2. 2
Building the Olmsted Brand
The Olmsted Foundation has cultivated a rich resource of culturally and linguistically equipped military
leaders. In order to fully leverage this resource, attract the best new applicants, and knit together a
powerful alumni network, the foundation must take full advantage of and pivot with emerging social
media trends. The Intelligence Community LLC (TIC), a veteran owned small business, operates a virtual,
social network of national security professionals with over 45,000 active members growing at over 1,000
new members a month. TIC regularly provides consulting services to the Intelligence Community, the US
Government and private companies on optimizing social media to reach the national security market.
TIC is positioned well to offer the very best brand management for the Olmsted Foundation in social
media.
This proposal is for one full time employee from TIC to work as a dedicated social media strategist and
content manager for the Olmsted Foundation, planning and implementing outreach strategies that will
reinforce the Olmsted brand, drive new interest and connect the alumni network. The proposal also
offers a suite of services only available through the TIC network.
The impact of social media is huge for most industries, thus, taking advantage of this digital version of
word-of-mouth marketing is a critical factor for success.
This proposal lays out a strategy for identifying the specific needs of the Olmsted Foundation for
branding, outreach, and content management. It will take you through a broad spectrum of marketing
techniques, beginning with an overview of nonprofit marketing as a whole, and then we will lay bare the
online landscape, including how to leverage the Internet and the Web 2.0 platforms, techniques for
utilizing newsletters, and PR for maximizing your media outreach. These are the CSFs (Critical Success
Factors) required to tell your story, promote the Scholar Program, increase the prestige of the Olmsted
Foundation, and strengthen the Olmsted Scholar community network, with the ultimate goal in mind of
solidifying the Olmsted brand in the social media space and beyond.
We emphasize from experience the importance of social media storytelling in constructing an overall
communications strategy and fundraising plan that includes both traditional tactics and tools, to drive
success.
3. 3
Table of Contents
Marketing & Strategic Communications...................................................................................................6
Marketing............................................................................................................................................7
Establish the Competitive Advantage...............................................................................................7
Analyze the Situation.......................................................................................................................8
Establish the Marketing Goals..........................................................................................................8
Determine your Audiences ..............................................................................................................9
Determine the Strategies.................................................................................................................9
Brainstorm Tactics .........................................................................................................................10
Establish and Prioritize the Budget.................................................................................................13
Social Media: Using Web 2.0 Tools to Tell the Olmsted Story.............................................................14
Storytelling Must Be Linked to the Overall Communication Strategy..............................................14
Storytelling 2.0: The New Genre of Web Content Creation.............................................................15
Ladder of Engagement: Passive to Active Co creation ....................................................................16
How to Get Your Groove On(line) ..................................................................................................17
Blogging: the Pen is Mightier than the Sword.................................................................................17
Social Media Profiles......................................................................................................................19
Getting Others to Tell Your Story ...................................................................................................22
Newsletter.........................................................................................................................................22
Sponsorships & Events.......................................................................................................................23
Using Social Networks to Promote Events......................................................................................23
Public Relations: Getting Ink for your Cause.......................................................................................23
Eight PR Principles .........................................................................................................................24
Multi-Faceted Press Release ..........................................................................................................25
Pitching Publications......................................................................................................................25
Establish the Metrics .........................................................................................................................26
Online Fundraising ................................................................................................................................27
Why Online Fundraising Matters .......................................................................................................27
Essentials of Online Giving and Brand Awareness ..............................................................................28
In Focus: Messaging, Website Fundraising, and Email........................................................................29
Messaging .....................................................................................................................................29
Website Fundraising..........................................................................................................................30
4. 4
Make Your Contribute Button Shine...............................................................................................30
Tell a Story to Entice Giving............................................................................................................30
Above All Else - Make It Easy and Quick .........................................................................................31
Email .............................................................................................................................................32
Online Peer-to-Peer Fundraising........................................................................................................33
1. Establish Your Online Presence ..............................................................................................33
2. Create an Organizational Cause and Fan Bases.......................................................................34
3. Leverage Personal Social Networks ........................................................................................34
Raising Money: Online or In-Person, the Same Rules Apply............................................................35
The Seven Golden Rules of Email Solicitation.................................................................................35
Converting Donors into Fundraisers...................................................................................................36
Friend Raising Online.........................................................................................................................36
Cause-Related Marketing...................................................................................................................36
Nonprofit Technology & IT.....................................................................................................................37
Build a Strong Foundation .................................................................................................................38
Computers.....................................................................................................................................38
Other Hardware.............................................................................................................................38
Security .........................................................................................................................................38
Software........................................................................................................................................38
Technology Plan ................................................................................................................................39
Long-Term Thinking...........................................................................................................................39
Short-Term Action: Annual Technology Plans.....................................................................................39
Return on Investment (ROI) Before and After ....................................................................................39
Web Design.......................................................................................................................................40
Setting and Measuring Goals .............................................................................................................40
Identifying the Stakeholders..............................................................................................................41
Conceptualizing Your Website ...........................................................................................................41
Web Content Management System ...................................................................................................43
Constituent Relationship Management..............................................................................................44
What Are the Benefits of CRM? .....................................................................................................44
Keep it Functional..............................................................................................................................44
Online Community Building...................................................................................................................44
5. 5
Locating Your Community Online.......................................................................................................44
The Branding Process ............................................................................................................................45
Phase I: Information Gathering and Initial Strategy Development......................................................45
What we want to learn during this first phase of the project is: .....................................................45
External Perception .......................................................................................................................45
Self Analysis...................................................................................................................................46
Brand Identification Recommendations Include the Following:......................................................46
Phase II: Recrafting the Olmsted Foundation Message for a New Medium.........................................47
Message Recommendations ..........................................................................................................47
Brand Activation............................................................................................................................48
Phase III: Implementation of Strategy................................................................................................48
Phase IV: Evaluation of Performance .................................................................................................48
Time & Cost...........................................................................................................................................49
Phase I: Information Gathering and Initial Strategy Development......................................................49
Phase II: Recrafting the Olmsted Foundation Message for a New Medium.........................................49
Phase III: Implementation of Strategy................................................................................................49
Phase IV: Evaluation of Performance .................................................................................................49
Total..................................................................................................................................................49
Travel Expenses.................................................................................................................................49
BIOs ......................................................................................................................................................50
About Federico Schiavio ....................................................................................................................50
About Graham Plaster .......................................................................................................................50
Cover Page Photo Credit........................................................................................................................50
6. 6
Marketing & Strategic Communications
Strategy and timing are the Himalayas of social media marketing. Everything else is just the Catskills.
First, know that marketing is both an art, and a science. William Shakespeare, who invented 10% of the
words he wrote, including the words, “excitement”, “lonely”, and “champion”, was the first to coin the
term “advertising”. Marketing has its origins here. We can create formulae for how to attract eyes, but
the root of what we do is still very creative.
Modern technology has greatly influenced how we communicate with our audiences. There is a new
bottom-up paradigm on viewers pulling information rather than advertisers pushing it, and an increased
emphasis on the abundance of free tools and resources. In this era of Facebook and Twitter, people are
used to getting information from all sides, all the time. For the Olmsted Foundation, this means that
there is an opportunity to have more touch points with their potential applicants and alumni. Social
media can be used to keep Olmsted top-of-mind, and to develop a better sense of their audience over
time – what we call “progressive profiling”.
This newfound, two-way relationship makes it possible to grow your staff a hundredfold, if not more
through viral marketing. Your biggest supporters can now easily get involved with helping to spread the
word about your fundraising campaigns, new programs, volunteer requirements, impact, and needs.
Success in this new environment is a factor of how actively you chose to keep in touch with people and
to what extent you embrace an open, transparent culture.
Today, everybody matters, since everyone is in a position to help or hurt your efforts. Consider Laura
Stockman, who started a blog called “25 Days to Make a Difference”, which highlighted various
nonprofits and causes she wanted to promote. She had over 25,000 readers from around the world and
received major media attention within a few days- So what? Well, she was only 10 years old at the time.
Everyone counts; everyone matters in today’s information economy.
It is essential to engage people continuously in your mission: recruit new volunteers, appeal to new
donors, sell tickets to events – and of course invite new program participants. However, it takes
dedicated resources to tell your organization’s story and ask for involvement. That is the essence of
marketing in the nonprofit sector. If people do not understand you – how your organization is different
and why you are important – they have no reason to support your work.
The Olmsted Foundation exists to solve a particular problem. You give the philanthropist an outlet for
their desire to do good in the world. You give the military leader an opportunity to develop critical skills.
Marketing is a process of listening to needs and offering solutions. It begins with listening (really
listening) to your clients, donors, customers, and volunteers, and then responding.
7. 7
Marketing
To market Olmsted effectively we will need to establish the competitive advantage. Then we will
construct the marketing plan, in which we will:
• Analyze the situation
• Establish the marketing goals
• Determine the audiences
• Identify the strategies
• Brainstorm tactics
• Establish and prioritize the budget
• Establish metrics for success
Establish the Competitive Advantage
Olmsted must become the go-to organization by providing something its public (military, national
security, business, and government arenas) values, and that no one else is providing. Establishing this
competitive advantage means talking about your organization in a way in which no one else is talking
about his or hers.
The big difference between a nonprofit marketing message and that of a for profit company is that the
benefits are different; in the case of the nonprofit, you are not selling products and services, you are
selling social impact. Marketing may be the one activity in which stereotypes are not only valid, but also
valuable. Identifying the type of person(s) most likely to care about your organization is the fastest way
to understanding how to reach your audience. You absolutely must speak “their” language if you want
them to hear you. So who is most likely to care about Olmsted?
1. Make a list of the impacts your mission has on the nation and the world, making it as personal as
possible.
2. List all other organizations of which you are aware that aim for similar impact in similar arenas.
3. Now describe the supporters who currently care about your mission. These are your “birds in
hand”. You will be most efficient if you aim to appeal to more people like them, rather than
scouting new kinds of supporters.
4. Make a list of why you think these people choose to support you. What do they believe about
your organization that makes them give?
5. Now list what these supporters value about you that the competing organizations from #2
either do not or cannot offer.
8. 8
Analyze the Situation
Before moving forward with the marketing plan we must assess where Olmsted is now.
1. Review past marketing plans. Also, review fundraising plans, which are usually linked to
marketing.
2. Review Olmsted’s strategic plan, if there is one. Even if there is not a formal strategic plan, you
are operating from a set of value-driven priorities; list and evaluate those.
3. Interview other leaders in the organization, including board members, to understand their
perspectives and priorities.
4. Audit the current marketing materials including the website. Ask yourself:
• Are you consistent in what you are saying?
• Are you telling stories or just repeating facts?
• Do you talk about how you do your work, or are you focused on promoting why you do
what you do? (In marketing the why is infinitely more important than the how.)
• Do your pictures tell a story? If so, what do they say about your organization? Do they
convey your most powerful messages?
• Is design consistent from piece to piece? If a donor picked up a brochure, could they
easily identify that it came from your organization, even without seeing your name?
5. Research how past marketing efforts have fared. What did and did not receive a response?
6. Look at what your competitors are doing and saying. Ask yourself what makes you different.
7. Consider what other factors are at play in your community and nationally that could affect how
people perceive you.
Establish the Marketing Goals
Why does Olmstead need to invest in marketing? What changes are you trying to bring about?
For example:
1. Revenue: Do your marketing efforts focus on raising money for the organization? Exactly how
much do you need to raise, by when, and exactly what for?
2. Volunteers: Are you asking people to commit time to your cause? How many people do you
need, and where do you need them? For how long of a time commitment?
3. Branding: What is your foundation’s story? What is your message? Do you know what makes
you unique? How do you want to be known?
• What is the current brand (reputation) of your organization?
• Where is that brand strong and where is it weak?
• Who are your most important audiences?
• How do these audiences need to perceive your brand in order to support it?
• How can you state the brand succinctly?
• What words, phrases, and key messages must you use to bring your brand to life?
• What marketing and fundraising tools must you create to disseminate these messages
so you can bring the brand to life?
9. 9
Determine your Audiences
Everyone should care about your cause, but not everyone will. It is just a fact of life. The job is to identify
the people you think are most likely to take action and target the message to them.
1. Who are the people likeliest to care about your cause?
2. Who are the people with the greatest means or inclinations to take action?
3. What are the common characteristics of many of the people in your audience? (There are
always exceptions, but with any group of people, there are also some common characteristics.)
4. How would you characterize each audience in terms of age, income, giving level, and
geography?
Determine the Strategies
Now that we know whom you are trying to reach and what the goals are, we can determine the high-
level strategies for engaging each audience and urging it to take action where we want it.
1. Encourage new major gifts through one-on-one meetings with existing donors.
2. Engage other groups to make your organization the beneficiary of their fundraising.
3. Present Olmsted as the expert organization capable of forging young military leaders into
responsible senior leaders in the military, government, and business.
4. Connect with high-ranking individuals in the Military Services, National Security, Government,
and Business arena and add them to the contacts database.
5. Connect with Universities, both foreign and domestic and add them to the contacts database.
10. 10
Brainstorm Tactics
Tactics are the steps we take to reach people. They include everything from a printed T-shirt, to an
engaging website, to a social media tool like Facebook, to a sign outside your offices.
There are thousands of tactics for engaging your audiences. Which tactics you use should be based on
the goals, strategies, and the audiences we will identify.
Looking at our strategies, we might decide to pursue the following tactics (there could be several
others).
1. Strategy: Encourage new major gifts through one-on-one meetings with existing donors.
• Tactic 1: Pull names of existing major donors and make personal phone calls to each
• Tactic 2: Schedule one-hour meetings with each prospect
• Tactic 3: Create printed leave-behind material
• Tactic 4: Follow up with interested prospects and donors within two weeks.
2. Strategy: Engage other organizations to make the Olmsted Scholar Program the beneficiary of
their fundraising.
• Tactic 1: Identify the organizations
• Tactic 2: Create a brochure that explains the benefits of supporting the Olmsted
Scholarship Program
• Tactic 3: Mail an introductory letter and brochure about the Olmsted Scholar Program
to each organization
• Tactic 4: Schedule and make follow-up phone calls
• Tactic 5: Create introductory packet for organizations who agree to raise money for the
Olmsted Scholar Program
• Tactic 6: Create fundraising templates for the organizations who agree to appeal for
money on your behalf
• Tactic 7: Follow up with all partners monthly
3. Strategy: Present Olmsted as the expert organization capable of forging young military leaders
into responsible senior leaders in the military, government, and business.
• Tactic 1:Use press release distribution sites such as MarketWire and PRWeb to publish
press releases on the Web
• Tactic 2: Contact editors and writers and share with them a subject that would be of
interest to the publication’s readership
4. Strategy: Connect with high-ranking individuals in the Military Services and National Security
arena and add them to the contacts database.
• Tactic 1: Scout Military, Defense, Business, and Security websites to identify contacts
• Tactic 2: Leverage your existing contacts to make introductions or connect directly via
contact information on website
• Tactic 3: Leverage LinkedIn to facilitate connections
11. 11
5. Strategy: Connect with Universities, both foreign and domestic and add them to the contacts
database.
• Tactic 1: Scout University websites to identify contacts
• Tactic 2: Leverage your existing contacts to make introductions or connect directly via
contact information on website
• Tactic 3: Leverage LinkedIn to facilitate connections
Abbreviated list of tactics
Direct Marketing
• Direct mail
• Telemarketing
• Email marketing
Online
• Blogs
• Search (organic and paid)
• Online banner advertising
• Social networking
• Websites
• Widgets
• Video
Public Relations
• Newspaper
• TV news
• Speakers bureau
• Chamber of Commerce
• Events and sponsorship
• Internal newsletters
Audio/Visual
• TV Public Service Announcements
• Radio PSAs
• Movie or TV product placement
• Podcasts
Experiential
• Cause-related marketing
• Festivals or fairs
• Events
• Galas
• Symposia
12. 12
Print
• Annual reports
• Cases for support
• Brochures
• Flyers
• Postcards
External
• Posters
• Transit advertising
• Coffee cup holders
• Street pole banners
Mobile Devices
• Text messaging
• Game ads
Place-Based Signage
• In-store point-of-purchase displays or collection boxes
• Coasters in bars and clubs
• Garbage barrels on beaches
• Book covers at schools
• Water bottle at health clubs
• Pencils at bowling alleys and golf courses
One of the cheapest and easiest ways to get free advertising is to apply for a Google Grant
(www.google.com/grants). When Olmsted receives a grant from Google, they receive up to $10,000 per
month in in-kind “AdWords” advertising, so people see your link when they search Google. It is an easy
way for Olmsted to get more exposure for their cause.
13. 13
Establish and Prioritize the Budget
Once we create the list of tactics, we need to establish the overall marketing budget and then divvy up
the tactics budget for each strategy. At this point, we will need to prioritize tactics using a cost-benefit
ratio. Essentially, we will pursue tactics that cost the least to implement while providing the greatest
benefit – and by cost, we do not just look at out-of-pocket expenses. We factor in our time, as well as
that of your staff and volunteers. How much work and money will it cost to get the impact you want?
Then ask could we get the same impact with fewer headaches? To reach these answers we need to
conduct a simple cost/benefit analysis, based on gut sense of costs, labor, and expected benefits:
1. List the tactics.
2. Rate each tactic on cost, using a scale from 1 to 5 (1 = least expensive).
3. Rate each tactic on labor (1 = least amount of work).
4. Rate each tactic on anticipated benefit (1 = least impact).
5. Add cost to labor and divide by benefit, and rank the results from lowest total to highest.
Table 1: Sample Cost/Benefit Analysis
Tactics Cost Labor Benefit (Cost + Labor)/
Benefit
Monthly
Newsletter
3 3 3 2
Facebook
Page
1 3 3 1.3
iPhone app 5 5 2 5
Speakers
Bureau
2 3 4 1.25
Google AdWords 1 3 4 1
Sponsorships 5 5 5 2
The lowest number represents the least cost for the greatest benefit. We will start there.
14. 14
Social Media: Using Web 2.0 Tools to Tell the Olmsted Story
Storytelling is not a solitary, one-way endeavor. The best stories are participatory, ongoing threads, and
the most useful ones are not created by the organization itself. This is particularly true of the stories that
emerge through “social media”, web platforms that rely on user-generated content, i.e. Facebook,
Twitter, YouTube, and so forth. Storytelling 2.0 uses social media tools to convey how the Olmsted
Scholar Program has made a difference to the nation and the world. Storytelling 2.0 is a new genre of
web content – a fusion of content created both by Olmsted and by engaged stakeholders, either in its
raw conversational form, or as adapted by the organization. The real question is; how do you get your
community to tell your story for you, thereby generating even better results than you could have on
your own?
We know that people are more likely to become interested in your organization’s work and donate or
volunteer if you can engage them. Moreover, telling stories is the most effective way of engaging
people, versus dry statistics or institutional jargon. Storytelling helps build momentum and energizes
your network. Using social media to relay your story helps you accelerate the process of connecting with
like-minded, passionate people who want to help you. This is the heart and soul of an authentic social
media strategy that will have winning results.
Storytelling Must Be Linked to the Overall Communication Strategy
Channels include the website, an email newsletter, search engine marketing, print newsletters, flyers,
signs, posters, traditional advertising and so on. In addition, the strategy will base itself on audience
research, such as surveys and focus groups, and should absolutely include the use of social media
listening techniques. These techniques involve knowing what people are saying online about your
organization, field, or issue area. Listening uses monitoring and tracking tools to identify conversations
that are taking place on the social web. It is a prelude to engaging with your audience. Listening is not
simply scanning a river of noise. The process involves sifting through online conversations, from social
networks to blogs - many voices talking in many places. The value of listening comes from making sense
of the data and using it to inform your social media strategy. This involves composing and refining
keywords, pattern analysis, and synthesis of findings. There is also a fourth skill: Effectively engaging.
Listening is not just quietly observing, sooner or later you need to join the conversation. Working out
when and how to respond is an important part of the workflow.
The key search criteria are:
• Foundation name
• Other foundations in your space
• Program, services, and event names
• CEO or well-known personalities associated with Olmsted
• Other foundations with similar program names
• Your brand or tagline
• URLs for your blog, website, online community
• Industry terms or other phrases
15. 15
As we begin to listen on a regular basis, we will keep a spreadsheet of phrases or words that people
actually use to describe Olmsted. This will provide a reality check and avoid assuming that the audience
uses the same words as the foundation’s staff.
Listening in this way will help us understand who your audience is, what they are doing on the Web, and
what motivates them to share their story about your organization or cause. As a bonus, this research will
lead new stakeholders who are already doing just that.
Telling your story via social media will not have as much impact if you lack the clear objectives and
accurate identification of your audience(s) that comes with research and strategy formation.
Storytelling 2.0: The New Genre of Web Content Creation
At the heart of good storytelling is a narrative arc, or storyline that includes:
Beginning
• Protagonist: This is the leading character in the story. This person or group should represent
someone who benefits from the Olmsted Scholar Program or is affected by it. The key to a good
story is to make it personal, and to fill in the details.
• Setting: The important details provide context for the protagonist and that describes his/hers or
their situation. Again, it is important to keep this interesting by providing details and
personalizing the situation – the goal is for your reader to be able to visualize himself in the
storyline.
Middle
• Antagonist/Obstacle/Tension: The protagonist encounters a problem; this can be an unexpected
event, and act of God, or some tension in the protagonist’s life. In order to establish the
strength of your lead character, tell the story of how the protagonist tried to solve the problem
but was not successful.
• Emotion: It is important to incorporate emotion into the story. This can be something funny,
scary, sad, or whatever is appropriate.
End
• Resolution: Olmsted solves the protagonist’s problem in a way that inspires readers to support
its efforts to do more of the same. This is where we can widen the lens and bring in overall
statistics and trends relating to the Olmsted Scholar Program.
16. 16
Storytelling 2.0 incorporates the best of the principles of good storytelling and effectively leverages
social media. This enables the story to go “viral”, when your audience and others pass it along for you,
and integrates valuable user-generated content. Stories are now open-ended conversations,
participatory, experimental, and many times not created by the organization itself. Social media makes
creating, remixing, and sharing stories between the organization and its stakeholders easy and fluid. It
also expedites generation of these stories and augments opportunities for participation, while reviewing
new opportunities for the organization to communicate and connect with new and existing stakeholders
thereby organically generating alumni connectivity. Once Olmsted has mastered the art of story and
narrative, it is important to both listen and engage on social media outposts to motivate your audience
to “remix” your story using the following guidelines:
• Establish a “listening post” that searches social media sites, based on keywords, or terms or
monitors particular blogs or online communities (RSS Feeds and Goggle Alerts)
• Understand which stories resonate with audiences who are using social media
• Know the right conversation starters, or questions that jumpstart conversations with
supporters, leading to story creation or co-creation
• Use feedback from social media conversations (blog comments, Facebook comments, and the
like) to fine-tune stories and incorporate the audience’s voice
• Repurpose stories shared by supporters into content on the foundation’s website or other
channels
• Develop a deep understanding of what is being said about your foundation, cause, and program
on the Web and in the community.
• Translate stories into “micro” content (new blog posts, Twitter “tweets”, YouTube videos, and
so on)
Ladder of Engagement: Passive to Active Co creation
Think about the various ways your foundation interacts with different groups of people through your
communications and fundraising efforts – through social media or other traditional channels. You will
discover that some people engage with you lightly, whereas others dive in deeply. Your audience will
not have the same level of passion or interest in your program as you do, and that, is not a problem.
To be successful using social media, you need to use different techniques, tactics, and tools that map to
each person’s level of interest. You need a portfolio of approaches that meet people where they are at,
and that help get them more engaged with your efforts.
17. 17
Table 2: Ladder of Engagement
Degree of
Engagement
Role in Storytelling 2.0
Content Creation
Description
Very Low Happy Bystander Reads your content, views your videos, or joins your Facebook
Page or network, but only lurks
Low Conversationalist Responds to a conversation starter on your blog, Facebook
Page, or YouTube Channel by leaving a comment, rating, or
“liking” it
Medium Promoter Shares your content with other people
High Evangelist Actively encourages other people to participate in the
conversation and remixes your content
Very High Instigator Creates and shares their own story with friends and others
It is important to understand that these roles and levels of involvement are part of an ecosystem. Only a
few people will rise to the Evangelist or Instigator levels due to the required commitment of time and
skills, or because they are not yet sufficiently engaged in your work. Recognize and appreciate where
they are at and strive to nudge them further down your pipeline.
How to Get Your Groove On(line)
You do not have to, nor should you, use every social media tool to be successful in getting your stories
out to the masses. Less is more, but wherever you go, go deep. We will test one platform at a time- for
as long as we need to explore its potential, (for several weeks or months). Once we have internalized
the skills and technique of one channel, we will consider adding another. This sequential, incremental
approach will lead to success.
Blogging: the Pen is Mightier than the Sword
There are many ways to use blogs to support your foundation’s goals, from sharing organizational news
as it happens to recruiting volunteers and supporting fundraising. Blogs can be platforms for thought
leadership or to show off staff expertise – they offer fertile ground for Storytelling 2.0 content.
18. 18
Different Uses of Nonprofit Blogs
Blogs (short for “web logs”) are similar to online bulletin boards, and are usually focused on a particular
topic, organization, or person. They enable visitors to leave comments, providing an interactive forum
for dialog.
• Field Reports: Are blog posts from staff working “in the field” with your clients. These should
focus on a particular individual or group of individuals being served by the Scholar Program.
• Inside Stories: These posts are used to tell stories that share insights on how your staff and
volunteers actually do their work – think of it as career day for people interested in how you
achieve impact.
• Event Coverage: Blogs are a great place to share interviews or tell stories from fundraising or
other events.
• Client Posts: Content written by someone who has been served by your foundation’s Scholar
Program. To build engagement, this could be an ongoing feature or diary from that person
which would promote the prestige of the Olmsted Foundation and strengthen the Olmsted
Scholar community network.
• Contests: Blogs are a great place to promote giveaways, storytelling, or idea contests. Consider
challenging your audience to see who can share the most compelling story of your foundation’s
impact – offer a prize to readers who share the best story about benefitting from the Scholar
Program.
Before getting started, TIC will map out the topics Olmsted will be covering in the blog. In addition, we
will do research to see if there are other bloggers writing about similar issues, as you will want to link to
them in your posts. As we evaluate other bloggers, we will determine your unique approach to the
topics. Olmsted should engage multiple authors to distribute the workload. Consider assigning “beats”
to key staff and volunteers based on their expertise and interests. Most important, consider how much
time your team has to write, since once you begin a blog it should be updated at least weekly to “keep
the lights on”.
Incorporate Good Conversation Starters
Blogging is not about writing content for someone to read passively – the goal is to get readers to
discuss the topic by making comments, to share their insights and anecdotes, and tell their friends. It is
all about engaging your audience in a dialog – with you and with other readers. Blog posts that are good
conversation starters are not comprehensive, leaving gaps for readers to fill in and many have a
question in the title, or at the end. (“What do you think”? works wonders). Posts should be written in an
intimate, informal style, as if you were sitting at a café` table having a conversation. It certainly is not
the institutional boilerplate, which is a huge conversation stopper. The best blog posts create threads of
conversation – with readers and other bloggers building on the topic. It is not only about expressing
your opinion and ideas, it is about listening and hearing what your audience or stakeholders have to say.
This is critical to achieving not only brand exposure, but also promoting the prestige of the Olmsted
Foundation and ultimately strengthening your community network.
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Listen, Listen, Listen
Writing frequent, compelling, and instigative posts is only part of the workflow in Storytelling 2.0. It is
also necessary to listen to your audience, and to incorporate what you hear into future posts. For
example, if other bloggers link to you in their posts about a particular topic, write a post adding to or
explaining what they said. You should also respond to your blog reader’s comments, turning a post into
a conversation. If you are successful at activating a lively discussion, write a follow-up post summarizing
the dialogue and linking back to readers. This type of weaving inspires an audience to share their stories
and gets them more engaged in future postings. This will bring your Alumni further into the fold.
Social Media Profiles
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, YouTube, Foursquare, Pinterest and Flickr, are all part of the
overall branding strategy to create the Olmsted Brand.
Social signals play a major role in SEO (search engine optimization) for all websites, more so for business
websites. How do you acquire these social signals for your website? By creating social media brand
pages on social networking and social media sites and leveraging the power of word-of-mouth
marketing via these social channels.
Google+
Create a Google+ brand page. Google Places was the prime listing source for businesses to be found on
Google search until Google+ Local took over in May 2012. The latter plays a dual role both by being a
major Local SEO influencing factor as well as by providing social signals that are directly measurable by
Google. Just as any other social media profile associated with a business, your social media profile on
Google+ must contain your location. Although Google+ is still a work-in-progress, you can harness
various features of your business profile on Google+ to influence your local SEO rankings.
Brand page example on Google+ Local: https://www.google.com/+/learnmore/nonprofits/
Facebook
Facebook brand pages, unlike other social networks, involve real customers, fans, and followers of your
brand. While in most other social media profiles you can follow or share updates with people who have
not connected with you, Facebook usually involves interaction only with those who have chosen to ‘Like’
your brand page. The number of likes, recommendations, and Facebook mentions of your brand act as
quintessential social signals to improve your local search rankings. Facebook mentions of your brand,
and interactions that happen around it are out of your direct control; however, you could encourage
these interactions by offering interesting updates on your Facebook brand page.
Brand page example on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nonprofits
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Twitter
Twitter is an active social media platform that enables targeted attention from followers for businesses
in your industry. These followers need not follow your Twitter page; you just have to use @username on
your tweets in order to interact with them. Although Twitter links are nofollow and your profile may not
benefit from the Page Rank value of Twitter, the brand mentions really matter. The number of followers,
the audience engagement, and real-time word-of-mouth marketing is what makes a Twitter Brand Page
count. You can monitor Twitter mentions of your brand or keywords and track tweets in your location in
order to track your potential social audience.
Brand page example on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nonprofitorgs
Pinterest:
Pinterest is followed and it allows you to provide a link to your website on your brand page. You cannot
afford to miss the link juice from this third most popular social network! While creating your business
account on Pinterest, choose the business category as Local, enter your website URL, and give a business
description that contains your localized target keyword. Every time a user ‘Pins’ your image, it is shared
on their boards and can be viewed by their friends and peers. Each photo can be linked directly to your
website thus increasing the traffic to your website.
Brand page examples on Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/nonprofitorgs/
LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a different social interaction arena altogether, but significant nonetheless. It is the world’s
biggest online professional network and it is a great networking platform for local B2B businesses. (I.e.
businesses that do not usually involve direct interactions with customers). Having a LinkedIn profile is
necessary for a professional, as is a LinkedIn Company Page for a business. LinkedIn has a few design
updates to its Company Pages that show company news and information, career opportunities and
product or service updates. You can post company updates and have followers interact with your
LinkedIn Company page. It is an amazing opportunity to not only harness the social signals from this high
authority social media site but also make connections with businesses, clients, vendors and industry
associates, as well as potential employees.
Brand page example on LinkedIn: http://nonprofits.linkedin.com/
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YouTube
Although YouTube has millions of viewers each day, many businesses do not take advantage of this
massive video social media network. If you have videos on your site or plan to make videos in the form
of client testimonials, tutorials or other informational videos, you must have a brand page on YouTube
(also known as the YouTube Channel). Videos have incredible potential to reach local and global
audiences. It is important to know that videos are ranked higher in searches depending on factors such
as the average time spent watching the video and the number of likes and shares on the videos.
YouTube is a “nofollowed” site; hence, you cannot expect link juice to pass its domain authority to your
website. However, that should not dampen your spirits to promote your videos on YouTube.
Video is a powerful way to share your foundation’s story:
• Interviews at events
• Field work
• Insider tours
A compelling video clip is short, uses humor, tells a story, and sparks an emotional response.
Brand page example on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nonprofits
FourSquare
Connect with your on-the-go customers with Foursquare. Foursquare lets customers check in to a
business on their Smartphone. You will need to check if you are already listed on this mobile social
media platform and either claim your business listing or create a new one. Add a business description
that includes a localized keyword. Check that your business details match the ones you have on your
website.
Although you can build a network or capture new fans on other social media platforms, on Foursquare
you can only build loyalty among existing contacts. However, you can capture new customers using one
of the paid features of Foursquare called promoted updates. Businesses can send updates to previously
checked in customer’s mobiles when they are nearby. You can leave a link to your site or any relevant
page. Even though the link would be nofollow, traffic coming in from various sources can improve your
rankings. You can ‘Attach a Photo’ or ‘Attach a Special’ along with the update. You can also share these
updates on your Facebook and Twitter Brand Pages.
Businesses with Foursquare profiles are indexed and crawled by Google. This is another reason for you
to mark your presence on this rapidly growing mobile social media trend. You must remember that
Foursquare may not have as much effect on your search rankings as the other social media platforms
mentioned here, but it does drive many social signals and may play an important role in local SEO in
days to come.
Apart from optimizing your brand pages, it is important to know that social signals for your business can
also be gathered from the likes, shares, and pins that happen directly from your site. To facilitate this
you must integrate social media plug-ins on your site.
Brand page example on Foursquare: https://foursquare.com/nonprofitorgs
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Flickr
Photos and visuals can quickly convey powerful, engaging stories. You can post photos onto your blog
and combine them with posts, but you can also use photo-sharing sites like Flickr to share your
foundation’s stories, or to inspire your supporters to share theirs. If you decide to use Flickr, make sure
you identify a staff member or volunteer who is passionate about taking photos, and charge them with
doing so on a regular basis to keep your page fresh. Every blog post should be illustrated with a photo
Band page example on Flickr: https://secure.flickr.com/bestpractices/
Getting Others to Tell Your Story
The potential for your well-told stories to go “viral” is the Holy Grail of Storytelling 2.0 is getting your
audience to create or co create content on your behalf. TIC will show you how to encourage this great
behavior through a few insights we have gleaned over the years:
Give Permission to Share
Tell your blog, Flickr, YouTube, (and so on) audience that you want them to take your content and
repurpose, remix, or recreate it. Using a Creative Commons “Share, Share Alike” license makes your
intentions explicit.
Be Explicit
Sometimes people are inspired on their own, but it helps to reward them for sharing or creating your
content. There is nothing better than a contest with a prize. Give away a mug, a free program
membership, a T-shirt, or whatever you think is desirable by the audience – you will be amazed at what
people will do for freebies.
Lift Up Examples
Encourage and publicly recognize people who create content for you. Do this by highlighting their
contribution in a blog post, on your website, or at an event. Alternatively, use their content in the
foundation’s brochure, but be sure to get their permission first.
Newsletter
Decision making about your newsletter strategy should be driven by a few key questions, namely: who is
your audience; what kind of content do they want to receive from you and how often; and what do you
hope they will do with the information upon receipt.
We recommend avoiding the print newsletter entirely and instead produce a monthly email newsletter
with two or three stories totaling 500 – 1,000 words. Rather than looking back, the stories should look
forward to the weeks and months ahead. Instead of featuring the people doing the work, Olmsted
should profile the people who benefitted from the Scholar Program. Refer to staff in the first person as
“I” or “We” and refer to the members, your readers as “You” – it should be personal. The email
newsletter will integrate fully into a broader, multichannel communications strategy that would likely
include a blog and a strong Facebook presence.
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Sponsorships & Events
An annual event Olmsted may consider sponsoring is the Military Bowl. If properly executed this could
quickly boost Olmsted’s brand and raise considerable funds. Olmsted could recruit volunteers from its
broad Alumni base to work as Ambassadors at the bowl by staffing strategically placed booths in the
stadium and placing ads in the program and media (TV and radio). This is where the Use Advertising to
Make News - PR principle comes into play.
Using Social Networks to Promote Events
Events are the most commonly used tool in peer-to-peer fundraising. Walks, dances, galas, receptions,
and sporting events, have harnessed the power of peer-to-peer giving. However, in order to launch and
support such an effort, you have to make an investment. The key is to begin with the end in mind.
• What type of campaign do you want to launch? Are you bringing an offline annual event online,
or starting a new event like a gala?
• How many people do you want to engage?
• How will you measure success?
• What type of personnel support can you allocate? (i.e., staff or volunteers to provide training or
support in using your social networking tools)
• What are the financial goals, if any?
• If this becomes successful, will you have the capacity to dedicate more time or staff to it?
Public Relations: Getting Ink for your Cause
The basics of getting attention for your cause and building your brand are the principles of public
relations, whether broadcast, online, print, or at the water cooler. Many nonprofit leaders intrinsically
believe the t the facts alone will set them free. They believe a purely rational argument presented in the
best lawyerly or scientific fashion to someone influential will change the world. Empirical research in the
cognitive sciences has largely disproven this theory.
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There are eight principles behind good public relations.
Eight PR Principles
1. Tell Unforgettable Stories: At the heart of every successful PR, strategy is a compelling story.
Stories work because we are hardwired to remember them. Opponents of California’s “Three
Strikes Law”, for example, have used the story of a man sentenced to 25 years to life for stealing
a slice of pizza to underscore why the draconian law should be repealed. What makes a story
“sticky”? There must be characters – ideally, a clear hero and a clear villain. There absolutely,
positively should be conflict in the story – in the United States today, without conflict, there is
no story.
2. Find Common Ground: Before Olmsted can take their audience where they want them to go on
their issue, they first have to find common ground with them. People make sense of the world
and their place in it through internal metaphors and narratives. The key is to activate these so-
called “frames” by evoking them in your communications. For example, if you frame a discussion
of energy in terms of climate disaster, you will lose many conservatives who do not believe in it.
However, if you make it about jobs and profits from green energy, and national security, it will
appeal to conservatives and liberals alike.
3. Repeat Yourself: Olmsted must design scenarios that repeat the story many times in many
different venues. Without repetition, stories do not stick. Without repetition, there is little
education. Social change works the same way. People do not absorb new ideas without
repetition. Paradigms will not change if you say something once or twice.
4. Build Relationships of Trust with Reporters: Most human commerce is greatly influenced by
relationships. If you know someone, and he or she has learned to trust you even a little, you
have more access, you stand out, and he or she will pay more attention to what you say.
5. Simplify Your Issue: Many of the issues Olmsted works on can be complicated. It is the
communicator’s job to break down these complexities into something simple. “Simple does not
mean dumbing down – just the opposite. Simple is smart because it means more people will
understand why your cause is so important and be inspired to act.
6. Harness Influential Messengers: Sometimes the messenger is as important as the message.
7. Use Advertising to Make News: Advertising can be cheaper than you think. In addition, with the
right combination of bold strategy and media outreach, it is possible to parlay a modest ad buy
into millions in free, “earned media” (editorial coverage”). Advertising can make news. It need
not only be used to repeat messages and persuade audiences. It can be the story. We at TIC
consider it part of your arsenal.
8. Do Not Let the Opposition Control the Conversation: Hunkering down and hoping that negative
publicity will simply “go away” is never a good PR strategy. It makes even less sense in today’s
information economy. We live in a 24/7 news cycle where information – and misinformation
can rapidly spread as easily and as fast as the time it takes to write a 140-chartacter tweet.
Olmsted must be vigilant about positioning their cause and brand. Silence works against you.
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Multi-Faceted Press Release
Thanks to press release distribution sites such as MarketWire and PRWeb, you are now guaranteed that
your press release will be published on the Web, and this is exactly where people are looking for
information.
Today’s Web press releases are important for a variety of reasons:
• Olmsted can promote itself instantly and include all of the information it wants published.
• Olmsted can boost its Website’s Search Engine Optimization (SEO), thereby ensuring higher
search rankings. Through back-links and key terms sprinkled liberally throughout the copy, a
press release is not only a document for readers to get information. It is also a tool to boost your
website’s ranking performance.
• Depending on the interest the press release generates, Olmsted can expect that their release
will be reposted on other news sites, blogs, forums, and other outlets, gaining widespread
traction through the Internet. This puts the information in front of other readers, as well as
further distributes your key-term back links.
A web press release can be the best medium for telling Olmsted’s story to the world and it is one of the
best ways to build brand identity.
Pitching Publications
Another tried-and-true public relations tactic that has become an even more valuable tactic in a
marketing campaign is pitching. This involves personally contacting an editor or writer and sharing with
them a subject that would be of interest to the publication's readership.
A Web press release states everything that a nonprofit wants to convey to readers, but an article written
by an unbiased third party that includes mention of the nonprofit in the copy lends instant credibility.
The same holds true for a published article authored by a member of the nonprofit that runs in an issue
of the publication, as the editor must grant approval for it to be published.
Since many magazines publish both print and online versions of their periodical, a successful pitch could
result in the story appearing in two places. Moreover, as with press releases, an interesting article could
gain traction as it is reposted and shared throughout the Internet.
Additionally, the success rate is much higher now than it was when magazines and other periodicals only
produced a print edition, as some editors will still run a story online if it is not approved for the print
version.
Always keep in mind that most individuals want to be informed on an issue or topic, not just sold on.
Therefore, capturing their attention and educating them on the subject is key.
Olmsted can have the desired impact if they communicate thoughtfully, effectively, and frequently.
Make communications central to what you do and your brand will stand out and be recognized within
your desired spheres.
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Establish the Metrics
We now need to establish metrics for measuring the impact of the efforts, how will we know when a
tactic has worked?
Let us look at the Google AdWord tactic. We have a gut sense that this will lead traffic to the site.
However, a gut sense is not enough. We must establish a specific goal and then measure against it.
Based on that measurement, we can make informed decisions when it comes time to revise the plan.
Olmsted should review their marketing plan annually and update it as needed.
In the case of AdWords, we can measure the number of people who click on the ad and get to the site
(known as “click-throughs”). Let us say we set a goal of 250 people clicking on the ad. When we review
the actual success versus the goal, were we over or under? Did the Ad wildly over perform or
underachieve?
Things to measure per tactic include:
• Number of donations
• Donation amounts
• Tickets sold
• Click-throughs
• Phone calls received
• Overall awareness (as measured by a survey before and after the marketing effort)
• Number of new fans or followers (Facebook and Twitter)
• Re-tweets (Twitter)
We will continue to invest in the tactics that performed well and eliminate those that had little impact.
Marketing the Olmsted Scholar Program clearly and consistently is one of the best ways that Olmsted
can advance its mission and build its brand, by clarifying what Olmsted stands for and then building that
reputation through repeated application of Olmsted’s message. We will use words and visual imagery
to stand for the Olmsted Scholar Program and enroll everyone in the organization to extend the brand
and message.
By doing this, existing and potential donors will respond more quickly to your appeals, you will have
greater success urging your audience to action, and your customers (donors, volunteers, patrons, and so
on) will remain loyal and help grow your brand’s cachet.
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Online Fundraising
Is the glass half-full or half empty? It depends on whether you are drinking or pouring. They say that
perception defines reality. All too often nonprofits think of themselves as the drinkers, begging for alms
so that they can go on about their work. When in fact, they are the pourers, the nurturers of society –
they do their supporters, a great favor by providing them with a worthy philanthropic outlet for their
positive intentions. In short, nonprofits are in the business of selling impact, which - when properly
presented – people are honored and excited to buy. Your foundation is not the beneficiary of the gift.
Rather, a donor’s gift is to the community, and to the impact, your foundation has within it.
Why Online Fundraising Matters
If you need resources or want to build your brand, you need to include an online fundraising program as
part of your plans.
1. It is a growing portion of giving: According to Giving USA, three-quarters of all contributions
come from individuals rather than institutions. Moreover, an increasing number of these
individuals choose to do it online.
2. Online givers are the donors you want: They tend to be more youthful than offline donors are
and their gifts are around $100.
3. Online fundraising is great for smaller organizations: Online fundraising is far less expensive than
direct mail or telemarketing.
4. You need to integrate it as part of your overall communication strategy: Your online presence
will become paramount to building your brand and resources. Ensure that the website and
social media outposts are easy to find. Start building email lists and integrate these online
activities with your offline ones. These efforts are extremely important to brand building and
resource acquisition.
5. Your web presence affects your brand and overall contributions: According to a study put out by
Kintera (part of Blackbaud), more than 65% of donors visit an organizations website prior to
contributing. Whether that donor chooses to click the contribute button or to find her
checkbook, the information and opportunities for engagement you offer online will have a
profound impact on both your brand and your bottom line.
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Essentials of Online Giving and Brand Awareness
Here is a simple requirements checklist.
1. The website: Make your site meet the following criteria:
• Can a stranger identify what you do and why they should care in within two seconds?
Having a very brief way to convey what you do is critical to online success.
• Do you have an image or statement on the home page that connects on a personal level?
• Is it clear where the money goes? To exactly which activities or program?
• Do you have links to events and other opportunities for engagement?
• Do you have third party endorsements on the page? For example: Testimonials from
someone else regarding your foundation’s program (a volunteer, a beneficiary, and so on).
• Does the website give you and your [potential contributor the opportunity to form a
relationship (for example email signup)?
• Do you make it easy to share? For example, do you have social network sharing links,
widgets, and so forth? Do you list where else contributors can find you online, such as
Twitter and Facebook?
• Are you sure, you do not try to say too much? Is the page clean, simple, and easy to use?
This means intuitive navigation that even grandma can handle.
2. Legal: Make sure you are registered to collect contributions in the states where you will receive
them.
3. Contributions processing: Be sure to enable online contributions for people ready to contribute.
4. Email tool: You need an email campaign tool so you can effectively reach out to a community
without conflicting with SPAM filters.
5. Analytics tool: Be sure you have basic tracking tools on the website, so you know how people
find you and what they are doing on your website (we recommend Google Analytics, it’s free).
6. Follow-up procedures: You must have key internal processes in place to provide instant receipts
to donors and support effective follow up. If you are going to ask for and receive contributions,
you need to be able to thank and cultivate those who contribute. A top reason people stop
contributing is dissatisfaction with a nonprofit’s follow up.
7. Plan for integration: The best strategy for building relationships and brand awareness is one that
is multichannel: a combined online and offline approach. You want to make sure your whole
team is organized around your contributors and seamlessly combines outreach types. A
contributor may want to switch to online giving. An online contributor may prefer to give at an
event next time. An online contributor may appreciate a handwritten thank-you note via postal
(or “snail”) mail. This means you need to get all of your outreach efforts coordinated
seamlessly.
8. Social networking plans: Add social networking to your activities. See section on Social Media.
9. Feedback loop: This is a learning process. Continually test, analyze, get feedback, learn, and
improve all you do online.
10. Strong messaging: The long list of technology and legalities mean nothing if you do not have
winning messaging.
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In Focus: Messaging, Website Fundraising, and Email
How do you leverage these tools to spread your message, build your brand, and raise money?
Messaging
To compel contributors to give online – or anywhere for that matter – you always need to answer four
questions for them: Why me? Why now? What for? Who says?
• Why me? Your audience needs to care about what you are doing. Show them why what you are
doing is personally relevant to them. They need to connect to you on a human level. Use
pictures, tell stories, and do anything that can help your audience relate.
• Why now? Most people contribute online on two occasions. The first is towards the end of the
year; people who are in charitable mind-sets are looking to make year-end tax contributions.
The other is when there is a humanitarian crisis. So what can Olmsted do?
1. Break down what you are currently doing and show any immediately understandable or
visible results that will make people want to take action.
2. Set a goal and a deadline. There is plenty of research to show that people are more
likely to act if they feel a goal is within reach – and they can help you achieve it with
their gift. Matching or challenge grants can make a campaign goal feel even more
urgent.
3. Engage your most ardent supporters in a personal fundraising effort, by asking them to
reach out to those in their circles of influence.
• What for? People know you are a nonprofit organization and you need contributions to help
your cause. Nevertheless, where exactly is a contributor’s money going? What will they get in
return for their contribution – personally and in terms of the impact of your Scholar Program?
1. Explain specifically the impact a contribution will make.
2. Clearly, show how the Scholar Program is being helped by a contribution and what good
works are going to result.
3. Share success stories and show how other contributors made an impact.
• Who says? The messenger is often as important as the message. Use trustworthy messengers –
past scholars or other contributors. Think about how you can get your supporters to speak for
you among their own circles of influence.
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Website Fundraising
Nonprofits must approach online fundraising as with any other type of fundraising: cater to the
prospect’s or supporter’s needs, interests, and preferences, rather than hoping they kowtow to mission
statements sitting front and center, strategic plans cluttering up a home page and a contribute button
lost in the mêlée. There are three steps to successfully raising money through your website:
• Make the contribute button shine.
• Tell a story to entice contributing
• Above all else: make it easy and quick
Make Your Contribute Button Shine
• Take the two-second test: Visitors to your website should be able to find your donate button in
two seconds or less. If it is a small link somewhere on your site, on the fence (or even diehard)
donors will have a difficult time finding it. Moreover, place the button “above the fold”
(meaning your visitor does not have to scroll down to find it).
• Avoid muted or camouflaged buttons: The color of your contribute button is also crucial in
drawing a visitor’s eye to it. Tests performed on websites found that there was a 30% greater
conversion when changing from a grey button to a red one.
• Do not be afraid to think beyond “contribute now”; the verbiage you choose for your button
dictates whether someone clicks on it or not. Try to relate the contribution to something
tangible (i.e., “sponsor a leader”, or “develop a leader”).
Tell a Story to Entice Giving
Some nonprofits decide to include a “why give” page between their donate button and donation form,
but as mentioned in the section (on website design), you lose people at every click. TIC recommends
streamlining the process and simply customizing the text above your giving form and providing a link for
more information if needed. Either way, be sure to pay close attention to the story you are sharing with
your soon-to-be supporter.
Throughout the giving process, your donor will be influenced to abandon the process or question
whether they are making a good decision. It is your job as a fundraiser to reassure the prospects how
their gifts will be used and how much you appreciate their generosity. Paint a clear picture with personal
stories and tangible anticipated results – while avoiding statistics and overwhelming numbers – to make
the final sale and encourage making it through the whole process.
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Above All Else - Make It Easy and Quick
It is paramount to ensure the donation form itself is user-friendly.
• Make the donation page match your website to convey a sense of trust and build your brand.
• Keep the number of questions you ask to a minimum – the more fields to complete, the fewer
people who make it through to contribute.
• Choose a one-page donation form instead of multiple pages – the greater number of clicks, the
lower your conversion rate (remember, people are in a hurry).
• Be sure to offer automatic email tax receipts.
• Give your contributors options: Offer the ability to accept recurring donations, choose
designations, and create dedications.
o Highlight the value donors get from setting up a recurring gift; it takes the onus of
remembering to give again off them; it is convenient and becomes part of their overall
budget; and larger gifts can be divided up over time.
o Try to equate these gifts to tangible, reliable outcomes – think about the sponsor-a-child
model – hence the sponsor-a-leader model – to make donors feel more connected.
o Ensure that recurring giving is an option every time a donor enters a gift amount.
• Test different giving levels and website configurations to determine the best possible
combination of custom questions and other areas of the form.
• Let donors opt-in to hear from you again via email – which brings us to the next section; email
marketing.
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Email
The best way to approach an email outreach fundraising program is to think of the campaign from the
outside in. TIC will plan an overall strategy together with Olmsted. We will determine what goes on the
“envelope” of the message, develop stellar content for the campaign, design content to be easy to read
(being fancy is not important), and determine how often you want to arrive in your subscriber’s inboxes.
1. Plan an overall strategy: When first getting started, consider how much time and effort you are
willing to commit to your email outreach. What will you try to accomplish? What sort of content
will you be sharing? Who will be the point person to ensure that all of this happens as planned?
The strategy must include the 3:1 rule: For every appeal for action you send, be sure to send
three that are chock full of thanks, updates, and information.
2. Make the micro-content catchy: Micro-content is the content your readers see prior to opening
the email. It contains the “from” name and email address, as well as the subject line. Be familiar
(use a person’s name that people will recognize), persuasive (leave some mystery in the subject
line) and accessible (be sure to monitor the email address where all the replies are going.
3. Develop stellar content: Email is designed to open a two-way conversation. Share stories,
updates, and content of interest to your supporters. Keep the content easy to relate to and full
of hopeful messages (no one likes gloom and doom) and ways to get involved and contribute to
impact (when fundraising on or offline, always tie the request to the impact).
4. Do not get hung up on design: The most important design advice is that messages should be
readable. Use the emails as a place to begin an article, and link to the website or blog, where
you can provide the full story and a link for contributions.
5. Figure out frequency: Set a goal of at least one email per month to ensure your cause stays top-
of-mind with supporters, and tweak as necessary.
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Online Peer-to-Peer Fundraising
Social networks existed long before the Internet, but the Web has opened up numerous connections
that were nonexistent, or at least invisible, in the past. The Web’s facilitation of networks – specifically
via free commercial social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and numerous older forms,
such as forums and bulletin boards – opens many doors for nonprofit fundraisers. Many of these allow
you to aggregate your social networks all from one place and share with them as much or as little
information as desired.
The use of these media online to raise friends and funds is a new variation on the old model of peer-to-
peer fundraising. In the traditional model of friend raising and fundraising, nonprofits look for influential
community leaders and donors of high worth to introduce them to their friends, thereby expanding the
nonprofit’s influence and fundraising ability. The larger the pool of donors, the larger the returns, this is
basic social networking. Online fundraising through peer-to-peer networks makes this process
electronic, often saving time and resources in the process, and increasing the ability to “scale”, or grow,
rapidly. In addition, just as in real-world networking, online networkers seek to cultivate connections to
other individuals with large-scale networks.
However, nonprofits do not need just any person with lots of connections. They need people who share
an interest in the nonprofit’s cause and have the ability to contribute to their cause. Olmsted wants
these types as fans, followers, and commenters on their Facebook page, Twitter account, and blog
posts. TIC will help you understand how to use online social networks for fundraising from one of your
people to potential supporters, AKA “peer-to-peer fundraising”. Olmsted needs three key capacities
before they can leverage the online networks.
1. Establish Your Online Presence
In preparing to launch into social media, Olmsted needs both digital and staff infrastructure. Minimally,
in addition to setting up a Facebook and Twitter account as depicted in the section on Social Media, you
need Facebook and Twitter icons on your homepage. This allows people to connect with your networks.
It also indicates that you “get it” – that you are well informed enough to merit their attention and
investment of energy, if not money. In this twenty-first-century world, your website may be the main
interaction that people will have with your organization.
Social networks require support. Facebook, Twitter, and blogs are all free. Once these are in place, you
are out of the gate. However, once you begin you must maintain, support, and expand your presence;
otherwise, you run the risk of undermining your efforts by opening the equivalent of an empty store,
which reflects poorly on your organization. Think of your online presence and social networks as
gardens, if you do not tend to them, they will not grow and produce. Even as Facebook crested past one
billion users, some continue to advise that nonprofits just hire any 21-year-old out of college. This is
similar to adults struggling with the Internet in the late 1990s saying, “If you do not understand how to
get on, just ask your 4-year-old”. Cute in concept, but not very practical, you need professional support.
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2. Create an Organizational Cause and Fan Bases
It is far more effective for nonprofits to create an organizational presence of which people can become
fans, rather than creating a profile, or individual account. Once you have established critical mass, you
can ask supporters in your various networks to raise your visibility through posting it to their social
media platforms – that is when things can go “viral”, spreading exponentially from person to person,
engaging your community in helping you spread the word faster than you could on your own. This will
help cultivate online support for your cause – people ready to step forward when you ask for
contributions or other support.
3. Leverage Personal Social Networks
Once you are on a commercial social media platform like Facebook or Twitter, you need to promote
your presence. Your current social networks can help with this – but remember the networks you have
access to extend beyond those formally attached to your organization. They may include your personal
networks, those of the board, the staff, and your close supporters.
Begin with leveraging your own personal social networks, reach out to your board and staff, and then
supporters of your organization. Ask them to spread the word for you by asking their friends to become
fans or followers. You may worry about crossing the line by asking people to spread the word, but you
should not. For one thing, asking the board should be a no-brainer – their duty includes the duty of
leveraging their networks and representing Olmsted to the community. As for staff, leadership needs to
think through the acceptability of asking staff to share their commitment to the organization through
their personal networks. It may seem unfair to request them to open up their personal lives in this way.
However, the boundaries between work life and personal life are blurring as we work longer and harder
– and this blurring is especially common among young workers. Staff usage of social media during the
workday is “the twenty-first-century cigarette break”. Make an agreement with the staff, allow them to
use personal social media while at work, in exchange, ask them to promote the organization through
personal status updates on Facebook, “Tweets” on Twitter about new blog posts, and otherwise telling
friends and networks about the organization’s events, news media appearances, and so forth.
Olmsted must setup a blog if they do not already have one. At which point both board and staff will be
asked to sign up for an RSS feed or notification of Olmsted’s new posts, so that they can help promote
them. RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently
updated content – such as blog entries, new headlines, audio, and video – in a standardized format,
aggregating content and automatically sending it to your email, phone, or web browser in one
consolidated feed. This tool allows Olmsted to monitor important news streams, and to publicize itself
when relevant stories are identified and forwarded.
With these capacities in place, you can now turn to the work of raising friends and money via peer-to-
peer networks.
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Raising Money: Online or In-Person, the Same Rules Apply
One of the principles of fundraising is that “people give to people”. Promoting Olmsted’s good work is
perceived to be more authentic and genuine if it comes from one of our friends or colleagues – this is
one of the key factors in engaging people in your efforts and educating them about your cause. This is
true online as it is in person.
Fundraising is not just about the money; it is about relationships. When a board member accompanies a
development officer to meet with a prospective or current donor, the odds of securing a gift are far
greater than if the fundraiser goes alone. What our parents and teachers have taught us about peer
pressure is true. Fortunately, the peer pressure we are talking about here is moral, ethical, and socially
responsible, and peer-to-peer fundraising via social networks is a powerful way to put technology to
work for your cause.
The Seven Golden Rules of Email Solicitation
As part of the peer-to-peer fundraising efforts, email campaigns will be used. It is crucial to note that
nonprofit email campaigns must adhere to seven federal regulations. According to the Federal Trade
Commission, “each separate e-mail violation of the CAN-SPAM Act is subject to penalties of up to
$16,000”, so noncompliance can be costly. Here is a rundown of CAN-SPAM’s main requirements:
1. Do not use false or misleading header information: The “From”, “To”, “Reply-To”, and routing
information – including the originating domain name and email address – must be accurate and
identify the person or organization who initiated the message.
2. Do not use deceptive subject lines: The subject line must accurately reflect the content of the
message.
3. Identify the message as an advertisement: The law gives a lot of leeway in how to do this, but
you must disclose clearly and conspicuously that your message is an advertisement. If you are
soliciting funds, your message is considered an advertisement, so identify it as such.
4. Tell recipients where you are located: Your message must include your valid physical postal
address. This can be your current street address, a post office box you have registered with the
U.S. Postal Service, or a private mailbox you have registered with a commercial mail-receiving
agency under Postal Service regulations.
5. Tell recipients how to opt out of receiving future email from you: The message must include a
clear and conspicuous explanation of how the recipient can opt out of (or unsubscribe from)
getting email from you in the future.
6. Honor “opt-out” requests promptly: You must honor a recipient’s opt-out request within 10
business days.
7. Monitor what others are doing on your behalf: Federal regulations are clear; even if you hire
another company to handle your email marketing, you cannot contract away your responsibility
to comply with the law.
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Converting Donors into Fundraisers
By using online social networking to solicit contributors, you are simultaneously building your potential
base of volunteer online fundraisers. In the offline world you supply volunteer fundraisers with pledge
forms, and they would collect many more donors and dollars than a sole fundraiser could. These
volunteers use their own real world social connections to find donors. With the web, it is a simply a
matter of translating the method to online social media.
We can now email 100 people we know and ask them to support our fundraising efforts, or, better still,
join in and become volunteer fundraisers themselves.
Friend Raising Online
Leverage peer-to-peer fundraising for both raising money and “raising friends”. It is not all about the
money it is also about relationships. By growing your network of engaged, informed constituents, via all
media channels, Olmsted will increase its overall fundraising success and brand awareness. It is just that
simple. Fundraising is about relationships built on mutual interests and concerns. The next action step
in the cycle will be for TIC to help Olmsted activate a volunteer corps of solicitors.
Cause-Related Marketing
Cause-related marketing is the term broadly used to describe partnerships between corporations and
nonprofits, which advance both the mission-related work of the nonprofit and the marketing objectives
of the company.
There are three forms of this powerful marketing and fundraising approach:
• Traditional cause-related marketing: donation-with-purchase of a company’s products or
services (funds from company)
• Consumer fundraising: company promotes an opportunity for its customers to make a donation
at their place of business (funds from consumer)
• Event, initiative, or program sponsorship: traditional sponsorship model where a financial
commitment is made in exchange for defined benefits around the sponsored asset (funds from
company)
If structured, negotiated, and managed with an eye toward profitability and sustainability, cause-related
marketing partnerships can play an important role in achieving Olmsted’s mission.
An example of cause-related marketing in social media is Chase Community Giving. It relies solely on
interaction and since 2009, the cause has called on its Facebook fans to vote for their favorite charity or
nonprofit to receive a donation from Chase bank. Chase Community Giving also uses current events and
holidays to spread the word about related charities – such as Military related charities for National
Military Appreciation Month.
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Nonprofit Technology & IT
Primarily, technology is the greatest empowering force of the masses in history. It gives voice to the
voiceless, names to the nameless. It flattens hierarchy and allows information to flow freely. You have
come across the term “Web 2.0” throughout this proposal, and we would like to take a moment to focus
on that in this section.
Web 2.0 can only be understood in the context of its predecessor. Web 1.0, representing the early days
of the Internet and the World Wide Web was all about content. Suddenly, a medium exploded on the
scene, allowing anyone to publish information about his or her business, nonprofit, or personal interests
to the entire world. The word “brochureware” was used a lot to convey the notion that people were
really just taking their existing marketing materials and posting them online. However, the new
environment brought with it new rules; power to the people versus the publisher, pull versus push-
based content; direct, immediate, and complete accountability versus relying on focus groups of
representative samples; and a medium that was both a direct marketing and branding vehicle.
After a while, though, industry caught up and really started putting the technology to use. Enter Web
2.0, with the charge led by players such as MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube. What these innovative
companies have figured out is how to get the community to work for them, leveraging the wisdom of
the masses – AKA “crowd sourcing”. If Web 1.0 is about content, then Web 2.0 is about community.
They used to say, “Content is king”, but nowadays “context” is the new game in town. The defining
principle of Web 2.0 is that it integrates user-generated content. Web 2.0 websites are merely
platforms, empty shells, or frameworks that rely on the community for their content.
Now let us relate all of that to the nonprofit sector. In a world where resources are stretched thin,
where everyone is working at or over capacity, the real question is, how can you leverage technology to
put the community to work for you, and for the cause? This section, combined with some related
contributions in the marketing and fundraising sections is designed to provide you with exactly these
kinds of insights.
We will look at both the inward- and outward-facing roles of technology as they relate to Olmsted. We
will give you a broad overview of all things tech, then dive into website design, community building, and
how to maximize IT’s role in building and maintaining a database of your constituents.
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Build a Strong Foundation
A strong foundation will ensure that you will spend more time focusing on your mission than responding
to emergencies such as slow computers and printers that will not print.
Computers
Determine what is best for your organization:
• How powerful and fast does the computer need to be?
• How much hard drive space do I need?
• Do I need a laptop?
• How many computers should I buy?
Other Hardware
In addition to computers for your staff, you will need to consider a few other pieces of hardware. These
are merely supporting players in your technology infrastructure.
• Printers
• Fax machines
Security
• Firewall
• Antivirus/Malware
• Backup
• Passwords
• Physical security
Software
The key to selecting the right software for your organization is to understand and document your needs.
1. Identify your top needs
2. Can your existing software already do it?
3. Find out what your peers are using
4. Identify some scenarios and test
5. Decide whether the software will meet your needs
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Technology Plan
You have to plan for technology or you will always be stuck in crisis mode, putting out techno-fires. A
good plan not only addresses the key infrastructure needs of the organization, such as printer
replacement and software upgrades, it also accounts for the strategy and mission of the organization.
Long-Term Thinking
Planning effectively requires that you think about technology in both the short and long term. Long-term
look at the next three to five years and address the large system acquisitions and upgrades you will need
to make, such as new databases or website re-designs. These projects require many resources, including
rime and money. Planning for the long term allows you to assign the resources and spread out the costs
over several years, instead of trying to make it happen all at once.
Short-Term Action: Annual Technology Plans
Each year, refer to your strategic plan and technology plan to create an annual technology plan. Your
short-term plan should include four key areas:
• Strategy
• Objectives
• Measures
• Targets
Strategy relates to the goals or mission of the organization. Objectives are the tactics you will use to
support the strategy. Measures identify how you will know you are meeting your objectives. Finally, the
targets assign quantitative outcomes to the measures.
Table 3: Annual Technology Plan Excerpt
Strategy Objectives Measures Targets
Increase constituent
awareness of our
accomplishments by
distributing a monthly
newsletter
Increase mission
awareness
Increase contributions
Improve
communication
CRM statistics
Contributions increase
5% increase in new
prospects
7% increase in
contributions
Return on Investment (ROI) Before and After
Typically, we associate ROI with a financial calculation, but benefits and costs can be non-financial too.
Factors such as productivity, morale, and client satisfaction can all be benefits when thinking ROI.
Programming time, strain on employees, and training are all examples of costs.
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Web Design
Olmsted may want to consider a complete re-design of their website to embrace the Web 2.0 concept.
Today the most successful nonprofits are those whose websites are closely aligned with their goals,
missions, programs, and metrics.
Why redesign your site? Who is the intended audience? Potential contributors? Current contributors?
Volunteers or evangelists for your organization’s cause? People who could benefit from your program?
It is tempting to answer “Everyone”, but is that accurate? As most nonprofit websites barely appeal to
anyone, one that appeals to everyone is a tall order. Even if the answer is everyone, the ways that
different segments of everyone interact with your website will vary a lot, and identifying the most
important audience of your website must drive your efforts. The more specific your understanding of
how users will interact with your website, the better.
TIC encourages nonprofits to think of their websites as relationship-building vehicles, not fundraising
ones. Put an inspiring story on your homepage, ask for newsletter signups, and recruit people to
volunteer or spread your message. Once they are in, they will contribute without undue solicitation.
Setting and Measuring Goals
You must be able to articulate the site’s objectives in order to put good metrics in place for evaluating
its success. Your primary goal is to build your brand and one way to achieve that is by promoting the
activities (particularly the Olmsted Scholar Program) among the military and national security arenas.
Ask what that audience (military and national security) will do when their awareness of your nonprofit
has risen, and what metrics you can use to measure those actions. Ask what period you would like to
see this change happen. Ask whether the website will have a different goal in two years from what it has
now. You should also measure contributions, newsletter signups, visitors, etc. The goals for your website
should be tied to the goals for the rest of your organization.
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Identifying the Stakeholders
Identify the key stakeholders for the project and establish regular communications with them. Outside
of your primary team, there is a broader group of core users. Remember that your employees are not
the only stakeholders, that is why the core user group should also include key volunteers, evangelists,
and allies in the sector. These people feel strongly about your organization and its image: their
perspective will likely surprise you when they talk about your organization and what they need from
your website.
How do we maintain communication with this group? With whatever tools the group is comfortable
using. There are numerous online collaboration tools on the market – many of them free to nonprofits,
and there is always e-mail.
Throughout the web design process and branding project, TIC will conduct meetings once or twice a
month to keep your primary team informed, make sure that outstanding issues are being addressed,
and discuss any questions that are arising. The larger core users group will not need that many face-to-
face meetings, but if possible, there should be one early in the process for generating user stories and
another to familiarize them with the site before it goes public.
Conceptualizing Your Website
The bridge between the goals you have established for your site and the site design itself comes in the
form of “user stories”, sketches of how and why users will interact with the website and the appropriate
results of these interactions.
Since you already have a website, many of your user stories will come from how users currently interact
with your site and whether they are getting the information, they need. Questions that your
organization frequently gets are another source, as well as discussions you have with your stakeholders.
User stories do not need to be complicated: they are just short, specific examples of how people should
get the information or services they need from your site. Here are some examples:
• Adam learns about our nonprofit by word-of-mouth and finds our site through a Google search.
He reads the story of our nonprofit, watches a testimonial video, and signs up for our mailing list
• Bonnie visits our site to respond to a fundraising letter, She chooses from three contribution
levels and donates with a credit card
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With the goals and user stories in hand, we can start to draft the information architecture, a simple
outline of what content will appear on the website and how it will be arranged. Here is a minimal
example:
Homepage
About Us
Our Story
Mission
Programs
Board
Events and Services
Calendar
News
Board Meeting Minutes
Blog
Forum
Contact Us
Contribute
Assemble your core team and engage them in the process of answering these key questions:
• Does the information architecture reflect the most important user stories?
• Will new content or sections need to be added in the future?
• Who will create the content for each section?
Referring back to the user stories and information architecture, we will put together a wireframe, a
visual representation of the elements of your website.
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Figure 4: Sample Website Wireframe
The wireframe presents the same components as the information architecture but arranged visually.
The wireframe will become the skeleton of your website
Web Content Management System
A web content management system (CMS) is a piece of software designed to integrate disparate
features like blogs, forums, and wikis into a seamless user experience and enable easy site updates. TIC
will include a browser based CMS with the website. This will enable you to add or edit content directly
from any web browser thereby keeping your site up to date without employing a professional designer
on an ongoing basis.
