Grassroots 2.0
A Pew Internet & American Life Project report from last week confirmed what many of us have already known about politics and the Internet: that the web has quickly become the dominant place where people get their political news and decide to get involved.
"Some 74% of internet users--representing 55% of the entire adult population--went online in 2008 to get involved in the political process or to get news and information about the election. This marks the first time that a Pew Internet & American Life Project survey has found that more than half of the voting-age population used the internet to get involved in the political process during an election year."
This report should finally put to rest the argument that I still hear from organizations – my members just don't really use the Internet. The report found that, "among the entire population the internet is now equal to newspapers and roughly twice as important as radio as a source of election news and information." Even tech-savvy seniors are using the Internet to get political information.
 Organizations should determine whether they are allocating internal resources appropriately in this new communications environment. Each organization is different, but your organization should be spending about half of your communication resources online.
That does not mean that organizations should abandon traditional public relations activities like sending out press releases and advertising. Rather, your organization should have a balanced approach between traditional offline tactics and emergent online communication strategies.
Think about these questions:
- Does my website look fresh and up to date?
- How often do I send out e-mails to supporters?
- How well do I engage my members through the Internet?
- Am I using multiple channels to send out messages (e-mail, website, social networking websites, blogs, twitter, etc.)?
The Pew Internet and American Life Project recently released a study on the growing number of Americans using mobile internet technology. We all notice this emergent group with the rise of iPhones and Blackberrys. It is clear that this promising arena will be critical to the future success of nonprofits, corporations and political candidates.
The "Mobile Difference" report by Pew defines individuals that use this technology as motivated by mobility. The report states that this group is 39% of the adult U.S. population, having "seen the frequency of their online use grow as their reliance on mobile devices has increased. For these groups, growth in frequency of online use is linked not only to increasing broadband adoption, but to positive and improving attitudes about how mobile access makes them more available to others."
According to the report, the rest of us do not feel such a draw to the use of mobile technology, for a number of reasons:
- Many still feel content with their current high speed internet connection on desktop
- Many are infrequently online
- Many feel they already receive too much information and prefer traditional communication vehicles
- Indifference to technology
- Some live off the grid - they just don't use the Internet
Here is their breakdown of people that use mobile technology. This information should be helpful in your organization's targeting operation. It can tell organizations how to reach out to different groups and whether they will be receptive to mobile technology.
The economic downturn has all nonprofits concerned. Fortunately, a recently released study should provide a ray of hope to those that raise money for nonprofits. The study, conducted by Cygnus Applied Research, found that 52% of donors do not plan on decreasing their charitable contributions in 2009.
Remarkably, 50% of donors contacted for the study said that they intend to donate as much in 2009 as in previous years, even making sacrifices in their daily lives to sustain that level of philanthropy in 2009. The study also found that some people (42%) are interested in giving to a charity that they had not supported in the past. So, despite the economic downturn, there are opportunities to recruit new donors and supporters this year.
And, the best way to recruit those new donors is online. The study also found that online donations are going to become an even more popular way to donate, replacing the more traditional methods like tele-marketing and direct-mail as donors preferred method to give.
Of course, this does not mean that organizations should stop using more traditional means to recruit donors. Instead, online strategies should be utilized to keep donors informed and thus are the first way that organizations should ask for financial support. Online engagement is a more cost-effective way to reach donors and keep them happy. Then, if donors don't respond via online giving opportunities, it is wise to follow-up with those more traditional means.
For more information read the article in Chronicle for Philanthropy - http://philanthropy.com/news/updates/index.php?id=7442
2009 Nonprofit Technology & Communications Conference
View this presentation to learn how to better engage advocates with
technology to meet your organization's public policy goals.
This session is designed for people already engaged in
e-advocacy who want to learn how to enhance their efforts
and integrate their e-communications. Leave this session
with a better understanding of how to effectively communicate
your organization’s policy issues and enhance engagement
via e-advocacy, how to track e-advocacy efforts in a meaningful
way, and how to integrate your e-advocacy efforts with
your organization’s communications plan.
Recently, the Women's Campaign Forum Foundation (or WCF Foundation) published a report on the relationship between political philanthropy and political power as it related to women. The authors of the 21 page report, which can be viewed in full by following this link: http://wcf.3cdn.net/fa0ca3a210d66b6641_i0m6bprb4.pdf, summarize their findings this way –
Women have both the financial resources and drive for social change that are needed for them to have a significant impact on politics;
There is still room to grow women's political giving;
The Internet enhances key values that motivate women to give;
By providing information strategically, women online donors can be engaged in not only political giving, but also in involving others;
Women online donors depend significantly upon campaigns' online presence;
Repeat women donors present the best opportunity for growing donations; and
Web 2.0 technologies show strong promise for increasing women's political giving.
Clearly, as we've seen from this year's presidential contest, women are increasingly a political force to be reckoned with and giving to campaigns has helped increase this power. And, there are many signs that indicate this trend will only continue in the coming years. For example, the report notes that women control more than half of the wealth in the United States and are projected to hold two-thirds by 2030. In addition, as a group women have donated approximately $109 million to presidential campaigns in 2008 and women are using the Internet to research candidates before giving money. As the report points out, before making a political contribution, 55% of women consult online news sources, 54% consult campaign email updates and 49% consult campaign, PAC or political party websites. And, nearly 80% of women who visited such sites forwarded information to friends and family encourage their participation with the campaign in some way.
Women, philanthropy and the Internet are proving to be a powerful combination in growing the political power of women and ensuring that women's issues are addressed on the campaign trail. There is no reason why this pattern cannot be replicated at the local and state level, and organizations and political campaigns would benefit by incorporating outreach to female voters into their strategic plans. As the WCF Foundation reminds us, "women: Your path to changing the world is just a few mouse clicks away."
More than almost any other category on the Internet, web sites geared towards woman are growing in readership. According to the New York Times, sites aimed at women increased 35% last year, a rate of increase faster than all categories except politics. Sites for women had 84 million visitors in July, a 27% increase over the same month last year. What accounts for this increase?
Heather Armstrong, who runs a motherhood blog called Dooce, explains that women are responding to the ability to share anecdotes and build relationships on line, even if some of the content is irreverent, as it is on Armstrong's blog. Many seem to agree that the ability to reach out online to connect with other women over shared experiences the same way many do in the non-wired aspects of their lives is the driving force behind the wave of women-centered web sites. Conversely, sites specifically designed for men do not have the same draw – AOL's Asylum site for men had 3.3 million hits in June, compares with 16.1 million for AOL's women-geared Living site.
And, not surprisingly, advertisers are starting to notice. The Times' article notes that in May 2008, 4.4 billion display ads were posted on women's web sites. Why? Most advertisers understand that women are the decision-makers when it comes to everyday purchases, and therefore hold the family's purse strings (literally). And, in this new world devoted to the female consumer, advertisers are getting creative. Yes, there are still more traditional ads (i.e., ads for Crate & Barrel next to an article about home décor; ads for Walgreens photo-finishing next to a blog post with a picture of the family dog) than more cutting edge tactics, but advertisers with deep pockets can try new approaches.
For example, sponsored content is beginning to creep into the mix. As the Times explains Wal Mart gave gift certificates to female bloggers if they agreed to write about trying Wal Mart's "green" products on their web sites. Wal Mart was also behind a survey game, "What's your steak style?," which offered women the chance to see whether they preferred casual, health, decadent or gourmet-prepared steak, followed by coupon offers for different cuts of steak at Wal Mart.
Clearly there are many opportunities for creative marketing in this new women-centered space. I just wonder if some of the cache of a female-oriented space (i.e., a place to share and build relationships online) will deteriorate if users become wary that instead of reading a genuine story, they are consuming sponsored content. Bloggers who agree to feature sponsored content should be open about that with their readers, and web site operators should be wary of featuring too many interactive advertisements at the expense of the genuine content users are seeking. However, in our over-saturated world, this type of creating advertising will probably yield better results than traditional means, at least in the short term. Oh, and throwing in a coupon for 20% off doesn't hurt either.
In a recent post about the success of the Obama campaign, Mathew asked how the Obama campaign should be responding to the recent bru-ha-ha created by Obama supporters about his decision to vote in favor of FISA reauthorization.
This highlights the challenges of the Internet – you really can't control it. For the last 20 years political campaigns have been run as top down organizations, with supporters simply taking marching orders from the top of the hierarchy. With the introduction of the web, that structure has been challenged. Obama was able to successfully motivate his supporters to not only join the campaign, but also to donate. He also got them out to vote and gave them tools to engage others to vote. This is how Obama was able to succeed where Howard Dean was not. I believe that this is partly due to advances in technology over the last four years, which has made it much easier to do these types of grassroots activities.
I think this is a lesson learned for future campaigns and even nonprofits: organizations cannot control their supporters and that they will let you know when to do something that upsets them. In this kind of environment, the key issue is how will the candidate (or organization) responds. In responding to the FISA issue, the Obama campaign decided to pursue a strategy to let their supporters voice their frustration through the Obama website. That is a big deal for the campaign.
Their second strategy was to engage some of the opposition at targeted forums like the Netroots Convention this weekend. The New York Times reported that many campaign staffers were going to be in attendance at the conference. Targeted engagement can help keep the candidate out of the tussle and limit the exposure that the issue gets with the larger public.
Their final strategy was to cross their fingers and hope it just blows over. Obama does not want to have a debate on this issue, so to engage supporters on the issue would just generate more media attention to an issue he does not want to talk about.
This debate is a healthy part of the online conversation. While it may make life more difficult for the candidate (or organization) it demonstrates that allowing supporters to critique your message and actions can actually, in the long run, increase their buy-in for your campaign (or organization).
On Monday, Nielsen-Online released a study that found that 89 percent of web users over 18 are registered to vote. "The fact that so many Web users are registered to vote suggests that online campaign efforts will drive results at the polls," said Jon Gibs, vice president, media analytics, Nielsen Online. "Campaigns are no longer dabbling online – we expect a candidate's Web presence to be an integral part of both campaigns," he added.
This study should hopefully wake up all those campaigns out there that don't believe that the web is an important medium to engage voters. The challenge for many campaigns is to figure out how to best engage supporters and voters in this arena.
The Obama campaign, as well as many of the national nonprofits, has demonstrated the potential power of online communication. But, how do small nonprofits with limited resources use the Internet effectively? That is what Tina asked earlier in the week: "I am just curious how small, poorly financed, and poorly known non-profits can make use of the Web? Should they jump in slowly, maybe start with the web page, then add Web 2.0 programs once they are requested by supporters, or should they go all out and get their webpage known through Web 2.0 applications?"
Small nonprofits face two barriers to the online world – resources, as Tina noted, and intimidation of technology. It's true that online technology tools can pose a great expense for a small nonprofit. However, with careful budgeting and an examination of priorities, most nonprofits can identify an affordable tool. Too often, we spend money on things that don't work – at the expense of things that do.
I see a lot of groups spend a significant amount of money on direct mail, with little response, but claim that they don't have any money to spend on a website. I would recommend that such groups reevaluate their communication budget. Organizations must have a balanced approach that blends traditional and new age communication vehicles. Usually, once an organization starts investing in online communication, it will realize that a funding a basic online presence is within its means. As more and more nonprofits have moved into the online arena it has gotten significantly cheaper to have a robust online presence. In fact, there are many online tools now available for free.
The second barrier many face is the intimidation of online technology. Many people are still unwilling to use online technology because it is still so new. This is probably the most difficult barrier because it often comes from senior leadership in an organization. The best way to address this challenge is to start small and build from there.
Every organization should have a website and build an e-mail list. It is important for an organization to first master these two tools before experimenting with others. Also, by building success with these tools it will help you make the case (whether financial limitations or web sophistication is a roadblock) to use Web 2.0 tools.
If you are looking for some suggestions on how to build a stronger online presence I suggest that you take a look at a presentation that I did last November titled "5 Ways Every Nonprofit Should Use the Internet." There is a video and slideshow of the presentation here - http://tippingpoint.typepad.com/grassroots_20/2007/11/index.html
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