Top 10 Reasons Why Your Nonprofit Should Have A Viral Fundraising Campaign

"In a time when major donors and sponsors have decided to run and hide, viral fundraising programs have increasingly become the fundraising apparatus of choice for orgs that need to cost effectively raise a lot of money in a short period of time."

Me

(I've been on this soapbox since 2002, so I'm allowed to quote myself.)

Here's  a list of reasons why you need to add a viral fundraising campaign to your fundraising portfolio.

1. Viral fundraising programs are cost effective.  You don't even need to have an actual event.  No huge gala to pay for.  No tickets to sell or banquet halls to rent.  Just volunteers and friends reaching out to their networks on your behalf.
2. Viral fundraising programs have high response rates.  A typical mailing by a nonprofit will get  3% response rate.  Viral fundraising programs experience a 40-80% response rate.  If we assume a modest 50% response rate, then a mere 60 people reaching out to 10 of their friends will raise as much as a mailing to 10,000 people.  Get rid of the stamps and envelopes.  Ask more people to raise money.
3. Viral fundraising programs can generate revenue quickly.  With some planning, effective campaigns can be up and running within a few weeks.  Finding a major donor can take years.  Planning a gala event takes months and costs a lot!
4. Viral fundraising programs can be paperless.  Everything can be done online.  To learn more, check out SWEET.  http://www.blueskycollaborative.com/bscv2/main/SWEET/
5. Viral fundraising programs are limited only by your creativity.  They can be walkathons, bike rides, virtual events, whatever you want.  Just give people an excuse and forum in which they can ask for money and raise it on your behalf. 
6. Viral fundraising programs turn volunteers into revenue generators.  Lets face it, volunteers are cost centers.  Volunteers that raise money for you are revenue generators. 
7. Viral fundraising programs exponentially increase awareness of your organization.  Just look at some of the Facebook causes.  It's not difficult to get 10,000 or even 100,000 people to recognize your cause.  You have to do more than Facebook to generate revenue though.
8. Viral fundraising programs expand the reach of your development staff.  Hmm let's see.  Do I want my development director and the development associate to be responsible for all the asking?  Or do I want to get hundreds of volunteer fundraisers to do the asking as well.  I think the latter.  It scales a lot better.  Expand your reach by decentralizing your ask.  Ask more often and receive more often.
9. Viral fundraising programs can generate large sums.  The Pan Mass Challenge raised over $30 million in 2008.  Even modest campaigns can generate $100K to $200K.
10. Viral fundraising programs will bring your development portfolio into the new millennium.  Seriously, enough with the bulk mail houses.  97% of your postcards end up in the trash.  That's a waste.  Use the tools available to you and the prevailing social consciousness in 2009.  People want to help you - for free!  Let them.

Comments

[Jean Levasseur]

This is a great article. Viral fund raising campaigns are so useful for so many different nonprofits. Thanks for writing this. I'm definitely posting a link to this article very soon.

[marriage]

It's developing a viral marketing campaign that actually works that's the trick.