Gene Carr's Patron Technology Blog

Web Sites: Now Fundraising Tool Numero Uno

With thanks to Joanne at the NY Pops, I want to direct you to an amazing and meaty article in the Nonprofit Times this week. There's too much there to summarize but let me quote just one sentence which should get your attention:

According to a new The NonProfit Times study, twice as many potential donors are heading online after receiving a fundraising solicitation by mail than they did just three years ago, and among those 65 and older, the increases were even more substantial.

Here's a link to the article.

It seems clear that what's happening here is a natural evolution in consumer behavior, from offline to online. The first wave was for ticketing, and now it's time for donations. We already know that consumers believe that your Web site is the most updated place to get information about your organization. What we're seeing is that direct mail can motivate a Web site visit in advance of a donation. So, for those fundraisers out there who aren't yet convinced that your online donation technology is as important as your direct mail, this article should do the trick. 

Personally, I often won't donate to an organization that doesn't make it easy for me to do so online. Let me ask you this: If you went to your own site, how many seconds would it take for you to find the "donate now" link? Just asking....

Missing the Point & Missing the Convention

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you'll know that I'm a pretty avid follower of what's been going on on the Web relating to the presidential election.

Last night, just for kicks I wanted to see what was happening each night at the convention. As I want to catch some of it live, I figured that going to the Web site for the convention would give me that information. It was easy enough to find the site, www.demconvention.com, but that's where the fun stopped.

I defy you to find a day-by-day schedule on this site anywhere. Now maybe it's me, but isn't that pretty much the whole point of the convention -- bringing the public into the Democratic process???

If I were designing this site, it seems to me that I would make the first priority a big huge honking schedule somewhere pretty noticeable. And I'd make it pretty obvious how to sign up for daily e-mail or text updates from the convention.

Am I the only one thinking this way?

Updated 8/20

Many of you commented on this so I guess I wasn't the only one!  However, Robb Kushner of JCA wins the prize. Here's the email he just sent me:

Maybe the DNC left it in the hands of Wikipedia!

 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schedule_for_2008_Democratic_National_Convention

 

 

E-mail Sign-up Cleverness

I got a curious e-mail today from the Obama campaign. It asked me to "re-opt-in" to a list which would enable me to get first notice of who Obama had chosen as his VP nominee.  At first I thought this was a brilliant strategy to get new people to sign up for his e-mail list, and maybe that's all there is to it.

But if so, why make me opt-in again? I'm already on the list, so there must be a reason why they wanted to sub-segment their list for just this purpose. I'm not so sure what the strategy is here.

That said, the lesson here is that if you've got something really interesting to announce, you can use that as a hook to get new members to sign up. This goes along with my post last month about the demise of the newspaper as the source for late-breaking news about your organization.

Clearly the Obama campaign has decided THEY are the news source of record. This isn't a story they are going to leave to the press to report -- they have embraced the age of self-publishing.

  

More Confirmation about Seniors Online

I feel like there's an instinctive rush to associate Internet marketing with younger audiences. And when that happens, bad decisions are made about targeting.

As I've written many times before, the Web is safe for marketing to older audiences, and this chart published earlier this week by eMarketer demonstrates that "seniors" online (those over 62) are going to be a growing sector of the online audience for the foreseeable future.

I'm beginning to aggressively push organizations to not marginalize their e-marketing into age brackets, but to recognize that the Web is central to all marketing efforts, not matter the age of the audience.

Our Sept 12th e-marketing conference is selling out!

If you're interested in e-marketing and want to get immersed it, now is the time to act!

Our "E-marketing E-mersion E-vent" on September 12th is nearly sold out. In fact, we've only got 12 seats left. The conference includes sessions such as:

• What’s Your Audience Really Doing Online?
• Google 101 for Non-profits: Free Stuff!
• Web Marketing with Podcasts & Video
• Social Networks: Marketing on Facebook
• Get Control of your Patron Data
• Plus all-day Lobby Roundtable sessions for beginners

You can read more about the event and register here.