Adrienne D. Capps, U. C. Davis

Much has changed with regard to fundraising and “friendraising” during the 12 years I have been a professional fundraiser, the most obvious being the use of technology. We are all online these days whereas in 1998 it was a much more mixed bag.

One thing remains and will continue to, however: making sense of it all. How do you determine which technology, or set of technologies, will be best suited to your organization? How do you appropriately implement them? And how do you check results?

In my recent chapter “Managing Fundraising and Building Communities Online” in the book Internet Management for Nonprofits (Wiley, April 2010), I write in depth about one method to tackle the subject – what are organizations across the country doing? I review both fundraising and friendraising techniques and how to take them, to varying levels, online – from email solicitations and events to social media and websites. (Friendraising, by the way, is the concept of cultivating and developing relationships for purposes other than soliciting philanthropic gifts, such as for a volunteer role or in an advisory capacity. The fundraising piece does often come – just at a later date.)

Here are just two examples from organizations that I found to be most successful and effective.

Fundraising Events

The organization and challenge: After years of traditional fund-raising events, Catholic Charities CYO (CC) in San Francisco decided its approach was getting stale and that it needed to broaden its audience to include opportunities for young people. In a tough economy, it also wanted to offer opportunities to get involved, participate, and donate at many different levels, but also not forget its core base of supporters.

Proposed solution: CC developed Red House 2009, which had three event components:

• Traditional cocktail party for its major donors,
• Nonevent called Stay@Home, and
• Hosted parties called Red House@Your House.

Execution: The major donor cocktail party was by invitation only to CC’s largest donors. It was to serve as the kickoff for Red House 2009 and was hosted by a board member. The night was a low-cost event at which CC could cultivate and steward high-end donors in an intimate atmosphere.

Stay@Home was conducted as a traditional nonevent fund-raising activity: CC mailed invitations to its prospects and donors asking them to stay at home. Considering everyone’s busy schedules, the number of events people get invited to, and the cost of throwing such elaborate parties, CC offered them a chance to stay at home and simply send in a donation using the invitation’s response card.

Red House@Your House offered an opportunity for young people to get involved. With this component, CC encouraged people to volunteer to host a party at their own homes or at a nearby restaurant. When there, volunteers set up a laptop that guests could use to make a donation via CC’s web site. The donation page required a user to create a log-in profile, so CC also collected information about party guests as potential new donors or volunteers. Some that volunteered asked a local restaurant to host and give them a portion of the cover charge or bar sales that night to donate back to CC. Then CC also provided interest cards that guests could complete if they wanted more information. They offered raffle prizes to host volunteers to give away to one lucky person who completed an interest card. The interest card was a second way for CC to collect information about party guests.

CC launched Red House@Your House with a mail and e-mail campaign. It also posted a host kit online that gave party volunteers the tools they needed to organize a party. The host kit included information about using e-invitations, recipes and recipe blogs, and linked to a blog where volunteer hosts could exchange ideas about their party planning. It also started Facebook and Twitter feeds to allow volunteer hosts find one another and discuss their party plans. Within a month, CC had eight parties being planned.

Results: The concept of Red House 2009 was in sharp contrast to concepts of the past. The traditional event held in previous years was at a restaurant, and a pre-dinner awards ceremony with major donors and board leadership was followed by a cocktail party open to all ticket buyers. The cocktail party had an auction and a raffle. In 2008, the event netted about $18,000. In 2009, Red House 2009 generated $23,000 in donations. CC also reported a significantly increased web presence and that it had engaged a much different constituency of young donors that the organization had not seen before—great potential for the future.

Friendraising Website

The organization and challenge: The Catholic Medical Mission Board (CMMB) in New York City was challenged with a name and brand that was not remembered or inspiring to its constituencies and communities. The organization wanted a way to engage new and existing donors, develop its brand, create an online presence, and build awareness for its mission. 

Proposed solution and execution: It developed a campaign called Packed with Love (http://www.packedwithlove.org). On the web site, users enter their name and e-mail address, and that data is immediately written on a virtual care package of health-care supplies that will be sent to a needy community overseas. A user can literally watch the package be picked up by a lift truck and the scene goes to a page where the user can “tell a friend,” donate, or see messages on Facebook or Twitter. Also at the page, care packages with others’ names on them go by on a conveyor belt and the user can roll over the box and see where the box is going and what supplies are inside.

Then, CMMB sends a welcome e-mail to the user that includes a thank-you and a story about where the package, along with other packages, is going. The e-mail is updated with a new story each month to keep the content and news fresh. Several weeks later, CMMB sends a second e-mail with additional information and asks specifically for a donation.

Results: From April 29 to June 23, 2009, CMMB secured 2,160 new e-mail addresses through the Packed with Love campaign—about a 7 percent addition to its existing database. Below is a chart of the campaign as of June 23, 2009. In addition to the new e-mail contacts it received, CMMB had significant increases on Twitter and Facebook.

Online Metrics as of June 23, 2009

Resources List

Grassroots.org: Equips nonprofits with the most current resources by leveraging modern technologies and best business practices. Each organization has access to a suite of services valued at approximately $24,000, including web design, graphic design, search engine optimization (SEO), and domain registration. www.grassroots.org.

Taproot Foundation: Every year, hundreds of nonprofit organizations rely on the Taproot Foundation’s award winning Service Grant program to provide millions of dollars worth of pro bono marketing, HR, IT, and strategy management consulting services that better equip them to tackle our society’s toughest challenges. www.taprootfoundation.org.

The Foundation Center: The Foundation Center is a national nonprofit service organization recognized as the nation’s leading authority on organized philanthropy, connecting nonprofits and the grantmakers supporting them to tools they can use and information they can trust. www.foundationcenter.org.

Network for Good for Nonprofits: Network for Good makes it as easy to donate and volunteer online as it is to shop online, and they make it simple and affordable for all nonprofits, of any size, to recruit donors and volunteers via the Internet.www.networkforgood.org.

Idealist.org: Idealist is an interactive site where people and organizations can exchange resources and ideas, locate opportunities and supporters, and take steps toward building a world where all people can lead free and dignified lives. www.idealist.org.

TechSoup: TechSoup.org offers nonprofits a one-stop resource for technology needs by providing free information, resources, and support. www.techsoup.org.

Karma411: Karma411 focuses on “People-to-People” Fundraising which means that nonprofits can not only run their own online appeals through the site, but can encourage their supporters to do the same and directly ask their friends, colleagues, and family members to help support the cause on their behalf. www.karma411.com.

Convio: Convio provides marketing, fundraising, advocacy and donor database tools that helps an organization take advantage of the inherent effectiveness and efficiency of the Internet to motivate donors and other supporters. www.convio.com.