What does online advocacy have to do with online fundraising? A lot. Vinay Bhagat of Convio, Yvonne Garrett, of OMP, Randy Paynter of Care2.com and Ryann Miller of Care2.com did a great presentation about the importance of understanding the link between activism and fundraising. During the webinar, these all-stars from the the nonprofit sector discussed strategies, tactics, and case studies that showed how organizations who used advocacy successfully for list growth and engagement also raised more much more money online. For example, NRDC recruited 73,000 new activists for one of their wolf campaigns through paid and organic sources. One year later, 31,000 took another action, 700 converted to donors online, and 1,325 converted to donors via mail.
The panelists also discussed the importance of activist relationship management - Recruit, Engage, and Convert.
Recruit:
Be thoughtful about form of ask
- Pledge vs. contact your legislator
- Constituent relevance
Recruit from Multiple venues in addition to your website
- Paid online (e.g. Care2)
- Social media
- In the Field
Engage:
- Acknowledge returning Web visitors
- Send tailored updates/ stories
- Multi-channel appeals - email, text, social media
Convert:
- Campaign specific donation forms
- Email welcome/ conversion series
- Follow up in timely fashion with email
- Apply filters to prioritize investment
- Select appeals based on advocacy actions
Click here to listen and view the presentation. You can also check out slides below.