Posted by Mitchell on November 20, 2001, at 21:17:39
In reply to Re: fund drive , posted by Dr. Bob on November 20, 2001, at 19:37:58
> > Why isn't the suggestion of donations on both the PB page and the SPB page? I don't see it. (Am I missing something; it wouldn't be the first time?)
> You don't see the box with the Amazon and iGive graphics and the "donation" link? And the "support" links at the top and bottom of every main page?
I see the links, but technically, Bob, there is not "suggestion" that people support it. I mean, the presence of the link suggests that they can if they want to but the text does not suggest that they do.
"But if you'd like to make a donation, I'm not going to turn it down, either."
And as much as we might want to deny it, our consumer culture is based largely on motivational language. People pretend advertisements do not work but they probably do or advertisers would not spend their money. And while advertisers often simply present a product and let consumers decide to purchase it, much of direct sales that supports advertising is based on very aggressive, albeit subtle, suggestions. "Would you like to buy now or later?" "What color would you like that in?"
Public broadcasting offers fine examples of what might be appropriate fund raising methods for this site. They use action words. "Pick up the phone now and call." They give reasons to donate and then repeat their instructions. I know there are sensitivities here to people who might tend to be compulsive, but you could address that in a script, and then ask peers to review your script specifically for that purpose - to be sure you have phrases that remind people to only give if they are able, but if they are able, GIVE. Don't ask, tell. That is the way marketing works.
So step one in improving fundraising efforts would be to review the neurolinguistic approach of the current appeals, toward creating a more active appeal. Another method used by many fundraisers is to ask for pledges.
There are privacy issues here that might preclude follow-up procedures that tend to make pledge collection succesful, but you would not have to rely on mailings, which would be the biggest threat to privacy that could develop. The risk would be that people could register then manipulate your process so they could bother somebody by having you send them an unrequested mailing. Mailings are also costly, but you might want to consider letters to select major donors, in an effort to develop them as regular donors. Another way to collect pledges would be to let people make a pledge that requests e-mail reminders when they are due to make a monthly or bi-monthly installment. That would seem to be the more likely backbone of a regular pledge collection process, with mailings or more personal e-mails to major donors. The important thing is to express a desire that people will contribute. It feels better, I'm sure, to say it's okay of you want to contribute, but it is most effective is you ask for a contribution.
The next step would be to improve collection by equipping the site for the basic currency of e-commerce - credit card payments. If compulsiveness is a problem, you could set up a delay system, where you do not collect the e-payment for three days or a week, or even some hybrid of paying and pledging where you verify the payment with an e-mail. Sorry, but e-commerce is based on convienience and impulse. I wish you could change that by not participating but I doubt it and if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. So step two is set up a credit card payment system to collect the donations you will ASK for.
The third step is to work the program. These things can be insidious, once you start they can grow on you. What is a once a month, a quarterly or an annual fund drive can become a daily practice. And once a project gets hooked on a larger base of revenue, it can be stuck with a larger operational system and have a hard time getting back to where it was. But that said, you could have quarterly fund drives where a pop-up window greats site visitors with a fund raising appeal. Pop up windows are easy enough to close or to minimize. Blinking texts can be annoying, but blinking the support and donate tags during a fund-raiser could reinforce the temporary short term effort. The pop-up window could include a chart of money raised so far. Once you have an idea how well it works, you could set a goal, which makes a great fund-raising tool, or even recruit matching funds to better entice donors.
> > I would also be willing to help set up an early spring fund drive, if there's anything I can do. You give a speech on the board for a week (maybe two) and break it down. For twenty-five dollars a year, psychobabble is just costing you ____cents a day. For fifty, etc. etc. And you explain without the contributions of the members, the life of PB is always in jeopardy.
The participation of volunteers in a fund drive can be an important psychological tool in recruiting donations. It's not like three boards aren't enough already, but maybe a temporary board for fund-raising sermons could be linked to a pop-up window during fund-raising time. Permanant archives are cool, but the idea that now is a different time than any other time is an important part of the bluster and hoopla of a fundraiser. A temporary board might reinforce the idea of acting now to serve, without asking for anything in return like a permanant archive of your fluent posts. Maybe there could be a more actively worded year-round version of the "support" page, then twice a year or so there could fund raisers, with a special board that will not be there after 10 days and with a pop-up that loads with each page in some unique color or maybe with a higher resolution graphic - something DIFFERENT that directs people to the other board, to the support page, to ways of contributing, and that tells what has been raised so far or what the goals are, and that > > >$ >$ >ASKS FOR MONEY< $< $< < <
> > By the way, since this is a nonprofit organization, it is should be eligible to be included in the United Way? I wonder how you become part of that.
>
> Good question, does anyone know?You apply to your local United Way board, and the directors make a decision based on the merits of your project, their goals as a board and the availablity of funds. It would be hard to get United Way for a nationwide project like this. I think United Way is mostly organized around local organizations, guided by a national oversight group. There might be other grants available, and when soliciting grants, proof that participants are willing to support a project is an important assurance for the foundation or whatever that the project is worthy. So it is often best to start by developing sources of revenue most interested in the project, then appealing to charitable organizations or institutional benefactors.
poster:Mitchell
thread:2305
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20010718/msgs/2327.html