Soapbox Engage Blog

Hey, so I know we just met but is there any chance you can come over and dogsit for me this weekend?

Too much? Too soon? We do hardly know each other, right? It probably would be best to get to better acquainted before I hit you up for favors, eh? Maybe we can grab some coffee to get to know each other first? Yes. Coffee first. Dog later.

Just as personal relationships require time and steps to develop before both parties are willing to invest something of substance so, too, your nonprofit’s relationship with its would-be donors requires nurturing. Your first ask being a donation ask won’t necessarily be a winner. Just with my dog sitting, you need to grow into it. So, what’s the nonprofit version of asking someone out for coffee?

We’re so glad you asked! Here are five tactics your organization can use to grow your community before asking them for donations. Each falls on what is commonly referred to as a “commitment curve” or “ladder of engagement,” They get you from that introduction to getting an email address to growing engagement to finally getting someone to watch my dog, er, I mean, winning a new donor.

Google Analytics is an essential tool for many nonprofits seeking to effectively track their online marketing efforts. Whether you're focused on fundraising, event registrations, advocacy efforts, email sign ups or overall content marketing strategies, digging into the details of those eyeballs that are checking you out online vital. But numbers aren't everything. Sometimes a little context goes a long way in making sense of them.

So, you've got a lot of supporters, and many of them make donations on a regular basis. But not every donor is the same. You need to think about them both as individuals and as different groups of people.

But they all donate money, what's the difference?

It's how much money they contribute. Depending on the amount of money they're willing to give, people have certain expectations for you and your nonprofit.

Like, they want a place on the board? Special privileges? Snacks?

No, not snacks. However, through giving more or less money, donors have different expectations about how they should be treated and what they should have access to. They also have unique ideas on how they receive communications from you regarding your organization. But the behavior varies with the amount of money contributed. This is why you should consider using donor levels. Nonprofit CRM software can help you develop and assign them to new and existing donors.

Each person here donates differently. What levels will you put them in?

Every nonprofit, including yours, are likely still envious of the ALS Association. Last year's Ice Bucket Challenge campaign not only raised a significant amount of cash for the organization, but brought a huge amount of attention to the condition also known as Lou Gehrig's disease and its overall lack of research funding. Can you imagine what would happen if you could knock out two birds with one stone like that for your cause?

You don't need buckets of ice for a good viral campaign.

How does your SEO measure up?

Raising awareness for your cause can be a tricky business. You may have clipboard people on the streets and special ad placements in print and web publications, among other things. What about search, though? There are a lot of people thinking about your organization's mission, either directly or indirectly. These people could become donors, volunteers or supporters very easily. As a result, you should be looking at ways to improve your search engine optimization, or how you're seen and discovered on search engines. By doing that, you'll get more people to look into the projects your nonprofit is working on.

But how do you measure your SEO? Being a nonprofit is quite different from being a media page. You don't have people placing ads on your site, and you're not necessarily looking for page clicks. So here are some tips to get you going in the right direction, using basic analytics tools:

Before we truly put an end to 2014, let's remember the best moments.

While some people like to think that looking back on 2014 is strictly limited to December, we at PICnet believe that a year-in-review should happen in January. After all, December is part of the year, so it's rather silly to consider the year finished before the ball actually drops. In any event, 2014 was a big year for us and we saw a lot of things happen in the nonprofit sector, from payments to petitions. Here are some of our best articles from the last year. We think you may find them enlightening and fun.

What's your plan for the new year? What do you have in store for your nonprofit organization?

Well, we've got some balloons, silly hats and flat champagne…

No, what are your plans in terms of operations? What are you doing to further your mission in the next 12 months?

The same we've always done: raise funds and bring more people into the fold.

Perhaps you should look into more specific goals, since everybody does that. If you have specific goals for your nonprofit, you can actually achieve those results. Developing some resolutions around constituent relationship management (CRM) can help you do that successfully.

You should focus on your supporter relationships in 2015.

Well, then, what would you suggest?

Nonprofit marketer, Soapbox Engage just made your brain a lot mightier!

Let's say you've got a campaign for which you're hoping to drive traffic to your website and capture conversions. In other words, you're trying to get folks to DO something once they hit your website: Give you money, buy some swag, register for an event.

You get the idea.

You're tweeting and Facebooking and blogging and all around shouting about it. But how do you know which of those efforts are producing the best results? Or no results?

Let's talk numbers, shall we?

To start, let's grab the number 1.92. 1.92 is the number of times more likely someone signing an online petition is to donate to a similar cause after signing. This was quantified by researchers Yu-Hao Lee and Gary Hsieh in their study Does Slacktivism Hurt Activism?: The Effects of Moral Balancing and Consistency in Online Activism.

So, I sign your online petition, I am then almost twice as likely as someone who didn't sign that petition to give money to a cause that is similar to yours.

Notice that didn't read "give money to your organization". Mark that. It'll be on the quiz later.

The researchers also found that I'm more likely to take other actions in support of similar causes after signing your petition, provided those actions don't cost me much.

A great example: signing another online petition.

To effectively raise money and build an engaged group of supporters, your organization needs more than just a donate page on its website. You need strategies and tools like online petition software that move people from casual visitor to recurring donor and dedicated supporter – all while minimizing overhead.

Online petitions are an effective tool to capture the casual visitor and active donor alike, and move them down the engagement path - even if yours isn't an advocacy organization. In today's advocacy world, online petition software can ensure your organization is making meaningful connections with your supporters in a way that delivers on your mission.

Here are nine reasons why your nonprofit should consider using online petition software.

Effective online fundraising is more than a donate button. It’s a complete path that moves people from casual visitor to recurring donor and dedicated supporter – all while minimizing overhead.

Join us tomorrow for our first in a series of webinars throughout the month of December!

We'll be highlighting strategies and tips to complete your path for more online donations and supporters as well as presenting the tools available within Soapbox Engage to complete your path.

Effective online fundraising is more than a donate button. It's a complete path that moves people from casual visitor to recurring donor and dedicated supporter - all while minimizing overhead.

How does your nonprofit's path look? Is it a single donation page and a strategy involving crossed fingers and wishful thinking? Is it a cobbled together collection of tools that kinda sorta work together?

If so, not to worry! You're not alone - and we're here to help!

Seven essential facts every nonprofit fundraiser should know about the path to online donations:

Are you getting the most of out your organization's communications megaphone?

Review these three quick content pointers - and grab our free Soapbox Communication Planner to help you plan the publishing of that content for maximum effect.

With the current protests in Turkey and Brazil, focus is again being drawn to the role of social media in mass movements agitating for change.

Mobile-friendly channels such as YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook are being leveraged by organic groups of individuals to speak out and mobilize.

News outlets are highlighting social media's ability to bridge national boundaries to inspire and inform groups thousands of miles away from one another - as well as confuse and muddle their messages and goals.

We commented earlier on the massive explosion of mobile internet use and how it is contributing to 2013 being the year of responsive web design - responsive web design being a powerful and flexible way to make your site mobile-friendly.

How do you know if your site traffic justifies the investment in making your website mobile-friendly? If you've got Google Analytics tracking traffic, you've got ready-made reporting waiting for you.

You have probably heard the phrase “content is king” when it comes to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy for your website. While I would never denounce this self-evident truth in the SEO world, great content means less without links.

Links to your content are signs of trust to search engines. They tell Google, Bing, and others that your content is authoritative and worthy, especially when its other sites with strong reputations that link back to your website. These types of links are appropriately called “linkbacks”.

They are evidence to search engines that sites are shouting about what you've published and that others should take notice.

Here are two tips for grabbing some low-hanging linkback fruit to improve your SEO and increase organic search traffic:

Not every organization looking to roll out a brand new web presence has the advantage Holy Trinity Church of Georgetown Pike (HTC) enjoyed: a volunteer leading the project who has been founder and CEO of several DC area technology startups.

Phillip Merrick knew the possibilities of a robust and integrated online presence and its importance to a startup, whether that be a business or a church:

"As a newly formed church preparing to launch our ministries and outreach, we needed more than just a website. We needed a platform to support a digital footprint spanning social media, web video and traditional email marketing, together with an integrated database on the back-end."

We posted a great little tidbit the other day regarding the authorship service available to Google+ Profile owners and how it can help increase traffic to your site.

By following Google's instructions for verifying authorship of content on a website, search results will display your Google+ Profile headshot and a link to other content you've written, increasing the likelihood that your link will get clicked:

We followed the instructions provided by Google for our own blog and can report back the following:

Nonprofits have several ways individuals can support their missions - through volunteering, attending an event, signing a petition, making a donation, becoming a member, and more.

Nonprofits would love to have each individual support them in ALL of the ways they provide.

Like any relationship, those steps of engagement with your organization happen incrementally over time. Just as one doesn't meet a promising someone at a bar and instantly get down on one knee to pop the question, organizations need to work a little romance over time to nurture and expand a relationship with each individual.

That's called moving them up the engagement ladder in nonprofit-speak.

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