Online Giving for the Small Organization: A Success Story

Cambrian College is a college of applied arts and technology in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. Established in 1967, and funded by the province of Ontario, Cambrian has campuses in Sudbury, Espanola and Little Current. Cambrian works in partnership with school boards, training institutes, universities, and other institutions - locally, nationally and internationally - in order to provide additional educational opportunities and to share expertise and resources. More information about Cambrian can be found at www.cambriancollege.ca.

Testing New Technologies in Fundraising

Cambrian has used traditional methods for fundraising campaigns, however had not fully leveraged online options. In a step towards a new fundraising strategy, they decided to test run a holiday appeal micro campaign. Cambrian considered their first online appeal to be a pilot study, a starting point to test what works and to learn from what doesn’t work. Cambrian was initially unsure of the comfort level of giving online, but decided it doesn’t hurt to try it out.

Cambrian targeted approximately 1200 faculty, staff, and board members for the school and foundation. The team at RESolutionsTECH helped to provide a quick training session to help familiarize Cambrian’s staff with using their online technology. Cambrian launched a micro website for their holiday appeal, to draw attention to the student’s need for emergency bursaries and the emergency food bank. They worked with board members to define a goal that they felt was reasonable. The site included built in widgets to help build momentum with their appeal, such as a thermometer to gauge how much was raised, and a donor list to recognize those who gave. The site also had links to social medial networks built into the template. Cambrian provided an offline giving option as well, to ensure there was choice for their constituents.

In order to drive people to the site, Cambrian leveraged an email campaign system to solicit their audience with this holiday appeal. Email provided the ability for Cambrian to change their strategy as they went. For example, they tested different subject lines, and different messaging to see what was more successful. From there, Cambrian was able to track the response rate and determine what messages were opened the most, and what contacts were clicking through to the site.

Brian Soucie, Development Manager for Cambrian, states,

“We had the freedom to evaluate the most successful messaging, and tweak our strategy as we wished.”

The Surprising Results

Cambrian Foundation was pleasantly surprised with the results of their “test” micro-campaign. On the first day, they had reached 60% of their goal. Within just hours after sending the email messages, hundreds of dollars were donated online. Cambrian had previously leveraged a donate button on their website, however Brian states “We raised more money online in the last 10 days than we have raised online in the last 10 months. It became very clear, very quickly, that there is a comfort level with online giving. In addition, we see the power in leveraging online options to get the message out, as marketing method to solicit online and offline gifts.” Cambrian quickly surpassed their goal.

The Difference Integrating Technology Can Make:

Cambrian had previously leveraged mailed letters as the vehicle for their appeals. Letters would be designed, printed, and mailed. With that traditional fundraising method, Cambrian did not have the immediate ability to customize their messaging as they went. With mail campaigns, they were pretty much stuck with the messaging they decided on, and could change that as they launched the next appeal. Email shortened their cycle of preparing and launching the appeal, and provided the ability to track success, and adapt and change the messaging as they went.

Helping to Draw Immediate Attention to their Cause:

Cambrian Foundation came up with the idea for this appeal in mid November, and was able to quickly launch the appeal in early December. With traditional fundraising methods, they had never had the freedom to launch an appeal so quickly.

Brian states, “This online appeal helped to draw attention to the students who were in need this holiday season: immediately. We saw a quick response and a deep concern for students that were struggling, and the College was able to mobilize and give back. We had not appealed to this group in the recent past, and our online micro campaign was an easy, low cost way to test the level of their support for this cause.”

Changing Your Strategy on the Fly:

Cambrian had one donor come into the office to make a donation in the name of her friends as a holiday gift. Hoping to inspire others with this unique gesture, Cambrian decided to work this story into their messaging, via email and on their website. Brian states, “We wanted to highlight how this individual donated as a holiday present, to motivate others to do the same; we were able to take this kind of feedback and put it into immediate action.”

Cambrian’s Advice to Similar Organizations: Give it a Try!

The online micro campaign helped to reduce the preparation time before the appeal, build interest quickly, motivate people to donate, and helped to build momentum. Cambrian now looks to the future of their fundraising efforts, and how new emerging technology can assist.

Brian states, “We have a sense now of what the possibilities are. We chose to focus on a small sample, and the results were compelling. We were initially hesitant about the notion of online giving, however after seeing firsthand the momentum built with these methods, we now recognize the value and the potential as we move forward with other appeals. We just needed to do it, and did it ever pay off.”

Brian’ has a word of advice for small foundations looking to leverage online technology:

“Just try it. Test it out; if it doesn’t work, change it and test it again. There is a lesson to learn by testing it out and taking a chance. Even if your attempt isn’t a great success, you still learn something. Integrate those lessons into your strategy, and you will grow, adapt, and succeed in the end.”