The Long Tail of Online Giving
Bill Strathmann, Katya Andresen - Network for Good/Groundspring
liveblogging the session
The Long Tail is a term from Chris Anderson, editor of Wired.
Based on 80/20 rule. 20% of products provide 80% of sales. Also 50% of sales are driven by 1% of the products.
What new technology does is allow us to target the other 50% of sales. That's the Long Tail.
What does mean for the Nonprofit Sector?
Network for Good finds their donations reflect the long tail, almost to the percentage point.
At NFG, 50% of the donations go to the 1% of charities. The other half goes to the other 25,000 nonprofits on NFG.
Small to medium sized npos accord for 70% of giving via Network for Good. (under 5mil budget)
3 Rules for Working The Tail
- Don't let your online presense be just a 'brick and mortar' site. (Look at blockbuster who was losing to Netflix, then incorporated netflix into the b&m model)
- Go to where the people are, using the infinite variety of the internet.
- Flip the funnel (Seth Godin): Tap into person-to-person fundraising, activism, conversations. New marketing is a dialogue or conversation.
- Not about them coming to us
- A new way to listen
- A new way to engage: It's about user-driven content and an evolving conversation
"If you build it, you are dumb"
"If you build it, they won't come" - Have to do more than just build it (obviously).
One thing you can do is join the conversation... what your keywords, tags, etc. Go where people are already talking about the issues. Start on Technorati.
Case Study:
1. Online Fundraising is growing
2. User-driven content is growing
3. Cult of celebrity continues....
Only 15% give because a celeb says so.
But 76% say they're influenced by friends and family.
Kevin Bacon then calls NFG. Saw that Paul Newman was giving back when using his dressing. Then says 'what can I leverage the 'six degress of kevin bacon phenonamon', buys sixdegrees.org and then reach out to NFG.
The result 'Six Degrees' campaign. Over 50 celebs and over 4000 people being celebs for their own cause.
It worked in part because they set up a sense of urgency by adding a competition element to it with a matching grant.
First round of grants wrapped up on March 31st, but another grant competition will launch in a few weeks.
Lessons learned so far from SixDegrees.org:
- What attracts is celebs; what motivates is personal
- Contests are good, though they require management
- Uber-activits like being more than ATMS
- About 5% of donors might be uber-activists
- They might be better at fundraising than we are
- Social networks are complex; one widget does not serve all
- Be prepared to help people; this is bleeding edge
How to do marketing online and off, really well
Feet First - feetfirst.info - Had no marketing budget. Decided to buy one chicken suit and some signage. When parading around asking "Why can't the chicken cross the road in Seattle? Because it's not a walkable community" Got kids involved who were already involved in the cause. Got all the news to cover.
Use the CRAM model - from book -
Connect - Connect with your donor base based on their own values. (connect to the feeling of being the parent of a child with a life-threatening illness)
Reward - Reward for doing something with you right away... Doesn't have to be a gift. Can be something like your name in lights on the website or a drawing of a villa with your name in it... etc. Give a badge they can put on their own site.
Action - have a specific action
Memorable - make it memorable
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