Sally Heaven

Several organizations who use Convio's Advocacy product had a stimulating discussion yesterday here at the Convio Summit about online advocacy and what the future of the field is going to look like. 

Oversimplifying, I'd say that people fell into two camps:

1. Traditional Online Advocacy - where a constituent sends an electronic communication to the decision maker, who is often a legislator.
   
   
2. Social Networking Online Advocacy -abandoning traditional online advocacy and instead using social networking tools to raise awareness and build a national movement.  This could include sending letters to targets, or not.

Arguments in favor of approach number 2 were that the traditional methods have allowed for a number of discrete victories, but haven't necessarily solved the overall problem (for whatever issue the organizations cared about).  One participant said "We're winning the battles, but we might still lose the war." 

Those in favor of preserving traditional online advocacy made several points - among them were legislative victories and a sense of stewardship to members.  Financial supporters of organizations have come to expect that the group enables constituents to communicate directly with legislators on issues and to provide talking points and even sample letters.

Not everyone fell into one camp or the other - there were many folks in the room who believed that both approaches are going to continue to be effective and necessary.  Full disclosure - I was one of those people.  Not only do I believe that traditional online advocacy methods can be effective if they are deployed correctly, but I also think that enabling constituents to take action through a tool that you own and operate allows you to do something very important - ask activists to join your list.  And those activists can then go on to become supporters of your organization in other ways, including by volunteering and/or donating.

Additionally, not every organization has a mission that lends itself well to a global movement, and not every constituent is going to want to broadcast their involvement with a cause or organization to their entire Facebook friend list.

However, the power of social networking tools to enable a massive response in a short period of time is undeniable.  Facebook is the current power social networking tool du jour (actually, du decade), and the News Feed is a viral marketing tool without peer.  Seeing that your friends - many of whom probably share your values - took action on a campaign, and being able to easily click and take your own action, is awesome enough.  But combining that with "fishing where the fish are" - since so many people log into Facebook daily to update their status and see what their friends are up to - and you have a combination that makes an enormous impact on awareness and action.

I don't know what the ultimate answer is or will be, but I also think that Facebook Connect has potential to build a bridge between these two methods and not force organizations to run parallel campaigns - one using their own software, and one using Facebook tools.  Facebook Connect allows your constituents to take action on a campaign and then to click to update their News Feed to reflect that they took the action, also providing a link back to your campaign.  It's possible that this could help an organization tap into the power of Facebook while still offering new constituents a way to join their list.  I'd be interested in seeing some data on viral marketing opt-in rates that are sourced to Facebook Connect.

Let's continue this discussion - what do you think the future holds for online advocacy? 

Thanksgiving is a beloved holiday, but it's usually over way too fast.  The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) has come up with a way to let us all extend the holiday - as well as to celebrate their anniversaries and two decades of accomplishments.

NMAI is asking supporters to host a potluck on or around November 28, 2009 (the 20th anniversary of President George H. W. Bush's signing of legislation to establish NMAI as part of the Smithsonian Institution).  Potluck hosts can join a team or host as individuals, and they agree to raise money from family and friends to help fund education, public programs, and other activities.

The best part is that you don't have to host a real-life potluck, especially if you simply don't have the time right after the Thanksgiving holiday.  You can create a page and invite your friends and family to participate virtually. 

Virtual events are a great way for organizations who don't necessarily have a singular, recurring annual event like a walk, run, or triathalon to participate in peer-to-peer fundraising events.  It's also a win if the organization doesn't have the resources or infrastructure to support a large in-person event, which usually take hundreds if not thousands of volunteers to put together.  Not to mention that your supporters don't have to travel to a central location to participate - anyone across the country, or in other countries, is eligible to participate.

Coaching is an important part of any constituent-led fundraising event, and for virtual events, this is especially important.  NMAI has created a list of resources to empower their constituents with ideas for their potlucks, as well as the all-important fundraising coaching page.  Creating a page is only half the battle, and often people who are new to this type of fundraising can be shy about asking their friends and familiy to donate money.  Of course, everyone knows that I'm a big fan of using social networks to support this type of fundraising, as well, and NMAI has made sure to remind participants of all the channels available to them to get the word out.

My favorite coaching tip:  "For those who are hosting a potluck but don't want to cook - have everyone bring their Thanksgiving leftovers!"

I'd be interested in hearing from other groups who have organized virtual peer-to-peer fundraising events.  How did it go?  What kinds of resources did you provide to your supporters, and what worked well?

The New Organizing Institute is in full swing conducting "BootCamp2009", and we're all in for a treat because tomorrow we can vote on the winners!

What is the New Organizing Institute?

From their website:  The NOI runs the only progressive advocacy and campaign training program focused on cutting-edge online organizing techniques (e.g. writing effective emails, engaging bloggers, leveraging social networks, utilizing video), political technology (e.g. using data effectively, progressive technology infrastructure), and the intersection with field and management of these areas of new organizing.

What is BootCamp?

This July 4th, NOI will invite 60 bright, diverse graduating college seniors, recent campaign staffers, and career-change professionals to Washington, DC for an intensive week-long, all-expense-paid training. BootCamp will cover everything there is to know about campaigning, new media, online organizing, technology in order to work in the progressive movement. Participants, drawn from a highly competitive pool of applicants, will learn from the top practitioners in their field by day, then apply the lessons learned in the context of a simulated campaign in the evenings.

The group of 60 participants is very impressive indeed, and this year NOI has them working on a simulated mayoral campaign.  This year's theme is Superhero Vote!  There are 8 teams and each team has a different superhero candidate.  There's Cyborg, Superman, The Atom, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Spiderman, Batgirl, and Batwoman in the race.  The teams are currently conducting outreach and organizing, and on Friday from 7am - 6pm Eastern time, you can vote on which candidate you'd like to elect.  The teams' efforts this week are already paying off with earned media - blogger DCist has already covered the competition.  (I love the comment about the candidates being carpetbaggers - I guess DC doesn't have any indigenous superheros.)

Heather Cronk, NOI's training director, said "This year's BootCampers have taken the campaign simulation and training to whole new heights. They're building websites, designing/launching email campaigns, doing blog outreach, targeting voters, creating a GOTV plan, and recruiting/mobilizing volunteers -- in the course of a week. They're the cream of the crop, and progressive politics isn't going to know what hit them when these folks join political and nonprofit campaigns."

With trainings and results like these, it's no wonder that new media and online organizing has vaulted to fill such an important role in political campaigns, as well as a crucial ongoing function for nonprofit organizations.  And I'm partial to Batwoman, myself - I like her stance on the issues.  But don't let my opinion sway you - check out the candidates' websites, explore their platforms, and vote tomorrow.  Good luck to all the candidates!

It's been my good fortune to work with Children's Defense Fund for the last year and a half here at Convio.  CDF is the foremost national proponent of policies and programs that provide children with the resources they need to succeed. I'm happy to be able to tell you today about a couple of things - their redesign of their website and some encouraging results from their hard work, and a webinar that we're hosting tomorrow (Wednesday) where they'll tell you how they did it.

Heidi Hess, the Director of Online Communications at CDF, wanted to make www.childrensdefense.org the destination site for people searching for information about child advocacy issues.  To accomplish this, she led a process to redesign the website - both for look and feel, and for usability and accessibility.  In addition, CDF wanted to make sure that people searching for information about child advocacy issues would be able to find it easily, and so engaged in a process early on to integrate search engine optimization (SEO) into the new site.

And what a marvelous result it is!  Not only is the new site aesthetically pleasing, it's also more intutive.  If I'm looking for resources, publications, and ways to get involved, the top menu bar makes it really clear where I'll find what I'm looking for.  The platform for the site is Convio CMS, and one of the reasons CDF chose Convio CMS was its integration with Convio's Online Marketing suite of tools.

CDF had help during this process - Omni Studio completely redesigned CDF's web assets in 2008, and RedEngine Digital led the process to integrate SEO recommendations.  And the proof of the pudding is in the eating - since the new site was launched on March, 2009:

• overall site visits from 2008 to 2009 increased by 12%
• Google organic search visits increased by 23%
• average time on the site is up 15%

CDF and Convio are hosting a complimentary webinar on Integrating Your Mission with Your Website on Wednesday, June 17 at 3:00 p.m. Eastern time (that's tomorrow!) to discuss their success and lessons learned.  I hope you'll sign up and attend!

Among nonprofit fundraisers, there's a lot of discussion and disagreement about whether the use of social media for nonprofit fundraising is:

• the greatest thing since sliced bread, or
• a flash in the pan that doesn't deserve the attention it's getting and will be over before you know it

Actually, the discussion is a lot more nuanced than this, but there definitely are people who fall solidly on one side or the other.  One of the anecdotal snippets that I've heard is "We started a Facebook Cause, but haven't raised much money from it. Hence, social media fundraising doesn't work and we're not going to invest in it."

I've said it before and I'll say it again - I think the real power for nonprofits to exploit social media lies in the peer-to-peer fundraising area, much more so than direct fundraising.  More than likely your organization has an email list and fundraising pages that you've spent a lot of time on - the language, the design, the strategy, and building the relationship with your members.  I'm not sure that it's worth it to try to rebuild the wheel inside of Facebook.  Constituents who sign up for a nonprofit organization's email list to some extent expect to be asked to donate.  In contrast, people who sign up for Facebook are probably expecting to interact with friends, post pictures, and take quizzes.  (Such as - which Muppet are you?  For the record, I'm Kermit.)

Here's a personal example: earlier this week I decided to run a 5K this weekend to raise money for the National Foster Parent Association, and as it happened, the registration form was a Convio TeamRaiser form.  I customized the page pretty minimally - chose a color theme, uploaded a picture, and wrote two short paragraphs about why I was running.  Then I posted the link on my Facebook page and sent a tweet about it.

The results astounded me.  In just two days my friends and family donated a total of $500 and counting.  This was with fairly minimal effort on my part - a Facebook post and a tweet.  Not bad for a last-minute decision to participate!

Of course, this model assumes that your organization has a run/walk/bike ride or other type of event to fundraise around, and that your participants are willing and able to ask their friends and family to donate.  This probably will require some coaching from your organization and reminders about deadlines and to ask, ask, ask. 

But the point is, participants who use social media have a really easy way using Facebook, twitter, or other social networks to post a link to their page and to ask their friends to donate.  And they'll find a receptive audience.  Since Facebook users are expecting to interact with friends, they'll be more motivated to donate because their friend asked them to - they're supporting their friend, not just an organization that they may have no personal connection to.

Not every organization has a signature event like a run or walk, of course.  No problem.  There are also peer-to-peer fundraising tools that are designed for ongoing fundraising rather than for a discrete event.  World Wildlife Fund's Panda Pages are one great example of this.  In cases like this, the organization probably still needs to do some coaching and creating of deadlines since there isn't the hard and fast deadline of a run or walk date.  It's a great opportunity to give constituents something to do around an organizational anniversary or relevant holiday, in these types of cases - Earth Day, Memorial Day, the 25-year anniversary of the group, and so on.

Here's my bottom line:  the combination of peer-to-peer fundraising tools and social media is unbeatable.