Connect.
By Erin Anastasia-Murphy
Copyright 2011 in4good
Smashwords Edition
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Acknowledgements
Writing a book is rarely a singular endeavor, and this eBook is no exception. As with any worthwhile venture, a dynamic community was formed in support of this project, and must be acknowledged:
» First and foremost, Connect is at the core a formalization of the innovative vision of John Whalen, who crafted, developed and honed his member segmentation model over many years. It is John’s unique boosterism theory that not only shaped this eBook, but has compelled in4good’s thought leadership and project development as a whole. We owe John our deepest thanks for so graciously providing the foundation for our own thinking, and for his continuous support as we move forwards.
» Many thanks to John Hutchinson, our brilliant and gracious CEO/President, without whom, Connect never would have come to fruition.
» To Meg Savin, editor extraordinaire and Director of Outreach, whose keen eye and personal reflections have played an instrumental part in developing all of our thought leadership materials.
» And lastly, to the countless staff members at nonprofits across the country, and around the globe, who have generously given their time, and shared their experiences with us as we have worked to develop our ideas.
This final product merely the articulation of the successes and innovation of many individuals who deserve my deepest gratitude.
E. Anastasia-Murphy
Contents
Introduction _______Community Strategy
Chapter I __________Member Segmentation
Chapter II _________Fundraising
Chapter IV ________Recruitment
Chapter VII _______Knowledge Sharing
Chapter VIII ______Social Networking
Introduction | Community Strategy
Perhaps the most important common thread that runs through all cause-related organizations is the desire to engage people on levels beyond simply marketing a brand. To do this, organizations focus on a handful of important strategies around which they commit time, resources and energy.
For Connect, we’ve settled on the seven most important community strategy areas to explore further. Rarely does a nonprofit or company focus on all seven strategy areas, but from years of collaboration and learning, it has become clear that all cause-related groups focus on a least a few.
We hope you’ll find Connect useful you build a thriving community of your own!
Seven Community Strategy Areas:
Fundraising » Does your organization raise money? Effective fundraising efforts range across many initiatives such as individual donations, grants, corporate gifts and fundraisers. Instead of canvassing supporters with donation requests, nonprofits should empower boosters to fundraise for them by offering direction and tools to encourage innovative and successful fundraising events, pages, races, and more
Advocacy » Does your organization need to influence voters or legislators? Effective advocacy occurs when organizations influence people external to their cause by sending emails, petitioning local governments, or writing newspaper articles, etc. It is strategically important to provide your supporter base with the tools to create advocacy groups within their local communities, and galvanize support at the grassroots level.
Recruitment » Is membership growth essential to your success? Recruitment is how organizations grow—by finding people to join their ranks—as joiners, boosters or even employees. Empower your entire supporter base to recruit within their personal contacts by providing template emails, share capabilities, community platforms and more.
Volunteering » Are your constituents contributing to your efforts? Volunteers are community members who enlist and devote their time, energy, and knowledge to a cause. The best strategies for engaging your entire supporter base in volunteerism should include encouraging actions in many capacities; online, in local communities, or as part of a planned event.
Events » Do you rely on gatherings to organize your participants? Nonprofit communities use events to gather and guide participant’s involvement with the organization, usually in support of specific campaigns or general advocacy. Allowing boosters to plan and host events, while providing tools such as calendars that can be managed by users, can galvanize and multiply support and energy for events.
Knowledge Sharing » How do your members learn from and connect with each other? Many causes exhibit thought leadership by encouraging user-generated content like blog posts, comments, and sometimes wikis. These tools provide supporters with a platform to share their knowledge and experiences and help to foster meaningful conversations online.
Social Networking » How is your organization getting the word out? Social networking allows a community’s members to connect with each other, organization staff, and spread the message to personal networks. Maintaining vibrant, dynamic Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages can drive energy and support towards a nonprofit’s mission and generate important buzz and spur conversations at social media pages.
Chapter 1 | Member Segmentation
How to segment your community and realize greater impact.
For-profits use segmentation models, and so should you. Why? Because all supporters are not created equal. That is to say, the participation level and leadership capabilities of your member-base varies between individuals, and therefore, so does each supporter’s value to your organization as a whole.
With the advent of social media, there has been a shift in the way people think about segmentation. It is no longer sufficient to segment individuals using static terms; the actions of users dictate the most effective segmentation models used in the marketplace. The same can be said for a nonprofit’s community. The most effective segmentation analyzes the actions that individuals take, and the capabilities of those singular supporters to expand on their own enthusiasm, by multiplying energy and helping you achieve your social mission. At In4good, we’ve developed a unique segmentation model that breaks down your membership into four categories based on the emotional commitment and personal capability of individuals:
» Transient
A transient does not put down roots nor provide contact information to the organization. They may consume resources on the Web or through an organization’s publications, but they remain anonymous and unreachable.
» Joiner
A joiner makes an emotional commitment to support an organization’s social mission through personal participation. (I write a check; I attend an event; I volunteer my time, etc.)
» Booster
A booster multiplies the effects of personal participation by galvanizing a group of joiners into common action. (I organize a fundraising drive at my company; I plan and hold an event; I recruit volunteers locally, etc.)
» Leader
A leader plays a major role in driving the energy of the entire community. They have a holistic view of all the activities of the organization. Leaders are rare (you can count them on one hand) but are well known to all members of the community.
Analyze the commitment, and the capabilities, of each supporter. Your community is unique; the motivations and goals of your base vary from person to person. By simplifying our segmentation model into four participation and leadership- based categories, we can focus our attention on the value of each member’s presence in your community, while encouraging all types of actions within each category.
All actions are important, but have different value levels. In order to accurately gauge the value of your community members online, we must first shift the way we think about the people who visit your website. It is not about how many individuals surf to your site; it is instead, how these individuals actively participate once they are there. If they pass through, remaining an anonymous visitor, and never return, the merit of their presence to your organization is clearly very low. But if an individual becomes enthused by your mission, and registers for an e-newsletter, for example, their value as a member of your community increases.
Similarly, a joiner’s worth moves beyond that of a registrant, as they make and maintain a personal commitment to an organization by attending events or donating to initiatives. Although their value does not quite move beyond individual efforts, joiners can become an important, driving force behind the success of your organization through their own personal participation.
Where the value of a joiner is individual, the benefit of a booster is collective. A booster galvanizes their own personal networks into a shared effort to support your social mission, often by joining online communities, and then using the tools available to help those communities grow. By drawing in more registrants and joiners, boosters provide the vital community-driven energy to help create a self-sustaining community of supporters for your organization, on and offline.
While boosters help grow communities at a grass-roots level, it is the leaders who play a major role in driving the energy of the entire community. Leaders should imbue the values of the organization and personify the social mission in spirit and action.
At In4good, we encourage our peers to track and encourage growth by using a unique set of impact metrics. To achieve successful segmentation, we use a toolset beyond conceptual language. You can identify, measure and track the growth of your community using a comprehensive set of metrics developed to help you realize greater impact.
In4good’s approach to segmentation allows for both a planning and action-oriented tasking:
» Collaboratively planning your community’s growth.
» Keeping updated metrics to track your community.
» Holding stakeholders accountable for the progress of your community.
» Channeling growth and achieve true impact.
By using our segmentation strategy to identify and measure your community of supporters, you can channel growth to achieve true energy and impact. This way, you can effectively help you nurture and grow a thriving community of active supporters across all participation levels—a community unique to your organization, collectively working towards your goals.
Segment your supporters to grow your community, and realize its full potential!
Chapter 2 | Fundraising
Donor support is vital to a nonprofit’s continued success.
Mobilize your supporters to effectively fundraise for your organization. Technology has empowered consumers to become important advocates or adversaries for all types of goods and services online. Just as travelers look to TripAdvisor for peer reviews of the newest hotels, potential donors are highly influenced by the actions their friends and family take to support certain non-profits. While canvassing site visitors with “DONATE” banners won’t necessarily result in more cash flow for your organization, taking the initiative to engage meaningfully with joiners and boosters can help encourage donations.
Peer pressure, it isn’t always a bad thing. It is important to provide supporters basic, easily accessible options for donating, but it is perhaps even more important to give supporters the tools to galvanize fundraising efforts within their own communities, both on and offline. In other words, for this type of strategy, don’t just ask for money, ask for support. An individual is more likely to be enthusiastic in his giving if his sister asks him to donate to her fundraising page, sponsor her marathon run, or attend a dinner she hosts, because there is an immediate, personal connection to the money and energy being directed towards your cause. For these reasons, the best donation practices involve:
» Giving supporters a platform to create their own fundraising pages to drum up donations, on and offline.
» Providing support for individuals who wish to run/cycle/swim to benefit your cause, such as online donor capabilities, team pages, etc.
» Offering tools and guidelines for successful booster-led fundraisers.
» Offering incentives for basic donations (such as merchandise), that also double to raise awareness and advocate for your cause.
Individual donations are necessary, but empowering a supporter with the tools and support to multiply those donations is also important. By encouraging family, friends and local community members to also open their pocketbooks, individuals can spur and energize your efforts exponentially.
Panda pages, panda hats, Panda plush toys— Pandas are saved by the WWF donors. The World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) encourages supporters to donate and fundraise with a number of strategies, specifically through a successful engagement with Web 2.0 technologies. Initiatives supported by the WWF include: