5 Tips for Raising Funds Through Social Mobilization
The troubled economic times that our nation now faces are forcing many to curb their level of charitable donations — donations that nonprofits and cause-driven organizations rely on to survive. Typically, nonprofits rely on more traditional methods of growing support — volunteer word-of-mouth, mass mailings or telephone outreach. While effective, these methods are time-consuming and cost-prohibitive.

As a result, nonprofits increasingly are deploying new technologies like social mobilization to optimize fundraising efforts. Social mobilization is an online technology that operates in much the same manner as social-networking sites like MySpace and Facebook. However, instead of acting merely as an entertainment portal for posting messages or sharing pictures, social-mobilization technology rallies donors around a cause — mobilizing them to give money while spreading the word, performing actions and recruiting other donors into the online community. The following tips can help organizations get the most out of their social-mobilization platforms.

Use a reliable platform

Impact-Based Philanthropy: Reporting Project Impact to Help Raise Dollars
According to The Christian Science Monitor, the number of U.S. nonprofits has tripled over the last two decades. And with the government scaling back amidst harsh economic times and our nation’s current financial crisis, charities are expected to do more of society’s heavy lifting — by raising money for social services, education, health care and more.

Plus, as a new generation of philanthropists eyes places to put its wealth, the demands on nonprofit fundraisers are increasing to continue raising dollars amidst a tough fiscal climate.

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Vital Signs Survey Results
Click here to check out the results of The Agitator’s Vital Signs survey about fundraising expectations for the balance of 2008.

Bridge Conference Call for Papers Deadline Extended
Those who want to speak or sit on a panel at the 2009 Bridge to Integrated Marketing and Fundraising Conference this July have a little bit more time to submit their applications. The call for papers deadline has been extended to Dec. 1.

Industry experts interested in lectures or panels that include case or industry studies on the current trends in production and graphics, analyses of giving, audience buying, or donor demographics and behaviors are encouraged to apply. There are more than 36 topics to choose from to fill the conference’s 70 breakout sessions plus six master classes.

The conference, which will be held July 21 to 23 at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Md., is co-hosted by the Direct Marketing Association of Washington and the Washington DC Metro Area Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

A proposal form can be downloaded here.

For more information, call 703.766.4900.

QUOTE

“Creating a successful viral marketing campaign has been likened to hitting home runs — you never know which at-bat is going to produce one, so the key is to make a lot of trips to the plate. Put another way, there is no magic formula for producing a viral campaign, you just have to try different concepts. There are, however, certain characteristics that will either increase the odds of viral success, or doom it to failure.”

— Nov. 17, “Viral Marketing Campaigns — Keep It Simple,” posted by Tom Pick, The WebMarketCentral Blog