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| Re: Can charities successfully monitise virals for fundraising?
Posted by Tony Poderis   on 6/30/2009, 3:53 pm, in reply to "Can charities successfully monitise virals for fundraising?"
VIP Poster
Hello Lilly: Yours is an interesting, and timely, topic. It is good to hear from you. Nothing yet in reply as I post my humble say, but I believe it is due to the many facets of “Viral Marketing” and your particular situation which requires some serious deliberation. The twists and turns are many.
I trust a number of the knowledgeable folks here on PND Talk will pitch in with what they know about Viral Marketing. However, as much as I can safely say about that process, has me, like Hamlet, venturing into somewhat “undiscover’d country.” But, I will give it a go anyway.
With that advance apology on the table, and necessarily being to the point and quite candid, I will comment on your message as we go down the page.
(1) Yes, current times are making it harder to raise charitable funds for many organizations. But, there have been worse times. Solution? We keep at it, and we work harder. We must never use the economic downturn as an excuse to keep us from continuing to ask for money. From considerable experience during all sorts of calamities, be they from nature, accident, or terrorists, many organizations become discouraged and often do not continue to ask for money, or they greatly reduce their fund-raising activities. Anticipating the worst is usually a self-fulfilling prophesy. It’s important to remember that:
--- A Campaign Deferred Is A Campaign Defeated
http://www.raise-funds.com/040306forum.html
(2) Traditional methods are absolutely, surely, working---if they are worked. Billions of dollars (pounds) have been raised by millions of charities over decades of times, and those traditional methods will be working now, and for as far into the future as anyone can project. It’s a big mistake to think otherwise. Otherwise, there are no viable alternatives capable of raising the amounts of money non-profits need to survive.
(3) Actually, they (non-profits) turned to digital space a number of years ago with the Internet “bubble” as they sought donations globally via “philanthropic portals”---which listed registered non-profits seeking donations---and non-profits soliciting donations from their own new and developing websites. Internet presence, and non-profits sending e-mails and regular mail to their friends, prospects and the general public, asking them to visit the host or the non-profit’s websites is not new.
--- Fund-Raising With A Net
The Internet
http://www.raise-funds.com/010902forum.html
The methods may have been somewhat different from then to the VM technique, the latter being an e-mail “pass along” program, but the approach was the same. It is more a false hope that community charities would somehow be able to attract donations from what were, in fact, distant and uncaring benefactors. That “bubble” burst then, as we all remember. Hope for charities to make meaningful amounts of money relying on social networking and other means to have e-mail recipients send what they receive to others, seems to me, another false fund-raising hope.
(4) I think that ActionAid should consider a few other points as the organization spends time, effort and money to go on the Viral Marketing path.
(a) to be aware that for-profit businesses employing VM have a product they are making available at the best price and quality in the marketplace.
(b) understand that it is a totally different transaction when asking for voluntary donations in an impersonal medium to people who mostly have little, to no, interest in the soliciting charity.
(c) work to take seriously its mission, and not think that a warm fuzzy feeling projected to prospects is going to be taken seriously if the cute kids are expected to be the total giving “hook.” And any political connection made by ActionAid is surely going to encounter some resentment---no matter the political party.
(5) As in anything we want to sell or to seek donations, we must have an identified, viable, “market.” In VM, you must ask yourselves to whom will go the e-mails, and will those people pass them on to others who will respond in support of the charity? I have seen where VM e-mails end up Spam blocked. Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook---and those dreaded silly jokes and cartoons---communications are becoming more prevalent. We are asked more and more to “read and pass on to a friend.” Take care that such watering down of what we receive daily, may well negate the value of VM messages.
Just my opinion, and I am eager to hear from you and others.
Good luck to you and to the charity,
Tony
Tony Poderis
http://www.raise-funds.com
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