Online Fundraisers: Targeted Planning and Successful Implementation

133 Pages·2022·4.776 MB·English

by  Sonja Harken, Martin Hodsman

Sonja Harken · Martin Hodsman
Online
Fundraisers
Targeted Planning and Successful
Implementation
Online Fundraisers
Sonja Harken • Martin Hodsman
Online Fundraisers
Targeted Planning and Successful
Implementation
Sonja Harken Martin Hodsman
Köln, Germany Bonn, Germany
ISBN 978-3-658-38828-7 ISBN 978-3-658-38829-4 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-38829-4
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Foreword of the Series Editor
The topic of fundraising has developed very dynamically throughout the German-speaking
world. In Germany, reunification in 1990 marked a turning point for fundraising as well.
Prior to that, fundraising in this country lagged far behind developments in the Anglo-
American cultural area, as traditionally public welfare–oriented causes had been financed
primarily by the state. This is still the case after reunification, but only to a relatively lesser
extent. This has led to a continuous increase in the need for non-governmental, i.e. private,
funding of charitable causes with the help of professional fundraising. The foundation of
the German Fundraising Association in 1993 initiated the professionalization through con-
gresses, seminars, regional groups, etc. Developments in Austria and Switzerland were
largely parallel. As a result, fundraising in the German-speaking world has gradually suc-
ceeded in catching up with the high level of fundraising in the Anglo-American world over
the past 25 years. This development has also been driven by the sustained period of low
interest rates in recent years, which has increased the interest of many foundations in fun-
draising. The hype surrounding crowdfunding has also boosted the general public’s per-
ception of fundraising, as has the increasingly strong emergence of online fundraising.
Of course, these developments have not gone unnoticed by the scientific community.
Fortunately, more and more scientists from a wide variety of disciplines in Germany,
Austria and Switzerland are contributing to the systematic research of this still compara-
tively young field of research. Unfortunately, the insights gained in the process have not
always been noticed and implemented by fundraising practice. A first step towards chang-
ing this is the second edition of the Handbuch Fundraising, also published by Springer
Gabler Verlag in 2020. In it, authors summarize their scientific findings in a practice-
oriented manner on approximately 20 pages each. A further step towards preparing the
latest findings from fundraising research for fundraising practice is the newly launched
Edition Fundraising. Outstanding scientific works are prepared in a practice-oriented man-
ner so that they can be of profitable and inspiring use to fundraising practice – in greater
detail than the contributions in the Fundraising Handbook, which are limited to approxi-
mately 20 pages.
This Volume 1 of the Edition Fundraising is dedicated to the topic of “online fundrais-
ers”. Ever since the social media giant Facebook enabled its users to start online
v
vI Foreword of the Series Editor
fundraising campaigns for the benefit of an organization of their choice, the fundraising
topic has been booming on the Web. According to its own data, more than 300 million US
dollars were raised via online fundraisers on Facebook in the very first year (mid-2017 to
mid-2018). According to the “Digital Giving Index 2015” of the “Network for Good”,
such peer-to-peer giving already accounts for almost a quarter (24%) of online fundraising
revenue in the USA, reason enough to take a closer look at this development in German-
speaking countries. Sonja Harken prepares the results of her master’s thesis submitted to
the University of Applied Sciences Cologne in 2018, in which she surveyed more than 100
organizations from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. She is supported by Martin
Hodsman, who has also been responsible for the online fundraising activities of the
“Aktion Deutschland hilft” association in Bonn as a social media manager since 2014,
among other things. Together, the two authors derive valuable recommendations for fund-
raising practice in the DACH countries. As the publisher of Edition Fundraising, I would
like to thank both of them as well as Springer Gabler Verlag, especially the responsible
editor, Ms. Margit Schlomski.
Bonn, Germany Michael Urselmann
09.07.2022
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2 What Are Online Fundraisers? A Clarification of Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.1 Occasion Donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.2 Fundraisers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.3 Online Fundraisers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.4 What I Have Learned in This Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3 Online Fundraisers: An Empirical Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.1 Peer-to-Peer Fundraising in the USA and UK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.2 Empirical Investigation Within the Framework of a Master’s Thesis . . . . . . 12
3.2.1 Empirical Design of the Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.2.2 General Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.3 What I Have Learned in This Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
4 The Right Marketing Mix for Online Fundraisers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
4.1 Product Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
4.2 Pricing Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
4.3 Distribution Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
4.3.1 Online Fundraisers on Own Website . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
4.3.2 Online Fundraisers on Donation Platforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
4.3.3 Online Fundraisers on Facebook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
4.3.4 What I Have Learned in This Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
4.4 Communication Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
4.4.1 Online Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
4.4.2 Offline Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
4.4.3 What I Have Learned in This Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
vII
vIII Contents
5 Support and Retention Through Precisely Tailored Target
Group Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
5.1 Support for Initiators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
5.1.1 Private Individuals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
5.1.2 School Fundraisers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
5.1.3 Companies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
5.1.4 What I Have Learned in This Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
5.2 Donor Retention of Fundraiser Donors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
5.2.1 The Giving Logic of Fundraiser Donors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
5.2.2 Thanks to Fundraiser Donors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
5.2.3 Donor Retention of Fundraiser Donors in the Further Course
of Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
5.2.4 What I Have Learned in This Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
6 Management of Online Fundraisers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
6.1 Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
6.1.1 SWOT Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
6.1.2 Analyses of Product Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
6.1.3 Analyses of Distribution Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
6.1.4 Analyses of Communication Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
6.1.5 Analysis of Human Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
6.2 Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
6.2.1 Normative Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
6.2.2 Strategic Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
6.2.3 Operational Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
6.3 Controlling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
6.4 What I Have Learned in This Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
7 Conclusion: What Is the Potential of Online Fundraisers? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
7.1 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
7.2 Outlook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Abbreviations
ADH Aktion Deutschland Hilft e. V.
AEO Donation receipt
amongst others Inter alia
approx. Approximate
cf. Compare
e.g. For example
ed. Circulation
Ed. Publisher
etc. et cetera
(EU-)DSGVO (European) General Data Protection Regulation
f. Following
ff. Continued
Fig. Figure
generally speaking As a rule
i.e. viz.
LLC Limited liability company
m. Million
NPO Non-profit organization(s)
regarding Regarding
respectively Respectively
ROI Return on investment
S. Page
SEA Search engine advertising
Sec. Section
SEO Search engine optimization
Tab. Table
u. Ä. And the like
u. U. Possibly
v. a. Especially
z. B. For instance
Ix
List of Figures
Fig. 2.1 Systematics for cause fundraising. (Own illustration) 4
Fig. 2.2 Selecting the type of donation on betterplace.org.
(Source: https://www.betterplace.org/c/spenden- sammeln/private-
spendenaktion. Accessed 28 Apr. 2019) 7
Fig. 3.1 St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital online fundraiser
on YouTube. (Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
NGQ2Zhrkk4o. Accessed 26 Apr. 2019) 12
Fig. 3.2 Location of the organization. (Own representation) 13
Fig. 3.3 Areas of activity of the organizations. (Own representation) 14
Fig. 3.4 Total donation volume of the organizations from Germany
and Austria. (Own representation) 14
Fig. 3.5 Total volume of donations from organizations in Switzerland.
(Own illustration) 15
Fig. 3.6 Year of introduction of online fundraisers. (Own representation) 16
Fig. 3.7 Donation volume from online fundraisers. (Own illustration) 17
Fig. 3.8 Share of donations from online fundraisers in total donations.
(Own illustration) 17
Fig. 4.1 Basic benefits and additional benefits in a flyer. (Source: Diakonie
Michaelshoven) 24
Fig. 4.2 Online fundraiser on the website on the occasion of a birthday.
(Source: https://www.turtle- foundation.org/anlass/?cfd=kwucj#cff.
Accessed 27 Apr. 2019) 28
Fig. 4.3 Form to start an online fundraiser on the website.
(Source: https://www.aktion- deutschland- hilft.de/de/aktiv- helfen/
interaktiv- helfen/starte- deine- spendenaktion/?cfs=e#fbIframeDiv.
Accessed 28 Apr. 2019) 30
Fig. 4.4 Email templates in the settings of a fundraiser tool.
(Source: https://www.fundraisingbox.com/. Accessed 23 Apr. 2019) 33
Fig. 4.5 Video with call to action on the website. (Source: https://www.care.de/
spenden/eigene- spendenaktion/. Accessed 28 Apr. 2019) 34
xI