Make the Most from Online Fundraising -- Report from Direct Marketing Association (DMA) 2006 NY Nonprofit Conference

Many of the conference presenters, particularly on the nonprofit side (lots and lots of vendors there too, who shared the broader perspective of working with many nonprofit clients) had great recommendations for boosting the impact of your online fundraising. Here are a few of the most useful take-aways:

• Be creative in your post-gift reports to donors
• UNICEF kept its tsunami-relief donors fully informed via a series of reports from the field, which included videocasts.
• Conference calls with relief staff in the field, your organization's executive director or a volunteer or major donor are also gaining popularity. You can re-purpose recorded calls as downloadable podcasts available via your Web site.

• Online gifts show a snapshot of your current relationship with a donor.Online interactions show giving potential
• Track both streams of activity carefully.
• Launch compelling elements such as online games to engage folks in your Web site. Engagement precedes giving.

• Keep online donors informed with frequent information-filled emails
• Limit promotional email.
• Put a cap on pitches too.

• Use text-to-give cell messaging for crisis fundraising campaigns
• The greatest text-to-give success was a post-tsunami effort in Greece. Donors donors gave more than six million Euros via text-messaging on their wireless phones. Most importantly, most gave multiple times.
• Text-to-give works great for crisis communications and fundraising.
• MobileAccord specializes in helping your nonprofit launch text-to-give campaigns.
• Usage demographics tell us that middle-aged women are heavy text messaging users in the U.S., making text  ideal for volunteer management.

• Email addresses gone bad are correctable -- advocacy organizations pay attention
• New email "change of address" services such as Fresh Address' NCOA for Email help nonprofits keep lists updated.

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