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Tweet For A Cause: How To Fundraise with Twitter
PayPal meets Twitter with Chirpify, Twitter’s commerce platform.
Designed for small businesses and musicians to sell their products, Chirpify also has good potential for non profits to raise funds. Here’s how it works:
- Tweet a request for donations via Chirpify.com.
- Followers reply to your Tweet or Retweets with the word “donate.”
- Donors and your organization receive receipts via email and DM (direct message)
The main advantages I can see to using this service for fundraising are its speed and ease of use (Twitter users can donate to your organization, cause or campaign with one simple “@” reply); your ability to schedule tweets at different times of day using a platform like Hootsuite or Buffer (do advance research into best times to tweet) and the social aspect of Twitter (users more likely to retweet your call for donations, and/or that they donated to your cause).
Twitter users are often on-the-go, accessing their account from mobile devices. You can see the advantage of being able to act on your fundraising request, with one simple click, without having to leave the Twitter app and go through a multiple step sign-up process. As an added advantage, they will receive an instant DM to acknowledge their donation.
Immediate and secure payment
Chirpify transforms your Tweets into transactions. When someone donates to you on Twitter, Chirpify automatically triggers a PayPal transaction between your account and the donors. Your donation appears in your account immediately.
As Chirpify is integrated with the PayPal platform, you have the guarantee of PayPal protection and a process for resolving payment problems.
How much does it cost?
For fundraising accounts there is a flat 4% commission fee which also gives you unlimited tweets and your own fundraising page.
Full details at http://chirpify.com
How to kick start your online fundraising in 2012
Key Points
- Send new donors a special welcome message.
- Thank your donors multiple ways – by email, phone and handwritten letters.
- Review and optimize your traffic. How are donors finding your organization online when you look at your Google Analytics?
- Tell good stories that appeal to your donors emotions.
Have you any other online fundraising tips to share?
Key Trends for the Nonprofit Sector in 2012
Convio has just announced its key predictions and expected trends that will have the biggest impact on the nonprofit sector in 2012. Check out their findings below:
(1) Online and New Media Channels Will Continue To Extend Their Influence
- Based on Convio’s 2010 holiday giving survey, online fundraising was up 40 percent from 2009. Online will continue as the fastest growing giving channel.
- Online’s influence outside of transactions is growing as older donors engage in web-based communications and advocacy.
- Acceleration in new media channels and devices (social and mobile) will have significant increase in material importance for nonprofits. For example, recently a Convio client found that 15 percent of direct respondents to a specific TV campaign accessed the nonprofit’s website via a mobile device.
(2) Peer-to-Peer Engagement Will Play An Expanded Role
- Direct communications by nonprofit organizations will have less impact on the giving decisions of donors than in years past.
- Donors will increasingly rely on referrals and guidance from friends, family and co-workers to make decisions, particularly the younger generations.
- Nonprofits will want to tap their most vocal and loyal supporters to be active promoters.
(3) Donor Fatigue Will Be More Pronounced
- Information overload will continue as individuals receive mail, email and other communications from marketers with increasing intensity, making it challenging for nonprofits to have their messages heard.
- Text messages, RSS feeds, tweets and Facebook posts only compound the problem.
- Tailored communications that resonate with donors will be critical.
(4) Supporters Want To Control Their Experience
- Nonprofit supporters want to be able to define and customize how they are communicated to (e.g. go paperless, set frequency of emails and filter for content).
- The burden of expectation for nonprofits is being set by the for-profit sector.
(5) Integrated Marketing Will Rise To New Heights
- Multi-channel marketing will have an increasingly significant role in driving integrated marketing tactics as nonprofits rely more on various channels to deliver their communications.
- Strategic communication efforts that are consciously coordinated, orchestrated, and targeted – based on particular audience segments and their individual preferences – will become more prevalent.
Source: Convio Press Release
