Explore M+R's library of articles by browsing the abstracts below. If you find something that interests you click the "Read More" link to download a PDF version of the full article.
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December 2007 :: Online Monthly Giving Programs
By Marie Ewald & Karen Matheson
Monthly giving (also known as a recurring donors or sustainers program) has come a long way from the early days of child sponsorship.
Now a centerpiece of many direct marketing programs, monthly giving provides a reliable, low-cost stream of revenue that sustains ongoing programs. It also increases the annual value (and loyalty!) of low-dollar donors. And now that it is possible to handle both sign-ups and payments online, one-time donors are becoming recurring donors at a faster pace, boosting retention rates and helping organizations cut down on billing costs.
This is all great news for nonprofits. But what else do we know (or need to know) about online monthly giving? Should you consider yourself lucky to get $10/month from your recurring donors, or are you in urgent need of an upgrade strategy?
We surveyed nearly 70 organizations and analyzed the online donor data of eight large nonprofits to get some answers. Read More>
September 2007 :: Going Beyond Fundraising Appeals to Reach an Online Goal
By Eve Fox
I wanted to share some interesting information from a successful online fundraising campaign we launched on June 7th for our client, the Save Darfur Coalition. The campaign focused on the Coalition's Divest for Darfur advocacy campaign although the funds raised were not restricted to any one program or campaign goal. We set a public goal of raising $400,000 online by Friday, June 15th.
We'd planned a series of three stand-alone email appeals to the email list as part of the campaign. We managed to meet and surpass the $400,000 goal, raising a total of $415,711 online in a week and a half's time. However, we would not have gotten there had we stuck with our original plan of sending out just three email appeals. In order to reach our goal, we used a number of other successful tactics. Read More>
August 2007 :: Digging Into eNewsletters
By Hilary Zwerdling & Karen Matheson
"Urgent vote TOMORROW!" "Your account balance is overdue." "Hurry, final sale ends tonight!"
With so many other, potentially more urgent messages competing for your email list members' attention, what can nonprofits do to maximize the likelihood that their eNewsletters will be opened, read, and clicked on?
We recently conducted a review of five national nonprofits’ eNewsletters to help isolate some reliable ways to grab your readers' attention and draw them in to your eNewsletter. By examining design, content, and link popularity, as well as messaging metrics such as click through rates and open rates, we arrived at a number of recommendations. Read More>
May 2007 :: Online Fundraising Tactics - What Works and What Doesn't
By Eve Fox & Karen Matheson
When it comes to online fundraising, there is no “one size fits all” magic formula to inspire list members to give. However, some tactics do work better than others.
In an attempt to find out which strategies work best and when, we reviewed more than 180 fundraising appeals sent out over the course of the 2006 calendar year by nine prominent national non-profit organizations. We explored everything from “double your money” matching gift opportunities to deadline-driven campaigns to goal-oriented asks. Read More>
March 2007 :: Combined Review of Recent Online Benchmarks Studies
By Michael Ward, Eve Fox & Karen Matheson
As more and more organizations turn to the Internet to enhance and expand their fundraising, advocacy and communications work, a number of key questions have arisen, including:
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How does our online program compare to other programs?
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What are reasonable goals for list growth, response rates, churn rates, etc?
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How can we measure the success of our online work?
Until very recently, little data existed with which to answer these questions. However, in the past year, several studies have aimed to establish the benchmarks needed to evaluate the performance of nonprofits’ online communications, advocacy, fundraising, and email messaging programs.
We've reviewed the following recent studies: the eNonprofit Benchmarks Study, the Online Marketing (eCRM) Nonprofit Benchmark Index ™ Study, and the donorCentrics™ Internet Giving Benchmarking Analysis, and have provided a brief summary of the main findings on which all three studies agree, as well as additional points of interest. Read More>
January 2007 :: Do Email Silences Matter?
By Eve Fox & Karen Matheson
Are you one of the many email fundraisers, organizers, advocates or marketers who view their online statistics with a sigh? Do you fantasize about sky-high open, click-through, and response rates… a list with zero unsubscribes? If so, you are not alone. Nonprofit professionals are increasingly faced with underperforming online programs.
Among the possible explanations for why your email list members are “just not that into you,” one has some actual data to support it: inconsistency of communications.
Could it be true that failing to communicate with your listmembers consistently might cause them to not respond to your organization’s emails as consistently as they might if you stayed in better touch? In order to find out, we looked closely at the effect that gaps in email communications have on listmembers’ responsiveness. Read More>
October 2006 :: The Ten Commandments of MySpace Advocacy
By Marc Ruben
MySpace has been attracting a lot of interest in the nonprofit world lately, and understandably so: it's the largest and fastest-growing online social network. The site claims 100 million registered users, many of whom spend more time on MySpace than on any other website. Many of your online supporters are probably already using MySpace.
But if engaging your supporters online is part of your job description, you've probably greeted this buzz with a few clear-eyed questions: Can this stuff really facilitate advocacy or volunteerism? Can it build my list? Can it raise money? Isn't it all 13-year-olds?
There's a lot you can do on MySpace, and some you can't. If you're peering over the edge, here are a few things to keep in mind about jumping into the wonderful world of campaigning on MySpace, with all its possibilities and pitfalls. Read More>
September 2006 :: Why Open Rates are Falling and What It Means for You
By Eve Fox & Karen Matheson
Open rates are dropping like flies. When we examined data from 15 national non-profit groups for the eNonprofit Benchmarks Study earlier this year we found a steady, striking decline in email open rates across all the groups over the past two years -- average open rates for the groups fell by 6%.
This decline may sound like terrible news for any organization that communicates with its members, constituents, activists, or donors online but please don't commit hara-kiri yet! Happily, we did not find a corresponding decline in page completion or response rates. At first glance, this discrepancy seems truly puzzling. Shouldn’t fewer people be responding to these emails if fewer people are opening them in the first place? Read More>
August 2006 :: Emaily Post's Guide to Online Decorum
By Olga Woltman
“Manners are made up of trivialities of deportment which can be easily learned if one does not happen to know them;” -Emily Post
While Ms. Post’s advice about the appropriate dress for a butler in a well-appointed house and the rules of conduct for a débutante are hopelessly outdated, good manners still count. Without a doubt, email is an efficient and cost-effective way to build and maintain relationships, whether with your organization’s supporters or with your own nearest and dearest. But those relationships will be stronger and healthier if you heed the do's and don’ts of polite email society – they’re simple and apply in equal measure to both groups. Read More>
June 2006 :: Do Images Help or Hurt Your Email Campaigns?
By Eve Fox & Katelyn Sabochik
Once upon a time in cyberspace, we assumed that including an image in an email action alert or fundraising appeal would make it more effective. But that era may have come and gone. Several recent tests we’ve conducted on behalf of our non-profit clients indicate that images may no longer boost response rates. In fact, they may be detrimental to your cause.
If you’re trying to save the Arctic Refuge, why would including a photo of an adorable baby polar bear in a fundraising appeal potentially depress response rates, you ask? Although it’s impossible to say with 100% certainty, we’ve identified two likely culprits for the decline in images’ effectiveness. Read More>
May 2006 :: Entertain the Vote: Tips for Developing a Successful Flash Animation
By Debra Rosen & Andy Stone
Short, animated Flash cartoons have become the latest rage in the political world. In recent cycles, political campaigns have released humorous online bits about their opponents and issue advocacy organizations have produced creative, informative movies about pending legislation. But the clear tipping point came last year with JibJab's parody on Woody Guthrie's "This Land," featuring animated presidential candidates Senator John Kerry and President George Bush trading musical insults and battling for votes. Just as Michael Moore’s “Bowling for Columbine” and “Fahrenheit 911” broke box office records and brought documentary filmmaking to a mainstream audience, JibJab's film broke out of the niche market of Internet advocacy and into the hallowed pop culture halls of late-night TV and Trivial Pursuit.
But what can animated cartoons really do for a campaign and how should you use them? Check out our tips for setting expectations, developing a work plan, and evaluating the success of your next Flash video cartoon campaign. Read More>
May 2006 :: Skip the Small Talk: Are "Welcome" Messages Really Worthwhile?
By Eve Fox
Thinking about sending out a carefully crafted welcome message to help introduce new list members to your organization and get them engaged in your work? Better think again!
If your goal is to cultivate good activists and/or donors, it seems you might be better served by skipping the "welcome" message(s) altogether. Data from tests we recently conducted for several of our nonprofit clients has shown that "welcome" messages are not the most effective first communication for new subscribers. Read More>
March 2006 :: Creating Your Own Benchmarks
By Karen Matheson
You have a list of online subscribers. And you’re sending them emails—perhaps a mix of advocacy alerts, fundraising appeals, and updates on your work. Congratulations, you’ve got an online communications program!
The question is: How successful is it? How effective is your messaging? And how can you find out?
To develop internal benchmarks of success or to compare your organization against other organizations, you should make it a priority to strategically track the results of your email messaging, as well as evaluate the performance of various message types and list member segments. Read More>
June 2005 :: What Political Campaigns Can Learn From Nonprofit Online Organizing
By Debra Rosen & Michael Ward
Like Columbus discovering a land already inhabited, political campaigns in 2004 stumbled upon a precious resource that has actually been utilized for the last decade: online activism. Now, as the 2006 cycle approaches, politicos are working to revive the enthusiasm that gripped the nation last year, when millions engaged in online activism, fund raising and communications.
Many of the techniques were tried, tested and perfected by nonprofit organizations. Those groups have been using the Internet to shape public policy for the better part of the last decade. Countless national nonprofits have lists of hundreds of thousands of dedicated online supporters and raise more than $1 million dollars per year online. Because these supporters will call a legislator, write a letter to the editor, donate and volunteer at a moment's notice, they have become an integral piece of nonprofit organizations' issue campaigns.
While nonprofit organizations have longer term goals than political campaigns, they have developed online methods that are useful in the campaign world. When putting together your campaign's online strategy, consider the following lessons that nonprofits have learned from online planning, recruitment, list management and systems. Read More>
May 2005 :: Mobilizing Online Resources in Response to Breaking News
By Sarah DiJulio & Michael Stein
The December 2004 Asian tsunami provided a good example of how large disaster-aid agencies responded online to natural disasters. Relief organizations such as Oxfam America, CARE USA and Save the Children put their online tools through the most rigorous paces, with massive Website traffic volume, and a constant flow of online donations.
Organizations of all types, sizes and issues can harness the unique opportunity of breaking news events, and the Internet is an ideal medium for communicating and engaging with stakeholders when these events occur. A rapid response opportunity can be tied to any number of breaking news events, ranging from an external happening such as a natural disaster, crime, legislative activity or war, to news that an organization is able to create itself, including a report release or press release. Read More>
January 2005 :: Simple Ways to Raise More Online
By Sarah DiJulio
The outpouring of financial support for victims of the tsunami in South Asia confirms the fact that millions of Americans are not only ready and willing to make donations via the Internet, many of them even prefer to give online. For example, M+R has helped Oxfam America, an international aid and development organization, in its efforts to raise more than $13 million online for their Asia earthquake fund in just a few weeks. Yet despite these tremendous results and the truly impressive figures raised online by the Kerry and Bush campaigns in 2004, most nonprofit groups have only just begun to tap into this potential treasure trove of support. Read More> | 
