Fundraising on Localgiving.com
Dawn Carr, FST Development Worker,
Birmingham and Black Country
Community Foundation
Overview
• Introduction to online fundraising
• Online Fundraising with Localgiving.com
• Promoting your webpage and Donor Development
• Driving offline traffic to your webpage
Introduction to online
fundraising
How do you currently fundraise?
How do you get money at the moment?
Do you have any individual donors and how do you reach them?
How do you communicate with your donors?
Do you get Gift Aid?
Do you use online fundraising?
Internet as a fundraising tool
• It’s important to understand that online fundraising is not much different
to fundraising ‘offline’ and so the same principles still apply.
• It’s about cultivating relationships, connections, participators and
engagement – the internet is just a tool which allows you to do this more
quickly, widely and cheaply than ever before!
Online giving has increased by
85% in the past three years!
(according to research by nfpSynergy together with MissionFish UK,
eBay for Charity and the Institute of Fundraising – 15 Sept 2011)
Online Fundraising: What it is and isn’t
 Online Fundraising is NOT:
 Online Fundraising is:
Just having a donate button on your
website
A set of tools to build a community of
support around your organisation
An easy way of getting money from
people you don’t know
A way of helping your current and
future supporters engage with and
support your work
Posting a project on a site like
Localgiving.com and expecting people
to find it
A mechanism through which your
supporters can easily and efficiently
support your organisation – both with
money and other kinds of nonfinancial support and engagement
A substitute to your other fundraising
A key component of a diverse funding
strategy incorporating different
methods of income generation
Social Media – do I need to use it?
By having as much presence on the internet as possible, you have a ready made
network of potential supporters and donors; people you may not have had
access to before.
Social media also allows your charity to:
•
Appear higher in the list of results on search engine websites such as
Google
• Communicate with a large audience
• Engage and interact with your supporters & other stakeholders,
particularly the younger generation
• Support your existing fundraising efforts through another channel
Facebook & Twitter
Facebook – a social network website with 800 million users. You can create a
page for your organisation to share pictures, videos and information to show how
you are making a difference and gather more supporters.
Twitter – a micro-blogging website where you can share information about your
organisation in 140 character announcements. By ‘Following’ and interacting with
other members you can expand your online network.
How are they different?
Twitter is a platform for sharing short statements and website links whereas
Facebook is unrestricted and allows you to post images, videos and long
messages.
How can I fundraise on social media?
•
Direct existing supporters to donate online
- Use it to announce fundraising events and campaigns
- Update your Facebook Status or Tweet your Localgiving.com link (as well as
including your web address on the Information page to help drive more traffic)
• Maintain an interactive relationship with supporters
- Keep supporters informed with regular updates and pictures
- If you do not interact with followers they will lost interest!
• Build a network of new supporters who could potentially donate
- By asking your friends to ‘donate’ their status or Retweet your message, you will
reach new audiences
Online Fundraising with
Localgiving.com
What is Localgiving.com?
Mission: To provide local charities and
community groups with the technology
to raise money, awareness and support
online.
Webpages and web tools necessary to;
• Reduce dependency on grants
• Provide new sources of funding and
support
• Engage with their local community
What your page will
look like
Benefits of Localgiving.com
Facilities to easily accept donations
Automated Gift Aid on donations without being a registered charity
Webpages that are easy to complete and update at any time and for
supporters to find
New sources of funding, access to a community of supporters
Space to advertise your needs, including volunteer vacancies
Donations are unrestricted, use the money where it is needed
Training materials and support to help you with your fundraising
Local, regional and national Match Fund Challenges
14
Localgiving.com support with social
media
• Buttons at the top of your
webpage promoting your direct
link on social media
• User guides – Introduction & Next
Steps
• Help Desk support
• Engagement & promotion with
Localgiving.com via social media
Beginning your journey on
Localgiving.com
•
Register your interest with BBCCF to become invited
•
Register on Localgiving
•
Fundraising workshops
•
Local supporter campaigns and Match Fund Campaigns
Invitation to join Localgiving.com
Your charity
17
Register with Localgiving.com
yourname@charity.com
Your username is your
email address.
Enter a password of your
choice and click ‘Register’.
18
How is a donation distributed?
Fees:
• Up to 2% for the average credit or debit card fee
• 3% to the local Community Foundation
• 3% to Localgiving.com
£30 DONATION EXAMPLE WITH GIFT AID:
Donation
- 2% average card fees
+ 25% Gift aid
- 6% CF/LG fees
=
£30.00
£ .60
£ 7.50
£ 2.25 (this is split between CF and LG)
£34.65 to the Charity or Community Group
19
Attracting donors to your
Localgiving.com webpage
Creating an attractive page for donors
Good quality images
showing volunteers,
staff, and/or beneficiaries
Keep your page up to date
with your latest projects,
events and activities
Summary of your
organisation with
specific examples
Donation
suggestions
for supporters
with examples
of how they
could help
The causes you
work with, where
donors search
and find you
Driving online traffic to your webpage
The first step is to make it as easy as possible for your potential supporters to
donate. The following steps require minimal effort and are free!
• Include your direct web address in your email signature
• Use the Localgiving.com buttons - These can be inserted into your website,
newsletters or email signature so the viewer sees the image and can click on to
be directed to our webpage to donate. You can find these in your account under
“My Promotions”.
Your direct web address
Your direct web address will always start with www.localgiving.com/ followed by the
name (or acronym) of your charity.
For example: www.localgiving.com/yourcharity
Supporters will be able to find your Localgiving.com webpage quickly and easily by
typing your direct web address into their internet browser, or by clicking on your link.
Add an email signature
Promote your direct web
address by putting it on
your marketing materials
and by adding it to your
email signature.
The link to your webpage
Tell your immediate network
The majority of potential supporters are not going to find your page unless you
show them where your Localgiving.com webpage is.
.
Have your friends reach out –
Word of mouth is the most
powerful motivator, so encourage
your loyal supporters to reach out
and help you get new supporters.
Promoting your webpage
Continuously build your supporter database
People inside
your
organisation
People outside
the
organisation
Staff
Donors and
Supporters
Volunteers
Members of
partner
organisations
and
professional
contacts
Treat your database
as a valuable asset!
Board Members Beneficiaries
Trustees
Anyone who
has expressed
an interest in
the organisation
Consider Data Protection
Do ask for your members' permission to
contact them. This should be clearly
recorded on the database.
Building a relationship with your supporters
Communicate
via your
online toolkit
Email marketing
Send your supporters newsletters via email
to keep them updated on your charity’s
work (or ask a volunteer to help)!
• Include photos of
your charity with the
newsletter
• Put your charity’s
logo at the top of the
page
• Add a link to your
charity’s Facebook,
Twitter and
Localgiving.com
pages to the
newsletter
• Personalise by
addressing the
newsletter to the
supporter by name
Driving offline traffic to your
webpage
Incorporate your direct web address into
your traditional fundraising activities
Display your Localgiving.com
direct web address at your
organisation, and ensure that
your staff, volunteers and
trustees all know about and are
spreading the word about your
Localgiving.com webpage
Create leaflets promoting
your direct web address
and prompting people to
donate
Promote your web address at
events and fundraising activities
Incorporate your
Localgiving.com web
address into your regular
newsletters and all other
printed materials e.g. annual
reports and leaflets
Getting in the news
To be newsworthy, you need a story that will inform, educate or entertain
readers, viewers or listeners – Localgiving.com can provide a press release template!
Good stories include:
•
Fundraising events
•
Charity achievements
•
Projects undertaken by your local charity
or community group
•
New community activities
•
Letter to the editor
•
Eye-catching picture
A Checklist for your story:
 Is it current and relevant?
 How is it different from other
stories you’ve read?
 Does it have a human
element?
 Is it your story moving,
amusing or inspiring?
Feedback: The most important step!
Turn the success of your fundraiser/campaign into your next marketing message:
-
Create case studies to share!
-
Update your Localgiving.com webpage so your donors can see your success
-
Announce the success of your fundraiser/event on social media
-
Thank supporters through your Localgiving.com account
Questions