Participate in a demo of Vokle to find out how
Video, streaming, live events, Hangouts…live video is changing rapidly and many of us are trying to understand the options and the opportunities for our causes. Vokle, a major player in live video events, will join us next week for a combined live demo and conversation about how their users are leveraging the Vokle platform (most are using their free services).
Vokle co-founder Edward Dekeratry recently demonstrated the platform for us. It was impressive. You can easily broadcast live events online directly to supporters, donors, and stakeholders no matter where they are, right from your organization's website. You can host a panel. All events are archived for later viewing and sharing. This could take online community interaction to a new level, empowering organizations to reach out to their online community, engage in meaningful, real-time dialogue, and expand their brand presence.
We've asked Vokle's founders to do a live demo right here on our site. They'll demonstrate the platform in action, and you'll be able to interact with it. They'll share case studies like Richard Branson and Imogen Heap's charity fundraiser for Pakistan, with virtual live performances from musicians such as Ben Folds, Amanda Palmer, Zoe Keating, and others. And we can talk about possible uses such as town halls, fundraisers, dialogues with donors, and more.
Please join us here on our website
Thursday, December 22 at 1:30pm - 2:30pm Pacific time
Meet the founders of Vokle
Participate in a live demonstration of their online video broadcasting platform
Last week, for the second year now, International Medical Corps used mobile to raise significant
additional funds at their annual dinner. The additional $85,000, came not only from people who had already given, but also from people who often don't convert to donors - the guests of table-buyers.
There are two important lessons here. First, with thoughtful preparation and good storytelling mobile can be an effective tool for bringing in large donations and raising significant dollars.
The second - and the more powerful lesson - is that often the buzz about a technology can be distracting noise that keeps us from the real opportunities, the real potential. And sometimes, as is the case with this example, the opportunity is really low-hanging-fruit.
Let's take these in reverse order.
Mobile came on the radar for most nonprofits in a big way after the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Huge amounts were raised. Lots of new donors gave $5 and $10. A wave of nonprofits signed up for text2give services - micro-donations that donors pay on their phone bill.
This was a pivotal moment because mobile was already important to nonprofit constituents but most nonprofits weren't paying attention. After text giving to Haiti mobile was on the radar but not for the right reason.
The media and buzz, understandably, focused on this new, easy way for people to give. Manna from heaven. Lost in the frenzy were critical facts about a rare alignment of circumstances - the nature of the disaster and need, 24/7 media coming out of the country (related to proximity and media's ability to camp out there), new technology and - of course - Presidents, First Ladies, et al asking people to text.
How does this relate to most of us? It doesn't. That doesn't mean there's not an opporunity. There is. But the hype and buzz was a distraction we had to ignore to see with clarity. And sometimes the opporunity is not what we want it to be. Sometimes it's better.
First I want to add that text2give fundraising will grow up quickly (increasing amounts, monthly giving, ways of getting contact info beyond cell number, ability to message after the confirmation, etc.) and I'm an advocate of organizations that qualify jumping in and learning now given the low cost.
But let's take off our nonprofit leader hats for a moment (I'll take off my Healthy Child Healthy World board hat) and think like a human with a cell phone. What's the first thing we'd want causes to do with mobile? Enable drive-by micro-donations from strangers? OK maybe that's in the top ten for some groups. But how about:
Here's an example. For 25 years U.S. PIRG and the state Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs) have produced their annual toy safety report. These are unsafe toys they find on the shelves of stores. They get amazing coverage across the nation. Parents see the report on TV... then stand in the aisle trying to remember what not to buy (the reports and media attention have forced these products off shelves and saved lives).
Two years ago they added a mobile site www.toysafety.mobi and now parents can not only access the information when they need it - at the toy store - but they can report unsafe toys... from the app. The Federal Consumer Product Safety Commission also has a database of recalled products which we can access from anywhere - like a garage sale.
As always with new technology nonprofits need to pause and take the time to think strategically about opportunities. What are our priorities? Who are our audiences? Are they using this technology? How? What are our assets (e.g. existing programs)? Do we have hidden assets? What's the biggest opportunity here?
Back to International Medical Corps. Last year they raised about $47,000 above the $25,000
challenge donation. There were 82 donations averaging $577. Of the 82 contributions 35 were new donors with an average gift of $255. The fulfillment rate (International Medical Corps staff did the calls to fulfill the pledges) was about 97%. The feedback across the board was positive.
We don't have the fulfillment numbers for last week's dinner yet but $85,000 was pledged including $25,000 from Research In Motion to kick things off (RIM was honored for Blackberry's contribution to saving lives in Haiti).
Preparation and powerful storytelling were both key.
We'll take a deeper dive on all these topics in the near future - large donor text-pledge fundraising, mobile opportunities beyond fundraising and sorting through the noise around new technologies to find the biggest opportunities for your organization.
This was on our minds because of last week's dinner success and we wanted to share. Congratulations to International Medical Corps for a wonderful evening.
My friend and colleague Andrea Kihlstedt is our first guest thought leader. Andrea is the cofounder of the brilliant site Asking Matters and the author of Capital Campaigns, Strategies that Work (Jones & Bartlett) now in its third edition.
Andrea's innovative thinking around using technology to support major/donor fundraising has been an inspiration to me. She has challenged me to see opportunities I absolutely would not have seen. If you are helping a nonprofit raise money (staff, board, friend of, etc.) please read this post and share the post and Asking Matters.
by Andrea Kihlstedt
Cofounder of Asking Matters
It’s easy and fun to give on-line today. Kickstarter, Donors Choose, Kiva and a host of other sites make it a click to give to projects near and far with little muss and no fuss. Many of these sites harness the principles of great fundraising—a goal, a timetable, donor recognition, reporting and great communication. What they lose is the person to person, face to face focus on asking.
Over a long career as a capital campaign fundraising consultant, I’ve worked with dozens of organizations that have quadrupled or quintupled their income from charitable gifts through a campaign. Organizations that raised, for example, $600,000 annually, raised $3,000,000 or more through a campaign.
What is it about these campaigns that makes such a difference? The answer is quite simple. Campaigns create a culture of asking. They set the stage for staff and board members to get out and ask.
With the current crisis of under-funded non-profits, I wondered if we couldn’t harness the power of the internet to get more people out asking. Not just any kind of asking, but face to face, person to person asking. And not just asking anyone. But asking people who have the ability to give, an interest in the organization, and a personal contact with the organization.
So I connected with my former colleague, Brian Saber, one of the best fundraising professionals I know. And together we set about creating a platform to help staff and board members find the will and the courage to get out and ask.
We figure that if we can motivate even one-quarter of the 1,250,000 nonprofit organizations in this country to ask more and ask more effectively, we can help create a giving revolution. And in doing so, we can make a big difference in the world.
Penelope Burke in her 2011 Donor Survey found that 49% of the respondents said that they could have given more to charitable causes. According to the survey “Capturing that elusive next level of philanthropy is the issue, of course.” Brian and I know from experience that the way to capture that elusive next level of giving is through more person to person, asking.
Asking Matters is the result of our work. Asking Matters provides a robust set of materials, some free and some for a fee, to help people learn how to ask in the way that suits them best. Our simple but revolutionary system of Asking Styles (complete with an on-line assessment) sorts people into four categories, Go-Getters, Kindred Spirits, Mission Controllers and Rainmakers, and outlines the ways in which people of each style can approach asking.
Free to everyone are over a hundred short videos of board members, executive directors, development directors and consultants sharing their experiences asking.
In addition to the basic material, members have access to free webinars, a robust knowledge base of material about asking, and a variety of motivational tools.
The platform serves organizations small and large, beginners and experts. It’s a valuable and fully affordable resource. We have small schools and social service organizations and large national organizations using the site to provide a common language of asking to their board, staff and volunteers.
Consultants use the Asking Style system with their clients to get people talking about asking. And development directors use it to find better ways to support the people who are asking in their organization.
We know, of course, that the importance of asking extends far beyond the non-profit community. When we get good at asking, the world opens up to us. So perhaps this is just the first step in making the world a better place.
Find your Asking Style. Are you a Go-Getter? a Kindred Spirit? a Mission Controller? Or a Rainmaker? Take the Asking Style Assessment. Let me know what you think.
