Tuesday, July 17, 2007
The Pizza Hut story
Here's a heartwarming story whose moral is that giving doesn't need to be overly complicated. If we as individuals and families keep our eyes, ears and hearts open to people in our own social networks in need... Well.. Read the story, you'll see what I'm getting at.
On another note, Peter Deitz held a "webinar" on "group fundraising solutions" today. He lumped together what I'll call "vertical micro-philanthropy sites" such as ModestNeeds, GlobalGiving, Kiva, DonorsChoose with "horizontal group fundraising sites" like FirstGiving, SixDegrees.org and GiveMeaning.
GiveMeaning is unique in that it's both a micro-philanthropy site AND a horizontal group fundraising site but as it applies to most of the other organizations in online fundraising and philanthropy, the two concepts are exclusive of one another.
Let me explain: ModestNeeds allows people to fund specific individuals who have applied for funding for specific personal needs. DonorsChoose allows donors to donate to appeals made by teachers asking for funding for specific school-related projects. All of these sites offer great "catalog's" of giving options all around one specific cause. These vertical sites are generally donor-based but augmented through tools that facilitate spreading awareness about specific projects on that site via word-of-mouth.
Horizontal group fundraising sites are first and foremost "fundraiser centric." This means that without a specific fundraiser instigating traffic to their own fundraising page, (little to) no donations will occur. A horizontal group fundraising platform gives a motivated individual the ability to become a fundraiser for any charity. Group fundraising platforms allow motivated "evangelists" of an organization to fundraise within their own social network (thus also augmenting awareness of the org amongst that network). Very few true strangers are going to donate to a personal fundraising page.
GiveMeaning is unique in that we are fundraiser-centric but because most every fundraising page at GiveMeaning articulates a specific project. Projects can be very specific like this one or more broad and focused really on raising money for an existing program of a charity like this one.
Peter Deitz has done an amazing job and provided a great service in comparing various online giving and fundraising sites but I think it's important to create greater distinction when making comparisons about services that in many cases are comparing "apples to lugnuts."
On another note, Peter Deitz held a "webinar" on "group fundraising solutions" today. He lumped together what I'll call "vertical micro-philanthropy sites" such as ModestNeeds, GlobalGiving, Kiva, DonorsChoose with "horizontal group fundraising sites" like FirstGiving, SixDegrees.org and GiveMeaning.
GiveMeaning is unique in that it's both a micro-philanthropy site AND a horizontal group fundraising site but as it applies to most of the other organizations in online fundraising and philanthropy, the two concepts are exclusive of one another.
Let me explain: ModestNeeds allows people to fund specific individuals who have applied for funding for specific personal needs. DonorsChoose allows donors to donate to appeals made by teachers asking for funding for specific school-related projects. All of these sites offer great "catalog's" of giving options all around one specific cause. These vertical sites are generally donor-based but augmented through tools that facilitate spreading awareness about specific projects on that site via word-of-mouth.
Horizontal group fundraising sites are first and foremost "fundraiser centric." This means that without a specific fundraiser instigating traffic to their own fundraising page, (little to) no donations will occur. A horizontal group fundraising platform gives a motivated individual the ability to become a fundraiser for any charity. Group fundraising platforms allow motivated "evangelists" of an organization to fundraise within their own social network (thus also augmenting awareness of the org amongst that network). Very few true strangers are going to donate to a personal fundraising page.
GiveMeaning is unique in that we are fundraiser-centric but because most every fundraising page at GiveMeaning articulates a specific project. Projects can be very specific like this one or more broad and focused really on raising money for an existing program of a charity like this one.
Peter Deitz has done an amazing job and provided a great service in comparing various online giving and fundraising sites but I think it's important to create greater distinction when making comparisons about services that in many cases are comparing "apples to lugnuts."
Labels: fundraising, nptech, nten, peterdeitz
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Show me the money
Peter Deitz wrote an article for TechSoup today based on a survey conducted amongst GiveMeaning, ChipIn, Firstgiving, SixDegrees, and JustGive.org,
We each gave our own data and Peter then created a composite of "average results" which is a great first-step at providing more knowledge to those contemplating money using group-fundraising campaign services like what GiveMeaning provides.
I'd like to see further studies sub-segmenting by cause and even "outcomes" because I believe our (and I mean all of my colleagues services too) services serve specific types of appeals very well and others not so much.
Peter, I hope TechSoup compensated you for this effort, otherwise, we'll need to throw a group-fundraiser just for Peter to continue this kind of output!
The one thing I think missing/misleading from the analysis in terms of recommendations is that it's not a simple CAMPAIGN GOAL / AVERAGE CAMPAIGNERS * AVERAGE AMOUNT RAISED formula.
Appoint an "Online Campaign Chairperson"
I think in order for a group fundraising campaign to be fully-functional, the organization needs to appoint a group fundraising chairperson and that person should actively on Facebook/LinkedIn/MySpace or all of them and contribute regularly or at least semi-regularly to a blog.
Work with the chairperson to identify "best campaigners" within your org.
They should be identified by a combination of their ability to evangelize the campaign in their own words, have a big social network, and also be on one major social network and ideally be posting a blog as well.
Feed your campaigners a steady stream of "fresh" content
The campaign chair should be organizing meet-ups, and online group chats and be sending fresh "tidbits" for each campaigner to blog about. If you have a ChipIn widget on your blog but the blog isn't talking actively about the campaign, your donations are going to reflect that.
We each gave our own data and Peter then created a composite of "average results" which is a great first-step at providing more knowledge to those contemplating money using group-fundraising campaign services like what GiveMeaning provides.
I'd like to see further studies sub-segmenting by cause and even "outcomes" because I believe our (and I mean all of my colleagues services too) services serve specific types of appeals very well and others not so much.
Peter, I hope TechSoup compensated you for this effort, otherwise, we'll need to throw a group-fundraiser just for Peter to continue this kind of output!
The one thing I think missing/misleading from the analysis in terms of recommendations is that it's not a simple CAMPAIGN GOAL / AVERAGE CAMPAIGNERS * AVERAGE AMOUNT RAISED formula.
Appoint an "Online Campaign Chairperson"
I think in order for a group fundraising campaign to be fully-functional, the organization needs to appoint a group fundraising chairperson and that person should actively on Facebook/LinkedIn/MySpace or all of them and contribute regularly or at least semi-regularly to a blog.
Work with the chairperson to identify "best campaigners" within your org.
They should be identified by a combination of their ability to evangelize the campaign in their own words, have a big social network, and also be on one major social network and ideally be posting a blog as well.
Feed your campaigners a steady stream of "fresh" content
The campaign chair should be organizing meet-ups, and online group chats and be sending fresh "tidbits" for each campaigner to blog about. If you have a ChipIn widget on your blog but the blog isn't talking actively about the campaign, your donations are going to reflect that.
Labels: groupfundraising, nptech, onlinefundraising, peterdeitz, techsoup
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