The Cloud

If you're too young to remember where you were when JFK was shot, you might well remember where you were on December 26, 2004 when a massive tsunami caused a deadly natural disaster around the Indian Ocean.   I'll remember that day well because I was on call as the manager of the British Red Cross' online donations and messaging platform.  Of course the disaster prompted a flurry of activity at the Red Cross which sent aid to the region both directly and through local partners, and mobilised thousands of supporters to donate goods and cash in support of the effort.  

One of the reasons that the date is so firmly etched in my memory is that the Red Cross did not use a cloud hosted solution.  That meant that physical computers had to be racked and configured in pretty short order just to cope with the surge in demand caused by this significant event. 

When looking at their future online platform requirements, I'm finding that the charities we work with are all very interested in what the cloud can offer.  This is where the charity sector's specific needs really need to be addressed.  There are some general reasons why cloud computing is gaining adoption and is seen by many as "a very good thing", but what I have found is that those charities choosing it aren't always doing so for the reasons that commercial organisations adopt the cloud.  In our world, there seem to be three key strengths of the cloud which just can't be matched any other way:

• Scalability:  The massive scalability that cloud can offer is something that charities often rely on (even when this isn't part of the plan).  You don't know when your charity will hit the news or when a key celebrity will tweet about your campaign, but you'd better be ready!
  
• Flexible cost:  The "pay as you go" aspect of cloud means that if you're an organisation which knows you'll get peaks and troughs in demand, you don't need to plan for - and pay for - keeping the maximum capacity online the whole time.  And that can save a lot of money.
  
• Payment options:  When you're using software as a service, you don't have to pay for it all up front - prior to taking delivery, you pay for it over the period you use it over.  Whilst commercial organisations can "capitalise" the cost of software - and use various financing mechanisms to cover it - charities don't always have that option, and the ability to spread payments throughout the life of a platform means that you don't have to make a big financial commitment up front.
  

So whatever systems you're considering for online - don't just read the standard stuff which applies to commercial organisations - cloud applications are super-charity-friendly in special ways!

If you're interested - you can read more about my boxing day antics at http://newsroom.cisco.com/feature-content?type=webcontent&articleId=776182

Supporting your supporters

When I’ve volunteered for charities before, especially when I am raising money – it has been striking how important it is to get the right support from the charity itself. With a small local charity you might get lucky (as I did) and have someone from the charity show up when you’re drumming up sponsorship or at the event itself, but when things get to a larger scale, it’s difficult to keep that level of support high, especially when the people giving that support may well be volunteers themselves.

Reflecting back on my own experience, I’d take away the following to anyone who’s thinking of planning or for that matter improving a fundraising event:

1. Give your fundraisers as much practical support as you possibly can so that they can concentrate on what they’re doing and remain excited about making a difference. The things which might seem easy to you will be of immense help when scaled up across your volunteers – so yes, bring a collecting tin to the event for them, and give them online tools that guide them step-by-step through the essentials of good email and social communication – they might be able to do it themselves, but with support, the results will be significantly better.
2. Help them stay organised with tools and step-by-step processes that ensure that they don’t get stuck in the detail – or get it wrong. And make sure that these work: if you’re asking them to collect addresses on a sponsorship form for Gift aid – make sure the box is big enough to write in!
3. Give them examples of how other groups have organised things successfully so they can pick and choose what will work for them – or better still put them in touch with successful groups and volunteers through social networks and through your own digital tools.
4. Make your story shine through so that your volunteers remember exactly why they are putting in their time and effort to make your fundraiser a success. Successful fundraising is all about that emotional connection. If a volunteer can build on the personal connection they have with donors by building an emotional connection to your cause, you’ll see the results as you'll have new long term supporters who support the charity long after the event is over.

For an example of this done really well? Check out the Cancer Research UK “Relay for Life” website which brings together the cause, and tools and the practical help and guidance needed for both individual fundraisers and for the volunteer team that supports and co-ordinate them. Behind the scenes – the joined-up platform provided by Convio TeamRaiser means that the fundraising, volunteer management and reporting tasks are all completed online within the tool, giving a huge amount of practical help to those who are giving up their time to the charity. For me this really sets the standard in what I look for in terms of support and practical help in getting great results for the charity.

View across the pond

On 1st July 2011, Convio entered the UK through the acquisition of Baigent Digital, one of the UK’s leading online fundraising and web agency supporting charities. 

Having founded Baigent Digital and worked in the UK charity sector for 14 years, it’s been a very interesting experience for me to engage with Convio and the US nonprofit sector in-depth recently and as an organisation it’s enabled us to learn a lot:

When looking across the pond, there are a few striking differences between charities here in the UK and nonprofits in the US.

• For starters, the overall size of the charity sector in the US is around ten times that in the UK. Some of the difference comes from the difference in our populations, but individuals in the US give, on average, around twice the amount per head than here in the UK.
• Our adoption of technology is at a different stage as well. We’re a little behind on overall broadband adoption and we’ve some ground to make up to catch up with serious CRM implementations, but on the other hand there are a few areas where we seem to be ahead in the UK, such as SMS usage.
• The importance of digital within the overall fundraising mix seems very different in the US as well. In the UK, charities are already seeing significant ongoing digital growth, but in the US, nonprofits seem to be several years ahead of this curve and are delivering substantial donation revenues digitally. This has a knock on effect on the structure, skillset and seniority of the US nonprofit team members that I’ve met.

However, what’s been even more striking has been the similarity between the US and UK organisations, in particular the fragmented/siloed structures and practices that organisations are frustrated about and seem stuck in. Here in the UK we seem to be particularly struggling with this problem, especially because we’ve never before had a single joined-up solution of technology and services for fundraising. We’re very excited to see what a difference Convio can make to charities here on this side of the pond.

We’re looking forward to sharing your experiences in the US in person during Summit in October, but in the meantime I hope the video/photo will give you all a flavour of our team and culture!

Baigent Digital – Head Cam from Baigent Digital on Vimeo.