If your nonprofit has been contemplating entering online fundraising contests, check out the 2009 American Giving Challenge report released by the Case Foundation. Over the course of 30 days, individuals competed for donors donations and matching awards for their favorite charities. The challenge raised $2.1 million dollars for nonprofits from over 105,000 donations.
“The open design enabled any individual supporting any organization to enter the contest, and truly leveled the playing field between large established institutions and smaller grassroots organizations, said Sokunthea Sa Chhabra, Director of Interactive Communications for the Case Foundation.
Here are a few key statistics and highlights from the report.
- More than 82,000 individual donors made 105,000 donations to nearly 8,000 causes with an average gift of $17.73
- There was a demonstrated shift in the adoption of social media by nonprofit organizations themselves: in the 2007-2008 Giving Challenge, a significant number of cause champions were volunteers; and in the 2009 Challenge, 40% of champions were staff of the competing nonprofit (only 25% identified as volunteers).
- Personal connections, compelling use of videos and storytelling, and repeatedly thanking donors for gaining support for causes proved to be important elements for success in the challenge.
The report also highlighted common characteristics for winners:
Personal appeals and good storytelling to pre-existing networks of donors and friends through multiple channels were most effective methods for fundraising. Contest participants rated the following as most useful:
- messaging to friends via Facebook
- personal emails to friends, family and colleagues
- emails to organizations existing donors.
You should follow Frogloop on Twitter.