April 1 , 2009

Do You Speak Geek? Do Your Donors?

It seems like the Web 2.0 era has a whole other language – like Digg, Blogger, Facebook and Twitter. But these technologies are shaped by a fundraising cornerstone – personal relationships. Organizations are “far more likely to build trust if you are connecting to your donors as people,” said James Collier, from Paprika Studios in Fresno, Calif., at the Association of Fundraising Professionals international fundraising conference in New Orleans.

Here’s what you need to remember to become fluent in Web 2.0:

• Know the technologies. Organizations can post larger stories with blogs that allow readers to comment. Microblogging, like Twitter, send out shorter messages in 140 words or less to followers. There are thousands of different ways to connect to your followers. Figure out what would work best for you.
• Don’t always leave it up to the young’uns. Just because your college intern or young staff member is a digital native doesn’t mean they completely understand cultivating donor relationships.
• It’s about relationships. You wouldn’t talk at your friends – you create a dialogue. Online relationships are the same. People want to interact with you and your organization.
• Let go a little. Allow for followers to comment on your site or where ever you have an online presence. Don’t expect everything will be positive. Collier recommended creating a conversation about those negative comments and remedying the situation in the public, online space for everyone to read. Moderate but don’t police.
• It’s all about people. Organizations are usually large and cumbersome – social networking is about people. Try to have a person represent your organization – like a CEO blog or program manager on Twitter. That’s far more personal than sending messages from your organization