ghosts are scary; raising money online is not

GHOSTS ARE SCARY, RAISING MONEY ONLINE IS NOT

A FirstGiving webinarA FirstGiving webinarwith Ashley Morrison and with Ashley Morrison and

Beth PickardBeth PickardOctober 21, 2009October 21, 2009

AGENDA

Who is here How FirstGiving’s online fundraising model

works Using online fundraising to expand your

reach 5 common misconceptions about raising

money online Success stories Q & A

WHO IS HERE

ONLINE FUNDRAISING MODEL

What it is… An easy and effective

way to increase your event’s revenue with an innovative giving model

A way to expand your nonprofit’s reach to a new group of givers who are motivated by a personal connection to your supporters

What it is not… A way to sell tickets to

events

Software which can be installed

A donate button

A way to process transactions

A SUPPORTER’S FUNDRAISING PAGE:

Personalized and visually appealing

Givers can leave comments along with a

donation

YOUR NONPROFIT PAGE:

Branded banner and photos

Customizable text

A visible community of

supporters

HOW IS ONLINE FUNDRAISING EFFECTIVE?

WHY PEOPLE RAISE MONEY FOR YOUR NONPROFIT ON FIRSTGIVING (IN THEIR OWN WORDS):

"I want to make my running event more meaningful by contributing to a cause I care about"

"I have a personal connection to this organization's work"

"I have been involved as a donor and volunteer with this organization in the past, and I want to do more"

"I respect this organization's work, and I want to inspire my friends and family to contribute to it"

WORK WITH YOUR SUPPORTERS TO BUILD A COMMUNITY

Your supporters work like a mini-development office, soliciting their friends and family to get involved

Your supporters’ friends and family become new donors from new networks

Some donors may even become supporters as a result of the relationship

Your NPO Supporters = Fundraisers Friends & Family = Donors

ROADMAP: THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE REACH

Andrew is a regular donor to your nonprofit, he decides he wants to participate in your annual 5K event and raise money

Photo by andronicusmax

Andrew is directed to your nonprofit page on FirstGiving to create his personal fundraising page

Andrew creates a fundraising page with FirstGiving

Andrew is able to send out his fundraising page to more people in less time because he can send the link to his fundraising page to everyone on his email list.

Denise, a work friend of Andrew’s, gets sent the fundraising page and decides to support

Andrew and his cause

The next year, Andrew asks Denise to join his team for the 5K. Denise decides to run and fundraise for the

cause, too.

COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT RAISING MONEY ONLINE

1. Time consuming

2. Less secure than collecting offline donations

3. Highly technical

4. My supporters won’t be as successful online

5. Expensive

#1: ONLINE FUNDRAISING IS TIME CONSUMING

For nonprofits: Average nonprofit invests less than 5 hours in set up

time Average nonprofits spends less than 1 hour per week

to run reports on supporters and givers. For supporters:

Takes less than 10 minutes to set up a fundraising page and send it to 100 of their family and friends

Average fundraiser page raises $400 For givers

Donations can be made via credit card quickly and at their convenience

#2: ONLINE FUNDRAISING IS LESS SECURE THAN OFFLINE FUNDRAISING

FirstGiving makes a weekly deposit to your bank account via electronic funds transfer

Secure site- VeriSign PCI compliant

Confirmation receipt sent to givers via email

All transactions are recorded in your nonprofit account area

#3: ONLINE FUNDRAISING IS HIGHLY TECHNICAL

Site is user-friendly for nonprofits, supporters and givers alike

Easy-to-use template for nonprofit page and supporter pages

Pages look sleek and professional

Online and offline resources to guide/help

you

#4: MY SUPPORTERS WON’T BE AS SUCCESSFUL USING ONLINE TOOLS

Supporters are generally more successful when raising money online, even if they are already successful offline More outlets to “post” their pages Wider reach Easy and fast

People are accustomed to conducting transactions online Banking Shopping White pages- Google Communication –email

#5: ONLINE FUNDRAISING IS EXPENSIVE: When using offline solutions

Time is money Consider the time required to track and process all

checks

When using online solutions The effectiveness of your online campaign will

outweigh set up costs Most nonprofits experience greater success when

moving an event online

SUCCESS STORY #1:SOAR (SPEAKING OUT ABOUT RAPE)

Over half of event participants moved online during first year

“FirstGiving made it easier for our participants and easier for our staff. This year’s event was a huge success because of FirstGiving. I never imagined we’d raise so much money”

Kellie Green, Executive Director SOAR

SUCCESS STORY # 2: AIDS PROJECT RHODE ISLAND

Average online supporter raised $150 more than average offline supporter

“In just a few weeks, [our] walkers raised 63% more than last year. By creating personal appeals through their own web pages, our walkers were able to reach more donors, in less time” Chris Butler, Executive Director

25% of supporters on FirstGiving were 1st time walkers

ANY QUESTIONS?

Use the question tool to ask your questions

We’ll answer as many as we can now, and reply to the rest by email

In a few days, slides and a recording will be emailed to you and posted at:

www.onlinefundraisingblog.com

INTERESTED IN GETTING STARTED?

To request a free live demo,To request a free live demo,

call (877) 365-2949 call (877) 365-2949 or email or email sales@firstgiving.com

Learn more at Learn more at www.firstgiving.com