Social Networking and Fundraising

The last Presidential election cycle has again stirred the fundraising field to jump into social media as a way to raise significant money. Again we are hearing that the death of direct mail is only a matter of years away and that by 2015 that social networking and the internet will be the primary vehicle through which organizations will raise their funds.

In the mid 80s similar predictions were made about brick and mortar colleges, that the rapid growth of inexpensive videos would transform education. A series of lectures could be taped once, and with graphics, video clips and notes inserted, the finished product would be superior to the classroom experience. By the hundreds of thousands students who did not need highly specialty labs would be studying from home and never darken the campus. Such advocates argued that building of new dorms, recreation and classroom facilities was a waist. Similar arguments were again made with the advent of the DVD, and high speed internet. Are brick and mortar colleges dying….far from it.

After 9-11 predications were made that the internet was the fundraising vehicle of the near-future and any organization who did not move quickly to the net would be left behind within five to eight years. Hundreds of organizations invested tens of thousands of dollars on internet initiatives only to find that they received through the net a small fraction of what they invested.

More sobering predictions were again made following Katrina and now again after the recent election cycle. History has shown that the net is not a magic bullet. The organizations that raise money via net tend to be groups that are involved in political action or those responding to a high profile emergency where the urgency to give is immediate.

Social networking is a vehicle for communication, but it is not a magic fundraising solution. Social networking will work for those groups, like a Habit For Humanity, whose fundraising model was social networking based prior to the creation of e-blasts, blogs, Facebook, Myspace and Twitter.

Most social networking vehicles are shallow tools of communication. They are filled with shallow messages. In looking at TSA Corps social networking sites, the membership indicates two things. 1) Few Corps have a broad base, and 2) most of the member is from within the Army….in other words, we are talking to each other. Let us also not forget that the majority of people who have social networking sites are not as active on the network as we would tend to think!

Nonprofits should be in the social networking space only if the organization has a thoughtful and realistic strategy that works with an organization’s overall fundraising and market strategy. Also, an organization should not spend a great deal of resources developing and maintaining the site. The return on investment is not there. A major reason for being in this space is not for raising dollars but as a component of donor communication and education, and then it should not overshadow more effective donor communication vehicles such as direct mail, newsletters, calling and meeting with donors.

The Social networking should only be one vehicle, and even then a minor vehicle, that is used for fundraising and donor communication. It could pull from existing material that is either suitable as is or with some slight adjustments. Whatever the message may be, it should be cogent and be content focused. What is shared should not be trivial, nor should it be too data packed or ethereal. The messages should be success story and ethos focused. Messages that ask for volunteers and money should be rare (less than 10% in total).

Investment of resources (human and fiscal) should be minimal as the rate of return does not justify a heavy investment. Again, it is an awareness tool that should be part of our communication mix, not a direct fundraising tool. It should be used as such a tool to tell the same or similar story that we are telling via other channels. A thoughtful organization should be in the space, but without drinking the spiked cool-aid.