The Tricks and Treats of Social Media Fundraising

It’s no surprise that social media fundraising is the most effective way to go when trying to connect with new donors and keeping faithful ones abreast of your current projects. It also is a budget and environmentally friendly way to eliminate newsletters, donation envelopes and the ever increasing price of postage. Here are some of the tricks and treats of fundraising.
The Trick: The Time Vacuum  – The Treat: Using Time Wisely
Social Media can be a great time vacuum; by the time you check your e-mail, Facebook and Twitter accounts, an hour seems to have magically slipped away. Between clicking on links, responding to e-mails, deleting the spam and sorting through old e-mails that need replies, one can easily get swamped just maintaining an inbox. The trick is to delegate and delete. Have an assistant or media manager sort through the bulk mails and reserve a special e-mail for those who seriously need to contact you (this of course is pending the size and budget of your organization.) Another option is to check your e-mail, address the necessary problems, and then close that window. Every time a new e-mail pops up you won’t see it and you can focus on one project at a time. The greatest waste of time is going back and forth and never accomplishing anything while still feeling completely overwhelmed.

The Trick: Simplicity is Key – The Treat: Less is More

Choose your projects, your campaigns and your goals wisely. The more you have on your plate, the less success you’re going to have. If you’re trying to raise money for a new building, plus doing a holiday project, plus having a volunteer work day, plus sustaining the programs you have, you’re going to burn out yourself, your staff and your donors. This is obvious, but map out your year, get a feel for the capacity of your staff, and tap into different donors at different times so you aren’t always asking the same people for money.

The Trick: It’s All About Perception – The Treat: Gaining a Loyal Following

Positive word of mouth and a strong reputation are your strongest marketing tools. You can have the most artistic flyer or spot on website, but if volunteers and donors have had a bad interaction with your charity and post it on Facebook, all that publicity is for nothing. Your employees will pattern their passion and work ethic after you and that influence will flow to your supporters. The core of any non-profit is how people are treated; the people who are adopting pets, the people who are volunteering or the people who are being helped through your services.

The trick to a non-profit is always keeping your eyes on your goals. Why do you work so hard for so little money to have so much stress? It’s all because of the treat: you’re making the world a better place and changing the lives of countless others.