I have to admit that I'm not terribly fond of contests for nonprofits.
I worry about the time spent competing in them that might be better used on something else. I worry about the groups that don't win anything. I'm very concerned that we have too many contests. Will a staff position become necessary at nonprofits just to keep up?
I don't especially like the idea of so many companies using contests to satisfy their corporate social responsibilities (CSR). I wonder if the payoff is one-sided with most of the benefit and glory going to the company, while nonprofits chase the money like Greyhounds are motivated to chase the fake rabbit. I worry that contests are another manifestation of our lottery/casino/gambling culture. I worry that cause-marketing will devolve into nothing but contests.
I know, I worry too much.
All that said, there is something different about the Pepsi Refresh Project. It is more appealing to me than any of the contests to date for several reasons:
- I love its website. Yep, I'm a sucker for good design, bright colors, clever icons, and just all around cuteness. Pepsi Refresh is graphically sensational.
- It is not on a closed site such as Facebook. This allows Pepsi to create its own space, look, and functionality. It also opens the contest up to anyone, not just members of a closed site. There is plenty of opportunity to promote the campaign on Facebook and other sites, but it isn't restricted to that.
- The campaign features ideas, not just organizations. And there are plenty of ideas surfacing...clever ideas....helpful ideas...creative ideas. These are ideas that can take off whether or not they win any Pepsi money. A good example of crowdsourcing, just reading them is engaging and motivating.
- Anybody can submit an idea. A business, a nonprofit, a person, a group. And the ideas that are being proposed are not grandiose. They are things that anyone might try to do. In fact Pepsi insists that your idea be "feasible" and that it can be accomplished in 12 months.
- I understand it. In keeping with the simple (Pepsi calls them "shovel ready") ideas, the contest is simply constructed. I have gotten confused with some of the contests, not really understanding how they work. This one is simple and the instructions are easy to understand. Plus there is plenty of help. There is a toolkit, a clear explanation of the submission procedure, and, if your idea gets picked, good ideas to help you promote it and get votes.
- It pays attention to outcomes. The application process asks submitters to specify goals for their project and just how they will spend the money. The theme throughout is practicality and feasibility. If you vote for an idea, you know exactly what you're voting for.
- The grants come in several sizes, ranging from the $5K level, best for individuals who might want to just start something, all the way up to $250K, suitable for a well-coordinated organization. Submitters have to decide which level to go for.
- There is more than one opportunity. The contest repeats each month. So if you're not ready this month, you might be able to compete later. This provides lots of opportunities for many individuals and groups to participate.
- I had fun voting. Because the site looks great and is understandable, it is actually fun to vote. Yes, you do have to register and give up some information, but I was more willing than usual to do so.
It's clear that Pepsi has spared no expense to make this contest beautiful and appealing. Every entry chosen has its own page with goals, budget, photos, and a video if applicable. The formatting is consistent, and the site is easy to navigate. The presentation really sets a new bar for these types of contests.
My skepticism about contests is fraying at the edges with the Pepsi campaign. But am I just dazzled by the look? What do you think? What are the strong points about Pepsi Refresh? Or what are the weak spots that I've overlooked? What do you think about this type of cause marketing?
Here is some other commentary, pro and con, about the Pepsi Refresh social marketing campaign.
- Social Media is the New Super Bowl: Pepsi Refresh and What It Means to Marketers (Forrester Research)
- Social Marketing Gone Awry: Pepsi Refresh Needs To Refresh Its Security Settings (from TechCrunch)
- Pepsi Forced to Reboot Pepsi Refresh on First Day (AdAge)
- What Lessons Will Pepsi Learn About Crowdsourcing for Social Good from Chase Bank Contest Fail? (Beth's Blog)
- Pepsi Refresh Project: An Insider's View - Guest Post by Bonin Bough (Pepsi rep replies to Beth's concerns)
- Pepsi Refresh Project- Huge Potential Viral Marketing Success (Irbtrax)
- Will Pepsi profit by enlisting the public in its philanthropic efforts? (The Economist)
Photo courtesy of Pepsi Refresh
Pepsi Refresh: Just Another Contest? originally appeared on About.com Nonprofit Charitable Orgs on Monday, February 15th, 2010 at 06:00:04.
The Kiwanis International Foundation, Inc. entered the Chase Community Giving competition for nonprofits in late 2009. Kiwanis International won $25,000 in the contest, after receiving enough votes to place in the top 100 charities.
We interviewed Chip McComb, New Media Specialist at Kiwanis, about his organization's participation in the contest.
Nonprofit Guide:
Tell me about your organization. What does it do?
Chip McComb:
The Kiwanis International Foundation is the fundraising arm of Kiwanis International, a global organization of volunteers dedicated to changing the world one child and one community at a time.
Nonprofit Guide:
Tell me how the Chase competition worked.
Chip McComb:
From November 15th to December 16th Chase's philanthropic arm asked Facebook users to nominate their favorite charities and tell them (through a popular vote) which of the nominated charities deserved to win $1mm. In order to nominate a charity, a user had to have a Facebook account, and they must have granted the Chase Community Giving Application access to their Facebook profile. During this initial period more than 500,000 charities were nominated.
When the dust settled on December 17th, the 100 charities who received the most votes were awarded a $25,000 grant and were then given the opportunity to compete for the top grants of $1mm and $100,000.
The guidelines were simple. You must be a 501(c)3 organization with an operating budget of less than $10mm annually. In order to win the top grant you must tell the Facebook Community how you would use the $1mm using less than 3000 words, a few photos and a single video not to exceed 5 minutes.
Submissions were due on January 4th, the charities' big ideas were announced on January 8th and the second round of voting by the Facebook community commenced on January 15th. Eight days later -- on January 22nd --, the second voting period ended and the grants were awarded to the winning charities. Additionally, another $1mm was given away at the discretion of an advisory board.
Nonprofit Guide:
Why did your organization decide to participate in the Chase competition?
Chip McComb:
The Kiwanis International Foundation was actually nominated by one of our Circle K members (Circle K is our service leadership program operating in universities). We did not decide to actively pursue this opportunity until the final week of the first voting period, when our members made it clear that this is something that they felt we could win if we focused the entire weight of our membership behind it.
Nonprofit Guide:
What techniques did you use?
Chip McComb:
Once the Kiwanis International Foundation was voted into the top 100 finalists, we pursued a multi-pronged communications strategy to engage our entire membership. As Kiwanis is a diverse organization with more than 50% of our membership below the age of 18, (our Key Clubbers, etc.) and the other 50% of our membership with an average age of 57, we could not rely upon one method of communication. Email Communications, social media and direct contact with our members each played an important role in getting the word out.
Although Kiwanis currently touches over 33,000 members directly through social media, by far the most effective method of member communication was through email, not only because we could contact hundreds of thousands of members directly, but also because we could track our conversions easily. This helped us measure the effectiveness of our strategy and answer the questions such as, "Are we making it easy for our members to vote?" and "Are we communicating about this opportunity completely, efficiently, and concisely?"
Nonprofit Guide:
What did you learn? What would you have done differently? What tips do you have for other nonprofits that want to raise money in this way?
Chip McComb:
I'll be completely honest -- the Chase Community Giving Program challenged our abilities to reach all Kiwanians in a short period of time.
We as an organization are not used to communicating such time-sensitive information. What we learned from this experience will be invaluable as we formulate future integrated communications plans. That said, we are considering pursuing similar grants in the future. The Pepsi Refresh grants, which will be awarded monthly throughout 2010, seem to be the next opportunity on the horizon.
I'd recommend to other organizations thinking about pursuing similar grants that they evaluate the time commitment that will be required to mobilize their community. Also, it's sad to say, but local nonprofits generally don't have a chance to win these types of grants when larger not-for-profits that operate on a global scale are allowed into the fray. Funding local initiatives was one of the foci of the Chase Community Giving Program, but looking at the top 100 charities, and the top 6 charities that won most of the grant money, it's apparent that local 501(c)3 organizations didn't come out on top.
Nonprofit Guide:
After your experience with a charitable contest, what do you think in general about competitions of this nature? What impact do they have on philanthropy?
Chip McComb:
I do have some concern regarding the trend that this type of giving could have on the ethics of philanthropy.
In short, this method of giving creates ill will and competition on a number of levels that did not exist before. Scarcity, an economic principle that is generally absent from most philanthropic fundraising endeavors, has been introduced as Chase and others are opening the door to grantmaking by popular vote. It's capitalism with a different currency (votes). The case for support, demonstrated contributions of the organizations and general excellence do not necessarily come into play when individuals are deciding how to cast their votes.
Although the long term effects of this strategy remain to be understood, it's safe to say that the PR benefits of the program for Chase exceeded their expectations and, therefore, we're sure others will follow suit.
Our thanks to Chip for sharing some of the details of the Kiwanis activity during the Chase competition. If your organization has participated in a charity competition, we'd love to hear from you. Also, let us know your questions and comments about this interview.
Photo courtesy of Kiwanis International
More about charitable competitions:
- Collaborative Competition: GiveMN Provides Outside-the-Box Lessons for Online Giving
- Pepsi Refresh: Just Another Contest?
- America's Giving Challenge and The Case Foundation
How Email Trumped Social Media for Kiwanis in the Chase Giving Contest originally appeared on About.com Nonprofit Charitable Orgs on Monday, February 22nd, 2010 at 10:00:57.
Geri Stengel is an entrepreneur's entrepreneur. With her experience in both business ventures and nonprofit organizations, she is uniquely positioned to bring the two fields together. And that is what she has done, devoting herself to social enterprises. Stengel, through her organization, Ventureneer, educates and mentors individuals as they establish businesses with a heart; and nonprofit organizations that start businesses to help support their social missions.
During a recent interview with Stengel, I asked her what a nonprofit that wants to establish a business should do, what they need to pay attention to, and for tips that might help a nonprofit successfully launch a business. Stengel steered me through the following points.
...More...
Photo by Getty Images
How Nonprofits Can Profit Without Betraying Their Mission originally appeared on About.com Nonprofit Charitable Orgs on Monday, March 1st, 2010 at 06:03:02.
I've recently discovered InsideFacebook, a blog dedicated to teaching about and keeping up with how Facebook works.
InsideFacebook recently provided 10 Tips for Non-Profits on Facebook that are extremely helpful, whether your organization is already on Facebook, but looking for ways to make it better, or you are just beginning to move into social networking.
The tips that spoke most eloquently to me were:
- Make Your Facebook Page Unique. The idea of social networking is to supplement your website. So if you're just planning to duplicate what is on your site, you are missing the point. Think about creating content that is specifically for Facebook and the kinds of people who hang out there. So supplement, don't duplicate.
- Talk Back. Social networks are for conversation, so when your Facebook fans post messages and information on your Facebook wall, answer back. You don't have to reply to everything, but do check in daily to see what has been said and if you can answer with something helpful. You might be able to field a question, offer some empathy for a supporter's situation, or point the person to some helpful information.
- Create an App, Game or Quiz. It is the interactivity that marks social media as "social." Develop creative ways to help your supporters stay engaged by using a special app, design a quiz, or take a poll on some question. Make it fun to come to your Facebook page and see your number of fans escalate.
There are seven more tips at the InsideFacebook blog with a bunch of examples and screen shots. This would be a wonderful resource to bookmark and share with your organization's staff.
Related:
Photo by Getty Images
How to Be Effective on Facebook: Tips for Nonprofits originally appeared on About.com Nonprofit Charitable Orgs on Tuesday, February 16th, 2010 at 01:00:55.
The answer is yes and no. Twitter can raise money, but probably not as much as you wish it would. However, there are other benefits from trying to raise money on Twitter that may be as important as the actual dollars raised.
Experience with Twitter is growing rapidly. There have been a number of fundraising campaigns that have used Twitter as their primary platform, such as TweetsGiving, and Twestival. Twitter also has set up TwitCause, which features a cause each week so that people can follow it on Twitter, help spread the word about it, and donate to it.
Julio Vasconcellos, manager of TwitCause, writes on Beth's Blog what he and his team have learned about what works and what doesn't work when twittering for a cause. His tips in Lessons Learned from Twitter Campaigns on TwitCause include keeping your message simple and short, what you can expect in results, how to provide immediate feedback, how to leverage efforts by teaming up with name brands, and more.
Related:
- 5 Reasons You'll Love Twitterville
- Generosity Will Get You Everywhere in Social Media
- Twitter Tips for Nonprofit Tweeple ... People
Will Twitter Help Your Nonprofit Raise Money? originally appeared on About.com Nonprofit Charitable Orgs on Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 at 11:59:23.
Are you the victim of "accidental" branding? That is what happens when a nonprofit or business leaves its branding to chance. It results in confusion about what the organization is and does.
Brandraising: How Nonprofits Raise Visibility and Money Through Smart Communications, by Sarah Durham, is the clearest blueprint I've seen lately to rationally building your brand and implementing it. It is "branding in a box." If you do one thing about your organization's brand this year, make it reading this book. Once you do that, you'll be so excited to have a step-by-step plan that you're bound to start creating a better brand...More...
Just Say No to Accidental Branding originally appeared on About.com Nonprofit Charitable Orgs on Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 at 01:00:47.
