AFP and the Most Popular Girls in High School

March 31, 2008

The annual migration in our trade is underway.  The Association of Fundraising Professionals opened its annual conference yesterday in San Diego.  Consultants wooing clients, printers, envelope salespeople, new media application service providers … all there wooing everyone in sight, along with 1/3 of the attendees looking for new jobs and wearing their best smiles.

Unfortunately, I can’t be there observing us all in our natural habitat. But I do want to send this note to loyal Agitator readers who are opening this morning’s edition over coffee in their rooms, ploughing through The Conference Program wondering what sessions they should attend today or whether they should just go to Sea World. ( By the way, Sea World has a terrific website and is a good place to visit!)

There’s a wide offering in the AFP Conference Program. From the conventional to the important to the inane. What strikes me by its absence is there’s very, very little about what will matter most in effective fundraising in the years to come:  social networking advances thanks to technology.

Don’t get me wrong.  Social networking has always been at the heart of successful fundraising.  Matching a potential donor’s interest with her/his peers’ involvement is as old as organized fundraising itself.

The difference between then and now is that today we can do it more quickly and more efficiently than ever before.  Sadly, as I reviewed the AFP program there’s virtually no attention paid to this possibility.  Sure, Mark Rovner of Sea Change Strategies and Nick Allen of Donor Digital will speak partially to the subject by telling how new media can advance major gifts efforts and Nicci Nobel of the Salvation Army will talk about online social network fundraising.  But all of this is somewhat like describing the crucifixion of Christ as the execution of two thieves and a subversive.  It misses the point.

The point is that, whether online or offline, the increasingly important key to success in this fast-changing world of ours is understanding how social networks work — or don’t — for fundraising.

So, as you drink your morning coffee and think about the day ahead, start by reading this piece by Rachel Happe on her social networking blog on the patterns of the most popular girls in high school. (I know, I know. "Vapid" and "inane" you say. Lots of bad memories for all of us.  But, please read it.)  Lots of wisdom here.  And you don’t even need a CFRE certification to understand its importance.

Roger Craver

P.S.  While you’re wandering around the lobby or being buttonholed by this consultant or that salesman (social networking) remember Rachel’s seventh point that "popular girls know whom to trust in what circumstances."

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Is This “Just A Phase”?

March 28, 2008

Yesterday’s NY Times included an important article on the news habits of young Americans.

Here’s the bottomline for us aging Boomers, and any communicator in a nonprofit …

Voices of authority — in the sense of informed, seasoned media intermediaries who help us discovery what of importance is going on in the world … and its context — are fast disappearing. Or at least becoming totally irrelevant to younger citizens.

No more Uncle Walter. Indeed, would any under-30s even know who Uncle Walter was! Before long, even Jon Stewart will be passe.

As the Times reports, citing data from Pew Research, for those under 30 years old, the old news filters (we’re specifically talking about political news here) like CNN or the Washington Post are inoperative.

Only 25% of this group reports watching local television news for campaign coverage (compared to 50% of those 50+). In contrast, 40% of under-30s have watched candidate speeches, interviews, commercials or debates online.

And how do they find out about hot political news and current events? From their under-30 friends, often through social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, or from e-messaging from friends linking them to the latest YouTube posts or other online content.

In other words, they go — or are led — directly to the "raw" source material. No Uncle Walt to suggest what it all means.

Maybe we never needed Uncle Walt — or Elizabeth Drew (to be more memory-challenging) in the first place. Maybe we were smart enough to figure out current events and public policy debates on our own.

Sorry, youngsters, I don’t believe that. History, context, depth are all critical to really understanding what’s going on in the world. Sure, folks who follow current affairs for a living don’t have a monopoly on brains or insight … indeed many are trapped in old paradigms, carry ideological biases, or lag behind the curve on fast-breaking issues.

Nevertheless, experience trumps novelty when gaining perspective is important.

Call me an old fuddyduddy, but as much as I enjoy The Daily Show, I’d still prefer a thoughful analysis by Tom Friedman or Jared Diamond or Elizabeth Kolbert, or a special report in the Economist, to an online political video forwarded by my newest Facebook friend.

I suspect that under-30s will eventually tire of the media clutter in which they are now happy to swim. For things they really need to understand, they will begin to seek more credible "guides" of one sort or another. Plus, they’ll become more time-constrained … less time for trolling.

But maybe this evolution won’t occur in their political and public affairs news consumption. Maybe it isn’t just a phase. Because for most, political engagement just isn’t that important in the scheme of things. Current events are of casual interest. There’s no civics test anyone needs to pass. There’s no need to be "right" or even correct. There’s no need to master complicated issues.

Over the years I’ve read scores of surveys reporting on the abysmally low levels of public knowledge about critical public issues, like energy and the workings of the economy. Somehow I just don’t see this improving as YouTube replaces CNN or the BBC as the video "news" source of choice.

Communicators in nonprofits need to think about this — and adapt to the new realities. Because not only is the importance of traditional news media intermediaries diminishing, so is the importance of advocacy-oriented nonprofits as intermediaries.

For at bottom, what do cause groups do other than interpret current events and package and spin that information to mobilize supporters around the threats and opportunities represented by those events? But just as under-30s don’t seem to need an Uncle Walter anymore, why would they need a "trusted voice" like the Sierra Club or an ACLU to help them understand things … when they have Google and 300 I-messaging buddies to sort things out?

I think this whole matter of where and how citizens — and not just younger Americans — get their public issue information and understanding is immensely important. Direct access to infinite choice does not translate into quality of understanding.

If public interest advocates think that the citizenry — because they don’t know any better — lets the political system get away with crazy stuff now, while ignoring crucial matters, we’d better prepare ourselves, because the worst is yet to come. 

Tom

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Is Human Rights Your Issue?

March 27, 2008

Then this is the place to be …

Global Philanthropy Forum, April 9-11, Redwood City, CA

A match-up of human rights activists from around the world with "elders" of philanthropy and cause advocacy.

One of the elders … keynoter Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Roger & Tom

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Online Campaigning … More Than Money?

March 26, 2008

The Wall Street Journal recently chronicled the ascendancy of small gift fundraising in the campaigns of Obama and Clinton.

Everybody knows about the Obama online $$ phenom: about 90% of the $55 million he raised in February came from donors giving $100 or less … the vast preponderance online.

Bur consider Clinton as well: in the last three months of 2007, about 16% of her money came from donors giving $200 or less. But of the $35 million she raised this past February, the average donation was about $100 and 80% came over the internet. And 35% of her money came from donors giving $200 or less. Signs of a campaign moving up the online fundraising learning curve … belatedly. 

All very impressive, not the least because these fundraisng trends shift political clout away from big money contributors and special interest bundlers of contributions.

But as the song asks: "Is that all there is?"

Another online observor comments here that the political campaigns haven’t even scratched the surface when it comes to using available online tools to target their educational and persuasion messages to interested netizens.

He points out that no candidates have even purchased search keywords like "the economy," "recession," "healthcare," "taxes" which could be used to intercept curious prospective voters and deliver customized programmatic messages to them.

And all in all, he notes (uncertainly) that only 1% of campaign spending will be spent online.*

Clearly, major national candidates have learned how to suck money in via online fundraising.

But it would appear that we’ll need to wait at least another cycle before we see political campaigns turn to the internet for sophisticated targeting of persuasion messages. Ironic, given that campaigns and campaign consultants are totally familiar with the use of direct mail and telemarketing for this kind of targeting. 

I’ll bet the same pattern is true of nonprofits … go for the online money first (if only to satisfy the powers-that-be to keep spending on e-media), then slowly move on to e-persuasion … where documenting ROI is a trickier proposition. 

Tom

*Probably derived from this 1.6% estimate by the GWU Institute for Politics, Democracy, and the Internet. IPDI also advises campaigns on what mix of tactics they believe appropriate online campaign spending should include.

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Understanding Your Website Stats

March 25, 2008

If you job requires actually understanding the effectiveness of your nonprofit’s website, then here is a blog and a book on web analytics for you!

Both are authored by Avinash Kaushik. He’s the guy Google sends out to tell their REALLY BIG customers (not you and me) how their websites are performing.

Knows his stuff. And makes it reasonably understandable to dilettantes like me.

Tom

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Obama’s Online Success - Two Views

March 24, 2008

Barack Obama’s speech on race in America — "A More Perfect Union" – has been viewed online on Youtube more than 3 million times as I write (and many more times elsewhere online). A tribute to the spontaneous popularity of what he had to say?

To a great extent. But that’s not all.

There’s no question a candidate who has re-written the political fundraising handbook with the help of one million online donors has the grassroots juice to promote and ensure a huge viral audience for this — or any — online video presentation he cares to make.

But nothing in the online marketing world happens entirely spontaneously.

Here’s an article by a fellow named Josh Warner, boasting of how his firm, Feed Co., a so-called "video-seeding" outfit, ran a campaign to boost online views of the Obama video spot "Hope Changes Everything."

It’s a pretty pathetic effort at self-promotion, capitalizing upon Obama-buzz. But still, it’s revealing for what it says about the efforts marketers undertake behind the scenes to create online buzz about their product — and political — campaigns.

Ironically, Mr. Warner thought he had a winner when he saw the "Hope" video nudging up to his goal of 100,000 views! Then "More Perfect Union" comes along and underscores how puny his effort was in the face of real content on a real issue.

And you thought you heard about it from your Aunt Tilly!

Tom

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Is Your Website For 25-Year-Olds?

March 21, 2008

If the answer is Yes, that’s cool. Maybe.

So long as the preponderance of people you want to …

    • Interest in your cause or charity
    • Educate
    • Raise money from
    • Activate, etc.

… are 25 or thereabouts.

However, for most nonprofits, I suspect the "target" demographic is 55-years-old or so, with no upper age limit and maybe down to 45.

If you’re one of those nonprofits, maybe you (or someone who is 55) should take another look at your website!

According to this study by Burst Media, only 23% of web users age 55-64 believe web content is focused towards people their age (and only 12% of those 65+ so believe). And only 20% of web users age 55 and older say websites are designed for people their age.

Do you have a "generation gap" between your website and its target audience?

Tom

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Planned Giving: Tools & Strategies

March 20, 2008

Todd Cohen at Philanthropy Journal has assembled a great special report on planned giving tools and techniques.

Check it out.

Tom

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Motivating Your Volunteers

March 19, 2008

Does your nonprofit rely upon volunteers? If so, how do you celebrate them?

Below is an example of the online video approach of the American Red Cross.

Most nonprofits don’t have the resources to produce slick videos with celebrity volunteers.

But a simple video, shot with a hand-held video camera, of your CEO having a "heart to heart" with a volunteer — and posted online — could go a long way toward both motivating (i.e., thanking) current volunteers and recruiting new ones.

Tom

March is Red Cross Month
Celebrate your Hometown Heroes Series
Dear Tom,

At times there is little that separates us. Student. Retiree. Movie star. Athlete. Standing together, we remind each other that when the nation and the world need it most, the American Red Cross is one of the few organizations that can bring people together from all walks of life.

Please enjoy our continuing hero celebration series by watching actress Aisha Tyler’s video and reading the updated collection of local-hero stories (click on the Countrywide Heroes Map). Communities across America are recognizing people (and pets) who acted in extraordinary ways with a plain old desire to "look out for the next guy"—most times someone they had never before met.

Kindness is contagious. Maybe these stories and heroes will inspire the hero in you!

Sincerely,Steve Denne

Steve Denne
Vice President, American Red Cross

P.S. Next week Paul Shaffer of The Late Show with David Letterman tells why volunteering with the Red Cross is just about the sweetest gig around.
Watch our Celebrity Video
Fans of Each Other’s Work. Mary Cicero, disaster volunteer for 50 years, and Aisha Tyler, Actress. Both have found volunteering for the Red Cross to be the role of a lifetime.Watch their Video.

Click here read stories here about heroes around the country.
Divider Image
Ways for you to be a hero this month...

Forward to a Friend Make a Gift Volunteer Give Blood
What will you do to get involved this month? Stay tuned for more stories...

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Conservative Media Bias? No Way!

March 18, 2008

We’ve heard plenty about liberal media controlling the hearts and minds of America.

Here’s a great online service, Media Matters, for those more worried about conservative media bias.

Around since 2004, Media Matters documents and analyzes "conservative misinformation" thoughout the media. Its mission:

"Media Matters works daily to notify activists, journalists, pundits, and the general public about instances of misinformation, providing them with the resources to rebut false claims and take direct action against offending media institutions."

You can sign up for regular updates and get involved in action campaigns directed at media outlets.

Tom

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