events or rallies, meet at a bar to discuss topic, etc.

Question from Friends of the Manchester Animal Shelter:
    We operate a small animal shelter and are partially funded (30%) by the city. We are considering an expansion or new building and have been advised to hire a full-time Development person. Should we hire this person immediately and buy that oh-so-expensive fund-raising software? Is this the best way to start our project? It just feels so risky for us frugal NH yankee types! Kara O'Donnell Board of Directors Friends of the Manchester Animal Shelter Manchester, NH

Betsey Fortlouis:
    If you have the dollars to invest, it would be prudent to invest now in the technology as well as the resources. Building your resources and support on the front-end will allow you your program to grow, thus increasing your revenue.

Question from Marla Barr - Zoological Society of San Diego Zoo:
    What eCRM do all of you currently use and what role do you feel it plays in the success of your online marketing/philanthropy efforts?

Jeff Regen:
    Convio. Selecting right eCRM for you is an important, potentially very important decision. Most of eCRM platforms do the basics of advocacy and fundraising. However, if you wish to do specialized or sophisticated things, many (or all) ecrms won't be able to do it. Determine what capabilities you'll need and then evaluate potential ecrms carefully to determine which best meets your needs

Question from Julie, performing arts sector:
    To what extent, if any, have you had to adapt the way you work with respect to the other parts of the solicitation process - like cultivation and stewardship? e.g. Once a major gift is secured online, do you follow up with written feedback reports and handwritten thank yous and/or should we be thinking about new and more instant methods of stewardship?

Betsey Fortlouis:
    We communicate with each donor/member in the ways that they want to be communicated with. If a donor has let us know that they prefer email communication only, then acknowledgement/cultivation would come in an electronic form. If not, then depending on the situation, we might follow up with both a hand-written letter, a phone call and even perhaps a face-to-face visit.

Question from Jaime-Alexis Fowler, Pathfinder International:
    We've been hearing different ideas about personalizing emails. How effective is personalization (ie, emails coming from a person within the organization vs. just Pathfinder Communications)? And do you have any tips to increase open rates?

Jeff Patrick:
    Personalization i.e. putting a name (and face) to an email is important. In controlled tests, we see open and click rates go up 5% or more when emails are personalized with the name of the Exec Director in the From line (along with the Org name) and a thumbnail snapshot next to the signature at the bottom.

From this you can see that the incremental improvement is NOT massive, but it is real. This is a solid tactic that is easy to implement and that you should use routinely.

Equally important, the long term branding definitely benefits from this best practice. Constituents don't build relationships with organizations, they build them with people. Be consistent and diligent about providing a face, a name ... a real person to connect with at your organization when you communicate with your base. It makes a difference over the long haul as well.

Question from Linda Nieman, Wendt Center for Loss and Healing:
    Are there any demographics regarding age and online giving tendencies? In other words, is the online giver younger than other givers?

Jeff Patrick:
    Yes, definitely. The average age of online donors tends to be younger than the respective offline donor audience. We survey online audiences a lot for our clients and routinely see avg online age of 50-55 yrs old in organizations where the avg offline donor age is 70+. Very real difference and a great benefit, because the 50-somethings represent the boomer generation - a great group of prospect dono

Question from Jennifer Summers Arriola, Visitation School:
    What is your major gift threshold? Ours is $1000. If you have attempted major gift solicitation online, what was your format/plan? What kind of resistance did you encounter?

Jeff Regen:
    $1k threshold for us, too. Regularly solicit online, tho not all major donors. Solicit online: any donors who've made an online gift; occasionally solicit other donors with email online. For all major donors with email, send them monthly enewsletter and other cultivation emails.

In order to overcome resistence, need to demonstrate: 1) multichannel donors are most engaged and most valuable; 2) if they don't want email, they can always unsubscribe; 3) we ask new major donors if they want to receive email; 4) emails are a great way to engage and inform major donors aned direct them to site where a wealth of info on how their contributions are making a difference

Question from George, consultant:
    Do you use the Web to find potential donors and then use other means to solicit major gifts or do you actual ask for gifts online?

Jeff Regen:
    Several channels for sourcing new major donors:

1) direct mail

2) online--website (~30% of new major donors make first $1k gift thru website, not directly responding to an email issue solicitation)

3) online--email isssue-focused solicitations (~10% of new major donors make first $1k gift in response to these)

Ie, web and email are critical components of sourcing. We then solicit online anyone who's made a previous gift online (and occasionally solicit others online)

Question from John Boyle, CNMC:
    Have you seen an upper limit to online gifts? Do you think that strong authentication devices (tokens, smartcards, etc.) would help build trust with the highest-end donors?

Jeff Patrick:
    We've routinely seen $10K+ gifts online, especially at year-end. The real limit to online giving is probably related more to the constituent's credit card limit than to any perceived security issues (which is to say, security concerns are real - they just are not the only concern here).

We routinely do ask strings of $2,500, $5,000 and higher for mid-tier and major donors when doing selected online campaigns with clients. For those folks used to giving at this level, we've not seen any real issue with giving that amount online. It's certainly more convenient than check writing and the reward points are always a nice side benefit.

Looping back to my first point - we really do stress this at year-end. We like clients to send a last reminder ASK on Decemeber 31st. At that point, donors really don't have any other choice, so online giving makes a lot of sense.

Question from MICHELE NASH, SDC:
    Hello, What would you say is the most effective form of online campaigning when considering tight budgets?

Jeff Patrick:
    It depends on your goals and also your resources. You could consider building your file first with registration features and viral marketing efforts which are not as costly and don't require as many resources -- and then focus on converting those constituents to donors later in the process. You could also try an integrated marketing campaign, using a combination of a direct mail piece or telemarketing and a follow up email.

Peter Panepento (Moderator):
    We're approaching the halfway point in today's discussion. We've received a lot of great questions so far. If you've asked a question and haven't yet seen an answer, please be patient. We have received a healthy volume of questions today and our panelists are working to keep up. We do have time for more questions, too. So please feel free to get your query into the mix by clicking on the "ask a question" link and typing in your question. Thanks.

Question from Leonore Coan, SND Sisters of Notre Dame de namur- non-profit:
    We have the option to donate on our web page with an invitation to donate which leads the donor to a giving page- How do we advertize this with donors who contribute now through a mail program?

Jeff Patrick:
    First, the gross majority of your online gifts will come thru your online direct marketing program i.e. email. So put a lot of emphasis and resource against this program.

Tactically you want to email your base, and within the email (like in direct mail, albeit shorter format) make the case for giving. Then link DIRECTLY to your giving form. No intervening pages, and no other links in the email. The purpose of the email is to get people to give -- link them directly to your giving form.

By the way, the link on your homepage should probably go directly to a donation form as well. Again, if someone is ready to give (and they've signalled that they are when they click on the homepage ad or the link in the email), don't make them do any extra work. Take them to the donation form.

Question from Heather:
    How you do recommend managing major donors online? Should we move them into a separate database, to allow us to tailor emails to them?

Betsey Fortlouis:
    A separate database is probably not necessary, however it is important to segment these donors out as a group. You might want to consider branding this group a bit differently from your other communications so they start recognizing these communications as specifically talking to them, as opposed to the email blasts going to the entire database.

Question from Doug - Small nonprofit:
    Sorry, but what's an eCRM?

Jeff Regen:
    e Constituent Relationship Management system. Convio, Kintera (now owned by Blackbaud0, DemocracyInAction, others all have eCRM platforms. They allow nonprofits to email constituents, collect donations, facilitate constituents writing emails to Congress or other decision-makers, do eCommerce transactions and a host of other things. In short, they facilitate nonprofits creating online relationships with constituents and record the activities of each constituent so that the nonprofit can segment on these in the future

Question from Mary, medium sized non profit:
    Our organization has traditionally relied on grants and we have begun small individual giving program. How important is it to have large group of individual donors for online giving to work. Are you relying on current donors or have you found ways to develop new donors for online giving.

Jeff Regen:
    Having large, installed base of small donors (and/or major donors) certainly makes it much easier. However, can still build (more slowly) a robust online/offline small giving program by: 1) acquiring online activists or esupporters and then soliciting them online (and also thru mail, telephone, if possible--multichannel is best). Many different channels for acquiring online activists/supporters including google adwords (apply for a Google Grant), various vendors such as Care2 or sojourners.com or democrats.com, viral campaigns; website signup 2) acquiring direct mail donors and then asking them for email and send them to site to donate

Question from Robert Weiner:
    I've heard conflicting advice on how quickly to ask for a donation after you acquire a new name (e.g., someone opts into your mailing list). One authority said to expect to spend at least a year building a relationship before you ask for money. Another said to strike while the iron is hot--ask right away. What do you think?

Jeff Patrick:
    In our experience, immediate engagement is key to cultivating the donor and motivating him/her to give. Engagement doesn't have to be a hard ask though - it could be a soft ask with an introduction to take action somewhere on your website which could include making a gift. We do know that folks will become disengaged pretty quickly if you do not give them a reason to be engaged with your website/organization -- not to mention, if you are not communicating with them chances are somebody else from another organization is.

Question from Evonne Gallardo, Claremont Museum of Art:
    Can you list some of the do's and dont's of major gift fundraising online?

Betsey Fortlouis:
    Honestly, this is a new focus for us. We are continuing to build our Major Gifts team internally - as for many years Direct Response has been responsible for raising the majority of our funds. One thing to remember is never conclude that a major giving prospect is not comfortable giving online. For many years we made that assumption, when the changing of the guards took place so to speak, we realized that over 70% of our high dollar donors were incepting online.

Question from Nancy, social service agency:
    We recently received an online donation of $25,000 from a long-time donor. Because it was charged on a credit card, a fee of more than $1,300 was deducted from the gift. Is this usual? Or are there ways to alert donors to this drawback?

Jeff Regen:
    A $1,300 fee seems very large. Typically fee will be a fixed fee (eg, $0.50) + a percentage of transaction--usually more like 1 percent, I think. (It's been a little while since I checked.) I'd talk to the credit card vendor and renegotiate deal

Question from Jaime-Alexis Fowler, Pathfinder International:
    Do you also suggest personalization on e-newsletters?

Jeff Patrick:
    Yes, definitely. The question becomes more about WHO will be the person rather than IF the newsletter is personalized. By that I mean, all emails should come from someone in the organization. The more important question is who? For smaller org's we usually recommend that they always have the emails coming from the Exec Director or other senior exec.

For larger orgs, consider creating an email publication that has a voice tuned to the audience. If the email newsletter is destined for local audiences, then create a brand identity that will appeal to that local audience, shape the content accordingly, and have the email come from Sally Smith, Local Field Manager.

Online email products are like all products - consider the audience and craft every aspect of the email to suit that audience and your needs. Who the email is coming from is an important but just one part of the greater 'brand' or identity.

Question from Steve Feder:
    The average donation for members of online groups for non-profit organizations is very low. Does this make on-line giving less effective than other promotion sources?

Betsey Fortlouis:
    When you say "online groups" are you referring to social networking groups? If so, I would agree that the potential for non-profits to successfully raise funds through social networks is currently unknown. However,I think social networks are the great equalizers of the nonprofit sector. No matter how small an organization is, this kind of tool gives them a legitimate looking web presence. I'm not 100% sure about the potential for larger well known organizations with strong online communication tools. But any tool that gets the organization's cause to another potential demographic is helpful.

If you are talking about online donors in general having low average gifts I would have to disagree, as my experience shows online donors' average gifts being almost double to what is given through the mail or TM efforts.

Question from Jim Watters, Pastors Retreat Network:
    How would you suggest an organization structure its e-appeal so that it doesn't simply sound like an electronic version of direct mail or a voiceless telemarketing appeal?

Jeff Regen:
    While it's good for email appeal to reflect and coordinate with direct mail/telemarketing appeals (and visa versa), the specific text and layout should be different. Differences include:

1) shorter paragraphs and sentences--typically 1-3 sentences per paragraph

2) usually more informal, conversational

3) significantly shorter than most DM pieces--typically about 1 computer screen in length, but should vary a lot depending on email

4) more graphics, more timely graphics/photos--eg, just got fotos back from a volunteer event and include some in email

5) more breaking news / latest developments as little lead time for an email

6) refer in email to corresponding mail piece--eg, "You recently recieved your membership renewal in the mail. Please renew online right now so we can immediately put your donation to work"

Question from Lynne, IMA World Health:
    For a small nonprofit that wants to expand its online giving programs, would you recommend that we e-survey our core donors first, to help us identify their perception of the organization and their reasons for giving? If so, what types of questions should we include in such a survey?

Jeff Patrick:
    I can't stress enough the need to understand your audience. So often we find ourselves in discussion with clients about aspects of their online fundraising or email programs. Turns out the discussion really got extended because we simply don't know whether the audience would prefer A or B. And we find ourselves trying to make 'educated guests' based on personal opinion and anecdotal evidence. Really frustrating.

So, absolutely start by getting to know your online audience. All that you learn from this primary market research will inform EVERY aspect of your planning and implementation of your program.

Of course, the tricky part is sorting out WHAT to ask when you survey. That's a topic for a longer conversation. For now, think about the types of things you ask your offline donor base. It's not exactly the same online but its a good starting point.

Question from Amelia, growing non profit:
    In terms of online fundraising, what are the best types of information that I should try to capture? Any suggestions?

Betsey Fortlouis:
    If possible a mailing address AND an email address are preferred b/c you can begin to communicate with that constituent on and offline -- thus making them more valuable to your file. However a couple things to note: some folks will be put off by giving their mailing address without any known benefit -- is there something you can offer them as a registration benefit that will make them want to share their mailing info? For example, if you have a "free" brochure or sticker they can sign up for, then folks are more willing to share that info as they are getting something tangible in return -- and you in return get that valuable information. Also to note, if you can start with an email address then you can begin to engage a constituent with online communications and cull more information from them. Since we are an animal welfare organization, we like to ask people if they are "dog people" or "cat people". We know that if we send a known "dog person" an email with dog imagery and perhaps a "dog" subject line they will perform better than if we sent them a cat/dog email.

Peter Panepento (Moderator):
    We have about 15 minutes left. If you have a question that you haven't yet submitted, please feel free to do so now, before we run out of time. Thanks.

Question from Ryan Shea, Planned Parenthood Orange and San Bernardino:
    We usually deal with donors who may not be used to the social networking/web 2.0 aspects of online fundraising, what are the most effective ways to reach this 45-65 audiences? Email solicits, email forwarding, etc?

Jeff Patrick:
    Right - the question of audience demographics for social networking. First, I'll challenge the question. It is true that Facebook is largely 'used' by teens, tweens, 20's, 30-somethings. But you should know two important things about social networking sites: the fastest growing segment (usage) at Facebook is the 40-somethings - so they are coming on strong. Second there are bunch of commercial social networking sites dedicated to boomers - and the sites are doing well. not as big as Facebook, but usage levels are correspondingly high. Turns out it's not the medium (i.e social networking sites) its the audience that matters - 40-somethings don't find 18-yr old banter all that interesting.

Beyond that, we fall back on the tried and true -- email newsletter, solid, rich media web site content, and UGC - user generated content. User-generated content is key - getting your base to share a part of themselves is crucial - their photos, their video, their stories (a simple 250-word text testimonial). VERY powerful content - and guess what - you don't have to create it, just facilitate the collection and dissemination.

Question from Don, Consultant:
    Do you have a click here to give button on every page or do you try to seperate the asking parts of your web site from the parts gor more general information?

Jeff Regen:
    Probably want to have a Donate Now and/or Support Us button in the navigation on every page. However, larger "Donate for this issue" buttons in the main body of the page are typically more appropriate on some pages than others. It really all depends on the goals and audiences of the page. If a page covers a given topic and visitors to page are prone to donate, then a "Donate on this issue" button is typically good on that page

Question from Anna:
    Can you provide us with links to websites that you feel demonstrate effective online giving campaigns?

Jeff Patrick:
    Sure - I'm going to have to cite one of the other participant's site - Defenders of Wildlife - Jeff Regen - who is also answering questions today. Jeff is a world-class online fund raiser and database marketer and their web site and email marketing program are phenomenally successful. You can find his work at: www.defenders.org

I suggest you sign up for their newsletter(s). I think you'll see some very interesting tactics unfold as you watch their email stream over time.

Question from Troy Munn, University of Florida College of Medicine:
    Do you typically create some visual or graphic to draw Web visitors to a giving link to give it extra attention, or just graphically blend it in with the rest of the site's features?

Betsey Fortlouis:
    We do both. Our primary goal on our site is to drive donations - with engaging and cultivating our target audience (members and potential members) by clearly communicating our life-saving work and animal-welfare programs through one brand and one voice resulting in measurable action(s) amongst said audience and creating a sense of community being 2nd and 3rd. Because driving donations is of utmost importance, our largest homepage banner is always a giving banner (an action to donate) that is unique each month. However, throughout the website we use other banners that are integrated into the page content. For example, on a page about how to fight animal cruelty, we us a giving link that is embedded into the content.

Question from Ingrid Embree, Hispanic College Fund:
    Has there been an evaluation of the value of different methods of online donor acquisition? We have a relatively small house file currently.

Jeff Patrick:
    Sure, across many types of orgs and circumstances. And of course it varies by both of these. In order of ease suggest you consider the following acquisition tactics:

e-append: ~$0.40 per appended email to your direct mail house list. Doesn't get you new constituents, but we generally find that talking to your existing offline folks via email boosts their gift size and overall giving levels, so it makes it really worthwhile.

Tell-a-Friend: Use your existing house list to get new e-subscribers. Kind of mundane, but honestly, dedicated emails asking to tell-a-friend as part of your larger email series are astoundingly good at getting 2% or 3% more new subscribers at a time. Doesn't sound like much but if you follow this regiment over time,you'll find you are nicely augmenting your list. Also, the new subscribers usually perform well as donor prospects.

List Swap: Agree to share your email house list with a peer organization if they do the same for you. You send a "chaperoned" email to your list on their behalf. It works pretty well, and you can do it for very little investment.

Commercial Chaperoned or Email Newsletter Ads: The next level up is going to, for example, the New York Times and buying ad space in one of their e-newsletters. Note that you aren't advertising on their site, you are advertising within one of their enewsletters. Very different than site banner ads, and typically are more targeted and do better for acquisition. More complex, but can be cost-effective.

Question from Paul Tielens - Philantroo - Belgium:
    Could you explain more in practical actions your previous statement: "consider building your file first with registration features and viral marketing efforts"? Thank you.

Jeff Patrick:
    Sure - email house list building i.e. acquisition is a deep topic. See my previous post that outlines several ideas for list building: e-appends, dedicated Tell-a-friend emails to your house list, list swaps, and chaperoned emails or commercial media site enewsletter ads. All reasonably good ways to grow your email house list.

We also like PR. Yep, think about what you are doing each time you get a mention or you formally reach out to the press (and bloggers) around a particular story or topic. Drive folks to a dedicated landing page or site where there is a built-in registration mechanism. Don't hope that visitors will see your email newsletter signup and register there. Prompt them with a compelling offer that includes a short registration form (with an email optin checkbox) to get to the really juicy info. It works incredibly well, and it is the single least effectively used tactic we see today.

Question from Sharon, large nonprofit:
    How often do you solicit the online gifts? We have a quarterly newsletter that is mailed; in addition we have an e-newsletter that we've just begun. Do you mention in every other newsletter? Focus on year-end? What are your thoughts or suggestions?

Jeff Regen:
    It depends a lot on what your nonprofit does and what other online communications, it does. We've found a few things for us that might be relevant for you:

1) Dedicated fundraising emails perform MUCH better than tacking on fundraising requests to enewsletters;

2) 1/3 of our emails are dedicated fundraising emails, but average person on our list gets 1.5-2 emails/week. However, we work on a lot of topics to communicate on so we can send email more often than some groups. We also segment our list extensively so people receive emails most relevant to them;

3) Year-end fundraising is a big season for us. We schedule 2 EOY email appeals every year between Christmas and New Years. And/or, you may want to try an appeal or two earlier in Dec.

4) Mapping e-appeals to direct mail appeals so that they arrive at a similar time and e-appeal refers to direct mail piece can boost response to both.

However, I encourage you to test what works best for you

Question from Beth, Higher Ed & Non-Prof sectors:
    What are some stellar examples out there of user-driven content that you've seen thus far? (activism, activities, discussion boards, polls, sotry-telling?)and do you use Facebook at all as part of this?

Jeff Patrick:
    Good UGC campaigns: International Fund for Animal Welfare's Seal Hunt audio content -- they asked new visitors to register for their social networking based campaign site, and then provided a telephone number where visitors could leave a short 2-minute testimonial as to why they supported the campaign. They got a lot of responses and repurposed the audio content on their internal blog, out to the blogosphere, to reporters, to their own campaign site, etc. Really effective because you could 'hear' the emotion in their voice as they talked about the seal campaign. Really compelling.

Question from Doll Ann, Small Nonprofit:
    We are very new at asking for donations. How would we obtain donor lists? Should we ask family, friends or should we buy donor lists?

Jeff Patrick:
    Doll Ann - see my previous post re online e-subscriber acquisition. Lots of ways to do it, but in the end assume you will need to INVEST in the online fund-raising program. If you do it right you will have an ROI-positive program within a year or so (i.e. net revenue is positive). But you will need to invest. You can start small and work your way up, so the investment doesn't have to be huge, but it is real. As such, make sure you have your exec management team's and board's support. it will make all the difference in the long haul.

Question from Steve, SONA Partners:
    I am doing a study on social networking for mid-size non-profits and am hoping to create a random sample. Is there a site where I could view a list of all the mid-size non-profits across the country.

Jeff Patrick:
    Sure - Guidestar has assembled a database of all the nonprofits in the U.S. We use them to better understand the nonprofits and the sector.

Jeff Patrick:
    I wanted to loop back to a previous question re how quickly to solicit e-subscribers when they come on your list?

The answer in our world is pretty quickly. We like to cultivate for ~30 days and then ask. We tested 90 days, 60 days, 45 days and now 30 days, and we are seeing 2x higher conversion rates and very low opt-out rates at this point. It is critical that you groom the new e-subscribers during the 30 days - we actually have a program for our clients where we send 2 emails a week (yes, that was 2 a week) during the 4 week run-up to that first ask. Works outstandingly well, and orgs love it because the fundraising program ROI is tremendous.

Question from Peter Panepento -- Moderator:
    Any final words of advice for those who are looking to improve their online fund-raising efforts?

Jeff Patrick:
    Yes, it's about evolution not revolution. A good online fund raising program unfolds over time and is the result of lots of small, incremental improvement. Diligence and discipline wins out in the end. If you stick to it you will likely be successful.

Question from Peter Panepento -- Moderator:
    Any final words of advice for those who are looking to improve their online fund-raising efforts?

Betsey Fortlouis:
    Enagage, Cultivate, and Motivate or in laymen's terms: Build an integrated fundraising program that incorporates all communications mediums. You can build success every year through an integrated, multi-channel approach that drives people to your website. If you can engage a visitor and convert them to a registered user, you are likely to convert them to a donor (whether it’s through an online ask or a direct mail ask). Don't feel totally reliant on the power of outbound email solicitations -- maximize your web presence with online campaigns to take action, registration opportunities like "free" stickers or brochures, organic activity on social networks like MySpace, and 3rd party partnerships like Care2, and you will maximize the opportunity to engage and motivate folks to become Members.

Question from Peter Panepento:
    Any final words of advice for those who are looking to improve their online fund-raising efforts?

Jeff Regen:
    Hmmm...it all depends of course on the nonprofit and what they're trying to do. But here are a few good "best practices" which it generally pays to follow:

1) don't be shy about soliciting online

2) but don't ONLY solicit online--make sure that online solicitations are interspersed with other emails to inform and engage constituents

3) cross-channel integration will dramatically increase the value of your donors--eg, email, website, direct mail, telemarketing coordinated messaging

4) ask yourself before sending any email, "If I received this in my inbox, would I find it compelling?" Then ask yourself, "If my typical constituent "Sally" received this in her inbox, would she find it compelling"

5) more specific online solicitations tied to more specific projects or outcomes typically outperform more general solicitations

Peter Panepento (Moderator):
    Well, that does it for time. This has been a fantastic conversation. I would like to thank all of our guests -- Betsey Fortlouis, Jeff Patrick, and Jeff Regen -- for their time and expertise. I'd also like to thank all of you for your questions.

Peter Panepento (Moderator):
    We'll be back again next Tuesday at noon Eastern time for our next discussion. Our focus will be how to transition from a career in nonprofits to a career in business. You can find more information about upcoming discussion and links to transcripts of all of our previous chats at http://philanthropy.com/live

Betsey Fortlouis:
    Thanks all. Please feel free to email me at betseyf@aspca.org if you have further questions. Have a nice rest of the day!

Jeff Patrick:
    One last comment: the larger your efundraising/email marketing program gets, the greater your focus on segmentation and targeting. Frequent e-communication with your base is crucial to good stewardship. But you can't realistically send every email to every segement of your list. When your list hits 20K - 40K names start thinking about high level segmentation criteria - volunteers, event folks, donors, non-donors, etc. Then target publications to individual audiences. You can't do a lot because it gets expensive quickly to manage a whole bunch of segments and emails, but doing a few at the start will greatly enhance the effectiveness of your e-fundraising program.