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Mind shifts and tweaks: The latest in online fundraising
By Louise Chatterton Luchuk
March 26, 2007
Remember when VCRs first hit the market? What cost hundreds of dollars then can be picked up today for $39.99, while Blu-ray is the latest and greatest. That’s the reality of technology; what was new and cutting edge (and expensive) yesterday is standard fare (and cheaper) today. The same can be said of online fundraising. What used to be an expensive, custom program for a pioneering nonprofit is now widely available to others for a substantially lower cost. That means that online fundraising is accessible to more organizations, and those who’ve been doing it for awhile are refining their practices.
How to stay on top
One of the first out of the gate with online fundraising was the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation (CBCF). It was the first organization to be sanctioned by the Canada Revenue Agency to provide online tax receipts. Today, this type of customized software program is readily available and used by other nonprofits. So, what is CBCF up to these days and how do they stay cutting-edge with their online fundraising practices?“It’s a very evolving practice,” says Mark Hierlihy, director of development for the national office. “We’ve learned from industry and we’ve learned from our own practice.” That means CBCF pays attention to how people want to talk to them, how often, and what they want to hear. In other words, explains Scott deVeber, the national office IT project manager, “we find out where there is inconvenience and where we can create efficiency for people who are donating or fundraising on our behalf.”
Hierlihy and deVeber both recommend talking to the exhibitors at conferences, as they’ve both learned a lot that way - including learning about data integrity, which is a current area of focus. Imagine thousands of people inputting their contact information online. When the data is incorrect, there are implications for e-receipting, so software to validate street addresses and postal codes is very valuable to CBCF.
Engaging donors in the online world
The Salvation Army of Canada is in the process of refining its online fundraising practices, too. “We’ve had an online fundraising presence since 2001,” says Andrew Burditt, territorial public relations director. “We’ve never experienced fraud, but we’ve added proactive measures recently to make the site even more secure.” They’ve also integrated their online fundraising with their more traditional fundraising. So if a donor calls the Salvation Army, they have the option of an instant tax receipt. If the donor agrees, the customer service representative enters the data online to generate the e-receipt. In doing so, the donor is partially engaged in the online world.This is important to the Salvation Army. While it represents only 1.5% of total donations, this fiscal year they are set to raise more than $2.3 million through online fundraising. Burditt recognizes that “as an organization, technology is important and as fundraisers we need to do our best to communicate and make it easy for people to donate. Our strong traditional support comes from an aging population and we have to find ways to reach out to a new demographic.”
A demographic immersed in today’s technology
One organization that instantly connected with a technologically-savvy demographic is GuluWalk, and you’ll find GuluWalk’s presence on YouTube, Wikipedia, MySpace and flickr. The first GuluWalk was held in 2005 to raise awareness about the ordeals facing children of northern Uganda. A year later, the organization made its first attempt to fundraise and raised almost $500,000 - mostly through online fundraising.What GuluWalk proves is that online fundraising is not just for large nonprofit organizations with dedicated IT departments and large budgets. GuluWalk is staffed by only two people. “We were small and didn’t have a lot of money to take risks,” says co-founder Adrian Bradbury. “We weren’t being particularly proactive. The reason for going online was to create an easy tool for people to be able to fundraise for GuluWalk and to tell their unique story in the process. It was to connect the walks in 15 different countries. But the biggest reason was for support and administration. We’re an office of two people trying to run a global event. Going online was the only way to manage. If everything was paper-based, it would have been impossible to keep up.”
Mind shift
The basis for GuluWalk’s online fundraising success is the theory of a new web - Web 2.0. Organizations like GuluWalk look for online fundraisers - as opposed to online donors - and support those individuals in finding the donors. That’s an important mind shift, says Philip King, president and CEO of Artez. It’s no longer about directing people to a website and having a “Donate Now!” button. The concept of Web 2.0 is about self-expression and self-control. It’s a conversation “with” as opposed to a conversation “to.” This changes the relationship that individuals have with a charity. “Charities who recognize and embrace this new approach are on the cutting edge of online fundraising,” suggests King. “The organizations that are tapping into this have a slightly fearless attitude. There’s a lot that can scare you when you move online but the fearless organizations see that the benefits outweigh the risks.”Interestingly, the cutting edge in online fundraising is not so much tied to the release of an exciting new product or technology. The latest development in online fundraising is that it is increasingly accessible and successful online fundraising is about organizations shifting and refining how they approach individuals.
Louise Chatterton Luchuk is a freelance writer and consultant who combines her love of writing with experience at the local, provincial and national levels of volunteer-involving organizations. For more information, visit www.luchuk.com.
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