The Long Snail: Why the Nonprofit Sector Needs to Get Moving Online

Arts Reach Marketing and Development ConferenceOctober 7th, 2008

Stacie Mann, Director of MarketingNetwork for Good

www.networkforgood.org

Agenda: What I Will Cover

Generally,

• Internet Technology for Nonprofits – Trends and Tools

Specifically…

• Basic Internet Tech for Nonprofits – “Web 1.0 & Online Fundraising”

• The Long Tail meets the Nonprofit Sector – “The Long Snail?”

• Online Donor Trends – “The Young and the Generous”

• Web 2.0 for Nonprofits – “How Kevin Bacon Flipped the Funnel for Wired Fundraisers”

Why do you care?

tmdspflg, Flickr

Inspiration + Know how +Tools

= Change the World

5 Ways Every Nonprofit ShouldUse Internet Technology

1. Search Marketing/ Online Advertising 2. Website Design/Web Marketing3. Email Marketing4. Online Donations5. Social Networking/Web 2.0

J Gilbert, Flickr

Julian Bleeker, Flickr

bramstercate, Flickr

The Long Snail?

• Similar to iTune’s effect on music access, online giving benefits the Long Tail– More money goes to the 750,000 small-to-mid sized organizations– Because any nonprofit of any size can do it– Because it’s drastically less expensive and more efficient than conventional

fundraising

Trend #1 – Democratization of philanthropy – free shelf spaceTrend # 2 – Nonprofit Outsourcing – ASPs, SaaS, On Demand Technology

$7 - 10 billion75% 24%

Trend #3 – Big Numbers; Growing Fast

Total Online Donations (1999 –2006)

Source: Estimates from e-PhilanthropyFoundation.org and eNonprofit Benchmarks Study from Advocacy Institute.

* Preliminary estimate based on eNonprofit Benchmarks Study from Advocacy Institute.

e-Philanthropy

$0

$1,000

$2,000

$3,000

$4,000

$5,000

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

(in m

illio

ns)

Who Is Giving Online?*

• Online givers are young (38-39 years old)• They are generous -- ($163)• Men and women give online in equal numbers• Virtually all (96%) have given to charity before,

but 38% haven’t given online before• Online giving is tracking to the trends of online

shopping and bankingTrend #4 – Donor Demographics Changing*Network for Good Study, “The Young and Generous”

When Are They Giving Online?*

• During business hours, during the week• During disasters and holiday

• Like Retail, 40% of online giving happens during December

*Network for Good Study, “The Young and Generous”

Online50%

Offline50%

Online20%

Offline80%

September 11

Online33%

Offline67%

TsunamiSource of Donations:

Katrina

Why Are They Giving Online?*

• It’s easier than writing a check• It’s a fast way to provide disaster relief• It can be anonymous• They like recurring donations

*Network for Good Study, “The Young and Generous”

Online Fundraising in a Web 2.0 World

a.k.a. the Kevin Bacon School of Online Fundraising

What is Web 2.0?

“Web 2.0 is a set of economic, social, and technology trends that collectively form the

basis for the next generation of the Internet—a more mature, distinctive

medium characterized by user participation, openness, and network effects.”

—Tim O’Reilly, Fall 2006

What’s Web 2.0…

• Social networking sites like AIM Pages, Facebook, Friendster, My Space, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Hi5, Match.com

• Activist networking like Care2, Change.org• Blogs• Instant messaging• Widgets and Gadgets• Tagging (keywords, descriptive info that organizes

info and helps you find urls)• Photo sharing (Flickr)• APIs/web services• RSS (real simple syndication)• Mashups….

MASHUP

Person-to-Person Fundraising

Synonyms: group fundraising, personal fundraising, viral fundraising, grassroots fundraising, peer-to-peer fundraising.

Source: Peter Deitz, Social Actions, Founder

The process of gathering money and other gifts in kind, by empowering individuals to solicit from and

communicate with prospective donors of their own choosing through the use of Web 2.0 (i.e., blogs,

widgets, images, video, face-to-face interactions and other social media).

Growth of Online Giving

e-Philanthropy

$0

$1,000

$2,000$3,000

$4,000

$5,000

$6,000

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

(in m

illio

ns)

Flip the Funnel

Case Study: 6º Experiment

1. Cult of celebrity2. User-generated 3. Online giving4. Social networking

e-Philanthropy

$0

$1,000

$2,000

$3,000

$4,000

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005*

(in m

illio

ns)

What Kevin Bacon taught me about you…

A person-to-person fundraising widget is an online tool that permits a portion of one webpage to appear on other webpages. These multiple appearances look exactly the same and can be updated from a single source.

Fundraising Widgets

Meet “The Wired Fundraiser”

• Word of mouth maven• Emotional connection, passionate• Active connecters, sphere of influence• Could be new to fundraising or dabblers• Tech savvy• Young 20-40yrs

Ali’s Story

Robin’s Story• Raised $18,000 online in 2 months and a

$10,000 matching grant• She attracted nationwide attention for her efforts

CNN Heroes series, a story on the E! network and local coverage

• Her local MS chapter gained 1,000 new donors, $28,000, and unprecedented visibility

Trend #5 -- We are not the best messengers

• 76% of givers are motivated by friends and family, says Cone

• It’s okay to relinquish control of the message

• Donors are experts at knowing how to speak about your cause to their friends and family

• Tools out there to do that for free!

Wall Street Journal Gets It!

Why P2P Widgets work

How to make it work:

PopularEasyRewardingFunCultivateTangible

Why it works:ConversationAuthenticStoryTranslates into

Action

Nonprofits should avoid working exclusively within a single social network or application.

Source: Peter Deitz, Social Actions, Founder

Causes on Facebook

• Third-party application developed on Facebook’sopen platform by

• Project Agape, launched in May 2007

• Allows American and Canadian 501(c)(3)s and political campaigns to recruit supporters and fundraise directly on Facebook

• Raised $2.5MM for 20,000 charities in first year of operation

• 12MM total installs, 83K daily active users (1%)

Tools to find supporters and monitor them…

Tech Trend Summary

Trend #1 Democratization of philanthropy; free shelf space

Trend # 2 Nonprofit Outsourcing – ASPs, SaaS, On Demand Technology

Trend #3 Big Numbers; Growing Fast

Trend #4 Donor Demographics Changing

Trend #5 Time to let go of the message; change the messenger

Who’s Next?How Network for Good has evolved to help the sector evolve:

– Giving portal at www.networkforgood.org– On any US nonprofit’s website (or even to nonprofits without

websites) through our DonateNow services– Widgets – enable anyone to fundraise anywhere on line– Web services – enabling partners to fundraise anywhere online -

Oprah’s Big Give, Causes on Facebook, Change.org, Capital One– Scholarships – Foundations help their nonprofits with capacity

building grants to leverage internet technology– GoodCards – enabling the gift of giving

Clients and Partners:

If the long snail can do it…

…so can you and your friends.

The Long Tail by Chris Anderson

Robin Hood Marketing by Katya Andresen

Flip the Funnel by Seth Godin

Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath

Is it just people under 40??*• Online donors tend to be spread relatively

evenly through all age groups. • In this research study, a median 13% of

the online donors were 65 or older.

** 2006 donorCentrics™ Internet Giving Benchmarking Analysis

• Donor Opportunity

– In the under 30 age group, online donors outnumber offline 5 to 1

– In the 65 + age group, offline donors outnumber online 3.6 to 1

* “The Young and the Generaous”, Network for Good, 2006.”2006 donorCentrics Internet Giving Benchmarking Analysis”, Target Analysis Group, 2007.

58%23%60 and Up6%21%Under 406138Median*

Offline

Online

Age Measure

Is it just people under 40??*