Part 1: How Can I Make Next Year’s Event More Successful ...€¦ · Blackbaud Events Boot Camp...

Part 1: How Can I Make Next Year’s Event More Successful?

November 15, 2010

Presenters:

Amy Braiterman, Blackbaud

Kim Romaszewski, Blackbaud

Blackbaud Events Boot Camp SeriesBlackbaud Events Boot Camp Series

Events Boot Camp SeriesEvents Boot Camp, Part 1: How Can I Make Next Year’s Event More Successful?

If you’re planning your first event or looking to make your next event the best ever, sign up for this can’t-miss session on planning your next event. We’ll discuss event communication and marketing plans, event sponsorship and committees, site design, tools to drive revenue and awareness, and more.

Events Boot Camp, Part 2: How Can I Develop a Successful eMail Marketing Strategy? Co-Host: Zuri Group

Join us as we talk about designing an event email marketing strategy and maximizing its impact. We will cover topics like email timing, frequency, and design.

Events Boot Camp, Part 3: What Can I Learn from Last Year’s Numbers? Co-Host: Event 360

Page #2 © 2010 Blackbaud

Events Boot Camp, Part 3: What Can I Learn from Last Year’s Numbers? Co-Host: Event 360

We will help you uncover the wealth of information in your event numbers. We’ll share how you can impact your event and participant behavior by analyzing mid-season metrics and discuss how the event data from this year's achievements can lead to next year's successes. Register today to learn best practices for performing detailed analyses of event data to discover hidden gems within your event.

Events Boot Camp, Part 4: How Can My Events Raise More and Utilize New Strategies?

We’ll share best practices for using Blackbaud Friends Asking Friends, including how to create an effective event site, how to raise more funds online, and how to integrate online and offline efforts. Plus, learn more about what’s new with Blackbaud Friends Asking Friends: event committee dashboard, integration between Google Analytics and mobile ready pages and forms.

Events Boot Camp, Part 5: We Have a Facebook Page and My Participants are Tweeting…Now What?Co-Host Charity Dynamics

We’ll discuss how your organization can use social media to extend your reach, increase events online presences, and raise more funds. We’ll also share how social media works with online and offline tactics to create integrated marketing and cultivation plans for your event. Plus, we'll share the latest results from our annual social media research project.


� Our History

• Supported more than 33,000 events

• More than $1 billion raised online

• 14+ million participants

• 26+ million donors

• 1st event is still a customer(Arthritis Foundation San Diego Jingle Bell Run)

Blackbaud Friends Asking Friends


(Arthritis Foundation San Diego Jingle Bell Run)

� Our Proven Results

• Average participant sends 28 emails

• 1 in 4 FAF emails conversion

• FAF emails have a 90 percent or greater open rate

• Average online gift size: $60

• In 2009, 4 of the top 5 customers in the RWR30 ranked by % growth used Blackbaud Friends Asking Friends


Peer to Peer Event Planning

� Start Early!

� Create your website at least 6 months in advance. Some organizations set them up 12-8 months in advance.

� Create an overall event calendar

• Activities leading up to event: kickoff, team captain meetings, bank nights, fundraising clinics

•


• Participant Recruitment & Fundraising Challenges

• Link communication (email and social media) with activities you’re planning

� Year round communication – engage with participants and provide additional opportunities for involvement

• Recruitment messages

• Support messages

• Educational opportunities

� Provide fundraising support for participants

Blackbaud Events Boot Camp Series

Daily Online Donations Curve

Promote Your Event Early to Build Momentum

E-mail Traffic and Usage Builds Over Time Online Amount Raised Over Time

$200,000

$250,000

$300,000


At least 6 Months (12-8 months)

If You Start Too Late You Risk Missing the Growth

$0

$50,000

$100,000

$150,000

1/19 2/3 2/18 3/4 3/19 4/3 4/18 5/3 5/18


So… When Do Donations Come In?

Accumulated Online Transactions Over Time

40%

95% 99%

40%

60%

80%

100%

40% of Donations Collected before 20 Days

55% of Donations Collected within 20 Days


0% 1% 3%8%

19%

0%

20%

40%

-120 -100 -80 -60 -40 -20 0 20

Days from Event

Source: Aidswalk New York 2008

Extend Your Event at Least 30 Days Online

5% of Total Collected after Event


Example Event Calendar: Five months to event

January February March April May

Early Bird Fundraising Challenge:Raise $100

Team Captain challengeGoal: recruit team members

Kick off ONLINE FundraisingChallenge Month

May 9th -15th OnlineFundraising week

Educational

Conference

Advocacy Day Team Captain Happy Hour

Team Captain Happy Hour

Bank Nights


Conference Happy Hour Happy Hour

Board Meeting Chapter Open

House

Fundraising Clinic (open to everyone)

Fundraising Clinic (open to everyone)

May 21th EVENTDAY


Tracking Metrics Throughout Event Season

Participant Behavior

� Team size and fundraising performance

� Number of emails sent

� Use of social media tools (coming soon)

Overall Event Gauge

� Donation $ raised

� Number of donations received

� Number of participants

� Source performance


� Fundraising goal

Segments

� Core segments as defined entering into season

� Upon analysis, any segments that pop up different than initial list

� Site traffic

� Number of Teams

Detailed Participant Metrics

� Average donation amount

� Donation $ / participant

� Donation # / participant

� Emails sent / participant



Event WebsiteBuilding Your Event WebsiteSponsorship PackagesVolunteer Recruitment


Building Your Event Website



Sponsorship Packages

� Examples

• Media

• Corporate

• In-Kind/Vendor

� Value

•


• Website Logo Placement

• Link to sponsor site

• Print collateral placement

• Media exposure (ads, interviews)

� Reciprocal Agreements

• Event inclusion on corporate/media/vendor

• websites/newsletters/mailings

National or Local Presenting Sponsor


Volunteer Recruitment

� Volunteer Recruitment

� Communication Subscriber Base

� Speaker’s Bureau




Communication PlansExternal Marketing PlanInternal Communication PlanEmail Campaign Best Practices


Creating an External Marketing Plan

� Print Collateral

• Event Letterhead

• Brochures

• Flyers

• Inserts

• Save the Date post cards

Website


� Website

• Prominent placement on agency site

• One click to get to event site

• Meta Tags - for Search Engine Optimization

� Media

• Radio

• TV

• Print Ads: billboards, bus advertisements, newspaper, local magazines

• PR – stories of participants making a difference


Internal Communications Plan: Recruitment

� Who’s on our email list?• Past team captains

• Past team members

• Past Individual participants

• Advocates

• Education event attendees

•

� What is the message?• Save the Date

• Team captains wanted!

• Your support makes an impact

• Help make a difference


• Other event attendees (fundraising or mission focused)

• Support group attendees

• Helpline callers


Internal Communication Plan: Organizational Emails

� Organization eNewsletter

� Educational / Program

� Advocacy messages and alerts

� Board member notifications

� Support Group Leader messages


TIP: When creating organizational message it’s import to get buy in from executive staff. Having leadership buy in will help remove obstacles, if any exist.


Example: October Launch – May Event

October November December January

Past Team Captains

Save the Date!Be the 1st to sign up and take in the Early Bird Challenge

Team Captainrecruitment/ Thanksgiving message

Happy Holidays Message 1New Year = new memories.Message 2message from a team captain

Past Save the Date Happy Turkey Happy Holidays New Year = new


Pastparticipants

Save the Date Happy Turkey Day

Happy Holidays New Year = new memories.

Organizationemail

Org Newsletter* Be the first to sign up for the Walk

Org Newsletter* Give thanks and walk for more tomorrows

Org Newsletter* Families walk for better days –walker story

Org Newsletter* New Year’s resolution – sign up to walk

Advocates Why I walk Advocates make a difference

Programs/ Educationattendees

Give thanks -Why I walk

New Year = new memories

SOCIAL MEDIA

Facebook, Twitter, blog



Facebook, Twitter,blog


Example: October Launch – May Event

February March April May

Past Team Captains

Invite to Kickoff and event update

Story from Kickoff It’s not to late too to sign up your team

Past Participants

Invite to kickoff Message from a walker

Event update -need your support


Organizationemail

Org Newsletter* Join us for Walkkickoff

Org Newsletter* Walker story

Org Newsletter* The big day is almost here

Org Newsletter* It’s not too to walk / Walk results (May/June)

Advocates Advocate update –Walk with us

Story from Kickoff (end of month)

Programs Are you ready to walk? Update on Walk

Story from Kickoff (end of month)

SOCIAL MEDIA Facebook, Twitter,blog





Best Practices: Email Campaigns

� Email Purpose

• Fundraising

• Event Registration

• Volunteer Recruitment

• Participant Thank You

Communicate your end goal

� Email Friendly Content

• Use clear, concise messaging

• Make your emails scanable

• Avoid the spam filter

• Send both the html and text version of the email


� Communicate your end goal

• Subject line

• Explicit call to action

• Clear, concise content (Smartphone consideration)

• Target audience

� Subject lines

• Call to action

• Sense of urgency

• Why it’s a must read

Connect email campaigns with social networks, advertising, offline recruitment efforts.



Providing SupportEffectiveness of Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Online and Offline Support


Why is peer to peer fundraising effective?

� Donor reads a personal appeal/email from a friend

� The donor wants to support his/her friend

� The donor wants to help friend reach his/her goal

� Donor wants to be recognized for his/her gift

Why are personal fundraising pages effective?


Why are personal fundraising pages effective?

� Provides opportunity for participant to share their story:

• Picture

• Video

• Message to honor or remember a loved one

� The website offers an easy way to give with a credit card


How many participants set up their page?

All Events (Mean) 21%

25%


40%

59%

So What’s The Over/

Under Impact?

Under 21% Over 21%

$79 per Participant

$281 per Participant


Personal Fundraising Page

� Welcome statement

� Picture or Video

� Donation Message

� Suggested giving levels



How Many Participants Send Personal E-mails?

If 50% of participants

Benchmark Average is 24% of Participants

Sending Email


Participants Using Online Tools Raise SIX

Time More than Non-Users

If 50% of participants send emails, Events

Raise Six Times Average Online

Under 24% Over 24%




So What’s the Impact of Sending E-mails?

Average Amount Raised by Volunteers

$1,500$2,000$2,500

$3,000

Avera

ge A

mo

un

t R

ais

ed

Overall

Online


$0$500

$1,000$1,500

01

- 10

11 -

2021

- 30

31 -

5051

- 10

010

1 - 1

5015

1 - 2

0020

1 - 2

5025

1 - 5

0050

1 or m

ore

Emails Sent Range

Avera

ge A

mo

un

t R

ais

ed

Online

Offline


Participants Personas


� Top Fundraisers

• Use all tools available

• Add emails to address book

• Send multiple emails

• Update personal page

• Social Media

• Offline activities

� Average Participant

• Make it easy

• They’ll send a email, but won’t take the time to upload email addresses (use user friendly link)

• Won’t update personal page

• $0 participants – ask to make a personal donation


Participant Email Templates

� Mostly used by Top Fundraisers and Team Captains



Email Forward

� Great option for average participant: we know these personas will not take the time to send emails from their Fund HQ

� Buttons are jpegs and link to participants page


to participants page

� Set it and forget it

• Send 1 week after participant registers

• Dynamic list


Online Tips and Tools

Offer 75 Online Tips and Checklists


Library of Personal E-mail Templates

Team Leaders

General Walkers

Team Members

Thank You Messages

Customer Service is Critical - Available 24

Hours a Day Near Event


Offline Techniques

� Print-out documentation and guides for training sessions

� Team Captain Guides, Walker Manuals and Kickoffs


Kickoffs

� Show impact and importance – build awareness

� Follow up calls: include info about personalizing pages


Post Event Analysis

� Did you reach your goals?

• Money

• Participants

• Teams

• Corporate Involvement

• Volunteers

• Awareness


• Awareness

� Post Event Participant Survey

• What worked

• What can be improved

• Event day experience

• Support leading up to event

� Analyze numbers

• Recruitment goal vs. actual

• Overall fundraising (number of participants with $$, $0 participants, etc)


Summary: Best practices for your event’s online fundraising

o Year round planning

o Create an overall event calendar

o Include other organization activities

o Set event goals

o Track event metrics throughout event season


o Track event metrics throughout event season

o Comprehensive marketing & communication

o Create an online experience for participants

o Provide event details, fundraising support and mission information

o Complete event analysis


Events Boot Camp Series

Events Boot Camp, Part 2: How Can I Develop a Successful eMail Marketing Strategy?Co-Host: Zuri Group

Join us as we talk about designing an event email marketing strategy and maximizing its impact. We will cover topics like email timing, frequency, and design.

Events Boot Camp, Part 3: What Can I Learn from Last Year’s Numbers?Co-Host: Event 360

We will help you uncover the wealth of information in your event numbers. We’ll share how you can impact your event and participant behavior by analyzing mid-season metrics and discuss how the event data from this year's achievements can lead to next year's successes. Register today to learn best practices for performing detailed analyses of event data to discover


to next year's successes. Register today to learn best practices for performing detailed analyses of event data to discover hidden gems within your event.

Events Boot Camp, Part 4: How Can My Events Raise More and Utilize New Strategies?

We’ll share best practices for using Blackbaud Friends Asking Friends, including how to create an effective event site, how to raise more funds online, and how to integrate online and offline efforts. Plus, learn more about what’s new with Blackbaud Friends Asking Friends: event committee dashboard, integration between Google Analytics and mobile ready pages and forms.

Events Boot Camp, Part 5: We Have a Facebook Page and My Participants are Tweeting…Now What?Co-Host Charity Dynamics

We’ll discuss how your organization can use social media to extend your reach, increase events online presences, and raise more funds. We’ll also share how social media works with online and offline tactics to create integrated marketing and cultivation plans for your event. Plus, we'll share the latest results from our annual social media research project.

www.FriendsAskingAmy.com



AppendixSocial Media Tools OverviewMobile Ready OverviewGoogle Analytics Activating new tools in Blackbaud Friends Asking Friends


Blackbaud Social Media Toolkit

Allows event participants to reach more people and share


� Allows event participants to reach more people and share compelling messages

• Average Facebook user has 130 friends

• Average Twitter account has 70 followers

• YouTube allows participants to visually tell their story



� Social Media tools are located in the participant’s HQ under email tab

� Participants can send tweets and facebookstatus updates from their


status updates from theirHQ.

� Be sure to activate tools and let participants know about them - When you

send an email from your

HQ, at the same time

your can send a tweet or

status update and reach

more potential donors


Mobile Ready Events

� E-mail is most popular in US, representing more than 41% of mobile Internet time. That’s up from 37% last year.*

Fundraising on the Go!

� Fundraising is no longer confined to desktops and business hours.

� Take your events on the road with mobile ready event, personal, team, and individual donation pages.

May 2010 Pew Internet phone survey


individual donation pages.

� Automatically redirects mobile devices to the corresponding mobile pages to make it easy to donate anywhere.

Donation Form ConfirmationPersonal PageEmail


Activating Social and Mobile Tools

Facebook & Twitter

� Website Checklist Participant HQ Settings� Under Community Site Status Update: Check Facebook and Twitter boxes

YouTube

� Website Checklist Image and Text Library

� Check box: Allow participants to add a YouTube Video to their personal


� Check box: Allow participants to add a YouTube Video to their personal page.

• Allow linking only to video options set by the organization. • Allow linking to videos selected by the participant

Mobile Ready Event Page & Individual Donation Form

� Website Checklist Website Features

� Check the box: Detect and forward Mobile Devices to Mobile Donation Form


Managing Event: Google Analytics

What is Google Analytics?

� It provides insights on web site traffic by generating detailed statistics about visitors to your website.

What can I learn about my website?

� Google Analytics can track visitors from referring sites including: search engines, display advertising, pay per click networks, email marketing


engines, display advertising, pay per click networks, email marketing

� Page performance (bounce rates)

� Time one site, time on pages

� Geographic information, service providers

How do connect my event with Google Analytics?

� Website Checklist Front Page Customization

• Enter Google Analytics Code

Part 1: How Can I Make Next Year’s Event More Successful ...€¦ · Blackbaud Events Boot Camp...

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