April 28, 2009
Online Networks Produce Little Revenue for Charities, Study Finds
By Paula Wasley
Nonprofit groups have embraced social networks like Facebook and Twitter to reach out to supporters, but few groups have attracted more than a few thousand supporters to their networks or raised much money, according to a survey of 980 nonprofit officials about their organizations’ use of online social networks.
The survey, sponsored by the Nonprofit Technology Network, Common Knowledge, a San Francisco online fund-raising and marketing consulting agency, and ThePort a social-media software company in Atlanta, found that nearly three-quarters of nonprofit groups maintained a presence on Facebook, by far the most popular commercial social network.
About 39.9 percent of the officials said their charities had used Facebook for fund raising, but 29.1 percent had raised $500 or less using the social network over the past 12 months. And only 1.2 percent had received $10,000 or more through Facebook. Revenue received through advertising and underwriting on social networks was “not present in any meaningful way,” the report concluded.
YouTube and Twitter were the next most common social networks after Facebook, with 46.5 percent and 43.2 percent of nonprofit groups, respectively, using those sites, followed by 32.9 percent that use LinkedIn and 26.1 percent that use MySpace.
Just under one-third of nonprofit groups had built their own in-house social networks to bring online supporters together to discuss a specific cause or issue.
On Facebook, 97 percent of organizations had attracted 10,000 members or fewer, and an average of 1,369 members. Among those organizations that built their own networks nearly three-quarters had 2,500 or fewer registered members.
The resources nonprofit groups have dedicated to social networking are “small but real,” says the report, and likely to grow. Four out of five participants reported that their organizations had dedicated at least one-quarter of a full-time staff member’s hours to social networking. And more than half said they planned to increase staffing for social-networking projects over the next year.
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I have believed for a long time that the rush to embrace social networking as a panacea for nonprofit causes was going to end up as the next big dot com bust. Yes, many people have social networking pages or “tweet” their friends, but mostly they are just goofing off on the Internet and not looking to really engage in supporting worthy causes if it involves any more effort than signing an online petition or changing their Facebook status. Social networking may be effective in helping to get attention for your issue but attention does not necessarily translate into action. Everyone is talking about the great success the Obama campagin had with social networking. But I think that phenomenon has to be placed into proper context of a very unpopular president who supported a very unpopular war, which just happen to have coincided with the meltdown of our economy and financial system. Sans a major catastrophe, I don’t believe same “perfect storm” will ever evolve for any single nonprofit cause or organization.
— D L Peters Apr 30, 06:09 PM #
I think it’s too early to make a call on this. If one looks at the demographics for who uses Facebook, MySpace and other social networking sites, it is primarily the under 30 crowd. That group is not your traditional donor yet. Until the babyboomers embrace social networks and embrace on-line giving in general, the verdict is still out. Many baby boomers still like the physical act of hand-writing a contribution, however, they are also starting to modify their behavior by moving to on-line banking and social networking. I still don’t think philanthropy based social network sites like Razoo and Ammado will ever take off.
— N. E. Smith May 1, 10:23 AM #
If a marketing strategy just includes one tool it is destined to fail. The same holds true for a social media marketing strategy.
Many different networks need to be incorporated and to be remembered, you need to be seen many times. The more someone sees your mission and is reminded of you, the more apt they are to donate, be it a dollar or thousands. They may have first been initially exposed to you on one network, but later see you on another and donate there. Or you followed them on twitter and they later saw you on causecast and donated. This is why it is important to be on many networks. It also may take just one gained supporter to make this effort worthwhile.
The social media marketing can be very difficult to track. Personally, I am in so many different areas of the internet I may not remember where I first saw you or joined your cause and if I guessed I would probably be wrong. So unless every network link goes to a different landing page, it’s very difficult to track.
Below are a few resources to incorporate with your social marketing strategy. Some will allow you to take donations and network, others post events, others are simply informative. You may also encourage supporters to join various networks and add you as their favorite cause which will get you additional exposure.
http://www.causecast.org
http://www.yourcause.com
http://www.causecast.org
http://www.changemakers.net
http://www.care2.com
http://www.think.mtv.com
http://www.good.is
http://www.thepoint.com
http://www.berewarding.com
http://www.bloggersunite.org
http://www.socialvibe.com
http://www.philanthropy.com
http://www.idealist.org
http://www.idealistnews.com
Sites that are a must:
Try to use the same memorable user name on all.
Most, if not all will allow you to upload your address book and find your supporters on these networks. Add them, ask them to tell their friends, retweet you, etc.
http://www.facebook.com
http://www.myspace.com
http://www.youtube.com
http://www.twitter.com
You may also want to set up an account where your donors can find you on all different networks. The one I like is http://www.retaggr.com
You can see what it looks like when you’re set up http://www.retaggr.com/page/brokersforcharity You can also cut and paste an “add me” button that sends supporters to this page on various networks that accept code in the body of your profile. You can also add http://www.clicktoadd.me/brokersforcharity to all of your staff’s signatures.
It can be time consuming, but it is important that you incorporate patience and many different networks to be successful.
— Janae Jaynes-Learned May 1, 01:40 PM #
Non-profit groups can also use networks that are specifically designed for online fundraising to attract supporters. An example of a network like that is www.pifworld.com. Pifworld is a virtual world where you can search for a development project that fits your ideals. On the website you can easily donate in small credits, but you can also decide to take it a step further and start your own fundraising activities for the project of your choice. You can invite your friends to support you and form a community around your favourite project. Through blogs and video-updates you will se the developments. This way, supporting a good cause becomes fun and transparent. You will feel personally involved with the project of your choice.
— Claartje May 4, 03:56 AM #
While many non-profits have embraced social media for community building and fundraising, they often assume that just showing up is sufficient. Social sites can be an important part of a fundraising strategy but they are not magic.
Online and offline donors contribute mainly because they know you and want to support you, because your cause resonates with them, because they’re awed by your dedication or the rigor of your fundraising effort.
Successful online fundraising can happen through Facebook, but only for those who make the effort to make their cause personal and tell their stories, those who put their own time, effort or money into it, and those who really use the social functions of the site to reach out to their friends on an emotional level.
— David Karp, Firstgiving.com May 4, 09:22 AM #