November/December 2004

Four Challenges and Solutions to Creating an Effective Online Fundraising Campaign

by Michael Johnston, President, HJC New Media and Billy Sharma, Creative Director, HJC New Media

Many nonprofits are beginning to understand and tap into the power of the Internet for raising funds. However, as they venture from traditional direct mail solicitations to online fundraising, organizations must tackle four key challenges to create effective online campaigns:

1. Sifting — filtering out people who are not appropriate constituents;
2. Authorization — sending messages to the right constituents and ensuring they perceive the communications to be legitimate versus spam;
3. Attracting — providing incentive to constituents to respond to online communications; and
4. Motivating — persuading constituents to take action by donating.

Consider the example of Right To Play (http://www.righttoplay.com/), a nonprofit group addressing these critical issues in an online campaign plan that is in progress. Based in Canada, Right To Play is a humanitarian organization that uses specially designed sport and play programs to encourage the healthy physical, social and emotional development of the world’s most disadvantaged children.

Since 60 to 70 percent of any direct marketing initiative’s success hinges on reaching the right people, the first priority for the organization’s general online fundraising campaign has been sifting out inappropriate people to target. Right To Play needs to:

• Target the right audience: adults who enjoy playing sports, or families with children who are already involved with sports; and
  
• Attract middle-aged and older donors while reaching out to a new universe of people who are younger and more Internet-savvy.

The organization is working with HJC New Media, a consulting firm focused on fundraising and communications, to develop a marketing plan that addresses the four key challenges listed above. The firm has recommended specific groups for the campaign plan, targeting the soccer, baseball and hockey leagues in Canada that were likely to be full of “soccer moms,” “hockey dads” and “adult participants.” These groups not only value the importance of sports, but many parents also are willing to sacrifice time and money so their can children play.

These groups would be more sympathetic to Right To Play’s initiatives. Additionally, these groups include net-savvy, middle-aged and older couples. Many have children later in life and, often, both parents work so they have more disposable income, making them better prospects for donating.

In addition, each province in Canada has its own leagues run by volunteers who manage schedules, team standings and contact with parents or participants. These volunteers primarily interact electronically with parents and participants via email or postings on Web sites, so the parents are primed for making Internet donations.

To deal with the authorization challenge, the campaign plan will ensure that the league managers, who typically are amenable to helping nonprofits with a strong link to sports, make the initial contact. They relay the messages to their team members and get them to log on to Right To Play’s Web site. By approaching donors through league managers, the organization is more likely to get its messages read because donors are more inclined to respond to a friend than to an organization.

Addressing the challenges of attraction and motivation, HJC recommended offering two incentives to prospects to make donating more attractive:

1. In exchange for contributions, donors receive “points” toward rebates on sports equipment. Each time a donor contributes, he or she gets a real-time email outlining the points earned.
   
2. Donors are entered into a monthly drawing to win valuable sports memorabilia and autographed pictures donated by a growing list of eminent “Athlete Ambassadors” including champions such as six-time Tour de France winner, Lance Armstrong and hockey great, Wayne Gretzky. 

After addressing these challenges, Right To Play’s campaign plan includes developing and posting Web content with a clear donation focus and a strong emotional appeal. The first priority is establishing a prominent donation presence so that site visitors can easily find where to go to donate. To create an eye-catching donation graphic without altering the home page layout radically, HJC suggested including a campaign logo with a striking, animated visual element where a ball bounces into the campaign logo, coming to rest inside the “join” button as if it had landed in a basketball net.

To heighten emotional impact, the donation page Web content would include audio and video elements. Images of happy children playing, with the sound of their laughter, would set the mood before the appeal. True heartwarming stories from field volunteers also would help create a stronger plea.  

 
 
Fig. 1: A prominent “join” button for the organization’s home page draws attention to the campaign. 

Fig. 2: The donation page includes powerful images and continues the
“Give Kids a Sporting Chance” message.

Conclusion
Nonprofits should carefully consider several factors when planning an online campaign. By addressing the four key challenges — sifting, authorization, attraction and motivation — any nonprofit can create a powerful campaign plan, the foundation for online success.

Michael Johnston is president of HJC New Media, a one-stop consulting service covering fundraising and new media communications. Billy Sharma is creative director at HJC New Media. For more information about HJC New Media, visit http://www.hjcnewmedia.com/

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