Social Media and Fundraising: The Fast Path to Overwhelm

I hosted a Fundraising Focus Session on Monday to help nonprofit fundraisers set aside some time, well ahead of November, to start thinking about and preparing for year-end. Nothing is worse than waiting until November 1 and realizing anything you do at that point is going to be rushed and won’t get the results you need.

What was interesting was how much time we spent talking about social media and fundraising. The questions that came up:

• What social media platforms should I be on?

• How do I actually get fundraising results from social media?

• How do I incorporate social media into my year-end campaign?

These were all great questions. And unfortunately my answer on all of these is “it depends…” But that’s why I host Focus Sessions and not Webinars. Focus Sessions are 90 minute Zoom MEETINGS, capped at 25 participants, where I’m live with nonprofit leaders. Dialogue, not monologue. I share some of my knowledge, but I’m mostly there to answer questions and troubleshoot—learning the full context of the organization so I can answer based on the organization.

So what did I answer to these questions? (And more importantly, did it help the fundraiser who asked them…cuz how many times have you asked a question on a webinar and gotten an answer that really isn’t helpful because the 10 minute Q&A at the end doesn’t really leave enough time for the presenter to get much context?)

Social Media and Fundraising: A Synopsis

First of all, I think a lot of nonprofit leaders create a lot of work for themselves on social media. We don’t ask the question “why” often enough generally, and we REALLY need to be asking ourselves “why” when it comes to social media (and even more so when we’re trying to use social media to raise funds).

Here’s the good news: I don’t honestly think all nonprofits need to be on all platforms. In fact, I think some nonprofits don’t need to bother (that’s advice I gave to one participant on Monday). And most nonprofits need to selectively use 1-2 platforms, based on mission and audience. (You should be breathing a huge sigh of relief right now…whoo…)

When I coach clients, we start by envisioning our ideal donor (or donors, if we have a few different types of donors we are targeting). Then, based on that ideal donor, we figure out what will work best for the nonprofit—marrying mission and the donor profile to create something that will be effective and efficient. We make sure our clients aren’t doing ANYTHING unnecessary that won’t drive results.

The problem is that nonprofit leaders are inundated with webinars claiming that Instagram fundraising is the new thing…or that Tik Tok will guarantee a younger audience for your nonprofit. And that just isn’t true for everyone.

So stick with me, and I’ll answer all the questions the way I did on my Focus Session yesterday.

If I don’t need to be everywhere, then what social media platforms should I be on?

Think really hard about who your ideal donor is. (Notice, I didn’t say current donors…your ideal donor might be the donors you already have, but they might also be folks you don’t have in your base yet. It’s a “yes…and” proposition here.)

One person on the call said, “I think my ideal donor is actually me. A mid-career professional, stable income, raising kids, mostly focused on their family right now.”

“Great!” I said, “then this should be really easy. What social media platforms do you enjoy? Where do you follow the nonprofits you care about?”

The answer: Facebook and Instagram. So we talked about how to use those two platforms for her nonprofit.

Another person said, “My ideal donor is older, probably retired. We need donors who can be really engaged and volunteer their time as much as give money.”

“Good insight. So where should you engage them?” I asked.

“Honestly, I don’t think my ideal donor is on social media. And it’s certainly not how I’m going to figure out if they are my ideal donor. We do a lot on Facebook, but I’ve asked donors and volunteers if they see it, and they tell me they don’t. I think a lot of our donors really don’t like how virtual everything has gotten, they want to engage with us offline.”

“So, do you need to be on social media? Is there any value you can see in it?” I challenged.

“Actually, no! Wait, no? That would give me so much more time in my day. I could actually plan the house parties I’ve had in mind for so long that I think actually would make a difference to our fundraising.”

“Fabulous. You’re free! Go do the house parties.” I said.

“Oh, that feels so good!” The participant replied. “I’m so excited right now!”

That said, if you’re trying to cultivate a younger donor base, it’s probably not a bad idea to be learning Instagram and Tik Tok engagement strategies. But remember that what you do on Facebook can’t be re-packaged and put on Instagram, and certainly won’t translate to Tik Tok. Each social media platform is different and engages audiences in different ways. Know your ideal donor; know where they' are getting their information; and figure out what gets engagement from that platform. But a strategy of “I’m going to create one post a day that I’ll repackage for each platform” (which used to kinda work in the olden days of Facebook and pre-X Twitter) just doesn’t work at all these days.

Now, this wisdom is for Fundraising. I know organizations whose ideal donor is on LinkedIn, but their clients are on Facebook. Do work on your Facebook presence to serve your clients…but understand that your content is going to be 100% different because you have different goals on each platform.

Bottom line: Don’t work harder. Work smarter. Only spend time cultivating audiences on the platforms that make sense for who your nonprofit is trying to talk to.

How do I actually get fundraising results from social media?

Here’s a hill I’m ready to die on…you don’t really get fundraising results from social media. Other people might say otherwise, and sure we see the marvelous stats about how much money was raised on Facebook after a natural disaster. BUT it isn’t hard to do that when you’re a big name nonprofit and everyone knows what you do and that you’ll be first on the scene. When you’re a small nonprofit building your brand and there’s nothing “urgent” about your mission in the news…much harder to convert.

I’ll caveat and say I do love birthday fundraisers; so I do think there is value in registering with Facebook for fundraising purposes so your volunteers and community members can easily leverage their birthdays, weddings, and other events to raise funds. That’s fun, and all you have to do is make sure you’re regularly reminding folks they can do that.

But beyond the odd $500 here and $250 there, I’ve not seen many organizations that don’t invest a LOT of money in consultants and ads get much out of social media fundraising. (If you have, comment below…I would love to learn the secrets!)

My strategy is always to leverage social media to stay top-of-mind and drive folks to my email sign up. Then I use social media combined with my email list for fundraising. Social media is where we report out, share impact, ask for email sign ups, announce an event, share a story, and ask for email sign ups. Leveraging them in tandem works pretty well.

How do I incorporate social media into my year-end campaign?

If you buy my idea that social media can play a supporting role in your fundraising efforts, then it’s easy to see how you can incorporate social media into your year end campaign.

October: Do an email sign-ups campaign. Think of a hard, coordinated effort to drive people to your email list.

Early November: Tell stories! Remind your audiences why you matter. Share your impact (year to date).

Late November: Kick off your year end a little ahead of Giving Tuesday. (And if you haven’t ever heard me talk about year-end campaigns before, I’ll say it again…your year-end campaign and Giving Tuesday aren’t separate campaigns. Leverage Giving Tuesday as PART of your year-end campaign, not a separate effort on its own.) I like to start sending year-end appeals (email and direct mail) the week BEFORE Thanksgiving. Then I ask the folks who donate to post about their support on social media on Giving Tuesday, and use Giving Tuesday as a time to thank the folks who have given so far and celebrate my organization’s impact.

December: Run a multi-channel campaign that is primarily driven by email (and direct mail, if that makes sense for your ideal donor audience), and then support the campaign on the social media channels where you are active and have an engaged audience.

But too often I see newer nonprofits with a small email list lean hard into social media at year-end, posting ask after ask there. If you’re asking for folks to stop engaging with you, that’s a great way to do it. They stop engaging with you, you get downgraded in the algorithm…and voila, you set your efforts BACK and didn’t raise a dime.

Bottom line: use your social media as a support for your year end campaign, not as the spine!

Bonus Question: what if I don’t have an email list?

What I advise newer nonprofits to do is use social to build up email lists and engage audiences. Get feedback. Ask the people who follow you what they care about. Ask them to tell a friend about you. Call for volunteers. Use it to learn and engage your audience.

Or, as one of my clients (a brand new nonprofit) succeeded in doing beautifully, engage audiences in acquiring in-kind donations for things your organization needs. This client provides supportive help to other nonprofits that are transitioning folks into housing from homelessness. Before I worked with them, they raised money to buy things folks needed for their new homes, like beds, furniture, etc. This was exhausting and an uphill battle. Then one board member had an idea: to get more engagement, we decided to lean into NextDoor and Facebook to ask for these items to get them used (vs. money to purchase). Their mission EXPLODED. They would post a video asking for an item a newly housed family needed, and would get dozens of shares and the item in question. Then, because they had so much traction, their fundraising efforts also exploded because people were in the habit of sharing their content. But they had to work for nearly 2 years building up that audience before they saw those results. (As usual, nonprofit work is a marathon, not a sprint.) Year 1 they raised $50,000; year two, they raised $75,000; and by year three, they raised $120,000. Incredible results for a small, all-volunteer run organization.

Another client of mine with no email list started tabling. All summer, the Executive Director and her board would go to art festivals, music festivals, and farmers markets to tell people about their mission. By year end, they had a meager list of 40 individuals. But a SINGLE year end appeal email triggered close to $1,000 in small gifts. Now, is that enough to run her mission, no, but it’s a start! This spring, that same email list turned out nearly 50 people for an open house that raised significantly more attention and resources for her nonprofit. And I have a good feeling that’s just the tip of the iceberg because now she has something important…momentum. And she’s not posted anything to social media ever.

There are definitely amazing consultants out there who can help you get great results from social media, but even these folks focus on generating LEADS, not donations, from your social media. They drive email sign ups more than they do donations. So understand that social media does have a place in your constellation of fundraising efforts, but it’s unlikely to be driving donations.

If you know this, then you can stop beating your head against the wall, wondering why everyone else seems to have figured this out. They haven’t. They are using social media differently.

Bottom line: The best results I see from social media are interesting and unique, tailored to the nonprofit mission and the audience they are trying to reach. There’s no magic formula to uncover. It’s about figuring out where social media fits in your overall strategy for fundraising and for your nonprofit overall.

Need help with that? We’ve got you! Schedule a discovery call today to see if we can bake up a better fundraising recipe for your nonprofit so this year’s bake can rise to new heights!