Social Fundraising presented by Lisa Colton and Nick Allen

February 18, 2014

About Lisa and NickLisa Colton, Chief Learning Officer, See3 Communications and President, Darim Online. Academy Tour Guide!

Nick Allen, Partner at See3 Communications• Founder of Donordigital, leading online

fundraising and marketing agency• Clients include U.S. Fund for UNICEF,

Habitat for Humanity, AJWS, Amnesty International

• Based in Northern California. Last week got 19 inches of rain in 5 days

What is “Social Fundraising”?

• Giving your supporters the online tools they need to fundraise and engage their community on your behalf

• Your core supporters kick it off, then recruit champions—parents, alumni, teachers and others—to set up their own pages and encourage their networks to give.

• AVI CHAI Foundation will match unique donations $1:$1 up to $500 (max $10,000)!!

Requirements for the Project

• Try something new—a new tool, a new group to raise money from, a new approach that asks people to raise money on your behalf (usually for a specific project)

• Use social media, such as sending suggested messages that your fundraisers or champions can share

• Submit a proposal that your coach will review and Darim/See3/Foundation will approve

Your goals

• Raise $$$$$ (hit or exceed target) … AND…

• Flex new muscles, try new things

• Grow your social networks for the long term

More goals

• Engage the school community• Engage new donors, esp. young alumni• Identify “ambassadors” and “champions”• Create culture of philanthropy in your school

and community

How they did it: Robert M. Beren Academy (Houston)

1. Strategically craft a campaign – project would benefit entire PreK-12, broad appeal, “Music and Movement Challenge.” Got admin buy-in.

2. Create campaign on crowdrise.com3. Tell the world – messages to entire school

community, champions for the campaign

4. Train the champions – in a Powerpoint presentation, we told the campaign champs how to create their own personalized crowdrise.com pages

5. Incentivize the champions – Amazon.com gift cards to champions who raised the most money, and secured the largest number of individual donations

6. Watch the money roll in – within hours, our champions were talking up the campaign and bringing in gifts.

Thanks: Samantha Steinberg and Rachie Jacobson Gold, RMBA’s Directors of Marketing/Admission and Development

http://www.crowdrise.com/LGASchechter13/fundraiser/LGASchechter

Kickstarter “First Class Hoodie”

Likely donors (and champions!)• Parents• Grandparents• Alumni• Alumni parents• Local philanthropists (double match?)• Existing donors to the school• Students (show your commitment)

What makes people donate/fundraise?

1. A friend or family member asks2. A friend or family member asks3. A friend or family member asks

4. To support a friend, family member, colleague

5. To support a school/project6. To support the Jewish future7. To feel good8. To look good in front of others9. To….???

Making an effective crowd-funding page

1. Set ambitious but realistic goal2. Set deadline (4-6 weeks away)3. Make the case for giving (tell a story)4. Show a short video (30-60 seconds)5. Provide “gift handles” - $18 will buy X, $180

will buy Y, $1,800 will buy Z6. Show progress (We’ve raised 2/3 of goal!!)

Invite people to participate

• Ask for donations, specify amounts • Start at $5, $10 to make it easy for everyone (but

how high to go?)• Encourage additional participation from donors –

share on FB, email, ask your parents or grandparents or friends

• Identify the “influencers” and encourage them to spread the word to their networks (after they have made their own personal commitment!)

How to invite

• School Web site• Email (school and personal)• Facebook (school and personal)• Twitter• YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram (if…)• Community Web sites (JCC, Jewish weekly,

synagogue, etc.)

Keep them in the loop

• Post updates on campaign site, your Web site, social media, and by email

• Convey urgency by showing your fabulous progress: “Just $1,500 left to go. Help put us over the top!”

• Remind supporters that they are a key part of large group that’s achieving the goal together

Show your• Thank your

supporters across channels, publicly!

• Praise your supporters

• Broadcast your appreciation for your supporters

Listen

• Read what people write on fundraising page

• Read Facebook, Twitter• Ask your supporters via

email, Facebook, Twitter “how can we make the campaign even better”

Facebook strategy (+Big Duck)• Share videos, photos, quotes, testimonials, celebrities • Work the people already connected to you – school community,

Facebook friends, Twitter followers, etc. -- they’re your advocates

• “Join the conversation” is a common tagline used in social media, which implies that using social media is as much about receiving from your audience as it is about reaching out to them.

• Pay attention to the feedback or the lack thereof; you’ll learn if the ways you’re amplifying your message resonates with your audience. Then you can adjust your posts as necessary.

Getting “shares”

• Ask for Shares• Cute, clever, intriguing photos/captions• Share by DEADLINE and help us ….• Show value – Share this and help us raise $18

Getting shares

Finding the “influencers”

Your influencers could be:

• Best loved teachers, administrators, alums• Friends or family very active on social media• Journalists, esp. online (Jewish weekly)• Celebrities

Twitter 115th most followed (7.7m)

Twitter #1 Katy Perry (50m)

5 keys to success

1. Come up with great campaign2. Build compelling fundraising page – project,

gifts, deadline, video, fun3. Promote it across your best channels – Web,

email, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.4. Ask people to fundraising for you5. Report back, remind people of deadline and

how they can help

Keep learning…

• Darim Online• Big Duck• Razoo.com• Crowdrise.com• www.dayschoolacademy.org

Thank you!