Alternative venues through which to grow our audience and donor base

I saw today that facebook has a new application titled "causes." Evidently, an individual can support a "cause" by "belonging" to it, recruiting others to join, and/or donating through this application. (Of course the venue that facilitates donations through this site takes a cut - it's listed as 4.5%. I donated $25 so I could see how the process unfolds from both the giving and the receiving ends.) The "cause" profile page requires and allows information for the usual: mission, description, and category. The site also allows you to post "media items" from a weblink. I created a page for The Cedar and posted some "media items" about upcoming shows.

































This got me thinking again about some considerations I've been tossing around for awhile now:

1) How to diversify our patron base by doing a better job of cultivating young audiences and targeting young audiences for specific shows
2) How to cultivate young people as philanthropists (creating a communication strategy that says "You can be a philanthropist" or "You can be a philanthropist even with just $20") and as philanthropists to The Cedar Cultural Center specifically.
3) How to "tell our story"
2) How to effectively use alternative means for outreach and communication. Clearly, as the ways we communicate change so do the ways we fundraise. Snail mail becomes less and less effective as people depend largely on email, the web, social networking websites, and text messages to communicate.

All of these considerations affect eachother in that mostly younger individuals will be reached through alternative means of communication and using alternative means of communication will mostly reach younger individuals.

With this application, facebook has implemented for volunteer and donor recognition tools that Heather and I had one upon a time discussed doing for Macalester's volunteer program. We originally started talking about it in response to the volunteer tools and leader boards we saw on the Replican Party and Democratic Party websites. These leader boards list top volunteers based on dollars raised and number of other volunteers recruited - a great way to both track volunteer progress and recognize top volunteers.

I dug up a document I have from Heather that brainstorms volunteer recognition ideas. Here's what I found:
• Leader Board on the Matrix Web site recognizing the most productive Class Agents. Could adjust to show most productive in the last 30 days, last 12 months, or in the fiscal year to date.
• Class Web pages that recognize Class Agents and are promoted in Mac Wire as a place for alums to stay connected to each other (like reunion pages but they are always up?)
• Annual letter of appreciation and year end results from the Annual Fund Board of Directors
• Notes of appreciation from students working with their class
• Listing in the back of the Donor Report with all development volunteers
• Special Event/Meeting like
Dinner with the President?
Meeting at a great location like Mission, Chang O’Haras?
Dinner before Founder’s Day Celebration?

Facebook lists "top recruiter," which I'm assuming means the person who "invites" the most people to join the cause who actually end up joining, "top donor," which is self-explanatory, and "top fundraiser," which I'm assuming means the person who "invites" the most people to join the cause who end up donating. Facebook even offers each "cause member" a little box with their stats titled "How you are helping" and lists members recruited, dollars donated, and dollars raised.

Here's a screen shot of the "leader board" on the facebook causes application:






















Tracking Volunteer Progress.
Even though using facebook as a "go between" isn't ideal, it might be a more compelling, easier, more exciting way to cultivate and engage young philanthropists and young advocates of and for The Cedar. My idea is to put a challenge on the table (which, by default, would be targeted at mostly young individuals since facebook has a younger audience) that offers some sort of reward for the top recruiter and the top fundraiser. Ideally, it would be something Cedar related and desirable enough to really start a buzz.


Volunteer Support Tools
This got me thinking back to the volunteer program I discuss earlier in this blog. Earlier this week, Jason came up with a really great phrase that might make a good title for said volunteer program: Plant a seed. It seems to work well in conjunction with the "We are made of Cedar" fundraising campaign. I like the Plant a Seed volunteer program idea for a number of reasons. First, it provides a cultivation opportunity for potential high level donors. Essentially, it's an easy way to engage individuals and get them more invested in the organization - I think it will be easy to say "yes" to this volunteer opportunity because it's relatively low commitment. Besides, if executed properly, it would be something fun and exciting of which to be a part. Second, really anyone can be a part of this and it doesn't have a high "learning curve." The volunteer job description is essentially to learn a lot about The Cedar and help us "tell our story."

But facebook offers a venue for a different kind of volunteer activity. "Volunteers" don't have to be asked to volunteer, don't have to know much about the venue, and don't have to go anywhere to participate. A simple click to "invite someone to join the cause" creates a buzz about our organization. Folks who don't know much or want to find out more can do this right on facebook or on on the web.