Are you searching for ways to raise more money?

If you’ve been in the nonprofit industry for a while, you’ve likely heard that “direct mail is dead” or that offline fundraising is on the decline.

Why? Because Internet usage continues to skyrocket. Data storage and hardware is cheap. Smartphones are in everyone’s hands and social networking online has become an everyday activity for millions of people. Simply put, the world is going online.

All these elements (and many others) lead one to believe that “going online” is a must. That online fundraising is the way for your organization to break through its fundraising ceiling and raise millions of dollars tomorrow.

But …

Offline still rules …

90%+ of fundraising revenue comes from offline sources. Direct mail and other offline fundraising sources are still the most effective ways to raise money – by a long shot!

Online is a critical piece …

You could argue that if offline fundraising accounts for such a large portion of fundraising revenue in the industry then you should place all your focus there.  But that would be slightly short sighted.

Online fundraising continues to grow by leaps and bounds. It’s grown 34.5% to $20+ billion in 2010. And it continues to be the best way to acquire new donors.

What the data tells us …

They key to raising more money is to figure out how to utilize offline and online channels together.  When you do them both well you have an opportunity to increase overall giving per donor by up to 3X that of a single channel donor.

Check out the multichannel fundraising infographic below to learn more about how online and offline giving go hand in hand.

Share with your friends …

<a href="http://www.netwitsthinktank.com/online-fundraising/achieving-better-fundraising-results.htm"><img title="Multichannel giving by Blackbaud [INFOGRAPHIC]" src="http://www.netwitsthinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/multichannel-giving-by-blackbaud.jpg" alt="Multichannel giving by Blackbaud [INFOGRAPHIC]" width="560" height="2299" /></a>

Data sources used in above infographic

2011 donorCentrics Internet and Multichannel Giving Benchmarking Report
2010 Online Giving Report by Blackbaud

Over the last few months a combination of client workload, a shoulder op, and a house renovation project have unfortunately left me no time at all for blogging. However, I have been keeping-up with my report and research reading, and last week’s release of the latest eBay/MissionFish report ‘Passion, persistence and partnership: the secrets of earning more online’ has finally got me back to my keyboard.

At 50 pages this free report is a lengthy but worthwhile read, combining recent research into general UK internet usage as well as online charity activity, together with advice on how to make best use of online opportunities and some thoughts on how things are likely to develop in the future.

What makes it all the more interesting is that it represents an update of a report first released in 2008, providing some insight into how things have changed over the last three years. Naturally a lot of the change reported relates to the explosion in Social Media activity seen over this period, but it is also good to see more organisations reporting that online activity is moving from the sidelines towards the heart of their supporter engagement programmes.

The one piece of data I was particularly interested to see was the proportion of charitable donations now reported as coming online, as this is a common question amongst organisations reviewing their fundraising activity and robust benchmark data is typically difficult to find.

Based on the nfpSynergy ‘Virtual Promise’ research data quoted in the report there was an 85% increase in the percentage of voluntary income that came from online between 2007 and 2010.

Now, 85% is a significant increase – even in the digital world where things tend to increase a lot, very quickly. However, this actually represents growth from just 2% to 3.7% of overall annual voluntary income – which somehow doesn’t seem quite so impressive.

For comparison, according to Blackbaud’s 2010 US Online Giving Report online giving in America represented around 7% of all voluntary income in 2010 – which is better, but still not an especially high proportion given the effort invested in promoting digital fundraising over recent years.

I suspect one reason for these disappointingly low contributions is the fundamental challenge of measuring the true financial contribution of all digital activity. Measuring one-off online donations made through your website should be easy enough, but what about direct debits started online. How many organisations allocate the subsequent years’ regular giving income back to their online income lines? Then there are the increasing volumes of donations made on other sites, from sponsorship income collected through JustGiving, MyDonate, etc. to the emerging growth of microdonations through sites like eBay (eBay checkout microdonations amounted to c£1.5m over the last two years) which might simply not be included when organisations report their ‘online’ income because they are not monitored by the main online fundraising team.

What do you think? Are charities under-reporting online giving or is online really providing less than one twentieth of all the UK’s voluntary income?

This is our back-to-school edition of our monthly e-newsletter.  ‘Back’ to school implies that we ‘turned off’ learning for the summer, but as consultants we are always trying to be better for our clients. During the summer ‘down’ period, while our clients are away on vacations, we take this opportunity to read, explore new technology, and try things out, so that when you are back to work we are ready with solutions.

The days when education and learning ended when you were handed your college degree are long over. These days, the most successful business people are those who constantly learn and grow. It’s now absolutely true that if you fail to keep up with the latest advances in the nonprofit industry, you can be left further and further behind.

As a management consultant, I simply cannot afford to stand still – in order to be successful I need to be constantly learning, growing and adapting. My clients rely on me to be up to date on everything from changes in laws governing privacy to new trends in technology and marketing and the charitable sector as a whole.

Providing top notch service to my clients is what consulting is all about, and the better service I can provide the more successful hjc will be.

But there is another type of learning that can’t really be garnered by reading blogs and books, doing research, or attending conferences… it is the experience of learning how to be a consultant.

• Where do we learn to translate content into learning and growth for our clients?
• Where do we learn how to engage and inspire and encourage and teach and lead?
• Where do we learn whether to inspire or prescribe? The consultant facilitator v. the consultant expert…
• Where do we learn how to facilitate – and where do we practice that skill?

How can we learn from other consultants? What structures are best for facilitating that learning?

The answer to all of the above questions is through mentor-ship and  by ‘doing’.  I’ve had the incredible opportunity to work with some of the best hjc-connected senior consultants in the sector – Mark Climie-Elliott, Chris Carter and Douglas Tanton.  It’s through this mentor-ship, and the patience of my clients, that I’m learning these skills.

Feedback in this process is important… so I ask you all to be part of ‘learning’ and ‘sharing’… constructive criticism of your consultants is important if we are to learn and grow and be excellent for you.  We need you to tell us when we are doing a good job, or when we are not meeting (and exceeding) your expectations.  But, remember, you hire us to challenge you!  So a consultant not agreeing with your point of view, doesn’t mean they are a bad consultant.

By Heather McLean

Google recently launched their AdWords Engage for Agencies program, of which hjc is a proud member.  The program provides resources and support to digital agencies such as ours in order to better serve our clients when developing search marketing campaigns.

At the launch event held recently in Toronto, Chris O’Neill, Country Director at Google Canada, presented some interesting trends in the Canadian digital landscape and how search marketing can capitalize on those trends.  He focused on three major points:

• The introduction of the Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT).  ZMOT is a term coined at Google to describe the online decision-making moment for a potential customer (or a potential donor as the case may be).  Potential donors have been conducting research online for a while now, and that trend is only increasing and gaining mainstream acceptance.  Where does that research start?  With search, and search marketing can capture and influence those very important first impressions.
•  Local is huge.  According to Google, 1 in 5 online searches have a local component.  Nonprofits can capitalize on this trend by targeting their content and search ads to specific locations.  Through the use of geographic targeting and creative copy writing we can increase the relevance of our ads to searchers and ultimately earn more clicks and impressions for our search marketing campaigns.
• Mobile is more than a trend.  Search traffic from mobile devices is higher than ever and continues to grow.  By 2014, half of all Canadians will own a smartphone.  It’s important to remember this fact when developing a search marketing campaign in order to target these users effectively and accurately track results.

Google’s Engage for Agencies program offers us unique resources and ongoing support in order to get the most out of our client’s search marketing campaigns.  Did we also mention that Google has given us coupons to help our clients get started?  Get in touch with us today and let’s explore whether search marketing is right for you.

Should I outsource my online fundraising in the same way I outsource my direct mail or telephone fundraising?

It’s an intriguing question and one that hjc wants to help nonprofit organizations to answer in a way that helps them do a better job with their supporters. For decades, nonprofit organizations have been outsourcing the creative, tactics, strategies and execution of direct mail and telephone fundraising and campaigning.  The reasons for hiring a traditional direct response agency can be many: better skill sets, results, and lower costs. (Click here to take the survey now) or

Of course, that’s not always the case because traditional direct response practitioners are reasonably common and nonprofit organizations can carefully, and successfully, build their own internal teams.

But in our 18 years of online fundraising experience we know that it’s very uncommon to have highly experienced online fundraising personnel within a nonprofit organization. Yet why is it, with less skilled people available internally, it’s less common to see nonprofit organizations to outsource their online fundraising than in traditional direct response?

It’s a hard question to answer but one we think has at least two explanations:

1. Anybody can do online. There is a perception in the nonprofit marketplace that you don’t need a lot of past experience to do online marketing and fundraising. hjc believes that as online is becoming so vital to an organization’s fundraising and marketing success, it’s a dangerous assumption.

2. There’s not a lot of money in online right now so let’s not get the best help.  In our recent study of donors, the Next Generation of Canadian Donors (http://www.hjcnewmedia.com/nextgencanadiangiving/), it’s obvious that online is intimately tied to the success of traditional channels with EVERY generation of donor using ALL channels.  The study points to online being a key connector to the success of traditional channels.

After almost 20 years of helping organizations online, we’re pretty sure it can make a lot more sense to outsource your online fundraising and marketing. To help you make that decision, we’ve created a simple survey that will only take you 5 minutes to fill out. If you fill out the survey, you’ll be eligible for an hour of free consulting from Michael Johnston.

Here’s survey draft: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CLK2CWY

Passion. It’s something that is vital to work in the nonprofit sector but sometimes very hard to make tangible. For me, it’s tattoos. Yep, that’s right – tattoos.

Back in the mid 90′s, I had it figured out that I’d work in the nonprofit sector till I pass this earth. I’m honoured to work in such an amazing sector and it’s what I love.

But around 1995, with my love and commitment solidified for the nonprofit sector, I wanted some tangible way to show that and I thought of a tattoo. Then I needed to know where it would go. Over my heart. Then… with that figured what would the tattoo be to show passion and commitment to make the world a better place.

I thought of Michael Lerner and his publication, Tikkun. It’s a Hebrew word that when used in a spiritual sense e.g. Tikkun Olam, can mean to repair the world – to heal it, to make it better. That’s the kind of thing that fuels my work in the nonprofit sector.

Now on to a little contest and some fun. It’s been over 15 years since my last nonprofit inspired passion tattoo and it’s time for the next one. It’s going on my left shoulder but what should it be. I’m urging people I know to send me an email at mjohnston@hjcnewmedia.com and give me an idea. The best one gets tattooed on my shoulder. A symbol, a word, an icon, anything that I can look at on my shoulder and be reminded about the sector I love and the passion I feel for it – and what inspires me every day!

So come on! Give me a great tattoo idea, send it to me and i’ll get it on my shoulder. I’d love to show it off at the International Fundraising Congress outside of Amsterdam the third week of October. There’s no time to lose. Inspire me!

Barbie, over a lunch together, I couldn’t help but notice that you come from the senior ranks of corporate Canada.  How did that experience influence your work in the nonprofit sector?

I held a very senior position in a lumber industry company, Canfor Corporation and other senior corporate board positions for the Bank of Canada, Hudson’s Bay Trading Company and some others. It was a rewarding 29 years in corporate Canada. Those corporate experiences really  taught me how to manage people and in the nonprofit sector it’s all about people. And I really think I’ve brought a corporate-driven perspective that you can always do things better – and differently.

So tell me more about how you bring those people skills to our sector a bit more.

Well, I was dealing with smaller communities when I was in the lumber industry. Villages, towns, small cities – rural areas. These are all sensitive, community-minded places and I came to their similarities, differences and their unique views on community  needs. Then, coming to Variety, I came to understand that we we have a lot of grassroots donors and many, many rural communities we provide support to. So, it was a comfortable thing for me to be in donor communities – being on the ground as the head of a nonprofit – a local helper instead of being someone who was a local employer.

In fundraising leadership, we’re often tasked with being accountable with donor dollars. How do you give a corporate supporter a great experience?

I think when I was in a senior position in a publicly traded company learning how to serve shareholders was one thing and the other would have been the unique issues of stewardship in the forestry industry. The idea of being a good steward on a number of different levels has come with me in my journey to the nonprofit sector.

Have you always been involved with nonprofit organizations?

I was always about giving back to community and being a volunteer to organizations like the  BC Childrens Hospital, United Way, etc. I’ve always had the energy and commitment to organize events for Big Sisters  and I was very involved in school fundraising for my kids too.

How is the nonprofit world different – in a good way?

In the corporate word, you were raising money for the shareholders. As long as you were profitable, then shareholders were happy and the company would be sustainable and successful.  Here it’s quite different – we want to increase revenue to help more children. Having a mission is better to keep people focused on the singular goal. People are in the private sector can be driven for a number of reasons that can be at cross purposes e.g. personal gain, influence, profit, etc. There will be a lot of people surprised by this, but: I find nonprofits not changing for change sake e.g. centralizing and then decentralizing and then centralizing again in comparison to the nonprofit sector.

What are you concentrated on to be successful at fundraising at Variety BC?

I want us to excel at grassroots fundraising. We are good at grassroots fundraising at Variety BC. Lots of people go after big companies but I want us to go after medium and smaller regional partners instead that plays on our incrediable community connections. We are in a unique situation. We are medium sized but we are not big. We can almost give the same experience of a big brand for a lower cost.

How do give a corporate supporter a great experience?

I like to have quick win/win situations for corporate supporters. For example, they make an initial donation of $5,000 and I want to guarantee them a great experience. Then, we grow that relationship to larger and larger commitments – incrementally and naturally.

How have you modernized what’s often seemed as a very traditional fundraising organization?

We’ve introduced text giving, social media, online donor surveys, facbook campaigning, revamped our web site, and upgraded the brand look and feel for younger shifted donors.

And we’ve done a lot more multi-channel fundraising (after listening to you Mike).

How about some last words?

It’s got to be about telethon – it’s what we’re known for. I truly believe you can take very traditional fundraising approaches and  tweak them, make it better, add something new into the mix.  Overall, that’s my perspective for fundraising: take what you’re good at and make it better and never rest on your laurels because the competition is right behind you.

How do you give a corporate supporter a great experience?

How do you choose the right direct mail agency? The current reality is that we are operating in a much more integrated direct response fundraising world (as seen through our Next Gen report) and that means we need to be very careful about who we choose to run our direct mail programs.

Direct mail is still often the fundraising foundation for many organizations BUT more and more they need to be seamlessly connected to the telephone, online, mobile, planned giving, major gifts and every which way a donor gives. Siloed programs are no longer affordable.

Over the last few months we’ve been helping a US national health charity choose a new direct mail fundraising firm by: a) using our 20+ years of integrated partnering with over a dozen DM firms to help choose the prospective candidates, b) crafting an RFP process that will evaluate and shake out those direct mail firms who haven’t transitioned to a more integrated fundraising reality, and then finally, c) creating a scoring system that helps the nonprofit clearly, and accurately, access who is the direct mail firm who can help them in a more integrated fundraising environment.

It’s worked amazingly well and the client has been grateful at how we’ve simplified a complicated process. If you think hjc can help you choose the right direct mail firm for your 21st century journey in fundraising, drop me a line.

Twelve years ago I asked some of the best direct response fundraisers to write about their craft and balance their thoughts on traditional channels and new ones. I’ve gone back and grabbed a few thoughts from Fran Jacobowitz, CFRE, and Kay P. Lautman, CFRE:

“Someday, the Internet and other new technologies may alter the way we practice direct response fundraising, but it won’t eliminate direct mail as one of the primary fund raising tools for a good long time – if ever. It may change some of the strategies, tactics and production of direct mail packages and programs, but direct mail is here to stay.  So we still need to understand the immediate trends for this most important sub-segment of direct response fundraising.”

I think it’s intriguing to look back at these comments. Without a doubt the Internet and other new technologies are having profound influence on traditional channels BUT what really jumps out for me is the thinking that there are trends still going on with the traditional channels. I’m throwing out the reminder (from 10 years ago from these multi-decade direct response fundraisers) that there’s still flux and change with direct mail, the telephone, and other channels. A channel like direct mail has creative, tactical, and strategic successes and failures all the time – 10 years ago – and today.

So, Kay and Fran would simply say “keep testing” – whether that’s online or offline.

We’ve all done it – you open your inbox excited to see that beautiful email designed to grab your attention and then suddenly: disaster. The images don’t line up. The text spacing is off. Everything is broken.

Well, chances are whoever produced this email wasn’t aware of the resurgence of some old design and coding trends. This article will focus on two of them: the production of emails using tables, and the print-based layout design.

Email Coding

Creating and coding an effective email has one important principle. Take everything you’ve learned about coding in the past 5 years and forget all about it. Generally speaking, it’s time to jump in the time machine and go back to the year 2000.

To allow an email to display properly over all email clients, it must be coded strictly using a table based layout. There are a few CSS exceptions, but the general rule of thumb is to avoid it as much as possible. The reason being is with the number of email clients out there, we really need to find the lowest common denominator to achieve the best overall results. And coding in tables helps to achieve that. For those few CSS exceptions, a great resource to find out about compatibility issues is here http://www.campaignmonitor.com/css/.

Print Design

Before the emergence of the web, the main focus of graphic design was centered directly within the print community. As the Internet grew in popularity, a lot of design principles needed to be adjusted to fit the online style of usability and functionality. Out went the large beautiful images and large title fonts while in came the grid-based, text heavy layouts.

Over the past few years, with the creation of Flash, jQuery (javascript) and faster Internet connections, the ability to create a more visual approach to web design was introduced. Below are a few nice examples of web designs that have been able to incorporate a lot of print based techniques.

• Amnesty International
• Nike
• World Vision

These are just two isolated examples demonstrating how the fast-changing world of design often comes full circle. Although it is impossible to guess what’s in store for the future, it’s safe to assume that the online world is adopting the ‘simpler is better’ motto and that key design principles will still hold true. In terms of design, the focus now seems to be on the content and enhancing the user experience which in turn will benefit us all.