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Allyson Kapin 7 min read

Six Tips To Kick-Start Your 2012 Fundraising

 Nonprofits receive up to 40% of their online donations at the end of the year since the holidays have people feeling generous, and donors also want to maximize those tax deductions before year’s end. But this doesn’t happen by magic – people donate money to your organization because they feel a connection to your organization and the issues you work on. They believe in what you do. That takes staying in touch with your donors all year, cultivating and deepening your relationships with them, and making sure your supporters have the information that inspires them to donate.

So how did you do in 2011? Is it time to make some resolutions for 2012, so you can raise more money in 2012? Here are some online marketing strategies Convio recently outlined in their whitepaper “Utilize Your Year-End Momentum” that you can start working on right now, so that when “that time” rolls around again, you’ll be better positioned to reach your online fundraising goals.

Build Your List

Make sure you’re capturing email addresses whenever and wherever you can. There are a few key ways to build your list. Paid acquisition is one of the fastest ways to build you list. Social action networks like Care2 and its Petition Site which has about 12 million unique site visitors per month, and is ranked by Quantcast as the 140th (on average) highest traffic website in the USA, conduct paid acquisition campaigns for hundreds of nonprofits. Citizens used Care2's Petition Site to create nearly 60,000 new petitions in 2011 alone, and those petition authors and signers are all ripe to be recruited for different organizations.

Utilize the Google Adwords grants. As a 501C3 you can get between $10K and $40K worth of free Google Adwords.

Encourage those who respond to your postal mail, telephone appeals, and special events to sign up for your email list – offer incentives like special content, matching gifts, and online premiums.

Use Multiple Channels

Don’t be shy about reaching out to people across multiple channels. “Savvy organizations are adopting a multi-channel approach to convert online acquired prospects, using email first, followed up by mail, then telemarketing to maximize conversion rates. Our research shows that direct mail donors who also receive email give two times as much and renew at 10% higher rates than those just receiving email,” Convio said.

Segment Your List

The key to building relationships with your supporters is to know more about them. For example, what issue were they first recruited on? What campaigns have they taken action on or donated money to? Use that information to deliver the content most relevant to them. Consider sending different welcome messages to different groups, providing paths to deeper engagement with your mission. A sustainer or pledge program for active donors is a great way to develop a loyal following and stabilize donation income year-round.

 

Stay in Touch 

 Once you have segmented your lists, it will be easier to use your newsletters, action alerts, and donation appeals to engage subscribers in the topics they care about most. Be sure to let you supporters know throughout the year how they have made a difference – let them know when goals are reached, show how funds are spent, and share inspiring stories.

 

Optimize Your Website

Your homepage and website content should make it crystal clear how best to support your mission and get involved. Place action items, ways to donate, and easy list sign-up information above the fold and make them stand out. Don’t make people search for these important items. Your content should also be relevant to your target audiences and consistently updated which will keep them coming back.

Leverage Social Media

Your active supporters are some of your best spokespeople and recruiters. Integrate social share buttons such as Facebook Like, the Twitter Button, Google's +1 on you campaign landing pages and blogs posts that will make it easy for people to share your content.

With all these strategies to start building on now, you’ll be well on your way to a successful year in fundraising. Let us know what you try, and how it works for you!

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Allyson Kapin

Allyson has been named one of "Top Tech Titans" by the Washingtonian, one of the Most Influential Women In Tech by Fast Company, and one of the top 30 women entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter by Forbes for her leadership role in technology and social media. As Founding Partner of Rad Campaign, she leads the firm's client and online strategic services. For over a decade Allyson has helped non-profit organizations and political campaigns create dynamic and award-winning websites and online marketing and recruitment campaigns. She works side-by-side with her clients to meet their web needs and maximize their online effectiveness to create real world impact.

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