By Lora Dow, Donor By Design Group

As I was thinking about all the things I learned at this year’s NAYDO Conference, it suddenly occurred to me that there was something I didn’t hear — a topic that has dominated the conversation for several years now.

No one was talking about the economy. No one was waiting for things to get better before pursuing their development goals.

I don’t think that’s because economic conditions are necessarily better, but that nonprofits are learning to work within the “new normal.” They’re realizing that the mission is more important than ever. They’re discovering that people are still generous, even if they are more discerning about their philanthropic dollar.

Did you notice that too? What else were you surprised NOT to hear?

By Debra Koeppen, Valparaiso Family YMCA

Attended the Annual Support session with Gail Glasser, Courteney Weiland, E

d Thomas and Diana Deakin-Thomas, and it was great!  Wish it could have been a 3-hour because lots to cover.  This session took away some fears I have with collaborating with many Y’s in an annual campaign effort. I think it can be done now…so thanks for the great ideas!

The Canadians have led the way, and a recommended site for all to check-out: www.ymcastrongkids.ca.  They have a “storyteller’s page”, which is part of a “book” within the site that looks like an awesome fundraising tool.

By Nicole McCleaf, YMCA of San Diego County

Online fundraising starts offline in the planning of a campaign.  Campaigns need to integrate online & offline fundraising in the same plan and budget to be most effective.  Still keep doing what you are doing and foster those IRL (In Real Life) relationships, but also keep in mind how you can expand your online fundraising efforts simply to harness future supporters and donors.

1. Website

• Add a “Donate” or “Give” button to your site and make it as visible as possible.  Google  and PayPal offer easy options.  Google’s transaction processing rates are determined by sales volume during a calendar month; though if you are a Google Grants recipient, donations are processed for free until January 1, 2012. PayPal’s standard rate is 2.9% + $0.30 USD up to $3,000 but decreases as the payment balance increases. The $0.30 transaction fee applies to all transactions. All services will charge a processing or transaction fee.  Keep this in mind, especially if you are trying to keep your administrative costs low.

• Search engines love when you place new content on your site, so keep your website up-to-date.

• Your site should be user friendly.  A site that is easy to navigate increases the likelihood of a return visitor who may sign up for a program or donate to your Y.

• Add sharing tools like AddThis or ShareThis to your website.  They allow for content to be emailed, printed and easily shared on social networks.

2. Email Marketing

• Leverage the email addresses you already have collected. Send to them to make sure they are active and want to receive email from you.

• Collect email addresses on your website. Most email marketing solutions offer a feature to help accomplish this.  Take advantage when site visitors are willing to give you their email address and permission to send to them.  Send a welcome email as your initial contact. Having their email address also gives you the opportunity to stay in touch with them.

• Email marketing is an easy way to share your story with your donors throughout the year.  Send a monthly newsletter of YMCA related news stories  and happenings.

3. Social Media

• Start small and start by listening.

• Find a staff member, who is passionate about the Y and social media, and who is friendly, patient and responsive, to help launch your social media program. Check out these great tips by nonprofitorgs: Five Must-Have Skills for Nonprofit Social Media Managers.

• Tell your story when and wherever you can. Create content your constituents can share to tell your story for you & make it easily available to them.

• View everyone connected to your organization as an ambassador.

• Use tools within social media sites to collect donations. (e.g. create a custom tab on Facebook using iFrames to collect donations or use the call-to-action overlay to drive traffic to your giving page from your YouTube channel)

4. Millenials

Everyone is really interested in how to best target and market to Millennials, especially since they have been viewed as the most tech savvy generation.  According to the millennial donors report 2011, though Millenials prefer to give online they gave most often as a result of personal, traditional requests.  Personal contact superseded high tech approaches.  Always ensure accessibility for donors to give easily on your website, but also reach out to Millenials  in the traditional sense to get them connected with your Y.

To learn more about online fundraising and to see more examples, please attend the “Extending Fundraising Reach Using Online Tools and Methods” workshop on Friday, April 29 at 11:00 a.m. in Grand C-D.  The presentation and resource links will be posted following the workshop.