Viral Fundraising - an Organic Phenomenon
It’s contagious. It’s bringing in new donors and extra funds. But it’s unpredictable and hard to control. It’s viral fundraising - when a story, e-mail, video, call to action or event catches fire online and is passed from person to person, creating a wave of response and giving. “It could be an e-mail. It could be a social network. It could be a video on YouTube. So when you use the term ‘it went viral,’ it merely means that people told their friends about it via word-of-mouth,” explains Madeline Stanionis, CEO of Watershed, a San Francisco-based online fundraising and advocacy company.
Read more: 5 Ways to Promote Viral Fundraising from Target Marketing magazine.
Is Email Dead?
from DMNews:
As social media grows, intelligent e-mail thrives
Over the past two years, the rapid adoption of social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace has transformed the way many consumers interact on the Web. Some customer segments, especially younger ones, now spend an increasingly large percentage of their online time on these sites and primarily use them to communicate with their peers. These same consumers, according to a recent report from JupiterResearch, are apparently spending less time in their e-mail inbox and may be paying less attention to the messages they receive there. This shift is causing some to question, perhaps prematurely, the future of e-mail as the dominant social networking tool…
Nearly one-quarter of e-mail users reported using social networking sites in this way. Fifty-three percent of respondents age 18 to 24 reported doing so, and 42% of those 25 to 34 also reported using social sites instead of e-mail for personal communications. The reason for doing so was consistent across segments: Too much irrelevant messaging in the e-mail inbox.
The Birth of Jewlicious
From the very beginning of our planning almost two years ago, the Jewlicious blog was highlighted in our business plan as one of the prime innovative projects emerging from a new generation of communal entrepreneurs. It would be much later before I would meet the man behind the project, ex-Montrealer and Shuk resident, David Abitbol, who would become both a friend and connector to many of the innovative programs popping up here in Israel.
This morning (it’s already Monday here in Jerusalem) and just in time to welcome in 5769, David (aka ck) is featured in the Jerusalem Post. May the publicity go to his head!
Back in the early days of the new millennium, the “cool Jew” movement was just warming up, thanks to ironic, self-deferential, post-traditional brands like Heeb magazine, JDub Records’s flagship recording artist Matisyahu, a big-screen release called The Hebrew Hammer and the Jewcy line of cheeky apparel. The elder generation decried the movement’s rejection of dogma, but mainstream pop culture was amplifying the buzz, and Jews in their early 20s were finding new tongue-in-cheek ways to express their cultural identity.
Smack in the middle of the generational gap was Montreal-based web designer David Abitbol.
I think we need to make David an honorary member of Cool People!
Getting the First Online Gift Faster
As nonprofits escalate their focus on the Internet for fundraising and base-building, there is, increasingly, a recognition that the online channel can be a constituent-friendly, cost-effective means of building relationships and raising money from individuals.
New online fundraising programs, however, bring new challenges:
- How to acquire new constituents?
- How to cultivate this virtual constituent community?
- How to produce fundraising revenue (quickly)?
- How to reduce the payback period for the program investment?
For nonprofits with growing online fundraising programs, there is a similar set of challenges:
- How to continue to grow the base?
- How to keep program costs in check?
- How to increase revenue?
- How to increase net proceeds (revenue less costs)?
Read more from the Nonprofit Technology Network.
Creating an Online Buzz
The proper use of viral marketing can help your message spread rapidly. Take your message online and there’s no telling how many potential supporters you will reach. According to Steve MacLaughlin, Interactive practice manager at Blackbaud in Charleston, S.C., the success of any viral marketing strategy is in the “pass it on” rate.
“Response rates increase dramatically when users can see that a message is coming from a friend, family member, or co-worker,” he said. “People must be encouraged to pass a message along-don’t rely on them to think of this themselves.
MacLaughlin shares with us 10 tips for creating an online buzz:
- Provide for effortless transfer to others — keep the message simple and easy to share Read more
Bookmark:
Foundations Urged to Make Use of New Media
A report produced for the Communications Network urges foundations to make more use of Web 2.0 technologies in order to more effectively engage the public in their work and to have greater programmatic impact.
According to the authors of Come on in. The water’s fine. An exploration of Web 2.0 technology and its emerging impact on foundation communications, foundations that have adopted new and still emerging forms of digital communications—interactive Web sites, blogs, wikis, and social networking applications—are finding that they offer “opportunities for focused convenings and conversations, lend themselves to interactions with and among grantees, and are an effective story-telling medium.” The report’s authors, David Brotherton and Cynthia Scheiderer, of Brotherton Strategies, who spent nearly a year exploring how foundations are using new media, add that “electronic communications create an opportunity to connect people who are interested in an issue with each other and the grantees working on the issue.”
The report also acknowledges that the new technologies raise skepticism and concern among foundations. They include the “worry of losing control over the foundation’s message, allowing more staff members to represent the foundation in a more public way, opening the flood gates of grant requests or the headache of a forum gone bad with unwanted or inappropriate posts.”
Still, the report urges foundations to put aside their worries and make even more forceful use of new media applications and tools. The report argues that whatever is “lost in message control will be more than made up for by the opportunity to engage audiences in new ways, with greater programmatic impact.”
Something for us all to keep in mind; not just foundations.
How “Ambient Awareness” Can Strengthen Your Community
“Why should we do things online when we all live in the same place, and meet up at the synagogue (or JCC or havurah or Hillel, etc.) in person? Online can never replace the face-to-face experience!”
I hear this often, and spend a lot of my time explaining that an online experience is a complement, not a replacement, to face-to-face experiences. In our rapidly evolving world, two things are happening simultaneously which I believe are critical for the Jewish communal world to understand.
- The reality is, Jews are using these online tools to shape an increasing amount of their day-to-day experiences. If the Jewish community does not offer the same convenience for initial and ongoing engagement that our members take for granted in other aspects of their lives, they may never walk through our doors to experience the power, importance, and value of the face-to-face experience our community can offer. We simply cannot afford to not be in the game. Furthermore, we need to learn how to use these tools as effective gateways - one of many points of access - for engaging and connecting people in a community. Read more
Bookmark:
Tachl!s 2 Point Oh! - Went pretty well…
Last Wednesday we hosted Tachl!s 2 Point Oh! - a seminar on how to make the most use out of user generated Web content for your business, blog or non-profit. I was pleased with the turnout - 85 people despite the off the beaten path venue - which everyone seemed to enjoy. This was a very Tachlis oriented exercise. There was no discussion of politics at all - just a basic rundown of how to use Web 2.0 tools more effectively. I liked the fact that the participants were extremely diverse, pretty much representing all ideological and religious orientations. So why did I do it? Well, the folks I worked with I am certain had their own reasons. As for me, what interests me most about the Internet is how it facilitates conversation. To whatever extent this evening helped passionate people get their voices heard more effectively, to whatever extent the conversation has been improved, then that is the extent to which this evening was successful. I noted during my presentation that it’s a bad idea to run a program and be a presenter. This is probably true. I didn’t get to hobnob with as many people as I wanted to but still, it was awesome. A high tech conference in a 3000 year old city. That’s poetry man!
I wanted to thank Sasha for taking the video which will be posted soon. I wanted to thank Shani who saved our ass by doing registration. I also wanted to thank all our sponsors - Sun MicroSystems and Benjamin Pashkoff who knows a scary amount of tech stuff, Taglit Birthright Israel and the Schusterman Foundation’s The Center For Leadership Initiatives. I wanted to thank all the ROIers and Birthright Israel Alumni who showed up as well as everyone else who attended. Of course there were our partners as well, Jewlicious, I Thank Thee, Presentense and Web Ads and our Media partners who helped get the word out - Jerusalemite, Jerusalem Blueprint, eJewishPhilanthropy (Dan showed up with his wife even though they were both jet lagged - kudos!), The Jerusalem Post and Reader Impact Email.
Finally, special thanks to Ricky Ben-David, Benjamin Pashkoff, Aharon Horwitz and Ahuvah Berger who made it all look so easy and Akiva Fuld, without whom none of this would have happened.
The question now is, what’s next? The answer? I have no clue. We’ll see which way the wind blows and what people want us to do. I aim only to please.
cross-posted to Jewlicious
Brand Sharing 2.0
Since Web 2.0 created an entirely new way of communicating and getting information, organizations have been scrambling to figure out how to use the new tools to build their brands and find more people online who want to join them. Some organizations have been jumping into the pool with an attitude that a quick plunge is invigorating and can be a great experience, while others, especially Jewish organizations, have stayed poolside waiting for someone to tell them the water is fine.
Now even an organization with a tired, lackluster or little known brand can take advantage of the low cost of entry to the Web 2.0 marketing world and build brand awareness if it is willing to play by Web 2.0 rules. That means giving up a little control over their “sacred” organizational identities and allowing their strongest supporters to use these organizational brands as an extension of their own personal online branding efforts. It means trying out some new approaches that may not immediately deliver big dollars but can start to build a much bigger list of friends who might give you their philanthropic support later on.
Out of Chaos Arises, More Chaos?
That is one of the possibilities of any new development in human interaction, such as the constantly increasing use of the Internet.
In his book “Digital Giving“, Richard C. McPherson assures readers that online fundraising is not just a new way of pulling in money. It is creating its own world in previously unimagined ways.
Further, it has created three “whopping” trends:
- The democratization of media. As increasing numbers of people get their news from online sources rather than print or even television. This means that people, and not editors, are deciding what constitutes news and thus are deciding what issues and organizations will receive attention.
- The democratizing of philanthropy. Donors are taking over from fundraisers. People who contribute money expect a say in exactly how their money is used. At its best this democratization will be responsive, enjoy broad participation and be rooted in the best values of the community. At worst it will be chaotic, polarizing and subject to manipulation.
- The relentless demand for convenience. For many people, giving money is not convenient. This concept is nothing new, but new technology is making donation more of a two-way interaction than ever. We live in a multitasking world; the tools must be easy to use.
You can read more from Digital Giving in our post The Rise of Social Media.
