digital strategy, insight and innovation · 2018-05-16 · social media audience growth is...

Digital Strategy, Insight and InnovationGrowing your cause

Anna RobinsonChange.org

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Global trends in digital fundraisingOnline giving continues to grow [up 13% in 2016]Monthly giving online is growing faster than one-off giving onlineTrend towards more donors at smaller amountsSocial media audience growth is outstripping email audience growth but email remains the single biggest channel for generating online gifts75% of charities are now investing in online advertising

Source: M&R Benchmarks 2015

Digital Innovation in ActionThe Climate Council

What did they achieve?Cut through with positive messaging about climate change solutionsMore than 20,000 new supporters recruited

Strong Return on Investment148% Year One ROI predicted

Recruiting regular givers via email 90% Year One ROI from regular giving alone

1) Find your ‘cut-through’ voice

Used positive messages focused on existing solutions to recruit supportersRewarded good practice in government to create a ‘follow the leader’ messageCut through in space dominated by negative messaging

2) Create an engaging & succinct welcome series

All new supporters receive a four email welcome seriesTold the story of the Climate CouncilPresented a strong theory of change and Climate Council’s distinctive roleUsed clever engagement tactics:

New supporter surveyUse of video contentPresenting strong case for regular giving [not just donating]

3) Be agileUsed key media moments to drive engagementResponded rapidly to ensure relevance and timeliness

4) Test and optimise contentTested variations on content, nature and timing of financial asks for all emails and optimised constantly throughout the testKey findings:

Regular giving ask most effective in the third emailWhen making one-off donation asks, 25% chose to become regular givers at the landing page regardlessSupporters who engaged with first emails [opening and clicking] were significantly more likely to become regular givers.

Digital Natives Digital Immigrants&

NO CAPACITY TO EXECUTE:• Limited leadership

knowledge and support

• Lack of digital skills amongst staff

• Poor IT infrastructure

• No / limited digital budget

HIGH CAPACITY TO EXECUTE:• Leadership

knowledge and support

• Digitally skilled staff across whole team

• Established IT infrastructure

• Available budget

CAPACITY

CULTURE

DIGITAL IS AN OPPORTUNITY:• Digital first approach• ‘Fail fast’ mentality• Agility and flexibility to respond as opportunities emerge• Commitment to empowering supporters - listening,

engaging and allowing them to lead

DIGITAL IS A THREAT• Give up if first tests do not yield excellent responses• Lack of flexibility to move quickly outside of planning cycle• Fear of controlling organisation message online• Unwillingness to invest unless results immediately

comparable to existing fundraising channels

Leaping the Digital Divide

CULTURE

CAPACITY

LEADERSHIP STYLESUPPORTER EXPECTATIONS

SUCCESS METRICSPLANNING & APPROVAL

PROCESSES

ORG STRUCTUREHR PRACTICES

INVESTMENTIT TOOLS

DIGITALNATIVES

DIGITALREFUGEES

The future of digital fundraising

#feeltheBernDigital first approach

No investment for first four months of campaign in traditional advertising formats [e.g. television]. $10 million initial investment in digital advertising, more than any other presidential candidate.

Mass mobilisation onlineBernieSanders.com draws 5 million visitors per month [twice as many as Clinton and more than all Republican candidates combined] Hugely successful at engaging youth audience

Leading to huge fundraising returnsIn 2015 Sanders raised $75 million from 1.3 million individual donors [average contribution of $57] Over $40 million in February 2016 alone.

1) New channels to reach new audiences

2) Email to drive fundraising returns

Huge number of emails sent [average of four per DAY]Strong and consistent voice throughout [David vs. Goliath]Key tactics:

Micro-donations [$2.70 optimised]Social proofing Goals and constant updatesHighly responsive around key events

3) Data, data and more dataData is driving segmentation and micro-targeted messagingSaves money + improves returnsVoter profiles based on:

Registered voter data from party affiliated organisations Census dataCredit card company dataSocial media dataTV / music streaming data

4) Mobile investment is growing

5) Video is critical to connecting

6) Integrating online and offline

Key takeaways

Small donations = big opportunitiesDon’t be afraid to ask a lot Use multiple channels to widen reach, target new audiences and create an ‘echo chamber’ that drives resultsCapture and centralise data about supporters to segment your audience and target your messagesEmpower your donors to drive your campaigns

Questions?