I've learned quite a bit in the past 14 years working with non-profits about online fundraising. From engagement ladders to building bridges between fundraising tools, it's been a fun ride. Here's 145 slides of goodness packing in a bunch of lessons learned with morsels of actionable tactics and strategies in every bite. Fundraisers and marketers will enjoy as much as techies. Thanks to the Direct Marketing Fundraisers Association for hosting me to present this at their October 10, 2012 meeting in Washington, DC. I hope you enjoy it!

1. What I’ve learned about
online engagement
Ryan W. Ozimek
CEO, PICnet
President, Joomla! project
Purveyor of affordable tech, the Internets
October 10, 2012
@PICnet

2. Everyone caffeinated?
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3. Good! Lots of great stuff today!
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4. Hi!
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5. Agenda
• The big picture and motivation
• Strategy and the online ladder of engagement
• Demographics
• Preparation and discovery
• Tactics and examples
• Questions and answers
@PICnet

6. Who’s in the audience?
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7. Accidental techies rule
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8. This won’t be a stats course...
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9. ...but we can get really geeky.
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10. Who am I?
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11. Leader of a popular OSS project
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X

12. What’s a Joomla?
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13. What’s a Joomla?
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14. What’s a Joomla?
What’s up with that
exclamation point?
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15. Lesson 1
If you put an
exclamation point in
your name, you’ll spend
years dealing with it.
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16. Lesson 1
(Where were you
guys in 2005?)
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17. Joomla, by the numbers
35,080,630
downloads
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18. Joomla, by the numbers
2,678,438
forum posts
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19. Joomla, by the numbers
582,753
users
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20. Joomla, by the numbers
190+
countries
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21. Joomla, by the numbers
64
languages
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22. Joomla, by the numbers
187x
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23. Joomla, by the numbers
2.8%
of the Web
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24. Who am I?
@PICnet
X

25. Who am I?
I traded in my Joomla!
President suit for...
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26. Hi, I’m Ryan Ozimek, CEO
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27. Our PICnet crew
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28. Websites
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29. Engagement tools
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30. Mass email tools
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31. Our PICnet community of orgs
500+
organizations
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32. Our PICnet community
6 continents
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33. Our PICnet community
24 countries
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34. Our PICnet community
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35. Our PICnet community
@PICnet

36. Our PICnet community
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37. Our PICnet community
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38. Our PICnet community
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39. Where am I from?
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40. Where am I from?
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41. I know what I’m not...
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42. ...but I know what I’m good at.
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43. My three tech mantras
• Make it easy to use
• Make it affordable
• Share the knowledge
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44. I’m unabashedly super biased
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45. 5 ways I’m very biased
• open source evangelist
• open data, open data schemas supporter
• less is more (especially in the tech world)
• accidental techies rule
• make it affordable or talk to someone else
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46. My core technology value
>
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47. Agenda
• The big picture and motivation
• Strategy and the online ladder of engagement
• Demographics
• Preparation and discovery
• Tactics and examples
• Questions and answers
@PICnet

48. What makes people take action?
Motivation +
passion =
actionable
goodness
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49. How do we motivate folks?
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50. Let’s dive into a scary subject
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51. The freaky economics of it all
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52. Reality check on motivation
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53. Their findings
• Carrots and sticks do work, but...
• Really works only when the task required utilizes
rudimentary cognitive skills
• Even crazier...
• At some point, when you provide higher monetary
rewards for more critical thinking tasks, you
actually start to get worse results
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54. Autonomy
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55. Mastery
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56. Purpose
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57. For how much?
How can we align
this with online
engagement?
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58. Agenda
• The big picture and motivation
• Strategy and the online ladder of
engagement
• Demographics
• Preparation and discovery
• Tactics and examples
• Questions and answers
@PICnet

59. The ladder of engagement
@PICnet

60. 5 step ladder of engagement
• Happy bystanders (Listen)
• Spreaders (Share)
• Donors (Money)
• Evangelists (Solicit)
• Instigators (Create)
Thanks to Beth Kanter!
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61. Agenda
• The big picture and motivation
• Strategy and the online ladder of engagement
• Demographics
• Preparation and discovery
• Tactics and examples
• Questions and answers
@PICnet

62. Demographics
1 in 5 adults have given
online.
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63. Demographics - generational
• Oldest generation: 79% donated in 2011
• Baby boomers: 67%
• Gen X donors: 58%
• ...what about the youngest generation?
Source: U of North Carolina
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64. Demographics - generational
• Generation Y are born givers...
• 80% of gave either fiscally or with goods in 2011
• 70% educated peers on a cause
• 68% volunteered
• 56% fundraised
• 49% joined/created online social networking group
based on social good
• 35% texted donations, voted, or organized
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65. What else about Gen Y?
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66. The generational takeaway
• “As Gen X and Y age and donate more, and
Boomers and elders become more familiar
with technology, the future of giving will go
digital.”
- University of North Carolina
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67. Online donors more valuable?
• All donors giving online
• 2007 - 7%
• 2008 - 8%
• 2009 - 9%
• 2010 - 10%
Source: Blackbaud
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68. Online donors more valuable
• Donors that have their originating solicitation
online give on average $62, versus $32 from
those that are solicited via mail.
Source: U of North Carolina
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69. Online giving YOY by org size
• August 2012
• Small orgs: +13.6%
• Mid-sized orgs: +7.3%
Source: Blackbaud
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70. Bottom line
• online giving is continuing to grow
• it has strong potential for higher future
donations
• younger generations are having more of their
first donations online with an organization
• engaging younger generation donors via
multiple, non-fundraising channels can likely
increase future fundraising rates
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71. Agenda
• The big picture and motivation
• Strategy and the online ladder of engagement
• Demographics
• Preparation and discovery
• Tactics and examples
• Questions and answers
@PICnet

72. Do your research
@PICnet

73. 5 ways to create online personas
• List your audiences, drill deep
• Aim for your online influentials
• Avoid the org chart
• Make it clear where personas should start
• Give clear calls-to-action
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74. Create online personas
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75. Agenda
• The big picture and motivation
• Strategy and the online ladder of engagement
• Demographics
• Preparation and discovery
• Tactics and examples
• Questions and answers
@PICnet

76. Anchoring
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77. The Exploratorium experiment
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78. Give them pre-defined values
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79. The holy grail?
• Predefined values...
• Insight into your donor’s history...
• Call to action based on past giving history.
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80. Kill the shopping cart
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81. 7 long steps to giving a donation
1. register for an account
2. open email to confirm registration
3. sign-in
4. fill-out donation form
5. go to shopping cart
6. fill-out credit card information
7. grab a water after the exercise
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82. 3 easy steps to giving happiness
1. fill-out donation page
2. smile that you’ve done good for the world
3. take another action
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83. Kill the shopping cart, always?
One exception to
the rule...
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84. Take them shopping...
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85. Take them shopping...
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86. The growing mobile wave
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87. Mobile giving skyrocketing
• Up until 2010: ~ $1MM
• After the Haiti earthquake: $50MM
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88. The mobile challenge...
• There’s a good chance you don’t have...
• one of the worst natural disasters in the Western
Hemisphere
• two US presidents personally supporting you
• entire phone companies making it easy to give
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89. The mobile challenge...
• You can still make it easier to give by...
• thinking mobile giving at events
• building “responsive” mobile-friendly designs
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90. Be responsive...in your design
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91. Great new mobile tools
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92. How to test for responsiveness
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93. How to test for responsiveness
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94. How to test for responsiveness
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95. Social mobilizing for a cause
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96. Snowmageddon results
• significant PR with more than 30 news outlets,
including NPR, Wired Magazine and
Washington Post providing coverage
• 130 incidents reported in the first 24 hours
• 30 connections made within first 24 hours
• could have had more impact if followed up
with other activities for fundraising
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97. Providing multiple on-ramps
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98. Providing multiple on-ramps
• follows from the online engagement ladder
• can include a variety of activities, like...
• newsletter sign-up
• event registration, attendance
• advocacy (i.e. write your representative, petition
signing)
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99. Providing multiple on-ramps
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100. Providing multiple on-ramps
• New organization started in Sept 2011
• Sponsored by Auburn Seminary in NYC
• “To combat hate and build love in response to
violence against Muslim and Sikh Americans.”
• “We provide avenues for people of all faiths
and walks of life to take strategic social action
around shared moral imperatives.”
• Needed to hit the ground running
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101. Providing multiple on-ramps
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102. Providing multiple on-ramps
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103. Providing multiple on-ramps
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104. Providing multiple on-ramps
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105. Providing multiple on-ramps
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106. Providing multiple on-ramps
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107. Providing multiple on-ramps
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108. Top 5 results for Groundswell
• Organization starts on Sept 11, 2011 with
20,000 supporters
• Doubles to 40,000 supporters in 2 months
• Receives 25,000-35,000 petition actions/month
• On pace for 100,000 supporters by year’s end
• 5x increase in potential donor pool in just 1.5
years based solely on ladder of engagement
principles
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109. The ladder of engagement
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110. Online donors more valuable
• New donors whose first gift is online
• 2007 - 9%
• 2008 - 12%
• 2009 - 14%
• 2010 - 16%
Source: Blackbaud
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111. The path...
• Compelling story (motivation)
• Sign the petition (action)
• Give money (financial contribution)
• Social networking (sharing)
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112. Brand consistency
• Keep your design and brand the same through
all your touch points
• mail
• email
• website
• blog
• call to action
• donation page
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113. Avoid the data silos
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114. Avoid the data silos
• Email marketing
• CRM
• Fundraising service
• Spreadsheets
• Outlook email
• Someone’s yellow stickies
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115. Avoid the data silos
• How to avoid the data silos?
• Use tools that build bridges with open data
models and open source code
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116. Bridge builders
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117. Diversify online giving options
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118. Diversify online giving options
@PICnet

119. Diversify online giving options
@PICnet

120. Diversify online giving options
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121. Diversify online giving options
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122. Diversify online giving options
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123. ABC’s of online CC processing
• Three pieces to online credit card processing
• website’s donation page
• gateway
• merchant account
• What should you expect to spend?
• 2.2% - 2.7% per transaction + $0.30 per transaction
• potential additional charge from website host
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124. ABC’s of online CC processing
• Popular gateways and processors
• PayPal (Payments Pro, Standard)
• Authorize.net
• IATS
• tons more...
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125. Tip jar to cover tranx costs
• 30% of folks presented with a small request to
cover transaction costs will pay it...so just ask!
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126. Tip jar to cover tranx costs
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127. Recurring donations
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128. Donors choose campaigns
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129. Memorial giving
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130. Memorial giving
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131. External Web fundraising
• online fundraising doesn’t need to be limited
to your own website
• engage where the crowds already exist
• social networks
• crowd-fundraising
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132. Crowd-fundraising
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133. Peer-to-peer fundraising
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134. Peer-to-peer fundraising
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135. Crowd-fundraising
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136. Crowd-fundraising
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137. Crowd-fundraising
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138. Crowd-fundraising
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139. Thinking about external tools
• Upsides
• fast and easy to set up
• communities and networks already formed
• Downsides
• often times can be more expensive in long-run for
larger campaigns
• lack of strong branding, consistent design
@PICnet

140. Bringing all the tools together
• CRM tools like Salesforce, example case
• donor gives online
• real-time transaction
• data stored directly into system
• email response auto-generated
• drip marketing depending on cycle of donor
begins
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141. Bringing all the tools together
• different call to action made on thank you page
• pre-built reports show real-time data
• dashboard available
• scoring and rewards for fundraisers
• share the donation online, have donor get
more donors
• the virtuous cycle continues!
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142. The End?
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143. Thank you DMFA!
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144. More coffee!
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145. More questions? Contact me...
Ryan Ozimek
PICnet
Twitter: @cozimek
cozimek@picnet.net
@PICnet