Recently, Twitter announced that they were cleaning out spammers and addressing data inconsistencies. What does this mean for you, the Twitter user? You might see a significant drop in your following and followers numbers. Did your Twitter follower count take a hit from this clean-up or would you even notice?
A regular practice that we like to suggest at RESolutionsTECH is the importance of benchmarking your data. Benchmarking your data is the key to measuring changes in your database over time. It is a great representation of the good, the bad, and the plain out ugly things that may be happening with your data. Examples of typical benchmarks are the number of constituents, number of constituents with valid address, number with phone number, number with employment information, number with email addresses, etc. Some newer benchmarks that some organizations are measuring are Facebook Fans, Twitter Followers, LinkedIn Contacts, etc.
You may or may not know how this Twitter clean-up has affected you. What is important here is that when looking at all the data you are maintaining that you know when things change, why did they change, how does it affect you, is it positive or negative.
I would love to know if you are benchmarking the data of your organization. What are your measures? How has it made a difference for you?
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Sunday, July 5, 2009
The WOW! of online fundraising!
http://www.uncoverthecure.org/index.html
https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/donate.aspx?EventID=36192&LangPref=en-CA
http://www.winnerswalkofhope.ca/index_national.htm
http://www.louiseporter.ca/
https://www.greatlakes.org/SSLPage.aspx?pid=942
Here are a few examples of where organizations are fundraising online. What do you like about each? What don't you like? When I ask this question the reply is usually more focussed around the look and feel to the site and not how it functions or whether it will assist you in raising more money. The 5 most important areas you want to look at when you are choosing an online fundraising solution are:
1) Peer-to-Peer
Think of yourself receiving an email. Let's say you receive an email from an organization you barely know or who you have never heard from and then a second email from your best friend. Which email are you more likely to open first? If both asked you to support a cause, which would you be more inclined to support? Peer-to-peer and viral fundraising solutions increase donations because friends give to friends and not always to organizations they don't know.
2) Time
I constantly here from fundraiser's that they wish they had more time to be out asking for money. Your fundraising solution needs to be doing this for you in terms of getting your "ask" out to a much wider audience without using any more of your time. This allows you to focus more time on things such as your major giving program and stewarding your generous donors. Online solutions should also automate the process of processing payments, receipting, and acknowledging new donors. The best solutions prevent you from having to worry about moving the data into your donor database and do some clean-up of data along the way.
3) Customize
Branding is critical. Your giving pages need to have a similar look to your other web presence. They need to WOW your website visitors to encourage them to spread the word and get your message out. Good online solutions allow you to quickly and easily make these customizations yourself without having any technical skill.
4) Reporting
In todays highly competitive fundraising market, you need to have real time click of the button accurate reporting that tells you exactly what is happening or not happening. You need to be able to access this reporting where ever you are. This allows you to better manage your campaign and make adjustments when needed.
5) Cost
I often here from organizations that some of the fundraising solutions on the market are too expensive. I agree. It is important to note that there should be more focus placed on return on investment rather than just the up front cost. A solution that allows you to raise a lot more money may be worth spending a little more on.
I encourage you to look at the annual issue of Advancing Philanthropy from AFP to see all the online fundraising solutions available to you. They compare all the functionality of each solution nicely. I recommend you speak to users of the solutions you are looking at moving forward with and request detailed domonstrations of the software and their support.
Have a fantastic day! Happy fundraising!!!
https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/donate.aspx?EventID=36192&LangPref=en-CA
http://www.winnerswalkofhope.ca/index_national.htm
http://www.louiseporter.ca/
https://www.greatlakes.org/SSLPage.aspx?pid=942
Here are a few examples of where organizations are fundraising online. What do you like about each? What don't you like? When I ask this question the reply is usually more focussed around the look and feel to the site and not how it functions or whether it will assist you in raising more money. The 5 most important areas you want to look at when you are choosing an online fundraising solution are:
1) Peer-to-Peer
Think of yourself receiving an email. Let's say you receive an email from an organization you barely know or who you have never heard from and then a second email from your best friend. Which email are you more likely to open first? If both asked you to support a cause, which would you be more inclined to support? Peer-to-peer and viral fundraising solutions increase donations because friends give to friends and not always to organizations they don't know.
2) Time
I constantly here from fundraiser's that they wish they had more time to be out asking for money. Your fundraising solution needs to be doing this for you in terms of getting your "ask" out to a much wider audience without using any more of your time. This allows you to focus more time on things such as your major giving program and stewarding your generous donors. Online solutions should also automate the process of processing payments, receipting, and acknowledging new donors. The best solutions prevent you from having to worry about moving the data into your donor database and do some clean-up of data along the way.
3) Customize
Branding is critical. Your giving pages need to have a similar look to your other web presence. They need to WOW your website visitors to encourage them to spread the word and get your message out. Good online solutions allow you to quickly and easily make these customizations yourself without having any technical skill.
4) Reporting
In todays highly competitive fundraising market, you need to have real time click of the button accurate reporting that tells you exactly what is happening or not happening. You need to be able to access this reporting where ever you are. This allows you to better manage your campaign and make adjustments when needed.
5) Cost
I often here from organizations that some of the fundraising solutions on the market are too expensive. I agree. It is important to note that there should be more focus placed on return on investment rather than just the up front cost. A solution that allows you to raise a lot more money may be worth spending a little more on.
I encourage you to look at the annual issue of Advancing Philanthropy from AFP to see all the online fundraising solutions available to you. They compare all the functionality of each solution nicely. I recommend you speak to users of the solutions you are looking at moving forward with and request detailed domonstrations of the software and their support.
Have a fantastic day! Happy fundraising!!!
Why did I start this blog?
Good morning!!!
My name is Robin Porter and I am the Founder, President, and CEO of RESolutionsTECH Inc. I started the company back in May 2004 after getting many requests from not-for-profits, colleges, and universities asking how to clean-up their data and make better use of technology. These organizations knew that technology could make a difference and that they could be doing things better. The problem was that they were being over charged by consultants and their internal IT support seemed to say "No" far more than "Yes" when they were asked if something could be done to improve upon their use of technology. I formed the company and began assisting organizations right away by providing affordable solutions and sharing my attitude that anything is possible with technology. Today we have grown to a team of highly experienced consultants and specialists as well as having many complimentary partnerships that share our philosophy. We at RESolutionsTECH are committed to assisting charities, colleges, and universities use technology to improve constituent relationships, raise more money, and reduce costs.
I have started this blog in order to offer free advice on how your organization can begin benefiting from expanded use of technology. I will try to comment regularly on new technologies and how they could make a difference to your organization. I will be happy to share case studies and reviews sharing the good, the bad, and the ugly of solutions out there. My hope is that this blog will help you embrace technology as part of your fundraising and constituent relationship building activities.
I welcome your feedback. Please feel free to email me directly at rporter@resolutionstech.com to ask me anything, anything at all.
Have a great day!
Robin Porter
My name is Robin Porter and I am the Founder, President, and CEO of RESolutionsTECH Inc. I started the company back in May 2004 after getting many requests from not-for-profits, colleges, and universities asking how to clean-up their data and make better use of technology. These organizations knew that technology could make a difference and that they could be doing things better. The problem was that they were being over charged by consultants and their internal IT support seemed to say "No" far more than "Yes" when they were asked if something could be done to improve upon their use of technology. I formed the company and began assisting organizations right away by providing affordable solutions and sharing my attitude that anything is possible with technology. Today we have grown to a team of highly experienced consultants and specialists as well as having many complimentary partnerships that share our philosophy. We at RESolutionsTECH are committed to assisting charities, colleges, and universities use technology to improve constituent relationships, raise more money, and reduce costs.
I have started this blog in order to offer free advice on how your organization can begin benefiting from expanded use of technology. I will try to comment regularly on new technologies and how they could make a difference to your organization. I will be happy to share case studies and reviews sharing the good, the bad, and the ugly of solutions out there. My hope is that this blog will help you embrace technology as part of your fundraising and constituent relationship building activities.
I welcome your feedback. Please feel free to email me directly at rporter@resolutionstech.com to ask me anything, anything at all.
Have a great day!
Robin Porter
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