The PdF Network is PdF’s premium membership service, designed to give those working in government, politics, advocacy, and many more sectors, unparalleled access to industry experts and resources. As we work to upgrade the network, launching at the end of spring, we’re offering the PdF Network’s bi-monthly call series to the public at no cost.
Paull Young.
Last Thursday’s PdF Network call focused on the latest thinking on how to use social media to fundraise. On this call, Paull Young, the director of digital for charity: water, had lots of terrific advice for non-profits on how best to use online social media to raise money. The full call, as a podcast, is available to stream and download at the bottom of this post.
A few key takeaways:
Money is a by-product of great connections and great content. Again and again, Paull explained how charity: water focuses on serving its supporters with content that is worth paying attention to, and on insuring that their experience working with the organization is “filled with delight.”
There’s no “donate” button anywhere on charity: water’s Twitter or Facebook presences. Instead, those channels are used for what they do best, to help spread messages and build connections. Don’t view “donors as wallets,” he said. They’re people with whom to build rewarding relationships.
Pay attention to (and share) all the great stories that your members may have to share. Paull talked about Riley Goodfellow, an 8-year-old supporter of charity: water who convinced her friends to eat rice and beans for a month, and then got their parents to donate the money saved on food, and who carried a water can to school each day to understand what it felt like to have to walk to a well each day to get clean water. (Her whole story is here.)
Mycharitywater.com, the group’s distributed fundraising platform, has enabled thousands of people to build their own personal fundraising campaigns, many of them around donating their birthdays.
This approach has to be embraced from the top of an organization or it won’t work. Hands-on training for leadership can help a lot, otherwise people tend to reject methods they don’t personally understand. Also, charity: water is very much a “digital start-up,” Paull noted, with something like a third of its core staff devoted to online organizing, web design, coding, etc.
There are plenty more pearls of wisdom to be gleaned from listening to the whole call, including Paull’s discussion of how charity: water staff thinks of its member-supporter-fundraisers-followers as “citizens” and how they’re wrestling with developing their mobile strategy.
This was the third call in the spring series, and we’re excited that all of these calls are free and open to the public. The goal is to expose those working in government, politics, advocacy, and many more sectors, unparalleled access to industry experts and resources, and the upcoming calls promise to deliver just that!
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Next PdF Network Calls:
Sign up for them here.
March 17, 1pm-2pm EST
Digital DC: How to Create a New Culture of Digital Government
» Bryan Sivak, Former DC CTO Digital DC: How to Create a New Culture of Digital Government
Changing government through technology is possible — but it will require a total cultural reorientation, away from old ways of running and thinking about government. Bryan Sivak, former Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for the District of Columbia (2009-2010), discusses how the nation’s capital is taking steps to create a new culture of digital governance from the inside out.
March 31, 1pm-2pm EST
Anatomy of a Social Media Success: “It Gets Better” Project
» Scott Zumwalt: It Gets Better Project Anatomy of a Social Media Success
How did a single uplifting online video, inspired by a horrific news story, turn into a worldwide movement that produced over 5000 user-created videos and over 15 million views? The It Gets Better Project was created to show young LGBT people the levels of happiness, potential, and positivity their lives will reach. Scott Zumwalt is Project Manager for the campaign, overseeing online, grassroots and volunteer strategy.
Presented in Partnership With:
Podcast for: Using Social Media for Non-Profit Fundraising- charity: water’s Success
-download podcast here
-Stream podcast here: