The nonprofit world is abuzz with the idea of raising money and reaching new donors through new online strategies. “Crowdfunding” is one of the most talked about strategies – raising financing in small amounts from a large group of people using the Internet – but how can it work for senior service agencies? Come to this interactive training session to learn what tools are available, how to reach your target market, minimize impact on your staff, encourage passionate non-staff to take the mantle to help your organization, create a strategy, and how to set realistic expectations. Learn what it takes to launch an effective crowdfunding campaign and get a roadmap for doing so.
Kerry Rego gave this presentation to The California Wellness Foundation Conference on April 16, 2013. Book Kerry for your event http://kerryregoconsulting.com/speaking/
Crowdfunding: How to Harness Social Media Tools for Your Agency Fundraising
1. Crowdfunding:
How to Harness
Social Media Tools for
Your Agency Fundraising
Kerry Rego
California Wellness Conference
4/16/13
2. Wouldn’t exist
without
crowdfunding.
125,000
donors
Avg.
donation$1 or
less
3. What is Crowdfunding?
A collective effort of individuals who
network and pool their money,
usually via the internet, to support
efforts initiated by other people or
organizations.
Wikipedia
$$
4.
5. What to Expect
ARE: ARE NOT:
• Campaign based • Solution for all
on page revenue woes
• Accepts money • Easy, requiring no
through credit effort
card processor
• Individual
component
• Best for specific
projects or
campaigns
7. Where Do You Start?
• Goal
• Create a compelling story
• Pick platform
• Start with your network
• Market your efforts
• Communicate progress
• Create meaningful rewards
8. Assets
• Email Lists
• Social Networks
• Staff/Volunteers
9. Market Research or 5 W’s
• WHO is the audience?
• WHAT is their preference?
• WHEN do they want to hear?
• WHERE are they?
• WHY are you there?
* I like Pew Internet Research, Mashable, Comscore, and Hubspot as resources.
10. DON’Ts
• Set unrealistic expectations
• Think if you “build it they will come”
• Forget to market
• Discount small donations
11. Things to Consider
• Sites look and feel
• Ease of use
• Payment processing
• Fees
• Marketing & social
networking capabilities
You have grand ideas for talking about your business or message but you have to remember to listen. Social media is a conversation. If you don’t listen and talk back to people, they won’t care what you have to say. Learn to check your messages on each of the channels you use. Many of them can be set up so that you receive an email or text when someone is communicating with you. In fact, a few do this automatically and you have to turn it off. You MUST talk back or you are wasting your time. Social media is your customer’s (at least most businesses) preferred way of communication. Ignore at your own peril.
You have grand ideas for talking about your business or message but you have to remember to listen. Social media is a conversation. If you don’t listen and talk back to people, they won’t care what you have to say. Learn to check your messages on each of the channels you use. Many of them can be set up so that you receive an email or text when someone is communicating with you. In fact, a few do this automatically and you have to turn it off. You MUST talk back or you are wasting your time. Social media is your customer’s (at least most businesses) preferred way of communication. Ignore at your own peril.
Reputation Management is managing your perceived online reputation. What do people learn about you when they search for your name or business name? These are ways that you can make sure what is online about you is positive and/or true. You can’t truly delete anything that’s online but what you can do it bury it with good stuff. Most people don’t go beyond the first page so that first page is what you want to be good.Perform a vanity search. This is searching for your own name. Most call this “Googling yourself”. Google isn’t the only search engine. There’s AOL, Yahoo, Blekko and more. What do you find?If you can purchase your domain name from GoDaddy or some other host, buy it. http://www.yourname.com or http://www.yourbusinessname.com , They are inexpensive and are your digital real estate.Setup a monitoring tool such as Google Alerts. It’s free and once you’ve performed a vanity search, you can have Google continue to do it for you on a daily or as needed basis. It simply looks for the terms or words you setup and emails you when something new is found.Google is the dominant search engine with 65% of the market share so having your physical location and corresponding information correct with Google is extremely important. Enter into Google “google places” and it will allow you to set up a basic listing (like a phone book) for your physical business. This is important because many many services pull from Google’s database when someone searches for you. It also has a map and driving directions for the person that is searching. This information always shows up on the first page of Google.Setup a LinkedIn profile. It’s one of the most trusted sources of information on a person. It’s a resume and acts just that way. This shows up in position 3-4 on the first page of Google. This is by and large the most common tool used in professional settings. Sometimes it’s the only one used to research a person.Using all social media is in your best interest to control your message and image. Google highly ranks all social media and if you are using them regularly, you will completely control the message about you and your brand. Other than purchasing your domain name, everything here is free.The link is for more information about Reputation Management on my blog.