The ups and downs of online giving in a down economy
In December of 2008, we published an article showing that online giving had grown significantly between the fall of 2007 and the fall of 2008.1 We decided to take one more look at these trends—the election is over, the economic crisis has deepened and end-of-year...
Weak economy, strong campaign*
*Or, How to stop worrying and beat the recession. The results rolling in from the fundraising appeal were… well, terrible. It was mid-November, the economy was in shambles and getting worse by the day and Oxfam America’s first end-of-year email appeal of 2008 was...
What Worked for Obama Can Work for YOUR Organization
The presidential campaign may be over, but there are still many lessons to be learned from the Obama campaign’s stunningly successful online fundraising efforts. Over the course of his 21- month presidential campaign, Barack Obama’s online fundraising machine raised...
The economy may be down, but online giving is up.*
*So far! The economy has been sluggish for over a year, but the financial crisis on September 15, 2008, shook consumer confidence and set off another round of corporate layoffs. Recent numbers show that unemployment is at its highest since 1994. Many of our clients...
Online Monthly Giving – A Review of Nonprofit Programs
Monthly giving (also known as a recurring donors or sustainers program) has come a long way from the early days of child sponsorship. Now a centerpiece of many direct-marketing programs, monthly giving provides a reliable, low-cost stream of revenue that sustains...
Going Beyond Fundraising Appeals to Reach an Online Goal
I wanted to share some interesting information from a successful online fundraising campaign we launched on June 7th for our client, the Save Darfur Coalition (www.SaveDarfur.org). The campaign focused on the coalition's Divest for Darfur advocacy campaign although...
Digging into eNewsletters
"Urgent vote TOMORROW!" "Your account balance is overdue." "Hurry, final sale ends tonight!" With so many other, potentially more urgent messages competing for your email list members' attention, what can nonprofits do to maximize the likelihood that their...
Online Fundraising Tactics – What Works?
When it comes to online fundraising, there is no “one size fits all” magic formula to inspire list members to give. However, some tactics do work better than others. In an attempt to find out which strategies work best and when, we reviewed more than 180 fundraising...
Review of Recent Online Communications Benchmarks Studies
As more and more organizations turn to the Internet to enhance and expand their fundraising, advocacy and communications work, a number of key questions have arisen, including: How does our online program compare to other programs? What are reasonable goals for list...
Do Email Silences Matter?
Are you one of the many email fundraisers, organizers, advocates or marketers who view their online statistics with a sigh? Do you fantasize about sky-high open, click-through, and response rates… a list with zero unsubscribes? If so, you are not alone. Nonprofit...