Making the Ask Online
About This Episode
Online giving is becoming more common, but is this a good or bad thing? In this episode, we dive into best practices for online fundraising, investigate new communications tools for messaging donors and potential donors, and reflect on whether it’s really possible to “overcommunicate” with your audience.
About Dawn
The engine behind BC/DC Ideas, Dawn has dedicated her career to good. Before launching BC/DC Ideas in 2010, she earned her chops in 10+ years of communications leadership roles for public health, healthcare and youth-focused nonprofits. Working for nonprofits is Dawn’s dream job, and she loves that her 40+ hours a week make the world a better place.
These days Dawn brings her considerable experience and expertise to helping elevate the nonprofit sector. Our team’s lead strategist, Dawn is often seen leading our IdeaStorms, penning communications plans, or checking in with clients.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Key questions answered in this episode:
00:49 – Over the past few years, we’ve seen (through the Donor Benchmark Report) online giving steadily creep up. We’ve also seen the number of individuals giving creep up. Do you think online giving is becoming more common?
02:55 – We’ve seen that average online gifts have increased over the years, but they’re always less than the overall average gift. Any sense of why that is?
06:05 – We’re seeing increasing amounts of revenue generated online, and more folks giving online, yet the average gift is lower: are we missing out on the opportunity to get bigger gifts? 10 years from now, will we have regretted this shift to online giving?
09:36 – You say direct mail can be “disruptive and special”: have you seen anyone doing really interesting direct mail?
12:16 – What works in terms of organizations increasing their online giving – through email, social media, etc.?
15:22 – I’ve heard the advice “ask until your unsubscribe rate goes up.” How do you see that fine line?
16:48 – I get the question “How often should I be communicating? How many newsletters? How many emails?” What’s your advice?
19:20 – What types of communications should organizations be paying attention to? What are the best channels (social media, email, etc.) for an organization to focus in on?
24:08 – Could you share the reason behind your name, BC/DC Ideas?
24:45 – What kind of communications work do you do with clients?
26:02- How can our listeners connect with you?
26:32 – Any last words of wisdom for our listeners?