using social networking to engage your donors

Using Social Using Social Networking toNetworking to

Engage your DonorsEngage your Donors

James S. Friend, Jr.James S. Friend, Jr.Director, Office of Stewardship and

DevelopmentDiocese of Allentown, PA

In the beginning….In the beginning….

Nonprofit Social Media SurveySponsored by:

• February 2009 – April 2009• Surveyed 980 Nonprofits• Excellent Cross-section of types of nonprofits

Source: www.nonprofitsocialnetworksurvey.com

Nonprofit Social Network Survey Report• Social networks are popular but average

community sizes remain small – 86.2% of surveyed nonprofits maintain a

presence on a commercial Social Network– 74.1% of nonprofits surveyed maintain a

presence on Facebook.– 93.9% of organizations using Twitter have been

on it for less than a year.

• 30.6% of nonprofits maintain a House Social Network


Popularity of Commercial Social Networks

74%

46.5%43.2%

32.9%26.1%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Facebook YouTube Twitter LinkedIn MySpace


5,391

268 291 286

1,905

-

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

Facebook YouTube Twitter LinkedIn MySpace

Average Size of Respondent Communities


• Nonprofits on social media are allocating small but real resources: staff and budget– 4/5 of the nonprofits surveyed are committing at least ½ of a

fulltime staff person to maintain the site.• More than ½ of those surveyed intend to increase this staff

allocation over the next 12 months.– 4 out of 10 organizations have a budget for social networking,

8.3% reserve $10,000 or less for purpose.

• 1/3 of those surveyed have built and managed their own “house” social networking site.

Nonprofit Social Media Expenses


Nonprofit Social Media Revenues

• For now, there is very little revenue generated by social media channels via fundraising or advertising.– Facebook: 39.9% of respondents have raised

money on facebook / 29.1% of respondents have raised $500 or less over the past 12 months.

– House Social Networks: 25.2% of nonprofit are fundraising and 1/3 of these fundraisers accumulated $10,000 or more in the last year.


Diocese of Allentown Social Networking

• Facebook page– Facebook Groups– Fan Pages

• YouTube Channel• Twitter (Linked with facebook status update)• Diocesan LinkedIn Group Page• 8 High School Online Communities

Source: Diocese of Allentown

• More than 300 Million active users - 50% of active users log on to Facebook in any given day

• Fastest growing demographic is those 35 years and up • More than 40 million status updates each day • More than 10 million users become fans of Pages each

day• More than 45 million active user groups exist on the site • There are more than 65 million active users currently

accessing Facebook through their mobile devices.

Facebook Statistics

Source: www.facebook.com

• Groups: A way to dip your toe or run a small campaign• Pages: Improved communication with supporters,

metrics, and control• Causes: Facebook’s most popular application for

fundraising and spreading awareness• Applications: Improved communications, integration

and customization capabilities, supporter activities, and control (both visual and functional)

Understanding Facebook

Source: Blackbaud

Nonprofit Social Media Budgets

Distributing Messages Automatically via Social Map

Bishop Barres will attend the Allentown Central Catholic HS football game on Saturday.

What a guy!

We are so lucky to

have him

The kids will love him!

Is he coming to my

school?

http://www.facebook.com/marylou.hallmanlewis?ref=nf

• Bishop’s Page• Parish Pages• Catholic School Alumni Groups• Special Interest: « In Memory of Bishop Thomas Welsh »• Bishop’s Appeal

Facebook StrategiesCreate subgroups for special interests


• “We want 1,000 facebook friends by the end of the week, help spread the word and refer a friend to us!”

• Diocesan Press Releases• Links to News Articles from around the Diocese• Links to Video• Wish members Happy Birthday (B-Day’s Listed)• Ask Friends to Tag you in Photos for all to see.• Post links to Daily Readings

Facebook StrategiesKeep your Status Updates Fresh


• “For all of our Catholic School Students, Parents and Alumns, why do you support Catholic Education? Give us your comments…”

• Use Applications like Quizzes• Post Invitations to Events• Don’t be afraid to post links to moderately controversial

issues to get comments.• Remind your friends of your presence on other Social

Media sites

Facebook StrategiesKeep your Status Updates Fresh (cont.)


• Starter organization profile• Typically used by smaller organizations or chapters of a

larger nonprofit• Easy to set up; good place to dabble with Facebook• User actions display on their profile and in their friends’

news feeds• Limitations

– Updating and notification capabilities restricted– No applications

Facebook StrategiesUsing Groups

Source: Blackbaud

• Make certain that more than one person can act or access the Admin on the Group or Fan Page

• Do not accept invitations to applications (games)• Do not join groups that you have no control over• Do use your facebook Profile as the “Diocesan Profile”• Do not request to be friends with too many people in

one day – they can turn this feature off!• Turn off Chat Feature

Facebook StrategiesCautions


• Limit online engagement with Youth• Share the Responsibility of the page with other Staff• Respect Privacy of Friends, limit access to facebook

profile• Engage your Communications Department and your

Newspaper• Check the facebook page M-F daily• ?

Facebook StrategiesCautions (cont.)


• ENGAGE your Friends• Be interactive – responsive• Create excitement – awareness• Be a resource and a source of information

Facebook StrategiesMaking Friends


• #4 Largest Site on the Internet• #1 Largest video site on the web• 300 Million Worldwide Visitors a Month• 100 Million Visitors per Month• 5 Billion Video Streams Every month – 40% of all videos

online• (Do the Math – 5 Billion / 300 Million worldwide visitors

= 17 streams a month per person)• 15 Hours of video uploaded every minute

You Tube Statistics

Source: blog.cleancutmedia.com

Recent Activity

Publisher Info

Videos

• Videos no more than 10 minutes in length• You Tube Can accept High Qualify Videos• Practical Uses

– Marketing• Vocations• Catholic Schools

– Ongoing Catholic Education (Children/Youth/Adult)– PR for Upcoming Events– (Arch)Bishop’s Appeal Video– Diocesan Communications– ?

You Tube Basics / Strategy

Source: Jim Friend

• Average Age: 41• 95% Are College Educated (37% Are Post-Grads)• Household Income: $109,703• Male: 64%• Household Income $100k+ 53.5%• Own Smartphone/PDA: 34%• College Grad/Post Grad: 80.1%• Business Decision Maker: 49%

LinkedIn Statistics

Source: www.linkedintomarketing.com

• 24% Have a Portfolio Value of $250k+– 56% Have An Account With An Online Brokerage– 60% Have An Account With An Offline Brokerage

• 85% Viewed/Paid Bills Online in Last 30 Days• 53% Monitored/Viewed Stocks Online in Last 30 Days• Job Titles:

– C-Level Executives 7.8%– EVP/SVP 6.5%– Senior Management 16%– Middle Management 18%

• 50% Are Business Decision Makers in Their Companies

LinkedIn Statistics (cont.)

Source: www.linkedintomarketing.com

• Create a personal account on LinkedIn• Create a group for your Diocese• Give access to more than one person as the Manager of

the Group• Discuss listing job postings with Human Resources• Communicate this with your Office of Youth and Young

Adults• Continue to advertise your group

Strategy for LinkedIn


Diocese of Allentown PurchasesOnline Communities for

Eight High Schools


• Direct Engagement with your donors– Connecting them with Friends– School– Mission

• Integrated Donor Management Software• Gives a reason for Alumni to virtually return to the

school from anywhere in the world at anytime.– The Group is always there from the day of Graduation

• Gathers information about donors

Purchasing an Online CommunityBenefits


• Donor Management Software• Online Giving• Online Store• Email• Personalized Home Page• Profile for each member - members connect with each

other• Facebook and other site connectivity

Purchasing an Online CommunityTypical Components


• If possible, purchase this as a Group (Discount)• Be aware of price and add-ons• Negotiate the fees for online purchases• Have a strategy and timeline for rolling it out, be

mindful of timing• Allot time and money for training• Cross train staff

Purchasing an Online CommunityLessons Learned


• To the “nay sayers” in your diocese, remind them that when Cable TV was new in the early 1980’s, people first thought of it as “evil” too.

• Social Media engages people, so once you engage them, you’ve opened the door…stay engaged!

• Social Media, like Fundraising, is not a spectator sport…so don’t be shy, jump right in!

Closing thoughts
