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What Nonprofits Need More Than a Facebook Donate Button

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English: Mark Zuckerberg, Founder & CEO of Fac...

Mark Zuckerberg, Founder & CEO of Facebook (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Dear Mark Zuckerberg,

Thanks for putting a Donate Now button on Facebook.  Now, our nonprofit’s Facebook Friends can give without ever leaving the page.

But will they see our page in the first place?

Already, fewer than 15 % of Friends see any particular post.  And as you recently told us, that percentage is going to drop.  Ad Age published your Generating business results on Facebook, where your company states:

We expect organic distribution of an individual page’s posts to gradually decline over time as we continually work to make sure people have a meaningful experience on the site.

In other words, fewer eyes on our pages.

The solution, according to your spokesman? “The best way to get your stuff seen if you’re a business is to pay for it.”

But what if you’re not a business?

Many nonprofits are local.  Some are tiny.  Few have a budget for marketing.  They are constantly trying to put more money into programs instead.

So, nonprofits’ reach on Facebook is almost all “organic,” meaning that our Friends like and share our posts with their Friends.  And that’s what you say is going to decline.

I understand that you want to do a good thing for nonprofits by providing a Donate Now button.  But it will be a meaningless gesture if fewer and fewer people ever see it.

Ask Sheryl Sandberg how to make ad grants to nonprofits.

Over at Google, where your COO used to work, they’ve been giving nonprofits $10,000 every month to advertise on Google.com.  For years.  And it works!

Ask Sheryl Sandberg about the business results and the public relations Facebook can get by instituting an ad grant program.  Then, please put that program into place.  It will multiply the value of the Donate Now button–for Facebook and for nonprofits.  And isn’t that what you wanted to do in the first place?

Happy 2014,

Dennis Fischman, Communicate! Consulting

G’day! A Nonprofit Tale of Two Nations

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Does your nonprofit organization want to be known and respected?  Why, and by whom?

The answer may vary by country–and how you answer determines how you should communicate with your supporters.

I recently spoke with Chris Gandy, a colleague and the founder of the Australian consulting firm Cause and Effective.  In Australia, it is common for not-for-profits to compete to receive funding from the government.  Few of these organizations obtain a significant portion of their budget by fundraising from the public.

That means that content marketing in Australia is aimed at a very specific audience.  The people that our friends Down Under want to impress with their organizations’ expertise are what we in the U.S. would call bureaucrats.  This audience expects subject-matter knowledge, well-substantiated claims, and detailed evidence that taxpayer money will be spent appropriately.

In the U.S., government is still the biggest source of funds for nonprofits, but its share is declining.  Over the last dozen years, I have seen nonprofits increasingly market themselves to donors, community-minded businesses, and philanthropic foundations.

These givers ask first, “What difference do you make?”, and only then, “How much do you know?”  And the rule of thumb in the U.S. is to win hearts first.  Once people want to support you, they will look for reasons to do it–and by providing those reasons, you clinch the deal.

Of course, bureaucrats have hearts, and donors have heads.  But getting the balance between the two right is crucial.

At your nonprofit organization, are you more American or Australian?  Which is more important to you: your prestige in your field, or your brand loyalty among your supporters?

G’day! A Nonprofit Tale of Two Nations

by Leave a Comment

Does your nonprofit organization want to be known and respected?  Why, and by whom?

The answer may vary by country–and how you answer determines how you should communicate with your supporters.

I recently spoke with Chris Gandy, a colleague and the founder of the Australian consulting firm Cause and Effective.  In Australia, it is common for not-for-profits to compete to receive funding from the government.  Few of these organizations obtain a significant portion of their budget by fundraising from the public.

That means that content marketing in Australia is aimed at a very specific audience.  The people that our friends Down Under want to impress with their organizations’ expertise are what we in the U.S. would call bureaucrats.  This audience expects subject-matter knowledge, well-substantiated claims, and detailed evidence that taxpayer money will be spent appropriately.

In the U.S., government is still the biggest source of funds for nonprofits, but its share is declining.  Over the last dozen years, I have seen nonprofits increasingly market themselves to donors, community-minded businesses, and philanthropic foundations.

These givers ask first, “What difference do you make?”, and only then, “How much do you know?”  And the rule of thumb in the U.S. is to win hearts first.  Once people want to support you, they will look for reasons to do it–and by providing those reasons, you clinch the deal.

Of course, bureaucrats have hearts, and donors have heads.  But getting the balance between the two right is crucial.

At your nonprofit organization, are you more American or Australian?  Which is more important to you: your prestige in your field, or your brand loyalty among your supporters?

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