Fundraising for Social Change, 8th Edition

chapter TWELVEMultichannel Fundraising

The myriad ways we can be in touch with donors, conveying information, inviting engagement, and encouraging people both to donate and to invite friends to donate and become involved in our organization, has expanded our reach exponentially and greatly enhanced our abilities to build relationships. Further, many organizations now have two broad categories of people they are communicating with: donors, meaning all the people who give them money, and a larger group of people who have expressed some interest and who “follow” the organization through an e‐list or on social media. These people may sign petitions or come to demonstrations, but they have not (yet) made a financial donation. Because the cost of adding an email address to a list is so minimal, building an e‐list is a smart way to create your own prospect list and to have a large group of people who show up for your cause in ways other than giving money. (To be sure, the degree to which the latter group actually feels any engagement will vary a great deal from person to person, but the internet does give every organization a much wider audience than their donor numbers would indicate.) Coordinating all this and using all your options effectively requires taking the time to make decisions and to evaluate your strategies frequently.

Unfortunately, rather than think through a unified communications and fundraising program, many organizations simply keep adding engagement strategies ...