An online fundraising strategy that's making waves
December 15, 2003
By Nicole Zummach
When television first entered the living rooms of North America, pundits
declared that it would spell the end of radio. Six decades later Alberta's
CKUA Radio Network, Canada's first public broadcaster, doesn't
seem too worried. This year marks the network's 75th anniversary and
it's still going strong, with no lack of support from listeners. Their
fall fundraising campaign finished at $25,000 over goal. What's really
amazing, however, is that almost 30% of the more than $475,000 raised
came from online donations. Despite its age, this organization has learned
a few new tricks - including how to successfully attract online donors.
Online support just keeps growing
Any organization that has tried its hand at online fundraising knows it involves
a lot more than adding a "donate now" button to their web site. In fact,
recent statistics indicate that most organizations offering online giving
only generate about 1% of their revenue through this method. For all the
promise that e-philanthropy holds, most nonprofits have yet to benefit
from the technology. CKUA is clearly an exception to the norm. Even when
they first introduced an online pledge option during their 2001 fundraising
drive, the results were better than average. "In the fall of 2001, 7.7%
of our donations came online. By the next spring it had risen to 12.6%
and then in the fall of 2002 it almost doubled again to 20.66%," explains
donor relations manager Karen Frost. "It has now increased to 27.5%
- almost 30%".
Frost says that about a third of campaign donors are new each time, while
the other two thirds are repeat donors. "We also know that donors who
previously donated by telephone or mail are converting to online donations,"
she adds. To show how far CKUA has come with online philanthropy, Frost
shares an anecdote from this year's Early Bird campaign, at which time
volunteers call donors that haven't been heard from in the last eighteen
months. "When we were calling out, CKUA didn't show up on the call display
and one donor asked, 'how do I know that you are CKUA?' The volunteer
said, 'well I guess you really don't.' To that the donor replied, 'you
know, I'm going to donate online if that's okay.'" Surprisingly, the donor
felt more comfortable using CKUA's online pledge form than giving her
credit card number over the phone.
Keeping donor needs in mind
Donor security is something that CKUA takes seriously, so it makes sense that
donors feel comfortable giving online. During campaign time there are
typically about 30,000 more visitors to their site than during any other
month, yet webmaster Aileen Quinn says she rarely hears from donors
who are concerned about privacy or security issues. "I think we have to
give credit to the radio announcers and to our donor relations department
because they always state that the site is secure. Plus, right on the
front of our giving page we state that it is secure. If there are any
concerns visitors can call a number or click on an image that will then
take them to the page of the security company we use."
Of course, security is only an issue at the time of a transaction, when
personal information is transmitted. In some ways, accessibility and usability
are much bigger factors - at least in terms of convincing donors to pledge
online in the first place. The feedback Quinn hears is that their donation
page is very easily accessed. "People can get in, they can get out. It's
really clear about how to do it," she says. "We don't get a lot of calls
or e-mails saying, 'I'm lost, I don't know how to do it. Tell me how to
pledge online.' It's pretty simple once they get to our home page."
Another reason that CKUA is so successful with its e-philanthropy has
to do with the donors themselves. Alberta is its number one donor base,
but donations come from regions all over the United States and internationally
as well. "We've got such dedicated, loyal, committed donors who aren't satisfied just listening. They want to know more about the announcers, the programming, and all of those things that can be found on our web site," says Frost. Perhaps more important though, is the fact that CKUA's demographic tends to be an educated one and is more likely to be familiar with the Internet and use it regularly. "I think you have to have a certain amount of comfort with technology to actually make it part of your daily activity," she adds.
Create a captive audience
Frost admits that her job would be a lot harder without the help of the airwaves.
"It makes my job easy because we've already got our captive audience."
For organizations that don't have this luxury but want to benefit from
online giving, she says the key is to capture an audience in the arena
that you want them to respond in. For example, CKUA launched an electronic
newsletter earlier this year that includes a direct link to their online
pledge form. "We send this to our donors and all they have to do is click
and pledge," Frost explains. "That was something new this campaign and
again we did see an increase in online donors." She encourages organizations
to collect e-mail addresses wherever they can and start communicating
with donors electronically.
Having a dynamic web site also helps to keep donors coming back to a site
- and hopefully donating online again. Quinn recommends that organizations
keep their web content fresh and always changing so that people have a
reason to come back. Finally, Frost reiterates the importance of letting
donors know how their gift is being used and keeping them up to date on
programming. She says organizations must maintain avenues for communication,
but at the same time it is imperative not to overuse any one communication
tool. "Even though in the same breath I'm saying communicate, communicate,
it has to be used so judiciously because you don't want to wear out your
audience."
For more information about the CKUA Radio Network,
visit: www.ckua.com.
