This is the first in our ‘Digital Fundraising Basics’ series that will cover the what’s and how’s of creating a digital fundraising program.
So you want to raise money online? Congratulations, and welcome to the wide world of digital! This can be a scary place at times, but fortunately for you, we know many sophisticated actors who have pioneered these lands and left us with a trail of best practices. The truth about digital is it is an ever-evolving universe that moves quickly, at time stifling even the most alacritous among us. Which platforms to use, how to engage social followers, targeting, re-targeting, SEO, Adwords, Adroll, Ahhhh! If you feel overwhelmed by the breadth of digital offerings, you are not alone.
Let’s set aside the technical aspects of digital fundraising for a moment to take a little look inside and consider whether we are organizationally set up for triumph in the digital realm. The truth is that the success or failure of digital programs is entirely dependent on how we organize and manage our human systems. We know from experience it is much easier to be flexible and adapt to the latest trends, platforms, or viral content with resources and processes that are agile and quick to respond.
So before we think about putting on our best faces for Instagram, or locking in those PayPal donations, let’s think about the capabilities and limitations of your in-house resources. Whether you have a team that is being tasked with digital fundraising or are building a team from scratch, take stock in the collective skills and knowledge of the people you are entrusting with your mission. This vital step will ensure that you are aligning resources to the work that needs to be done.
If you are new to digital fundraising you have a wonderful opportunity to set yourself up for success. Now is a good time to analyze your organizational systems and how you will make room to accommodate digital fundraising in your workflow. Take the time to think about where bottlenecks in your approval processes can occur, and where you can empower team members to work independently.
At Yeeboo we use a combination of Trello and SmartSheet to stay on task and on schedule. These are just two of many, many tools that are available for managing projects digitally. We think it is important to create a ‘Zone Of Action’ where project stakeholders have a line of sight on all of the components of digital campaigns in real-time. The idea is to move things from ‘To-do’ to ‘Done’, assign tasks to individual team members, and provide a place where every person on the team has the resources they need to complete their tasks.
This kind of internal audit will pay dividends for your organization down the road as your team will be able to scale their digital fundraising efforts with more volume and content, earning your organization more dollars at a lower cost. Now doesn’t that sound great? Check out the next entry in this series when we dive head-first into how to build a digital strategy.
All the Best,
The Yeebees