Speaker: Kennedy Kipps

Karlyn’s Note: One of my favorite presentations so far!  From the slides to the interaction to the obvious preparation that went into it, Kennedy was just phenomenal. 

When you take the Internet away from people, they feel disconnected from friends, work and commerce (Yahoo! study)

Roughly 18% percent of men and women w/internet access donate to charity online

Among the wired wealthy, 66% percent visit the website of the cause of charity before donating for the first time

People aged 55 and up spend the most time online per week - 14 hours a week (wired wealthy spent 18 hours a week online)

In 2007, colleges and universities raised more than $93 million online, an increase of 49% percent over 2006.  We worry about this because of rate of growth. 

The number one reason donors say they give online is convenience. 

Four Strategies that Grow out of this Data

1. Speak Powerfully

  • If there are opportunities to talk authentically about how schools deal with pressing world issues, it’s compelling.  Example: Columbia’s campaign site pulls out HIV/AIDS as an issue that they help.  
  • Tap into nostalgia - flash solicitation done by Princeton a few years ago as an example.  Shows bright lights and ceilings at dust. Schools have mixed results with flash solicitations in terms of actually raising money, but its great for stewardship.  Another example from Stamford at the end of a $1.1 billion campaign.

2. Target Messages

  • Example: Proctor Academy Chucks Corner
  • Example: ASPCA email that goes out at the end of the year inviting people to do a virtual adoption.  They segment it by whether the person is a cat or a dog person or a mixed version if they didn’t identified.  There was a 230% higher giving rate for previous donors with the segmented one and a 86% with non-donors. 
  • Example: Carnegie Mellon videos targeting prospective students and young alumni.  ”Daniel vs. RoboPhone POP-UP” on YouTube

3. Promote Interaction

  • Example: American Friends Service Committee - Friends for Peace Campaign.  People could submit their own pictures and then they could also display a widget with all the pictures on their websites - they did this through Flickr.
  • Example: Young Leadership Council on Facebook.  They show photos from their events and people can tag people from the photos in their Facebook network. When someone gets tagged in a photo, it then shows up in their mini-feed.
  • Example: Barack Obama’s site with multiple action opportunities listed throughout.

4. Simplify Giving

  • Example: Heifer International gift catalog. It shows clearly how this animal will benefit the people it’s going to. They have the highest giving coming from online of any non-profit he is aware of - 28%
  • Example: MercyCorps, with a donate now widget right on the top of their front page. 

We go from Awareness to Interest to Understanding to Engagement

Awareness = Mass communication (occasional and never donors)

Interest = Mass communication (annual donors)

Understanding = Tailored communication (restricted donors)

Engagement = Personal interaction (major donors)