Lupus Does it Well

I haven't posted in many weeks, primarily because I was nose-to-the-grindstone with clients and work. Work, then post.

However, this article by Ragan Communications awakened my posting slumber because it hit on social media as a fundraising tool, which numerous nonprofits are asking me about right now.

This is a well-done piece which I think provides some insight in a very compact presentation. I particularly like its discussion of two factors:

1) The team doesn’t create all the material. There’s a lot of posting/sharing information that the staff was already using internally (journal articles, etc.), which provides a constant stream for those who want to be “in the know”. This is of value to many supporters of a cause/organization. It takes little time, but does require some up-front organization to ensure that it gets done.

2) He taps into/leverages the “network effect” aspect of the medium (friends bringing friends) to grow the followers organically.

However, I want to point out some factors they don’t overtly discuss:

1) This is a single-cause group that draws on a national audience. That level of focus many organizations lack, but is a powerful gatherer of like individuals, which is evident here. Those dealing with Lupus now have a vast community dealing with extremely similar issues.

2) Of the money raised, a cut is going to the credit card companies and Facebook groups, so discount it from direct donations. The question then becomes, are we losing any because those who would donate directly are donating through this system? Is this offset by the increase in donations?

3) It discusses social media-based fundraising without discussing the wider relationship-building that an organization MUST do to achieve this. Social media is a fantastic tool, but should not be thought of as a panacea for fundraising. It’s just technology. The organization has to be adept at building and cultivating relationships before social media can accomplish for them... OR accomplish on a long-term, regular basis. If you find an organization who is using social media well to this effect, digging deeper will reveal that they were already doing relationships well (or found that social media was the opportunity to fix that).